Feb 5th - Bath Geological Society AGM and Earthquakes in Asia

Bath Geological Society Annual General Meeting 7.00 p.m. 
followed by the lecture at 7.30p.m.
Searching for ancient earthquakes in the interior of Asia
Dr. Richard Walker, Dept. Earth Sciences, University of Oxford

 Mongolia, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan are lands of high mountains, faults, and earthquakes in the heart of Asia. The active deformation is due to the collision of India and Asia, which has generated faulting and mountain-building covering a region stretching from the Himalaya to Siberia, and is one of the main testing-ground for theories of continental tectonics.
In this lecture, Richard will describe some of his travels in central Asia, and will show the ways in which the landscape has been influenced by active faults and earthquakes. He will give examples of earthquakes from history and from prehistory, and will examine the hazard faced at the present-day.
7.00 p.m. 16 Queen's Square, Bath
Everyone welcome - free refreshments

Earth Heritage Magazine

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February 4th - Extreme volcanic eruptions: global catastrophe?

 Extreme volcanic eruptions: Global catastrophe?

• Wednesday 4 February 2015
• University of Bath, Lecture Theatre 8W 1.1

Apart from impact by asteroids, very large magnitude explosive eruptions are the only natural hazard that could cause global disaster and a crisis for civilisation. The vulnerability of humanity to extreme events is increasing with population, environmental change and the interdependencies implicit in globalisation.
Professor Stephen Sparks will discuss super-eruptions that can be ten to one hundred times larger than the greatest eruption of the last 1,000 years.
This is the sixth lecture in the RGS's six-part series on Global Sustainability.
For more lectures, see the full GULP programme.

Bristol volcanologist wins Earth Science 'Nobel' prize

Prof Stephen Sparks, University of Bristol

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Want to teach geology?

Do you have a degree containing geology?

Are you a teacher or training to become one?

Would you like to teach geology in your school or college?

If the answers to the above are 'yes', then - 

join the Summer School at Keele University

Industrial bursaries available so the course 

is free of charge to those UK/EU citizens 

that meet the bursary criteria.

Click here for further details

Assessing a supervolcano without making it erupt

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William Smith bicentenary celebrations

  University of Bristol: William Smith bicentenary 2015

The Geological Society of London:

William Smith Meeting 2015: 200 years of Smith's map

23 - 24 April 2015

Corsham Walking Festival - two geology-themed walks

Click here for website

Calling all amateur fossil collectors

Please click on the link to the  right to

The Geological Society of London blog 

13th January - Science without borders: Unravelling the mysteries of Mt. Paektu Volcano, North Korea

Science without borders: Unravelling the mysteries of Mt. Paektu Volcano, North Korea
Dr. James Hammond, NERC Research Fellow, Department of Earth Science and Engineering, Imperial College London
Mt. Paektu volcano (otherwise known as Changbaishan in China) is a stratovolcano on the North Korea/China border.  In the 10th century it was responsible for one of the largest eruptions in the last 2000 years, forming a 5 km wide caldera at the volcano summit with ash fall as far away as Japan.  More recently (2002-2005) the volcano showed an increase in activity with a marked increase in the number of earthquakes, measurable volcanic deformation and an increase in gas emissions - all pointing to magma recharge beneath the volcano. However, despite such a dramatic history and recent signs of magma movement, the volcano remains poorly understood.
The volcano’s location on the border of two of the world’s most secretive states is a major factor in limiting understanding of its behaviour.  In 2011 a UK delegation of scientists was invited to North Korea to discuss volcanic hazards and Mt. Paektu volcano with North Korean scientists. This led to a UK-US-North Korean collaboration (the first of its kind) to better understand the volcano.  In August 2013 a team of UK/US scientists deployed seismometers and collected geological samples around the volcano.  The seismic data is used to image magma storage beneath the volcano and this combined with constraints on historical eruptions from dating and characterising previous eruptions allows us to better understand the potential effects of future eruptions. This work, hopefully the first step in a longer lasting collaboration between the UK and North Korea, is allowing us insights into this enigmatic and potentially hazardous volcano.
7.30 p.m. Wills Memorial Building, University of Bristol

Predicting volcanic eruption

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20th January - Radioactive waste disposal

GS Western Regional Group invites you to:-  
The Current Status of Geological Screening for Disposal of Radioactive Waste
Bruce Yardley / Andrew Parkes, RWM
20 January 6:30pm
The permanent, safe disposal of higher activity radioactive waste is one of the great challenges facing Earth Scientists
The internationally agreed solution is deep geological disposal.
The Government has recently published a revised approach to addressing the issue in this country, in which the geoscientific community have a key role to play. Radioactive Waste Management Limited (RWM) is the Government-appointed developer of a geological disposal facility.
RWM’s Chief Geologist Bruce Yardley and Head of Site Characterisation Andrew Parkes will explain the new two-year national geological screening exercise, and seek Members’ inputs into the screening exercise. RWM are keen to ensure the expertise and insights of geologists, engineers, and of academics and scientists of different disciplines help shape and inform the national screening exercise and its implementation. Please feel free to bring along colleagues, ask questions and make your contribution to the debate.
Venue: Atkins, The Hub (Ground Floor), 500 Park Avenue, Aztec West, Almondsbury, Bristol, BS32 4RZ. Everyone welcome.

Fossil collecting should be for everyone

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Pollution changing Yellowstone's thermal pools

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