NOVEMBER 2015 ISSUE 889 The Pit A Slice of History Twenty Years in the Field with The DLB With the De La Beche Club’s first centenary now behind us, with toasts now just a memory to Henry Thomas de la Beche (founder of the naonal geological survey, school of mines, and museum) and William Whitehead Was (Head of Department who encouraged two of his youngest staff, Read and Illing, to form a commiDee with the students to establish a departmental club: the DLB), now seems a good @me to review the Club’s other favourite ac@vity: field trips. Portrait photograph of William Whitehead Was when Head of Department, taken in the 1920s and thus a few years aer the De La Beche Club had been founded. © NERC from the Bri@sh Geological Survey Geoarchive, catalogue reference P552075. At the invitaon of the current President, and as a former student and then member of staff, the writer has compiled the following account from his notebooks (yes: I have kept them all!). I, like Was, see fieldwork as an effec@ve means by which to bond within the Department, very much in the spirit of Read who coined the oQ-quoted phrase “the best geologist is the one who has seen the most rocks” on being elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1939. The writer first joined the Department of Geology, forerunner of ESE, five years aer the celebraons for the first half century of the DLB and so, unlike that other great staff supporter of the Club, Doug Shearman, missed out on acquiring the dark blue @e embroidered with the silver Club crest that was made for the occasion. Doug proudly wore this @e on every appropriate occasion, of which there were many judging by the state it was in during his post-re@rement years. Doug had seen ac@ve service on minesweepers during WW2 and was always on the lookout for interes@ng sedimentary environments, thereaer concentrang on evaporites. His greatest giQ was his ability to share his passions and right to the end he encouraged students young and old to pursue their own enthusiasms for geology. The undergraduate geology programme had evolved by the 1960s under Reed’s direc@on (by the late 1940s he had become Head of Department) into four streams: Geology (“SoQ” and “Hard” Rock), Mining Geology and Oil Technology (with elements of both petroleum geology and engineering). Each had field trips as an integral part totalling some 70 days of taught fieldwork plus 8 weeks or more for independent mapping or an industrial placement during the summer vacaon prior to the final year, this being the era of 3-year degrees. With a variety of specialisaons possible in Doug Shearman and John Cosgrove the final year on top of the four streams, the explaining the hydraulic fractures within Mercia Mudstone at WatcheD DLB provided a much needed bridge in 1998. From the CORDIS Archive. between the disciplines: geology for fun, as hp://cordis.europa.eu/tmr/src/ well as a means of socialising. This was res970312.htm accessed 13 Feb 2015 achieved by lectures about once a month, oQen by alumni, social gatherings (ranging from bar nights to dinners), and field trips. This was done with the Department’s blessing and tradi@onally each year the Head of Department would give permission for lectures to be missed or even cancelled in order to aend two trips a year, one long (from Thursday lunch@me to Sunday evening) and one short (from Friday lunch@me to Sunday evening). Staff would oQen aend as well as students, some@mes leading, some@mes just for the fun of it. With a variety of specialisaons possible in the final year on top of the four streams, the DLB provided a much needed bridge between the disciplines: geology for fun, as well as a means of socialising. This was achieved by lectures about once a month, oQen by alumni, social gatherings (ranging from bar nights to dinners), and field trips. This was done with the Department’s blessing and tradi@onally each year the Head of Department would give permission for lectures to be missed or even cancelled in order to aend two trips a year, one long (from Thursday lunch@me to Sunday evening) and one short (from Friday lunch@me to Sunday evening). Staff would oQen aend as well as students, some@mes leading, some@mes just for the fun of it. ADached is a list of all the DLB field trips which the writer remembers, and shows that at @mes the thirst for fieldwork went beyond the two tradi@onal weekends, extending to one-day trips and occasionally longer periods aer the exams. Transport was usually by coach and accommodaon in a Youth Hostel, with food bought in a local pub. This was supplemented by fish’n’chips and occasionally by communal catering, but on nothing like the scale that the current commiDee provides. Keeping the costs low has always been a consideraon, so if a coach could not be filled but drivers were available then a minibus or two would be used. For a while the Department had its own but in due course it became cheaper to hire, oQen from ICU. DLB Malham 1976 – Our coach stuck in the mud! Trains were used too, especially for the one-day trips, thereby avoiding the headache of organising vehicles. However, to reach the rather more remote areas would mean either walking or, as successfully employed in Boulogne, the use of bicycles. LeQ: Boulogne 1979 – The first DLB trip to Boulogne by bicycle, 1979. 3 DLB Presidents: Chris Clayton leQ (1978-79), Naomi Oreskes 3rd from leQ (1980-81), Treasurer Julian Singer next right, Secretary Aidan Joy 4th from right, Nonie Ray 2nd from right (1979-80), Mike Rosenbaum’s bike on the right Right: DLB East Anglia 1981 – Sue Dobson President (1981-82) and Mike Rosenbaum Other kinds of accommodaon were tried: sleeping bags on the floor of friends/ siblings who lived in the field area, occasionally caravans, twice in tents, and once in a windmill (belonging to the family of Sue Dobson, DLB President 1981-82). There must be many anecdotes that par@cipants can recall, some of which were shared at the recent centenary dinner, and the following photos provide a montage of personal memories. Hopefully this account has brought back your own memories which you may like to share with us as a leDer to the editor, to appear in a future Pit. Pembroke 1984 – The late Mike Coward (blue anorak in the centre, poin@ng, who would later ins@gate Goomaloomas); Richard Hillis (front leQ red socks) was DLB President that year (1984-85) Bude 1988 (either 1) – Kink bands or boDom structures? John Cosgrove, with Ma Genge paying aen@on (red gaiters) Bude 1988 (or 2) – John Cosgrove, with Ma Genge paying aen@on leQ (white helmet) Beachy Head 1982 – Misjudging the de below Beachy Head: leader Jake Hancock 2nd from leQ Lulworth Cove 1975 with Helen Narass inside the algal structure and an unknown hand appearing from behind. Looking on is Neil Ayres, DLB President the following year, 1976-77. Anglesey 1989 – Heather Eltringham President centre (light pants), Mark Lavelle Secretary 3 to the leQ (blue top and hands in pockets), John Cosgrove 3 to the right of Heather (shades), Mike Rosenbaum to John's right (blue anorak) Bath 1980 – DLB trip in sleet to visit the home of William Smith (plaque on house wall) led by John Knill (right), then Head of Department. Nonie Ray President leQ; Naomi Oreskes future DLB President in red cagoule DLB Mendips 1978 – AQer a day in the field! Nonie Ray President leQ (1979-80) Mike Rosenbaum Geology (UG 1969-72; Geology PG 1974-76; Geology Staff 1977-98) The Geology Medals Prior to the late 1990s the earth sciences at Imperial College were largely dealt with by the Department of Geology, forerunner of ESE. The writer’s period at the College was within this Department and it seems opportune to say something about the honours which were awarded to students at the @me. Through the 1950s, 60s, 70s and 80s there were only a handful of awards available to recognise the academic achievements of Geology students: the Murchison Medal, the Was Medal and the Judd Prize. What were these awards for, and where did they come from? The Murchison Medal has the longest history. It is named in memory of Sir Roderick Impey Murchison, second Director of the Geological Survey and thus of the School of Mines following Sir Henry De La Beche in 1855. One of the first acts by Murchison was to push the emphasis of the “Metropolitan School of Science Applied to Mining and the Arts” which the original (1851) “Government School of Mines and of Science as Applied to the Arts” had become back towards mining and brought the old name back, changing the name again in 1863 to the “Royal School of Mines” aer the University of London refused to accept his students for degrees. This is when the badge of the RSM, the crossed hammers and crown, was introduced and is derived from the buDon design of the Geological Survey uniforms, reflec@ng their common ancestry under De La Beche. LeQ: The Royal School of Mines badge commissioned by Murchison in 1863. Photo of the RSM cuff link. Centre and right: The Murchison Medal. Murchison had begun his professional life in the Army but resigned aer the Bale of Waterloo since he could see no future for a military career.