Two New Nick Chidlaw Courses

Nick Chidlaw wants to run two courses early next year. The format of the courses is that he sends enrolees a digital document for them to study for two weeks; then follows a week for people to ask Nick questions by email. Then Nick sends everyone the most informative questions and answers.

The courses are:-

A YOUNG OROGENIC BELT: COLLISION OF THE INDIAN TECTONIC PLATE WITH ASIA  

Tutor: Dr Nick Chidlaw 

Reading Period: Monday 15th – Sunday 28th January 2024 (2 weeks)

Dialogue Period:  Monday 29th January – Sunday 4th February 2024 (1 week)

Tuition fee £33.00 per person.

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AN ANCIENT OROGENY: THE GRAMPIAN OROGENIC BELT, NORTHERN SCOTLAND

Tutor: Dr Nick Chidlaw

Reading Period: Monday 5th - Sunday 18th February 2024 (2 weeks)

Dialogue Period:  Monday 19th – Sunday 25th February 2024 (1 week)

Tuition fee £33.00 per person.

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In both cases the closing date for enrolment is Sunday 7th January.

Nick has prepared a document which has all the details. You can get a copy HERE.

 Down to Earth Extra December 2023

The December 2023 edition of Down to Earth Extra has been published. You can download it HERE or you can read it below.

 Iceland Volcano - A Good YouTube Channel

The recent activity in Iceland has resulted in a multitude of stuff on YouTube. THIS CHANNEL is produced by a geology professor from Idaho who actually has done a lot of work on Icelandic volcanism. He produces a daily report which is very informative. Worth watching!

 Down to Earth Extra November 2023

The November 2023 edition of Down to Earth Extra has been published. You can download it HERE or you can read it below.

 Icelandic Volcanoes

Things seem to be happening fast in Iceland. A town (Grindavik) has been evacuated and an eruption is awaited. Unlike recent volcanic events in Iceland, this time there may be significant danger to infrastructure and lives.

The following video explains what is going on.

Has a New Continent Been Found? 

A correspondent sent me THIS LINK. It tells us about a bit of Australia which moved towards South-East Asia and got split up into fragments on its way. The article includes the following YouTube video. It shows what the authors think happened. All I can say is that it is mighty complicated! (Click the full page symbol to make the video as large as possible. This might make it more comprehensible!)

The amount of evidence collected must be huge. Trying to put it together to make a logical story is beyond my capabilities!

The intriguing thing is that it may explain the Wallace Line - the border between the flora and fauna of South-East Asia and Australia. But the time scales are surely different. The geology talks in terms of hundreds of millions of years, the flora and fauna would be a shorter time scale.

 How Do Moons Have Oceans?

A correspondent emailed to tell me that THIS ARTICLE was interesting and deserved to be in the blog. I concur!

The moons in question are some of those of Jupiter and Saturn. We don't know about those around Uranus and Neptune but stay tuned! 

The obvious one is Enceladus, the ice covered moon of Saturn. It has icy plumes erupting near its south pole. A fly through by the Cassini spacecraft found it to be water containing sodium chloride, quartz and hydrogen.

Read the article to find the moons with oceans, but what interests me and the author is how does liquid water exist in what must be a very cold place. The answer seems to be tidal friction. 

In their orbits the moons are subject to gravitational forces from other moon and their parent planet, and these can vary enormously. Bits of the moons are moving against each other producing enough heat to keep their oceans liquid. The outermost parts are frozen, the interior is liquid.

The presence of liquid water leads to speculation about the presence of life - read about it in the article.

Five images of Saturn’s moon Enceladus, seen in infrared light. Nestled beneath its icy shell is a global ocean — a sea that is erupting into space through fractures in the moon’s south pole, coloured red at bottom right.