Bath Lecture

Lecture About Quarrying Bath Stone

A source put this on Facebook and it looks rather interesting.

Can you find up?

Geological Skills Test - Which way is UP?

HERE is a test for you! Don't scroll down the page until you have reached your decision.

Click on the "Fullscreen" button (the two diverging arrows) on the black band at the top of the photo and it will become full screen and you can zoom in and out with the + and - at the bottom right, or use your mouses scroll wheel. Press "Escape" to return to the previous page.

Your task is to decide if the rock sample is younging to the left or right.

Once you have decided, return to the previous page and scroll down to find teachers answer. And you can go fullscreen to check whether you agree with teacher!

The Geological Column

An Essay on the Geological Column

This article discusses the geological column and is a useful and well written appraisal of the column. It mentions some of the many changes that have been made and the means used to determine where the boundaries are. Well worth reading!

It all started with pebbles

Forget Planetesimals, Think Pebbles

This article in The Atlantic magazine describes how theories on planet formation are moving away from the merging of planetesimals to the accretion of pebbles. Apparently this explains why Uranus and Neptune are ice giants while Jupiter and Saturn are gas giants.

My qualifications are rather absent in this subject, so read the article and come to your own conclusions.

An artist's rendition of a star surrounded by a protoplanetary disk

Down to Earth Extra - May

Down to Earth Extra - May

You can download this from HERE. Or read it on this page below.

The eyes have it

Palaeontologists Need a Good Eye!

A recent article in the Guardian reiterates an old argument that a good eye is the best means of finding fossils. Once you have the fossil, technology can be of invaluable help but there are few technological means of helping the fossil finder.

 A cast of the dinosaur Linheraptor - the original was found when part of a single claw was exposed in a hillside. Photograph: David Hone

And some people have the knack of finding fossils. I wish I had it! On a recent trip to Morocco I managed to find a few scraps, scarcely worth picking up, while others were finding whole trilobites. And the professionals were finding and preparing magnificent specimens. You can get a flavour of the trip HERE. I intend to do a full write up soon. 

Stone Sculptures

Fantastic exhibition 'Sculpture in Stone'
Asthall Manor,
near Burford, Oxfordshire
until 10th July
Visit recommended!

Pterosaurs should have been too big to fly?

More info

Ancient birds' wings preserved in amber

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Helium shortage could be solved by new discovery

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Flint fossils

Collection of random flint fossils free to a good home - rather heavy!
If interested please contact Nick on 07891008848.

Iceland turns carbon dioxide into stone

Climate change breakthrough?

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'Lost city' in Greece is actually the result of a gas leak

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Tutankhamun's blade made from a meteorite

Ever since it was discovered wrapped in the folds of Tutankhamun's mummy in 1925, an ancient Egyptian dagger has puzzled historians. How did the boy pharaoh's craftsmen make an iron blade of such quality that it survived more than 3,000 years inside a sarcophagus without turning to rust?
Scientists have now reached an extraterrestrial answer: the dagger was forged from the metal of a fallen meteorite. A team of Egyptian and Italian researchers used X-rays to analyse the iron in the knife and discovered high amounts of nickel and a similar makeup to the iron found in crashed meteorites.
Full article

Planet Earth magazines

Planet Earth magazines - free to a good home.

Issued quarterly, complete set from:-
Summer 2002 to Spring 2010, then Winter 2011 to Autumn 2015.
(NERC did not print hard copy between and including Summer 2010 to Autumn 2011)
Contact email

Events in Panama created our modern world

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Box Rock Circus - new metal casts for fossil rubbings

The original fossil casts which had weathered badly have now been replaced by metal. Hopefully, these will last a bit longer.
Further details can be found on the website.
Click here to download a leaflet with all the details.

Ancient warm climate helps predict future

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Dino-Brexit - dinosaur migration our of Europe

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Do you know about Earthwise, produced by the British Geological Survey?

Click here for an example