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GeoscientistThe Fellowship magazine of The Geological Society of London | www.geolsoc.org.uk | Volume 21 No 1 | February 2011 COLORADO RAFTING Teaching teenagers in the Grand Canyon GREAT UNWASHED Primordial basalts of Baffin Island

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IN THIS ISSUE FEBRUARY 2011

FEATURES 18 , TIME & TEENAGERS Howard Lee sells himself down the river with the boy scouts of America REGULARS 05 WELCOME Your magazine has undergone 12 COVER FEATURE: MERAPI a transformation writes Editor, Ted Nield Social volcanology on the slopes of 06 SOAPBOX Nina Morgan is looking for a new Indonesia’s deadly mountain road to geological understanding 07 GEONEWS What’s new in the world of geoscientific research 10 SOCIETY NEWS What your Society is doing at home and abroad, in London and the regions 22 LETTERS We welcome your thoughts 23 BOOKS & ARTS Two new books, reviewed by Fellows 24 PEOPLE Geoscientists in the news and on the move 26 OBITUARY Two distinguished Fellows remembered 27 CALENDAR Society activities this month 09 10 29 CROSSWORD Win a Special Publication of your choice

FEBRUARY 2011 03 WHEN KNOWLEDGE COUNTS... Free technical courses

Water Survey Techniques 24th February 2011 Wallingford, Oxon 12th May 2011 Leeds

Cone Penetration Testing 25th February 2011 Wallingford, Oxon 13th May 2011 Leeds

Engineering & Environmental ...COUNT ON FUGRO 23rd February 2011 Wallingford, Oxon

Fugro Water Services will share our expertise in advanced survey techniques with the water industry at our free courses to be held in Wallingford on 24th To register send a message to February 2011 and in Leeds on 12th May 2011. We also continue to offer our [email protected] well-established Cone Penetration Testing and Geophysics courses providing the option of 1, 2 or 3 day courses.

The course in Water Survey Techniques includes: – remote sensing () – airborne survey – ground investigations – Fugro Engineering Services Ltd – oceanographic monitoring. Tel. +44 (0)1491 820423 For consultants & engineers in the water or geotechnical industry. www.fugrowaterservices.com d EDITOR’S COMMENT GEOSCIENTIST VOLCANO GUNUNG MERAPI, JAVA, INDONESIA Front cover photo: Shutterstock d ALL CHANGE oody Allen famously wrote – in the script to his 1977 hit Annie Hall, that “a relationship is like a shark – it needs to move Geoscientist is the E enquiries@centuryone Fellowship magazine of publishing.ltd.uk forward to survive”. It is now the Geological Society W www.centuryone seven years since this magazine of London publishing.ltd.uk was last radically redesigned. Contact CHIEF EXECUTIVE WSubsequently, in Bicentenary Year (2007) we took the The Geological Society Nick Simpson Publishing House, Unit 7, T +44 (0)1727 893 894 existing design to full colour. Apart from that - and Brassmill Enterprise Centre, E nick@centuryone a few minor adjustments - our basic plan, typefaces Brassmill Lane, Bath publishing.ltd.uk and layout have remained largely unaltered. BA1 3JN T +44 (0)1225 445046 ADVERTISING EXECUTIVE This design, which comes courtesy of our new Art F +44 (0)1225 442836 Jonathan Knight Editor Heena Gudka of Century One Publishing, we T +44 (0)1727 739 193 Fellowship Queries E jonathan@centuryone hope brings us not only up to date, but marks a The Geological Society, publishing.ltd.uk radical upgrade in our presentation that will find a Burlington House, Piccadilly, London W1J 0BG ART EDITOR grateful audience among those of our readers who T +44 (0)20 7434 944 Heena Gudka have said, from time to time, that our old fonts were F +44 (0)20 7439 8975 too weedy for them to read, especially when placed E [email protected] DESIGN & PRODUCTION W www.geolsoc.org.uk Sarah Astington over tints or images. Tanya Kant Your new Geoscientist is bolder, more confident Library T +44 (0)20 7432 0999 Copyright and easier on the eye – especially older eyes. And F +44 (0)20 7439 3470 The Geological Society of while it means we will never again need to use E [email protected] London is a Registered Charity, number 210161. tinted or photographic backgrounds, it marks no EDITOR-IN-CHIEF ISSN (print) 0961-5628 diminution in our commitment to striking visuals Professor Tony Harris FGS ISSN (online) 2045-1784 and high quality photographs. EDITOR PRINTED BY Our editorial structure remains unaltered, though Dr Ted Nield NUJ FGS Century One Publishing Ltd. you will find that some things have changed EDITORIAL BOARD The Geological Society of London position. We used, for example, to put “People” Dr Sue Bowler FGS accepts no responsibility for the first; but that was a decision taken before we carried Dr Robin Cocks FGS views expressed in any article in this Dr Martin Degg FGS publication. All views expressed, obituaries. Many readers have commented that to except where explicitly stated Dr Joe McCall FGS otherwise, represent those of the open a magazine and find obituaries was not Dr Jonathan Turner FGS author, and not The Geological perhaps the best policy, and we agree. Obituaries Dr Ian Zalasiewicz FGS Society of London. All rights reserved. No paragraph of this publication may now come fittingly at the back. Trustees of the Geological be reproduced, copied or transmitted Each issue will in future carry two features – one Society of London save with written permission. Users registered with Copyright Clearance lead feature at 2500 words and a second feature at Dr J P B Lovell OBE Center: the Journal is registered with (President); Professor P A CCC, 27 Congress Street, Salem, MA 1250. In other sections, like Geonews, People and Allen (Secretary, Science); 01970, USA. 0961-5628/02/ Miss S Brough; Mr M $15.00. Every effort has been made Society News, stories will be shorter and crisper in Brown; Professor R Butler; to trace copyright holders of material style. Many will highlight online versions written Dr M Daly; Professor A J in this publication. If any rights have Fleet (Treasurer); Dr S A been omitted, the publishers offer more expansively for those interested in following Gibson; Dr R Herrington; their apologies. them up, in depth. This will mean that detailed and Dr R A Hughes; Dr A Law; No responsibility is assumed by the important news about, for example, changes to Professor A R Lord Publisher for any injury and/or (Secretary, Foreign & damage to persons or property as a CPD or Chartership procedures, will appear in full External Affairs); Professor matter of products liability, online, flagged by abbreviated items in the print J Ludden; Mr P Maliphant; negligence or otherwise, or from any use or operation of any methods, version of Society News. Professor D A C Manning products, instructions or ideas (Secretary, Professional contained in the material herein. Geoscientist belongs to you – in the very real Matters); Professor S Although all advertising material is Marriott (Vice President); expected to conform to ethical sense that it is the magazine of the Fellowship, not Professor S Monro OBE; Dr (medical) standards, inclusion in this of “The Society”. While it relies hugely upon C P Summerhayes (Vice publication does not constitute a guarantee or endorsement of the contributions from staff and its Editorial Board, President); Professor J H quality or value of such product or of Geoscientist Tellam; Dr G W Tuckwell the claims made by its manufacturer. The Fellowship magazine of the Geological Society of London | www.geolsoc.org.uk | Volume 21 No 1 | February 2011 the people who really matter are – as Leonard (Vice President); Dr J P COLORADO RAFTING Sachs used to say - “chiefly yourselves”. So, Teaching teenagers Turner (Secretary, Subscriptions: All correspondence geology in the relating to non-member subscriptions Grand Canyon contributions - particularly of feature articles - are Publications); Professor D GREAT J Vaughan; Mr N R G should be addresses to the Journals UNWASHED Primordial basalts warmly invited. Features are the backbone of the Walton. Subscription Department, Geological of Baffin Island Society Publishing House, Unit 7 publication, and provide a great opportunity Brassmill Enterprise Centre, Brassmill Published on behalf of the Lane, Bath, BA1 3JN, UK. Tel: 01225 for you to highlight your geological work to a Geological Society of 445046. Fax: 01225 442836. Email: London by [email protected]. The wider readership. Century One Publishing subscription price for Volume 21, If you wish to discuss a feature idea, or indeed if w us on twitter 2011 (11 issues) to institutions and follo tistmag /geoscien ] Alban Row, 27–31 Verulam [www.twitter.com non-members is £108 (UK) or £124 / you have any views on our new design, please write Road, St Albans, Herts, US$247 (Rest of World). UNDER THE AL3 4DG VOLCANO to [email protected]. T +44 (0)1727 893 894 © 2011 The Geological Society of F +44 (0)1727 893 895 London Social volcanology on Merapi DR TED NIELD EDITOR

FEBRUARY 2011 05 GEOSCIENTIST SOAPBOX

Geology on the map!

BY NINA MORGAN Nina Morgan* , journalist, historian and creator of our Distant Thunder column, believes she has identified a new road to geological understanding – and, perhaps, of holiday strife…

SOAPBOX The British (BGS) is in the standard familiar format with doing a great job in promoting the public geology superimposed along with the understanding of geology by making roads and place names could well be. As Soapbox is open to tremendous amounts of geological an inexpensive vehicle to promote interest contributions from all Fellows. information available free and palatably and understanding among a wide section You can always write a letter to via OpenGeoscience (www.bgs.ac.uk/ of the public at large, a geological road the Editor, of course: but opengeoscience). Their recently launched atlas has a lot going for it. After all, in perhaps you feel you need app for iPhones/iPad (Geoscientist 20.11, spite of the enthusiastic take-up of sat-nav more space? p9), which provides a clever way to home systems by drivers, many people still into the geology under your feet, takes don't leave home with out a road atlas. If you can write it entertainingly in things further. 500 words, the Editor would like PIECE OF CAKE to hear from you. iPHONE – BUT DO YOU? With topographic, location and geological No doubt these resources will be widely data now all available in digital format, Email your piece, and a self- welcomed by schools as well as digitally- marrying road maps with geological maps portrait, to ted.nield@geolsoc. enhanced members of the public who own to produce a road atlas should be, org.uk. Copy can only be – and know how to use – these expensive technically, a piece of cake. Admittedly accepted electronically. No devices. But, like William Smith himself, there would be some licensing issues to diagrams, tables or other for me nothing can beat a paper map for overcome, but recent moves towards illustrations please. really putting geology into perspective. simpler and more opening licensing As Smith said of them in a document arrangements should make this easier. Pictures should be of print included with the copy of his Geological “But before we embark on producing a quality – as a rule of thumb, Atlas at the Hope Library (Oxford new product, we do need to ensure that anything over a few hundred University Museum of Natural History): the demand is there” says Jerry Hodgson, kilobytes should do. "By their colouring they bring up the Head of CartoGIS at the BGS. “The BGS natural features of the Country and has always been keen to get its geological Precedence will always be given

facilitate the acquirement of Geology." mapping information to users through as to more topical contributions. Paper maps also have the obvious many routes as possible, whether this be Any one contributor may not

advantage that anyone can use them in the form of printed maps or via web appear more often than once per without fancy widgets, gizmos, internet, services or smartphone apps. A geological volume (once every 12 months). broadband, 3G or WiFi. Admittedly, road atlas is an intriguing idea and we d unfolding a paper map in the teeth of a would be interested to hear the reaction to howling gale – let alone on the front seat it from potential users.” of a car – is not everyone's idea of Now that the seeds have AS AN convenience. been sown, we need a However, a “grass-routes” INEXPENSIVE VEHICLE road atlas, campaign for a TO PROMOTE geological road atlas! INTEREST AND Write to BGS today, addressing your UNDERSTANDING comments to Jerry AMONG A WIDE Hodgson at SECTION OF THE [email protected] and get this project PUBLIC, A on the road! GEOLOGICAL ROAD ATLAS HAS A LOT * Nina Morgan is a science writer based GOING FOR IT near Oxford Nina Morgan d A geological road atlas could guide you reliably from Aalenian to Zweikanter

06 FEBRUARY 2011 GEONEWS GEOSCIENTIST The great unwashed Geochemists think they have discovered that derived directly from a region of primordial mantle, unchanged since the Earth formed. Harriet Jarlett* reports

GEOCHEMISTRY have long believed that READ IT FIRST ONLINE AT any traces of the Earth’s primordial [www.geolsoc.org.uk/ were destroyed long geoscientist ago by the planet’s many ] geological processes, which differentiate and recycle Earth materials, washing them clean of all traces of their origins. However, new evidence from rocks in the

Canadian Arctic suggests that some samples may still provide clues to thed Earth’s earliest history.

LEAD ISOTOPE COMPOSITIONS SUGGEST A SOURCE AGE OF 4.55 TO 4.45 BILLION YEARS Harriet Jarlett d Matthew Jackson (Boston University) and co-authors1 believe they have identified clear isotopic evidence that Cenozoic lavas from Baffin Island and West Greenland, Canada, derive from a deep Earth reservoir that has remained inaccessible to the Earth’s washing-machine processes for continuously since accretion, as this decay of samarium, so the higher Above: Basalts of four and a half billion years. Their primitive isotope leaked out in Baffin Island. Photo ratio found in the Baffin Island lavas work involves the first ever volcanic activity. Unusually high by Don Francis seems also to point to a primitive combined analysis of helium, lead, levels of 3He seen in these rocks (McGill University) source. neodymium and hafnium on these can only mean that they were Coauthor Richard Carlson lavas, which are mid ocean-ridge derived from a mantle source that (Carnegie Institution of Washington) basalts (MORB) erupted during the has never degassed. says that these lavas “set the stage opening of the North Atlantic. But helium is not the only clue. for everything. Primitive mantle, such The greatest evidence for the The lavas’ lead isotope as we have identified, would have existence of this reservoir of compositions also lie very close to been the ultimate source of all the primitive materials is the higher the 4.5Ga geochron, suggesting an , and all the different rock ratio of primordial (3He) to age of between 4.55 and 4.45 types, we see on Earth today." radiogenic helium (4He). billion years for their source – also Radiogenic 4He is produced during dating them to a remote era before * Harriet Jarlett is a UCL graduate geologist the decay of unstable isotopes of planetary differentiation, when the working as an intern on Geoscientist uranium and thorium. This indeed rock cycle began to overwrite the is the source of all our available geochemistry of the source REFERENCE helium gas - a precious resource materials of our planet. that is, thanks to its artificially low The lavas also contain a 5% market price, currently being higher ratio of the element 1 Jackson M G, et al. Evidence for the survival of the oldest squandered in toy balloons at a samarium (Sm) to neodymium (Nd) terrestrial mantle reservoir. much faster rate than it can than is found in chondrite Nature, 2010; 466 (7308): 853 accumulate. By contrast, 3He meteorites. Neodymium is DOI: 10.1038/nature09287 levels have been declining produced during the radioactive

FEBRUARY 2011 07 GEOSCIENTIST GEONEWS

Leonard Horner: pioneering reformer Ann Jones* reports the publication of a biography of a tireless reformer and geologist who, as one of the Society’s earliest recruits, witnessed the fiercest controversies of his day

to serve as the first (and only) Warden HISTORY OF SCIENCE Right: Leonard of London University in 1827. There, Horner: pioneering Leonard Horner started a revolution in Horner’s reforming zeal enraged a reformer is published by Heriot- education; the quietly implacable powerful cabal of professors who Watt University to factory inspector who laid the claimed his scalp four years later in a mark the 40th foundations for workers’ safety and ferocious row over who ruled the anniversary of its Edinburgh campus. tireless promoter of geological roost on the University Council. Copies £20 plus p&p research who befriended some of the Horner’s determination was to serve from www.hw.ac.uk brightest stars of science of his day. him well in his greatest challenge. In /shop.htm Blackwell Bookshop, In the first full-length account of 1833 he became one of the first Edinburgh Campus, Horner’s life published November Factory Inspectors, appointed to or by order from any bookshop. ISBN 2010, he emerges as one of the major police the new Factory Act, designed 978-0-9566729-0-2 figures in 19th Century educational to limit the working hours of children and social reform. Author Patrick N employed in mills, and ensure their its earliest Fellows, Horner twice O’Farrell (Professor Emeritus, Heriot- right to education. Horner’s tenacious served as President and curated the

Watt University) studied the family campaign for reform earned praise Society museum. Among his friends archives of Horner’s great-great-great- from both Tory peer Lord Ashley and he numbered Sir Humphry Davy, grandson Lord Lyell, 3rd Baron of Karl Marx.d Charles Lyell (who married Horner’s Kinnordy, as well as sources in the daughter Mary) and Charles Darwin, Geological Society of London, the who was tipped to marry another of National Archives and elsewhere to ONE OF THE MAJOR Horner’s daughters but was locate key first-hand accounts of apparently put off by her formidable Horner’s life and achievements. FIGURES IN 19TH CENTURY intelligence. Leonard Horner (1785 -1864) EDUCATIONAL AND Horner was a keen supporter of first made his mark in 1821 as co- SOCIAL REFORM the British Association for the founder and secretary of the Ann Jones Advancement of Science. Hosting Edinburgh School of Arts, the world’s d breakfast at the Edinburgh meeting first mechanics’ institute – forerunner Despite his daunting workload in 1834, his guests included Jean of Heriot-Watt University. Intended to Horner pursued a life-long passion Louis Rodolphe Aggasiz, pioneer open doors to professional education, for geology. Born in the same year of glacial theory, William Buckland, the Edinburgh School of Arts that presented his two GSL Presidents and not least, equipped its students to meet the Theory of the Earth to the Royal Adam Sedgwick - founder of the changing needs of business, industry Society of Edinburgh, Horner studied Cambrian system, whose lively and society - an ethos still central to geology at Edinburgh University and dispute with Murchison is also the University today. explored the formations on Arthur’s recounted in the book. After founding the elite Edinburgh Seat that had inspired Hutton. Academy in 1825 he was headhunted Joining the Society in 1808 as one of * Archivist, Heriot-Watt University

08 FEBRUARY 2011 GEONEWS GEOSCIENTIST

Reptiles recover after climate change IN BRIEF Ecosystem collapse might not have to spell the end for animal communities, according to a new study of Carboniferous rainforest I HOT KENYA ROCKS Kenya’s Geothermal Development communities published in the journal Geology, reports Sarah Day Company is drilling six geothermal wells at Menengai, a huge caldera PALAEOECOLOGY volcano, just north of Nakuru (Gregory Rift Valley) writes Joe The collapse of ecosystems like McCall. Due for completion by rainforests is one of the feared June 2011, by December Kenya outcomes for climate change. hopes to be looking for However, scientists from Royal developers. Holloway, University of London and the University of Bristol have found Kenya already has three such evidence that, 300 million years ago, installations at Olkoria (Lake the effect of such a collapse was Naivasha). Exploration started in beneficial to the evolution of reptiles1. 1956 – though production only “Climate change caused rainforests began in 1981. The field covers to fragment into small ‘islands’ of 70km2 and boasts 110 wells (50 forest” explains Dr Howard Falcon- production, six re-injection). Lang, one of the authors of the study. Thirteen further prospects have ‘It isolated populations of reptiles, and been identified, of which three (all each community evolved in separate near caldera volcanoes Longonot, directions, leading to an increase in populations” says co-author Sarda Above: Suswa and Menengai) have been diversity”. A similar phenomenon was Sahney (University of Bristol). Carboniferous surveyed. The total potential is observed by Darwin in the Galapagos However, she said that the rainforests collapsed as climate changed – estimated at >2000 MWe. islands, where isolated groups of conclusions of the study should not yet reptiles boomed animals (giant tortoises, finches) bring about complacency towards Menengai, a trachyte central evolved differently in isolation from today’s rainforest ecosystems. “Life volcano of shield form is underlain their parent population. may not be so lucky again in the by a high-level chamber “This is a classic ecological future, should the Amazon rainforest and encloses a vast caldera response to habitat fragmentation” collapse” she warned. first erupted at 0.18 Ma, about says Professor Mike Benton from the 30 km3 in volume and 12km University of Bristol, who co-authored across. The last lavas erupted the paper. “You see the same process REFERENCE only 8300 years ago. Active happening today; it’s even been fumaroles produce mainly CO studied on traffic islands between 1 S Sahney, M J Benton and H J 2 with some steam, while there is a major road systems!” Falcon-Lang, 'Rainforest danger of asphyxiation from The scientists studied the fossil collapse triggered Carboniferous tetrapod diversification in mofettes within the caldera. record of reptiles around an event in Euramerica', Geology, December the Carboniferous, when rising 2010, v. 38, p. 1079-1082. During the 1957 groundwater temperatures and a drier climate survey of Nakuru, drilling three caused devastation to the rainforests kilometres north of the caldera that then covered much of modern- produced low pressure steam at day Europe and North America. They 60m. I was dubious about the found that, rather than ‘suffering’ from funn y old viability of geothermal resources the event, reptiles changed their diet [ because of the dominance of CO as they adapted to the new climate WORLD ] 2 over steam emissions; but several and environment, becoming techniques developed since (hot

increasingly diverse. Unconsidered rock, steam and hot groundwater, “It is fascinating that even in the face

trifles, by ‘Snapper’ re-injection), have been of devastating ecosystem collapse, successful elsewhere (e.g., in the animals may continue to diversify Monitor: Marian d Paris Basin). through the creation of endemic Holness. All contributions gratefully received. Please write The Menengai venture stands A CLASSIC to the Editor at every chance of success in this Burlington House, or energy-poor country. The ECOLOGICAL RESPONSE TO email ted.nield Menengai site lies close to the HABITAT FRAGMENTATION @geolsoc.org.uk town of Nakuru, immediately at Mike Benton marking your the foot of the southern outer d submission “snapper”. slope of the slumbering volcano. FEBRUARY 2011 09 GEOSCIENTIST SOCIETY NEWS SOCIETYNEWS ELECTIONS TO COUNCIL 2011-12

The October 2010 issue of Geoscientist invited Fellows to nominate new members of Council, including President-designate. A preliminary ballot will be conducted, the results of which will determine the list for the formal vote at the Annual General Meeting to be held on 8 June 2011. VOTE ONLINE NOW! By the time you receive this issue, full details of all candidates will be available online, where you will also be able to vote. (It was not possible to include this information with this issue, because the February copy deadline preceded the closing date for nominations.) The March issue will include the full details now available on the website, and will include a postal ballot paper; but we encourage Fellows to vote online now. Go to www.geolsoc.org.uk/vote2011 log on, and follow the instructions.

Closing date for all voting, online and postal: 31 March 2011. Edmund Nickless

Society Awards 2011 Geological Society Club HONORARY FELLOWS Former Society President Steve Sparks (Bristol The Geological Society Club, the successor to the Edmund Nickless University) heads the list of the Society Awards 2011. body that gave birth to the Society in 1807, meets writes: Fellows are Also featuring this year is Geoscientist magazine monthly (except over the field season!) at 18.30 for reminded that they stalwart Joe McCall, who gains a Distinguished 19.00 in the Athenaeum Club, Pall Mall. Once a year may nominate Service Award. Awards will be presented on there is also a special dinner at Burlington House. New candidates for President’s Day, 8 June 2011. The full list reads diners are always welcome, especially from among as follows. younger Fellows. Dinner costs £45 for a four-course SOCIETY REMINDERS Honorary Fellowship at any meal, including coffee and port. (The Founders' Dinner, time. To find out : Robert Stephen John Sparks; Lyell in November, has its own price structure.) There is a how to do this, Medal: Christopher Paola; Murchison Medal: Bruce cash bar for the purchase of aperitifs and wine. please go to Watson; : Robert Stuart Please note – you should keep checking dates here www.geolsoc. Haszeldine; Aberconway Medal: Rebecca Lunn; Coke as they may be subject to change without notice. org.uk/honorary Medal: Jon Paul Davidson; Coke Medal: Christopher fellowship. Stringer; : Alexander Densmore; R H 2011: 23 February; 16 March; 13 April 2011 Worth Prize: Peter Kennett; Wollaston Fund: Heiko (Burlington House - prov.); 18 May FUTURE Pälike; William Smith Fund: Daniel Le Heron; Lyell MEETINGS Fund: Emily Jane Rayfield; Any Fellow of the Society wishing to dine should Murchison Fund: Sarah contact Dr Andy Fleet, Secretary to I OGMs: Sherlock; Distinguished the Geological Society Dining Club, 13 April 2011 Service Award: Gerald Department of , The I Council: Joseph Home McCall. Natural History Museum, 2/3 February 2011; Cromwell Road, London SW7 (residential); 13 Two President’s Awards 5BD. Email: a.fleet@ nhm.ac.uk April 2011. (yet to be decided) will - from whom further details also be given. may be obtained. DR

10 FEBRUARY 2011 Steve Sparks SOCIETY NEWS GEOSCIENTIST

FROM THE LIBRARY [lectures The library is open to visitors ] Monday-Friday 0930-1730. Shell London For a list of new acquisitions click the appropriate link from Lecture Series http://www.geolsoc.org.uk/gsl/info

Challenged by Carbon: The Oil Rare book of the month! Industry and The eruption of Krakatoa and as far apart as Climate Change subsequent phenomena: report of the central America and 16 February 2011 Krakatoa Committee of the Royal Scandinavia, where Society, edited by G.J. Symons (1888) affiliates of the Royal Is there a low-carbon Michael McKimm writes: As hoards of Society avidly future for the oil industry? people rushed with digital cameras to documented the As the debate over climate capture the terrific sunsets last April, startling skies. change evolves, can the when the ash from Eyjafjällajökull An engrossing oil industry be saviours stretched over northern Europe, so in document of the geological, rather than villains, through 1883 painters readied their easels as meteorological, seismic and magnetic the capture and underground storage of carbon the after-effects of the eruption of implications of the eruption, the report is dioxide? Challenging the prejudices of both Krakatoa produced stunning light- also a fascinating insight into the global environmentalists and the oil industry, Bryan Lovell shows all over the world. reach of a scientific organisation in the will address the subject of his recent book The drawings shown here, the Victorian period, as world-encompassing ‘Challenged by Carbon: The Oil Industry and Climate frontispiece to the Royal Society 1888 as Krakatoa’s ash itself. Change’. report on Krakatoa, are reproduced from The Library operates a sponsorship Dr Bryan Lovell is Senior Research Fellow in Earth crayon sketches made on the bank of the scheme to help preserve and restore its Sciences at Cambridge University, and President of Thames on 26 November 1883 by Mr W. rare books. For more information, The Geological Society. Ashcroft. They illustrate the appearance contact Michael McKimm in the library, of the sunset three months after or see the Sponsor A Book page on the I Programme – Afternoon talk: 1430pm Tea & Krakatoa’s blast, a phenomenon which Society’s website: Coffee: 1500 Lecture begins: 1600 Event ends. was echoed in observations from places www.geolsoc.org.uk/sponsorabook I Programme – Evening talk: 1730 Tea & Coffee: 1800 Lecture begins: 1900 Reception/Book launch.

FURTHER INFORMATION I DONATION Mineralogy, Geotectonic Research, Please visit www.geolsoc.org.uk/ Chariot Oil & Gas has donated to the Mineral Processing and Extractive shelllondonlectures11. Entry to each lecture is by Library a copy of The geology of Metallurgy, Mineralogical Magazine, ticket only. To obtain a ticket please contact Leila Namibia by R McG Miller, Geological Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Taleb around four weeks before the talk. Due to the Survey of Namibia, three vols. (2008). Paläontologie, Neues Jahrbuch für popularity of this lecture series, tickets are allocated Mineralogie, and Newsletters on in a monthly ballot and cannot be guaranteed. I FEES UP . Descriptions of their The Copyright Licensing Agency subject areas and content can be Contact: Leila Taleb, Event Manager, The Geological Society, copyright fee has been increased to found on the E-journals section of Burlington House, Piccadilly, London W1J 0BG, T: +44 (0) £9.00 + VAT. This will be added to our website at 20 7432 0981 E: [email protected] invoices for photocopies required for www.geolsoc.org.uk/ejournals. commercial research. I MISSING BOOK I PETROLEUM ABSTRACTS Unsaturated soil mechanics by Fellows and Corporate Affiliates can Lu, Ning & Likos, William J: (Wiley use Petroleum Abstracts (50 years’ 2004) is missing from the shelves data!) for searches inside the Library at and the Librarian would be grateful no charge. Alternatively, staff can for its return. undertake literature searches for a fee. Other databases available include I LIBRARY SITE GeoRef and Immage. The Library’s New Year book sale is now online at I NINE MORE OFFSITE! www.geolsoc.org.uk/library_surplus Fellows now enjoy offsite access to a With books, maps, special issues of further nine journals using ‘Athens’ journals and individual reprints from logins: Applied , Clay various magazines, now is the time to Minerals, European Journal of pick up a bargain!

FEBRUARY 2011 11 GEOSCIENTIST FEATURE

limbing towards the growing Many residents living on Merapi dome of Mt Merapi have a spiritual relationship with the one cannot help but think ‘I volcano that appears to have influenced am going to die’ - and then ‘I their reactions during its frequent am so stupid’. Anyone who episodes of unrest. The local blend of has studied past eruptions Javanese and animistic beliefs has Cof Merapi (Central Java, Indonesia) been shaped by years of eruption should surely know better. Every two experiences, producing a distinctive or three years the dome collapses - culture of hazard – or, as others describe sending pyroclastic flows down its it, a “disaster subculture”. This is not slopes. Less frequently, larger explosive unique to Mt Merapi. Examples can be eruptions threaten over one million found all over the globe. people living on the fertile but deadly flanks of this volcano. ALIVE Despite the danger, in late 2007, just At Vesuvius and Etna (Italy), Christian one year after a dome collapse eruption, religious ceremonies incorporating cultural expert Aris Suharyanto, local saintly relics have been held in an villager Riyanto and I - a social attempt to stop flows of lava1. Such folk - climbed to the summit. traditions need not always be dangerous. In the dark, among house-sized boulders During the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami, of andesitic rock and against the 78,000 residents of Simeulue Island backdrop of growling rock falls, I (150km off the west coast of Sumatra, realised that the villagers with whom we Indonesia) self-evacuated2, saved by a were living were correct. This volcano is traditional lullaby whose lyric recalled alive. No-one believed this more the warning signs and advised running strongly than Mbah Maridjan, Merapi’s to high ground. Around Mt Pinatubo “spiritual caretaker”, who, when asked (Philippines) despite no official record of about the dangers said: “The creatures pre-1991 eruptions, historical eruptions will protect us”. had been memorialised within the Tragically, in October 2010, burning legends of the Aytas people, warning of pyroclastic flows expelled during the the potential for large events3. These largest eruption in living memory killed examples suggest that while a local Mbah Maridjan - along with over 250 subculture can place communities at others. Despite efforts to evacuate this increased risk, as people attempt to elderly and humble man, he refused to “prevent” the hazard, it can, conversely, leave until he had performed sholat form the basis of local resilience. maghrib (Islamic sunset prayers) because “Those who ran down from the village to he felt it was his duty to stay and a place of safety told of the suicide procession. appease the unseen creatures of the There was hardly a survivor who didn’t have mountain and fulfil his Islamic duties. a relative or friend walking out to welcome He did so. His body was found still in a death and honour the god. They had seen

position of prayer. them go, accompanied by their music.” M THE CREATURES WILL PROTECT US Kate Donovan and Aris Suharyanto* have been living on Mt Merapi, Indonesia, attempting to understand the people who live, farm – and die there MVolcano Gunung Merapi, Java, Indonesia GEOSCIENTIST FEATURE

M (Mt Agung, 1963, described by Anna Mathews in The Night of Purnama). In 1963, hundreds of people were killed as they processed towards Mt Agung (Bali, Indonesia) as it erupted. Many bodies were later found still clutching traditional gamelan instruments. Mt Agung had not erupted for 500 years; locals interpreted the eruption as representing gods coming down from the mountain and decided to welcome them at their many temples. In 2006, media reports suggested that residents living on Mt Merapi were refusing to evacuate. Perhaps the tragedy of Agung was about to repeat itself on Merapi. Holy temple on the slopes of Mt The man at the heart of these news Merapi. Would stories was Mbah Maridjan. He had the tragedy on Agung in 1963 been appointed by the Sultan of be repeated Yogyakarta (a large city just 30km south here? of the volcano) to hold ceremonies for the creatures that apparently lived at the summit. He was refusing to leave his home, and by doing so was apparently inspiring others to do likewise. This may not have been the entire story, however. Were these people really willing to face a horrible death for the sake of their traditional beliefs alone? To try to answer this question and need to immerse themselves in the everyday lives of communities at risk, and employ the techniques of social science. This hybrid subject could be referred to as When Mt social volcanology4, using methods of Merapi erupted in October 2010 social research to explore the local – not long after perception of volcanic hazards. this photo was taken – 210 villagers living DIVERSITY on its slopes Mbah Maridjan’s reaction to official were killed evacuation policy and his trust in his traditional faith demonstrated the Indonesian’s cultural belief in the connection between nature and human life. Ancient beliefs remain strong in Indonesia. Natural disasters are often interpreted as punishment for political corruption, or perceived lack of respect towards traditional customs in the wake of modern ideas. Mt Merapi’s eruptions have not only created a subculture specific to its immediate slopes. They play an important role in Javanese Gathering fodder culture as a whole. for livestock on the slopes of Indonesia is one of the most Merapi. geologically active and culturally diverse Inhabitants of countries in the world. At the heart of Pelemsari, one of the settlements this archipelago of more than 17 500 destroyed, islands lies Java, the country’s cultural travelled many and political hub and home to over 40 miles each day to find suitable active volcanoes and 130 million people. grazing for Mt Merapi, a stratovolcano considered their cattle

14 FEBRUARY 2011 FEATURE GEOSCIENTIST

by some to be in a continuous state of eruption due to its constant dome growth activity, sits at its heart. Its cone looms over two large cities - Yogyakarta city (pop. 400,000) and Surakarta (Solo) city to the east (pop. 600,000 – see map. In the last 200 years this volcano has shown two styles of eruptive activity. In the 19th Century it produced relatively large explosive eruptions, while in the 20th, viscous domes have cyclically grown and collapsed. The most recent eruption (October, November 2010) saw an increase in explosive behaviour and confirmed that Merapi’s activity is The slopes of now primarily directed towards its Mt Merapi are southern flanks. densely populated, and divided into an DISASTER SUBCULTURE intricate jigsaw-pattern From 26 October through to mid- of village lands November 2010, Mt Merapi expelled large pyroclastic flows, destroying After villages on these southern flanks. One of the many settlements destroyed was Pelemsari, home of Mbah Maridjan, located just two kilometres from the summit between two main drainage systems: the River Gendol and the River Kuning. Among dense undergrowth, this scattering of traditional Javanese households eked a living, selling milk and livestock. The people owned only small plots of land that provided some food to feed their families, while grass for cattle had to be laboriously collected from elsewhere on the volcano’s slopes. Despite this humble, quiet day-to-day existence, once a year Pelemsari played The village of host the Labuhan ceremony, the largest Pelemsari, as it appeared and most important traditional event in Before before and after the region. Its purpose was to appease the eruption the creatures that, according to local belief, lived at the summit. Lasting over two days, it brought participants from across Indonesia to the tiny settlement, eager to receive a blessing. In the early morning, Mbah Maridjan would lead a silent procession consisting of staff from the Kraton (the palace of the Sultan of Yogyakarta), villagers and pilgrims to a scared place of worship one kilometre above the highest house on the volcano’s southern side, set not within dense forest, but surrounded by the grey An early morning procession led by scree that caps the summit. Through the Mbah Maridjan swirling mist, one could hear the to the sacred gemlugur (rockfalls); and as the place above the highest house on chanting began, Pak Pujo (Mbah Merapi’s Maridjan’s aide) lifted cloth and rice southern flank. Maridjan was above his head as an offering to the killed in the Makhluk halus alus, or unseen creatures as recent eruption, a sense of anticipation grew within the his body found in the position kneeling crowd. Once the offering was

of prayer made, the crowd surged forward, each M

FEBRUARY 2011 15 GEOSCIENTIST FEATURES

M person trying to get their own piece of things. First, by being able to place blame the blessed food. Later, back in the elsewhere, the local community are able village, the story of the Labuhan would to better cope psychologically with the be told through a traditional and dangers they face. Second, the stories elaborate dance. also suggest that unaffected populations This begins with Sultan Panembahan perceive themselves as less vulnerable Senopati, being presented with Endog and more skilful. This complacency Jagad, or “Egg of the World”, by a renders them less likely to prepare for a Anticipation mysterious stranger. The Sultan is asked future eruption, ironically making grows among the kneeling to eat the egg; but in order to make sure themselves more vulnerable. Third, if crowd it was not poisoned, he orders both his these stories are entirely believed loyal assistant and his gardener to try then the only preparation deemed first. Immediately they turn into Buto - necessary might be to hold ceremonies giants or creatures. Being fearful of to appease the creatures. these, the Sultan orders them to live at As more people fall victim to Mt Mt Merapi, promising to provide them Merapi, more myths are created. For with food and clothing every year in the example, during the 2006 eruption two form of Labuhan. With the completion of local people were killed in a bunker near the ceremony, the creatures are appeased Pelemsari. Yadi, from Batur (five and will protect the village from kilometres south of Pelemsari) explained: eruption. However, frequent eruptions “The people who died...were wrong to be remind the villagers of what might in the bunker because they knew it was happen if the creatures are “unhappy”. dangerous. The creature wanted them”. MODERN MYTH “OUR VILLAGE IS SAFE” In 1994 a dome collapse sent pyroclastic With so many killed last year, including flows towards a settlement called Turgo. Mbah Maridjan, will similar myths arise, Tragically, at this time Turgo was hosting as residents return to their stricken Dancers re-tell the story of a wedding ceremony and 64 people were settlements? The answer may relate to the Labuhan killed. Mt Merapi residents believe that the widespread perception that ‘our the wedding party died because they had village is safe’. disobeyed instructions given to them by This idea comes not only from a belief the creature of Turgo. Pak Karyo, a in the supernatural creatures’ ability to resident of Pelemsari, explains: protect certain dutiful settlements but “In 1994 the famers in the village of Turgo also from previous eruption experience. were given permission to live in Tugro by the On the northen saddle between Mt creature, with one request: If you plan a Merapi and Mt Merbabu ( a volcano ceremony or wedding do not use the days immediately north of Merapi – cover Jumat Kilwon and Selasa Kilwon [specific image) communities clinging to the days in the Javanese calendar]. The victims of unstable slopes have not been directly the 1994 eruption were attending a wedding affected by an eruption in living memory. on Selasa Kilwon.” Farmers here find it unimaginable that The area in Turgo that was Mt Merapi could erupt in their destroyed was abandoned. direction - and therefore have no The house holding the plans to evacuate. Harno, a wedding is now a ruin. resident of Bulu The settlement Remnants of the Kidul on the of Bulu Kidul, on the north west nuptials were never north east of the flank of Merapi removed, and the area volcano, says: is now avoided as if “It is impossible for cursed. Turgo is now Merapi to spit here, this is a reclusive the back bone. We have settlement - never evacuated from reflecting the here. It is impossible...” stigma of losing As Harno implies, the so many of its volcano is thought in this community, and by region to be a giant sitting with the conviction that its back to the northern villages. they brought it on The erupting volcano is thought Inhabitants of Bulu Kidul believe themselves. to be vomiting; and because they are safe This and other vomit comes only from the from eruptions modern myths, well mouth, the belief is that Mt because their village is situated known among local Merapi too will only spew on Merapi’s people, suggest three southwards. As Ismail, from Selo (the “backbone”

16 FEBRUARY 2011 FEATURE GEOSCIENTIST

largest settlement on Mt Merapi’s to them. The future of social southern flank) says: volcanology relies on identifying and “If you climb Merapi from the south monitoring high-hazard regions, and the Sultan says that it is dangerous and will only be effective if used in impolite because you are climbing up the collaboration with physical volcanology face of Merapi” to produce a holistic view of risk. With such a strong conviction that Collaboration and mutual respect are their villages are safe, many locals on Mt vital to the practical application of Merapi do not believe that evacuation is such research. necessary, especially when this means As for those who must live alongside abandoning their livestock and Mt Merapi on a daily basis, thousands potentially losing all they have. For are currently doing so in temporary these extremely poor communities shelters. As they recover, they will their livestock are their livelihoods, continue to balance the benefits of savings and future. As Narti from living in this fertile region against the Pelemsari explains: dangers of an eruption. In the south, “If I stayed in the evacuation place I get recent experience has changed people’s food but my cow does not” attitudes towards the volcano and many These people have to balance the risk are trying to find other places to live. between definitely losing their income if The head of Pelemsari hamlet says he is their livestock starve, or possibly losing too heartbroken to return and is looking everything in an eruption. In 2006, many for another place to live. But those who villagers were unwilling to accept the do return may continue to use their loss of their livestock and continued to beliefs as coping mechanisms. care for them throughout the crisis. As the memory of this recent This meant that communities at risk eruption fades into mythology, only one only evacuated part-time, returning thing remains certain. Mt Merapi will home during daylight hours. Similarly, erupt again. I in the initial stages of the 2010 eruption, the local population tried to return to their homes. Sadly this risk became too * Kate Donovan, Department of Earth Sciences, great. Pelemsari was one of the first University of Oxford, UK. Aris Suharyanto, The settlements to be destroyed as Intercultural Institute Yogyakarta, Indonesia. pyroclastic flows thundered down the once-lush slopes. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This research was funded through an FUTURE ESRC/NERC Interdisciplinary Studentship and Living within the community on Mt was successful due to the support and guidance Merapi, one soon begins to appreciate from colleagues within the School of Geography, the people’s daily struggle to survive, Earth and Environmental Sciences at the which outweighs the less frequent risks University of Plymouth, in particular Professor emanating from the volcano. As the 2010 Iain Stewart and Professor James Sidaway. eruption demonstrated, these people are Photographs (pages 14–17) by the authors. extremely vulnerable, and their vulnerability is influenced by many REFERENCES variables as traditional beliefs become intertwined with social, economic and 1 Chester, D, Duncan A and Dibben C political influences, creating complex (2008), The Importance of religion in scenarios at times of elevated risk. shaping volcanic risk perception in Italy, To understand the elements of their with special reference to Vesuvius, Journal vulnerability, including cultural of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, 172: 216-28. vulnerability, and so improve volcanic risk reduction, a new breed of 2 McAdoo, B G, Dengler, L, Eeri, M, Prasetya, G and Titov, V (2006) Smong: interdisciplinary science is required. how an oral history saved thousands on The integration of social science Indonesia’s Simuelue Island, Earthquake methods into volcanology produces a Spectra, 22:661-9. new area of study, called “social 3 Rodolfo, K S and Umbal, J V (2008) A volcanology”. By exploring both the prehistoric lahar-dammed lake and eruption people and the hazard together, we gain of Mt Pinatubo described in a Philippine aborigine legend, Journal of Volcanology a holistic picture. Using an innovative and Geothermal Research, 176(3):432-437. and unrestricted spectrum of methods 4 Donovan, K (2010) Doing social allows hazard experts to work with volcanology: exploring volcanic culture in communities, and develop risk Indonesia, Area, 42.1: 117-126. reduction strategies that are acceptable

FEBRUARY 2011 17 NEW Petroleum Geology: From Mature Basins to New Frontiers - Proceedings of the 7th Petroleum Geology Conference Edited by B. A. Vining and S. C. Pickering

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Postage: UK: +5% (£4.50 minimum) Europe: +15% (£9.00 minimum) Rest of world: +15% (£13.50 minimum) All prices and postage valid until 31 December 2011. Please allow up to 28 days for delivery of in stock items in the UK. Parcels to Europe and Rest of World are sent by surface mail and can take 6 to 12 weeks to arrive. (Air or courier rates available on request). Please order from: Geological Society Publishing House, Unit 7 Brassmill Enterprise Centre, Brassmill Lane, Bath BA1 3JN, UK Tel: +44 (0)1225 445046 Fax: +44 (0)1225 442836 Email: [email protected] Online bookshop: www.geolsoc.org.uk/bookshop Society Web Site: www.geolsoc.org.uk

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18 FEBRUARY 2011 FEATURE GEOSCIENTIST

ROCK , TIME AND TEENAGERS

Howard Lee FGS recently sold himself down the river with a bunch of adolescents. It was a learning experience for all

t’s probably on the “bucket represented there. Perhaps I would be like visiting a great art list” of every geologist (even Above: Possible should have got the hint when the gallery and barely noticing there exfoliation joints in a lapsed one like me). So Permian Esplanade Scoutmaster kept postponing my was paint in frames along the when the opportunity came Sandstone, North session (eventually making it a walls. I would not bother them Canyon, mile 20.7. to raft down the Colorado Scouts in middle ‘filler’ on the long coach ride with rock classification, current River through the Grand distance for scale between Las Vegas and our lodge bedding, metamorphosis, dykes ICanyon, I jumped at it. But there at Marble Canyon). I should have and sills, or the tectonic was a catch. I would be one of a realised the interest gulf when, significance of the uplift of the small group of adults chaperoning given the choice to visit Barringer Colorado Plateau. Just stick to the teenage boy scouts. Everything has Meteor Crater, or a common or basics, I thought. Suffice it that its price. garden cinder cone…they chose they grasp an inkling of the time As the day of departure drew the cinder cone! spanned by the Canyon rocks, or near I took it upon myself to I couldn’t bear the thought that the fact that they could not have educate the troupe a little about the the Scouts would traverse such breathed the air of that far-off

incredible geological story spectacular geology blindly. It Earth where the oldest rocks of the M

FEBRUARY 2011 19 Crinoid stem in M canyon formed, or that the age of the Redwall dinosaurs came and went in one of Limestone at Redwall Cavern, the very last chapters of the mile 33 Canyon story. JAW DROPPED The Scouts had been up without sleep for some 16 hours when I was finally allowed to make my presentation. I had figured on 20 minute stops – 100 million years per minute. But with each sentence I watched eyelids grow heavy, heads loll and mouths slacken. I The Great Angular edited as I spoke. Out went the Unconformity Columbia and Rodinia exposed in supercontinents. I kept Snowball Blacktail Canyon, mile Earth…one boy’s jaw dropped … 120. Cambrian but it was slumber rather than Tapeats Sandstone lies interest. I kept in the arrival of unconformably atmospheric oxygen by the time of on the basement the Tapeats Sandstone; but out complex of Vishnu Schist went Ediacara fauna, and and Zoroaster Pannotia. I’m not sure how many Granite - a gap were awake when, five minutes of 1.2 billion years later, I had arrived at the end of the Permian; but life in the audience had had a mass extinction of its own. I left out the entire Mesozoic and Cenozoic except to mention the incision of the Grand Canyon and volcanic eruptions in the last five million years. Humbled, I resigned myself to appreciating my surroundings alone, and gave myself up to A dyke of Early appropriate reflections. I kept Proterozoic Zoroaster quiet about the Upper Permian Granite forms Kaibab Limestone on the one wall of the riverbank opposite us when we Grand Canyon, near mile 122. In loaded up the “J-rig” rafts the the background following day, but it wasn’t long most of the major units of before the guides had us on a Grand Canyon small hike into Jackass Canyon to Geology can be look at reptile tracks in Coconino seen. Middle distance: Late Sandstone blocks that had fallen Proterozoic from the cliffs above. When I Shinumo effused about these 275 million Quartzite forms cliffs above the year-old, pre-dinosaur footprints, slope of Hakatai I’m not sure if I sparked much Shale, with the Mississippian interest. The Scouts were here for Redwall the rapids. For me, the rapids were Limestone at an inconvenience that made me the top. Far distance: the put my camera away. white stripe of By evening we had reached the the Permian expansive Redwall Cavern dotted Coconino Sandstone is with crinoid and bryozoan fossils easy to spot, of the Mississippian Redwall overlain by Toroweap and Limestone. We camped by Kaibab Nautiloid Canyon, named for the Formations fossils in its walls. By now people were asking me to distinguish the fossils from the rock and were FEATURE GEOSCIENTIST

getting photos for themselves. Right: Reptile Progress! We slept under the tracks in an erratic stars as the moon illuminated of Coconino clouds in the gap between the sandstone, Jackass Canyon, mile eight canyon walls. The next day found us in an exploratory adit for the Marble Canyon Dam. This project which would have flooded a major portion of the Grand Canyon, was started in the 1950s but was cancelled after an outcry. As we wound our way further into the inner recess of the Canyon we stopped and swam in the Little Colorado River (the main Colorado River at that point is dangerously cold to swim in, even in summer) where I searched the Cambrian Tapeats school, I found a profound lack based and faith is not. I believe Sandstone (in vain) for fossils. of what might be called “geo- evidence. There were abundant worm-like literacy”. For many people science is just burrow trace fossils but sadly no One Scout thought that the another competing faith, and one shells. I wondered if this could be Colorado River had been they take with a pinch of salt. At the portion of the Tapeats that responsible for all the rocks in the least half of my son’s friends predates the “Cambrian canyon, from the Vishnu schist to (seniors - “upper 6th” - in high explosion”. the Kaibab Limestone. The school) do not believe in concept of continents being born, evolution. We live a stone’s CONVERSION mountains rising, rivers flowing, throw from Bell Labs in a well- The first sign of conversion came continents dying and breaking heeled New Jersey Suburb. This at mile 64 when the Great up, over and over again was just is no hick, bible-bashing Angular Unconformity hove into too vast for his understanding. backwater; this is Manhattan view. This chronological gap Most had real trouble with time commuter belt, big-pharma land, between the Tapeats Sandstone periods – thousands, millions and Alcatel-Lucent city. All the adults and the approximately 1100 billions seemed to be and their scouting offspring are Million year-old Dox Sandstone interchangeable, as if they all considered well-educated. Other was not to be missed, so I begged represented a single quantity: people here have told me they the guide to let me climb the “lots”. One of the other adult simply do not believe geological short way up the cliff to the leaders commented that if the timescales; so when it’s common exposure. To my amazement, seas had come up and gone down – even the norm - for “educated” two Scouts scrambled up with over geological time then it shows people not to understand the me, eager to have their photo there is no need to blame man for basic principles of our planet, I taken with 550 million years in global warming now… worry for the future. I worry the span of their hand. Two Perhaps the most disturbing about our Scouts who, in a down, twenty to go. Happily, as conversation I had was with an decade or two, will be decision- soon as I started talking to them adult leader. “Do you really makers in an age pressed harder about schists, cleavage and dykes believe in science? I mean do you by climate change and natural – something I clearly should have think there is a religious resource shortages. done earlier - everyone explanation for this, or are you a The child is father to the man, took notice. full-on ?” I gave my usual as Wordsworth reminds us. If I Our remaining days in the comment that science and can’t bridge the geo-literacy gulf Canyon were spent sometimes religion don’t occupy the same in the Grand Canyon, how will hanging on for dear life through territory. Science is evidence- they ever understand? I rapids, sometimes on long lazy stretches, just gazing at the staircase of terraces rising above FURTHER READING us. We hiked into slot-canyons, bathed in the turquoise waters of 1 Grand Canyon River Guide All new edition, 2009, Westwater Books, Colorado USA, Havasu Creek, visited ancient ISBN-13: 987-0-916370-16-9. native ruins perched on cliff tops 2 Geology of National Parks 5th Edition 1995; Harris, Ann G; Tuttle, Esther; Tuttle, at night. Geology was a regular Sherwood. Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company, Dubuque, Iowa, USA. ISBN 0-7872-5275-1. topic of conversation, but even though every Scout had been 3 Geology of the Grand Canyon area: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geology_of_the_Grand_Canyon_area taught Earth science before high

FEBRUARY 2011 21 Geoscientist welcomes readers’ letters. These are published as promptly as possible in Geoscientist Online and a selection READERS’ printed each month. Please submit your letter (300 words or fewer, by email only please) to [email protected]. LETTERS Letters will be edited. For references cited in these letters, please see the full versions at www.geolsoc.org.uk/letters CLIMATE CHANGE STATEMENT UTTER DISMAY Sir, I am writing to express my utter dismay at articles by yourself and Bob Ward (Geoscientist 20.10). My dismay at Ward's piece is caused by its unscientific nature, and insinuation about the motives of Joe Brannan. Your emotive editorial is full of unjustified assertions and insinuations. Your statement that errors in the latest IPCC Assessment Report were "trivial" is debatable. Your claim that "denialists...being unconstrained by evidence...can construct any number of simple messages whenever they like" is insulting to Fellows who, like me, maintain that the scientific evidence is unclear. Most scientists who are seriously sceptical about AGW want an open, scientific discussion of evidence, Sir, I was pleased to see that the Society has of sea-level rise. Anthropologists and rather than the closed, bullishly assertive dared to publish a climate change statement sociologists should now be enlisted to model mentality too frequently displayed by (Geoscientist 20.11). There must have been and publish descriptions of the way some parts of the AGW establishment. a lot of debate on the concluding sentence: civilisation has reacted to such events in the Peter Whiteside "...In the light of the evidence presented here past, some of which have been reported in Editor writes: Had I harboured doubts about it is reasonable to conclude that emitting Geoscientist, and which geneticists call Joe Brannan’s motives in writing the review to further amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere "population squeezing". Meanwhile, which Bob Ward objected, it would not have over time is likely to be unwise, uncomfortable geologists can try to get comfortable in the been published. The definition of a “denyer” (who disbelieves something despite all though that fact may be"). The term front line of debate. evidence) definitively excludes anyone who "uncomfortable" will apply equally to the effect Chris Garland (truly) cares about evidence. That denyers cloak themselves in the honourable guise of the true sceptic is precisely the scandal being exposed. BRAZIL FOSSILS POOR ARGUMENT Sir, Martill & Heads complain that “it is no longer Sir, I should like to express my possible to collect fossils anywhere in Brazil” and that disappointment at the standard of the they “were compelled to leave material behind”. We of arguments being used by "believers". the Sociedade Brasileira de Paleontologia (SBP) were For instance the CO concentration very happy to learn (Geoscientist 17.11) that the 2 appears to have increased more or less Brazilian government’s efforts towards preventing the linearly in the last 100 years since 1910 despoliation of the nation’s paleontological resources but the temperature rise has been are achieving success. Brazilian law forbids the intermittent and non-linear. For half of ownership of fossils collected in the country, all of which those 100 years it has been rising and belong to the Union. Therefore, it is illegal for any private for the other half it has been constant or party (individual, corporate, Brazilian or foreign) to own - falling, weakening the link between let alone sell, buy, or export - Brazilian fossils. cause and effect. Archaeologists tell us Foreign palaeontologists are welcome to work in that people in Roman times and the Brazil, and with Brazilian fossils, but ought to follow Middle Ages enjoyed a warmer climate the current legislation of the Science and than today, before the advent of coal- Technology Ministry. fired power stations and cheap air travel. Max Langer, Roberto Iannuzzi, Ana Maria Ribeiro, Robert Freer Marina Soares, Soraia Bauermann, Patrícia Reply from Colin Summerhayes: Sir, The Rodrigues & Carolina Scherer Medieval Warm Period (MWP AD 900-1400) was followed by the Little Ice Age (LIA - AD 1400-1750). LIA cooling was not uniform, but AGW - WHAT DISSENT? focused in certain sunspot-free periods. Some believe the LIA extended into the 19th Century’s Dalton Minimum (1790-1830). Sir, I wonder what proportion of fellows favour of the mainstream “IPCC” position. In a Links between CO2 and temperature are considers that Anthropogenic Global Warming recent paper in GSA Today discussing the likely subject to many feedbacks. CO2 is absorbed is real? I can speak on behalf of the Geological validity of the 'Anthropocene' concept, 21 out by and emitted from the land and ocean at Society's Stratigraphy Commission, a straw of 22 Commission members opted to be co- different times, rates and places, obscuring a poll of professional stratigraphers. Here, the authors, with one dissenter. direct temperature connection. Major eruptions like Pinatubo (1991) change global ratio is currently somewhat in excess of 9:1 in Jan Zalasiewicz temperature for 1-3 years. Temperature is also affected by changes in Earth’s albedo.

22 FEBRUARY 2011 BOOKS & ARTS GEOSCIENTIST

Perhaps the only disappointment is the It is to this ‘paraglacial concept’ that lack of guidance on curation and many of the ensuing papers are devoted, preservation, especially the notoriously either with doctrinal adherence or with -rot-prone nature of many more thoughtful evaluation with respect to ammonites on which some advice would the environmental sensitivity of cold have been welcome. However this minor climates. As with many concepts, it has omission should not detract from the been redefined and extended beyond the value of this impressive book to amateur intentions of the original authors to and professional palaeontologists alike. include a range of geomorphic situations Reviewed by Keith Duff, Stamford and timescales. Thus, depending on your Fossils of the Gault Clay point of view, some papers will be FOSSILS OF THE GAULT CLAY observed to develop ‘paraglacial’ using the Hundreds of budding geologists in the JEREMY R. YOUNG, ANDREW S. GALE, ROBIN I. WHITE & word with dogmatic zeal; while others southeast of England (including this ANDREW B. SMITH (eds); Published by: The reflect that the term is overused, adding reviewer) must have cut their teeth on the Palaeontological Association; Publication date: 2010; little new understanding, particularly ISBN: 978-1-4443-3542-2; 342 pp, 57 plates. Gault Clay at Folkestone, and will have List price: £18.00, www.palass.org when it involves dropping consideration cried out for an identification manual as of distinctive periglacial conditions and clear and comprehensive as this. The environmental control. Here, the book is number 12 in the series produced important paper (by Slaymaker) is a by the Palaeontological Association on the rational evaluation of the topic and raises fossils of some of Britain’s most the significant theme of disturbance collectable deposits, and PalAss is to be regime landscapes, well developed by congratulated on its continuing Hewitt in a later paper. commitment to this series. Overall, this is an interesting publication The book, while perhaps aimed mainly bringing together a number of studies that at collectors (who will find it an demonstrate key issues in cold-climate invaluable identification guide), is also a and elaborate on the key reference work for those interested in subject’s role, with particular reference to the ecology and systematics of this sensitive environmental responses to abundant Cretaceous fauna. It is Periglacial and ongoing climate change. The collection comprehensive, covering all the Paraglacial Processes provides a thoughtful commentary on the taxonomic groups likely to be found in and Environments paraglacial concept. the Gault (including the more specialist Reviewed by Wishart A Mitchell, areas of bioimmuration, bioclaustrations Away from the direct influence of glaciers Department of Geography, Durham University and bioerosive trace fossils), and ranging and ice sheets, cold climate conditions from calcareous nannofossils to reptiles. create distinctive environments PERIGLACIAL AND PARAGLACIAL PROCESSES The quality of the black-and-white characterised by intense freeze-thaw AND ENVIRONMENTS photographs is excellent, and highlights processes and permafrost. As global J KNIGHT & S HARRISON (eds) Geological Society Special Publication No.320, The Geological Society of London. the care with which the book has been climate warmed spasmodically into the Publication date: 2009; ISBN: 978-1-86239-281-6; 272 pp produced. Importantly, given that it is present interglacial, landscapes responded List price: £90.00; GSL Member price: £45.00, likely to be well thumbed, the book has a to the removal of land ice and permafrost www.geolsoc.org.uk high-quality binding that will withstand melting through a sequence of complex prolonged heavy use. responses, including a readjustment to REVIEWS: COPIES AVAILABLE The book is more than an identification high sediment availability for transport by guide. As well as helpful introductory newly developing fluvial systems. It was Interested parties should contact the material on the Gault Clay it provides to this particular situation that the term Reviews Editor, Dr. Martin Degg 01244 very useful guidance on sample ‘paraglacial’ was coined about 30 years 513173; [email protected], only. preparation for microfossils, including ago. Since then the concept has been Reviewers are invited to keep texts. vertebrate teeth and other elements, and developed and extended. Review titles are not available to order on macrofaunal ecological associations This SP is divided into three sections, from the Geological Society Publishing found in the Gault. It may also stimulate the first dealing with periglacial House unless otherwise stated. renewed interest in the Gault among environments. This is followed by a collectors, perhaps leading to new section on paraglacial processes and I information on some of the less well- environments in the British Isles, and a The Western Alps: From Rift to Passive Margin to Orogenic Belt known groups, such as bryozoa. Most final section relating to more general de Graciansky, P-C; Roberts, D G & chapters clearly indicate that only the paraglacial issues. Individual papers Tricart, P (2010), Elsevier (as PDF). most common species are described, range from subject overviews to site- I Heavy Crude Oils: From geology thereby avoiding the trap of implying that specific investigations. In the opening to upgrading - an overview Huc, A.-Y all species likely to be found in the Gault section, a key paper is the evaluation of (2010), Editions Technip. are illustrated. The extensive reference list periglacial geomorphology from a French I Introducing Palaeontology: A provides the reader with a way into the perspective; this provides useful guide to ancient life Jackson, P N W (2010), Dunedin. more extensive historic literature, which discussion on global change issues and I will assist those looking to identify the the ‘paraglacial fever’ that seems more Planets: A very short introduction Rothery, D A (2010), Oxford. rarer components of the fauna. prevalent in the British Isles.

FEBRUARY 2011 23 GEOSCIENTIST PEOPLE

Geoscientists in the news and on the move in the UK, PEOPLE Europe and worldwide CAROUSEL

All fellows of the Society are entitled to entires in Early career X-factor this column. Please email [email protected], Could the two existing Early Careers Challenge Trophy awards quoting your Fellowship attract one more (at least) and so become the regional heats of a number. national final? writes Paul Maliphant (Southern Wales)

I DAVID ELLIS Tracey Laight (left) with James Dendle, Paul Maliphant and Jenny Moss (right) David Ellis, has been elected President of the Stone Federation of Great Britain, at its AGM held on 25 November 2010. David joined Sandberg Consulting Engineers in 1997, taking over the management of the Geology Department and associated testing laboratories, and became a partner in 2000. I CHRIS LEE Chris Lee has received the Draper Memorial Medal, highest award of the Geological Society of South Africa "for exceptional contributions to the advancement of South African geology” in recognition of his contribution to the Earth sciences, and for his work on the geology and Thames Valley and then presentation evening: winner (picture), but also economic resources of the Southern Wales regional I James Dendle (Resource James and Jenny, her worthy Bushveld Complex. groups have pioneered Geologist, SRK Consulting opponents. competitions that challenge (UK) Ltd) – Tonkolili Iron Ore We are now seeking at I NEIL WELLS their early-career members Project, Sierra Leone; least a third regional group Neil Wells, to showcase their knowledge I Tracey Laight (Resource to set up its own Early Geological and expertise in competing Geologist, SRK Consulting Careers competition. Then, Services Manager, for trophies named for their (UK) Ltd) – The Marenica winners could converge on Hanson UK, has groups founders. It is Uranium Deposit, Namibia; Burlington House for a been appointed therefore a curious I Jenny Moss (Seismic Regional Groups Early Natural Resources coincidence that both groups Interpretation PhD Careers Challenge Trophy - Manager for the parent were founded by geologists Researcher, University of for which some sponsorship company HeidelbergCement’s born in Trinidad - giving us Cardiff) – Sub-seabed has already been secured! Competence Centre Materials the Richard Fox Shield and – hydrocarbon fluid escape: an T.E.A.M. area, which covers the Paul Maliphant Trophy! example of natural fluid blow- The inaugural event is pencilled northern and western Europe, In 2010, the Southern out from a reservoir, offshore in for spring 2012; so any other UK, Spain, Israel and . He Wales event attracted Namibia. regional group wishing to join in will be based in Brussels. eight entries, and shortlisted Congratulations to Tracey, should contact Paul Maliphant Contact neil.wells@ three for the final who was the deserving [email protected] heidelbergcement.com.

24 FEBRUARY 2011 PEOPLE GEOSCIENTIST

HELP YOUR OBITUARIST The Society operates a scheme for Fellows to deposit biographical material. The object is to assist obituarists by providing contacts, dates and other information, and thus ensure that Fellows’ lives are accorded appropriate and accurate commemoration. Please send your CV and a photograph to Ted Nield at the Society.

10,000th Fellow! IN MEMORIAM WWW.GEOLSOC.ORG.UK/OBITUARIES

Dawne Riddle Geologists’ Association when he THE SOCIETY NOTES WITH SADNESS THE PASSING OF: writes: For the was only 14, and subsequently Coleman, John Arthur R * Locke, Matthew * Craig, James * Mann, Paul Dunstan * Richardson, Alfred James * Morley, William * first time in its served on their Council and as Harwood, H J * Jones, James Peter * 204-year history, web and newsletter editor. He is Wilson, Henry Hugh * John, Thomas Urias *

the Geological conscious of the importance of In the interests of recording its Fellows' work for posterity, the Society publishes Society’s geological societies both for obituaries online, and in Geoscientist. The most recent additions to the list are standing membership has professional networking and shown in bold. Fellows for whom no obituarist has yet been commissioned are passed the 10,000 mark with maintaining and developing his marked with an asterisk (*). the election to Fellowship of scientific knowledge. If you would like to contribute an obituary, please email Gordon Poole (picture). A keen mountaineer, orienteer [email protected] to be commissioned. You can read the guidance for authors at www.geolsoc.org.uk/obituaries. To save yourself unnecessary work, Gordon, 31, works as a Data and diver, Gordon looks forward to please do not write anything until you have received a commissioning letter. Geologist for African Eagle using his Fellowship to update Resources plc, London – a himself and broaden out - Deceased Fellows for whom no obituary is forthcoming have their names and dates recorded in a Roll of Honour at www.geolsoc.org.uk/obituaries. mineral exploration company: particularly in geophysics and www.africaneagle.co.uk. geochemistry - to getting into the Gordon graduated with a BSc field (being “data geologist” can be Dr Fergus Gibb is eager to find a good home for the following journal issues. in Geology from University College tying, he admits) and to progress Buyer must collect/arrange transport from Sheffield. Mineralogical Magazine v.32 (1961) to v 69 (2005) [Bound to v 48]; Mineralogical Abstracts v 15 (1961) to v 54 Dublin in 2003 and joined African towards Chartership in due (2003)[Bound to v 38]; Journal of v 12 (1971) to v 26 (1985)[Bound to v Eagle in 2005 after a stint at the course. Gordon is also a member 19]; Scottish Journal of Geology v 1 (1965) to v 46 (2010); Journal of the Geological Survey of Ireland. of the Irish Association of Geological Society v 130 (1974) to v 166 (2009); American Mineralogist v 52 (1967) to v 90 (2005). Interested parties should email [email protected]. Gordon joined the Irish Economic Geologists. DISTANT THUNDER Palaeontological passion As St Valentine's Day approaches, Nina Morgan* gets to the heart of what makes palaeontologists tick

For keen Christ Church, fairest of the fossil Saurians, and French naturalist and zoologist, collectors, January 23rd 1832 which your specimen alone I Georges Cuvier. After their geology is expect to find possessing the marriage, in 1885, he promptly not so My Dear Sir Philip, power to eclipse... I presume our whisked her off on a geological much an Mrs Buckland begs to friend Lord Cole will appear in his wedding tour of the continent occupa- unite with me in the offering unenviable state of single that lasted nearly a year. tion as a of our most sincere blessedness. major congratulations to you on the Again, repeating our united Ref: William Buckland's letter to preoc- brilliant Discovery announced congratulations, and with most Philip Egerton and the story of the cupation. in your last, of a Jewel of great sincere wishes for your happiness, Buckland's wedding tour appear This was price which you have resolved I remain, in The Life and Correspondence certainly the to make your own, and to submit of William Buckland, D.D., FRS by case with William to the inspection of the learned at Yours always very sincerely, his daughter Mrs Gordon, Buckland (1784-1856), first our proposed scientific meeting in W. Buckland. published by John Murray in 1894. reader in geology at Oxford June next. The only rival University. In a letter written in specimen I have heard of as likely Presumably Anna Elizabeth Visit: www.geolsoc.org.uk/hogg 1832 to the his ex-student, the to be present, and which has the Legh, Egerton's intended, knew Registration for the HOGG politician and enthusiastic reputation of being the greatest what she was getting into. And if Conference on Geological collector of fossil fish, Sir Philip Beauty in the mineral world, is a she had any doubts, she could Collectors and Collecting is now de Malpas Grey-Egerton (1806– specimen that will be brought by always have consulted Mrs open. A full programme and 1881), Buckland offers the Marquis of Northampton, who Buckland, the former Mary registration form are available for congratulations on Egerton's has joined our Society, and has Morland. Legend has it that download from the HOGG website. impending marriage in terms only lately possessed himself of a William Buckland was first a keen fossil collector can fossil lizard enclosed in amber attracted to Miss Morland when he * Nina Morgan is a geologist and appreciate. more exquisitely beautiful than the observed her reading a book by science writer based near Oxford.

FEBRUARY 2011 25 GEOSCIENTIST OBITUARY

OBITUARY

DAVID NORMAN CLARK 1950 -2010 , independent consultant and honorary lecturer

avid was born on 1 worked for Union Texas In 1995, David set up an Honorary Senior Lecturer. It October 1950 in Petroleum in London as independent consultancy that was to this university that Hampton, Surrey Exploration Geologist and was to keep him in permanent he bequeathed his and obtained a BSc from 1985 to 1986 worked as a employment for the next 15 specimens, books and D in Geology at Divisional Manager for GB years. He was well respected reports. During his lifetime Kingston Polytechnic (1972). Petroleum Consultants, also in by his peers for his forthright he was to publish over 50 He then went on to complete London. He worked for Core opinions and his academically academic papers (the last in a PhD at Imperial College’s Laboratories London in the sound approach. He never put 2009 on the Ballard Down Royal School of Mines on the same role between 1986 and his name to anything he did Fault in the Dorset Purbeck Middle Jurassic carbonates 1989. His next employment not agree with from a sequence). of the Lot valley, France. He was as Geological Advisor to geological perspective. In 1974 he married was awarded his DIC in Sun Oil International Christine Payne who had 1976. In the same year he (London), and then on posting PASSIONATE been a fellow geology joined Shell International Oil to Jakarta, Indonesia and He was passionate about student at Kingston Company in Rijswijk, The Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia geology all his life, and loved Polytechnic. They had three Hague, where he worked as (1990 – 1993). Between 1994 to share his enthusiasm with children, Tobias (b.1977), a Research Geologist. In 1980 and 1997 he worked for others, teaching on myriad Emma-Louise (b.1980) and he became an operational ARCO (Texas). In 2005 he company training courses. Amelia-Anne (b.1984). geologist in Oman, working joined Gulf Keystone Every year he gave up two David was a loving father for Petroleum Development (London) as Vice President, weeks’ annual leave to teach and later in 2001 he became Oman. New Ventures Exploration at St Andrew’s University, proud grandfather of Between 1981 -1985 he Team. which appointed him Felicity May. David worked as a co- opted Committee member of the Society’s Petroleum Group. He enjoyed meeting other Fellows at Burlington House and attended all the Christmas dinners over a 35- year period! He was a member of the Geologists’ Association, the PESGB and the SEPM. He was a director of Clark Research Limited. Sadly he had contracted skin cancer during his work overseas, and despite gruelling chemotherapy, continued to work up until the end of his life. He died on 31 July 2010. He will always be remembered as a kind and generous man with a keen sense of humour, always willing to share his knowledge with those who were less experienced in the petroleum industry. By Graham Evans

26 FEBRUARY 2011 CALENDAR GEOSCIENTIST

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DIARY OF MEETINGS FEBRUARY 2011

CAN’T FIND YOUR MEETING? VISIT WWW.GEOLSOC.ORG.UK – FULL, ACCURATE, UP-TO-DATE

Meeting Date Venue and details

Transport and Fate of 9 February The Geological Society (Burlington House). The meeting will examine key transport and Groundwater Contaminants attenuation processes and current issues relating to contaminants in groundwater and how ( Group) our perceptions and understanding of the problems and their solutions have progressed. Contact: Daren Gooddy E: [email protected] Contact: Simon Bottrell E: [email protected]

Earthquakes and Tsunamis at 16 February Cambridge University. Speaker: Dr Lisa McNeill (National Centre, Subduction Zones: The 2004 - Southampton). Entry is free to all, but by ticket only. To obtain a ticket please contact Leila 2005 Sumatra Earthquakes Taleb E: [email protected] Time: 1730 Lecture begins; 1830-1930 Reception. (Shell University Lecture)

Challenged by Carbon: 16 February The Geological Society (Burlington House). Speaker: Dr Bryan Lovell (President). See Geologists, the Oil Industry and Society News (this issue) p11 for details. Climate Change (Shell London Lecture)

Tuffs and Traces - biodiversity in 19 February Wallace Lecture Theatre, School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, Main Building, Cardiff terrestrial ecosystems in the University. Time: 1030 for 1100. Speaker: Susan Marriot (Institute of Research in the Upper Silurian Old Red Applied Natural Sciences). Contact: Dave Jones T: +44 (0)29 2046 6096 Sandstone of SW Wales E: [email protected] (Geologists' Association - South Wales)

Natural Hazards of High 23 February Heriot Watt University Conference Centre. Speaker: tbc. To obtain a ticket please contact Subsurface Fluid Pressures Leila Taleb E: [email protected]. 1730pm Lecture begins: 1830-1930 Reception. (Shell University Lecture)

Careers Day (Geological Society) 23 February Our Dynamic Earth (Edinburgh). 10.00 Registration; 11.00 Welcome; 11.05 Careers in Earth Science - presentations, chiefly by early-career Earth scientists from a range of industrial and academic sectors. (Full listing available January 2011); 15.00 Careers panel Q&A session; 15.30 Exhibition - A chance to discuss opportunities, collect information and to meet other Earth scientists. Registration for this event is free, but compulsory. Contact: Georgina Worrall T: +44 (0)20 7434 9944 F: +44 (0)20 7494 0579 E: [email protected]

New and Emerging Plays in the 23-25 February The Geological Society (Burlington House). New ideas on tectonic evolution of the region, Eastern Mediterranean basin formation, new plays, petroleum systems, and the linkage between the onshore and (Petroleum Group) the offshore. Basins: Levant, offshore Nile, Herodotus, offshore Cyrenaica, offshore Sirt, Pelagian, Malta, Sicily Channel, Adriatic, and others. Confirmed Keynotes: Hugh Jenkyns, Oxford; Alastair Roberston, Edinburgh; Peter Bentham, BP Egypt; Mohammed Soussi, Tunisia; Jean Mascle, GeoAzur; Tim Bevan, BP. Online registration open. Contact: Steve Whalley: +44 (0)20 7432 0980; E: [email protected]

FEBRUARY 2011 27 GEOSCIENTIST OBITUARY

OBITUARY

CHRISTOPHER MARTIN PEARSON 1942-2010 Geotechnical engineer, project manager and management consultant

orn 19 February up Wembley Laboratories engineering and laboratory London, including the 1942, Chris Ltd, Geotechnical staff of 27. Chris led demolition of a large Pearson left school Consultants. He developed geotechnical investigations concrete sugar silo, he to find his first job this company quickly and from tender to completion, managed to sprain his B with a firm in profitably, with growth based including site supervision on ankle – not on site, but Southall called “Le Grand considerably on repeat larger or technically while running for a bus Sutcliffe and Gell”. Chris business from both public and demanding projects. home! Chris was Resident moved on to British Rail, private sectors. By 1969 he Engineer for the Western Region in the early had a total staff of 30 INDEPENDENT remediation of the former 1960s where he was including geotechnical After a seven-year break away Pitwines Gasworks in employed as a Geotechnical engineers, soils technicians from geotechnical work, Poole, which was Engineer managing a wide and field personnel. during which he worked as a completed successfully for range of geotechnical In 1973 Chris joined consultant with an residential use. challenges associated with Nuttall Geotechnical Services international management Chris extended his viaducts and Ltd as Geotechnical consultancy group, Chris retirement by two years, bridges, tunnels, Manager with returned to the geotechnical leaving Waterman in cutting and responsibility for and environmental February 2009; but embankment procurement, consultancy business and continued working stability, tendering and practised as an independent freelance - in particular track Project Geo-environmental Engineer with Anderson Contractors, stability, Management for from 1995. Chris undertook a with whom he developed a drainage, complex on-shore wide range of UK, European, relationship during the and and off-shore and some offshore work on remediation of the structures. geotechnical site geotechnical and gasworks at Pitwines in In 1965 investigations. environmental projects. Chris Poole, Dorset. Chris died Chris set Chris joined enjoyed sailing and from a stroke on the Tyrone Group reluctantly sold his boat when morning of Saturday 6 Soil work commitments meant February 2010. This was Engineering that he was not getting completely unexpected, Ltd (1979) enough time to sail. but Anne (his former wife, and Chris joined Waterman to whom he was about to became a Environmental Ltd as Senior be re-married) was at his Director Consultant in May 2000 where side and said that he in 1981, he managed geotechnical and suffered no pain. with environmental projects. Chris an was primarily based on site, LARGER THAN LIFE managing several major Chris is remembered ground investigations, fondly by colleagues as a demolition and larger than life character, remediation driving his Jaguar, smoking projects. While a cigar, being happiest Chris was working on-site with a Resident professional team Engineer for managing the challenges the presented by the geology demolition and contamination during of the demolition, construction or works at remediation works. Peruvian By Carl Slater Wharf, East

28 FEBRUARY 2011 CROSSWORD GEOSCIENTIST

CROSSWORD NO. 143 SET BY PLATYPUS WIN A SPECIAL PUBLICATION

The winner of the November Crossword puzzle prize draw was Jonathan Wonham of Stavanger, Norway.

All correct solutions will be placed in the draw, and the winner’s name printed in the April issue. The Editor’s decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into. Closing date - March 14.

The competition is open to all Fellows, Candidate Fellows and Friends of the Geological Society who are not current Society employees, officers or trustees. This exclusion does not apply to officers of joint associations, specialist or regional groups.

Please return your completed crossword to Burlington House, marking your envelope “Crossword”. Do not enclose any other matter with your solution. Overseas Fellows are encouraged to scan the signed form and email it as a PDF to [email protected]

Name ...... ACROSS DOWN Membership number ...... Address for correspondence ...... 1 Of the countryside (5) 1 Amoeboid protozoa with intricate mineral skeletons (10) ...... 4 Miserly persons (9) 2 Drowned river valley (3) 9 Buoyant ascent of earth ...... materials like halite and 3 Within the unpriestly portion of humanity (6) granite (9) ...... 4 Class of three-lobed extinct arthropods (9) 10 Chemical compound derived ...... 5 Crud that accumulates around a drill-bit, by reacting an oxoacid with an named by reference to filling southern stew (5) alcohol or phenol (5) ...... 6 Taxonomic encyclopedia of fossil groups, 11 Sounding like the thing (14) associated indelibly with R C Moore (8) ...... 14 These formic fiends evolved 7 Space before the main volume - of a tomb, ...... from wasp-like ancestors perhaps (11) between 110 and 130 million ...... years ago (4) 8 Waisted Channel Island (4) 15 Beautiful Italian woman, 12 Egregious - but in a good way (11) Postcode ...... becomes deadly in English (10) 13 Soil additive that improves 18 Outbreed, technically; productiveness (10) miscegenate racially (10) SOLUTIONS NOVEMBER 16 Servants for rent (9) 19 Rest against, architecturally (4) 17 Solitary Christian monks (8) ACROSS: 21 To do with the naming 1 Algal 4 Sovereign 9 Holograms 10 Divan 20 Seneca, Epictetus, and originally, Zeno of things (13) of Citium (6) 11 Olistostromes 14 Axon 15 Condensing 24 Order from on high (5) 18 Isogametes 19 Bubo 21 Pharmacopoeia 22 Original army stores - home of the original 24 Alibi 25 Flintiest 27 Cementing 28 Mangy 25 Annual increments (9) lukewarm, thick brown tea (1,1,1,1,1) 27 The art of handling practical 23 The Society was explicitly founded partly to DOWN: details on a large sale stimulate this form of enthusiasm (4) 1 Achromatic 2 Gel 3 Legato 4 Soapstone enterprise (9) 26 Any one of the 15 known crystalline phases 5 Visor 6 Rudiment 7 Investiture 8 Nuns 28 Rotational, sideways stress (5) of water (3) 12 Isomorphism 13 Ignorantly 16 Drenching 17 Bahamian 20 Sputum 22 Mufti 23 Talc 26 Eon

FEBRUARY 2011 29 Geoscientist RECRUITMENT The Editor invites all Geoscientist advertisers, past, present and prospective, to welcome Century One Publishing as our new publisher for Geoscientist magazine.

For any future advertising or recruitment enquiries please contact: Jonathan on 01727 739193 or [email protected]

30 FEBRUARY 2011 Call for papers deadline 6 March 2011

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