October lectures - Western Region GS

15th October - The Moral Case for Mining - is it a question the mining industry can answer? Mike Harris, Rio Tinto
The mining industry operates in an environment increasingly demanding of its products. However, establishing the moral case for taking natural resources from one area to benefit another with most of the profits leaving the host country is becoming increasingly difficult. The same is true of the often irreparable change to delicate ecosystems from mining - why should plants, animals and peoples suffer, often die, in one place to benefit development in another while dominantly enriching distant investors?        
S.H. Reynolds Lecture Theatre (Room G25), Department of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol, Wills Memorial Building, Queen's Road, Bristol BS8 1RJ.
6:30pm, refreshments from 6pm
29th October - Chemical Analysis at the Natural History Musuem, London & Chemical Zoning in Volcanic Phenocrysts  Dr. Emma Humphreys-Williams, Natural History Museum
The Natural History Museum, London not only provides an area for the display and curation of thousands of specimens from the natural world, but also houses extensive imaging and analytical facilities that perform work for both in-house researchers and external clients. The chemical analysis performed in the labs covers a range of techniques (e.g. ICP-AES, ICP-MS, LA-ICP-MS, CHN, IC) but is mainly focused on determining major and trace element compositions in natural samples. Emma will give a brief presentation of the work they do and the range of techniques that have developed as a result of the unique environment. The second half of Emma's talk will be devoted to her research, which concerns the petrogenesis of intra-plate magmas, in this case, an example from Calatrava, Spain. This work has focused on clinopyroxene and olivine crystals which exhibit a range of textures and chemical compositions, but help to inform how these unusual melts form.
Atkins, The Hub (Ground Floor), 500 Park Avenue, Aztec West, Almondsbury, Bristol, BS32 4RZ  6:30pm, refreshments from 6pm