Thursday 15 March 2012

21st March - Time Travel in the Gravel

Bristol NATs invite you to -
Time travel in the Gravel - and Jurassic delights of the Cotswold Water Park
Dr Neville Hollingworth, STFC
Wednesday 21 March 7:30
Dr Hollingworth is a scientist with the Science and Technology Funding Council. He is a well known field geologist, involved in the finding and identification of many local fossils, especially those connected with the gravels of Cotswold Water Park.
The talk takes place in S H Reynolds lecture theatre, Wills Memorial Building, University of Bristol, BS8 1RJ.
Everyone welcome.

20th March - Waste Classification

Geological Society Western Regional Group presents
'Dragging waste classification into the 21st Century', Tuesday 20th March 2012
The waste regulations put the responsibility for classifying waste as either hazardous or non hazardous on the shoulders of the waste producer.  However, approximately 80% of waste classifications are actually done by the waste receivers themselves as most waste producers do not have the resources or time.  For mirror entry type waste streams such as soils, receivers accept the chemistry results tabulated on faxes, emails and in pdf documents along with copies of site plans and other supporting material.  The resource required by a receiver to manually enter all these chemistry results is prohibitive so most assessments are made by scanning the chemistry results and looking for obvious outliers.   This "experience" based approach has to be conservative and also explains why producers can get two different classifications for the same analysis.  Where calculations are carried out (by producers, receivers, agents, consultants, hauliers and the EA), most are done through either thousands of custom made spreadsheets, via a spreadsheet-to-web based service (waste soils/EWC chapter 17 only) or manually on paper.  There is little or no audit trial, poor transparency and room for error.
Ian Bishop of Haswaste Online will discuss how the use of proprietary online software can assist waste producers, for example geo-environmental consultants and contractors, civil engineers and developers classify mirror entry wastes.
Refreshments will be available from 6.00 p.m. followed by the evening lecture which will commence at 6.30 p.m.  The event is open to non-fellows, so please feel free to invite your colleagues or friends.  The venue is the University of Bristol Earth Sciences Department, room G25. We look forward to seeing you.

Thursday 8 March 2012

Oxford Geology Trust events

Saturday, 17th March'12 from 10:30am - 13:00pm
Geodiversity Forum
Croft Hall in Hungerford
A free event for everyone.
This is an opportunity to discover how the Chalk has influenced characteristic features of the North Wessex Downs including landscape, soils, land use, industry, hydrology and archaeology.
To book your place or receive more information, please email or 'phone 07790 896118.

Thursday, 22nd March from 7 - 8pm
Chalk Hydrogeology
by groundwater hydrogeologists from the British Geological
Survey.

Centre for Ecology and Hydrology in Crowmarsh Gifford near Wallingford.
No booking required and no charge.

We look forward very much to welcoming you at either of these events. Please email if you have any further queries.

Wednesday 7 March 2012

17th March - Geology around Royal Wootton Bassett

Saturday 17th March
Geology around Royal Wootton Bassett. 
Led by Dave Green, Geostudies
Cost £20
A field-based day-school (10am - 5pm) in the area around this now
famous town, looking at the fossil-rich Jurassic to Cretaceous
sequence in the area, and its strong influence on local scenery. In
addition there are one or two geological oddities specific to the
locality; notably the Wootton Bassett Mud Springs, and the Rhaxella
Chert.
Click here for more details and to enrol.

Saturday 3 March 2012

Tha Cathedral Rocks - the Earth materials used in the construction of Salisbury Cathedral

Saturday March 31st
The Cathedral Rocks - the Earth materials used in the construction of Salisbury Cathedral
Steve Hannath, Wiltshire Geology Group
1.30pm - meet in the cloister corner in the west corridor by the main visitor entrance to the Cathedral and model of Old Sarum - to save time people should make their donation (requested voluntary donations Adults £5.50; Seniors / Students £4.50; Groups £4.50) at the desk before meeting up.
15 - 20 minutes introduction to the Cathedral with a look at the main building materials in situ. People would then be free to look round on their own.
3.00pm - Make your way to Salisbury & South Wilts Museum (across the Close from the Cathedral about 200 metres). There will be no charge for entering the museum but there is an expectation that people who wish to visit the general exhibits would pay the normal entry fee. There is a very nice cafe in the museum and also one in the Cathedral. You should make your way to the Lecture Hall for:
3.20pm - Talk about the building stones of Salisbury Cathedral
4.20pm - Questions
5.00pm or before if all done - all depart as the Salisbury - South Wilts Museum closes at this time.
Booking essential  - email, 'phone 01722 326714 - numbers limited
NB The best parking value in Salisbury is in the Cathedral Close for £6 for the day
. Train or bus are possibilities.

Thursday 1 March 2012

GS - Origins of Plate Tectonics

Have you seen this?

13th March - Medical Origins of the Geological Society

WEGA invite you to - 
Medical origins of the Geological Society
Dr Cherry Lewis - Bristol University
Cherry Lewis' interests lie in the history of geology and she has published a popular science book on the history of dating the age of the Earth entitled: 'The Dating Game: One Man's Search for the Age of the Earth'. Cherry's talk will cover the origins of the Geological Society of London, which was founded on 13 November 1807 - the oldest such society in the world. Founding members include James Parkinson (1755-1824) who gave his name to Parkinson's Disease.
7.30pm Wills Memorial Building, Park Street, Bristol B28 1RJ; followed by Cheese and Wine
Everyone is welcome.