SCIENCE, SEAMOUNTS and SOCIETY Tony Watts on the Urgent Need for Increased Seafloor Mapping

SCIENTISTVOLUME 29 No. 07 ◆ AUGUST 2019 ◆ WWW.GEOLSOC.ORG.UK/GEOSCIENTIST

GEOThe Fellowship Magazine of the Geological Society of London @geoscientistmag

A peak at planetary defence

SCIENCE, SEAMOUNTS AND SOCIETY Tony Watts on the urgent need for increased seafloor mapping

FALLING STARS GEOTOURSIM CONGLOMERATE CREDIT Douglas Palmer ponders To raise geology’s profile, Murray Gray Nina Morgan on the meteors, poetry and art pushes for a ‘Great Geosites’ project recognition of Anne Phillips WWW.GEOLSOC.ORG.UK/GEOSCIENTIST | AUGUST 2019 | 1 Petroleum Geoscience The international journal of geoenergy and applied earth science Looking to the future

AD SPACE XR++++END USE OF ALL FOSSIL FUELS++++XR We are pleased to announce that, during its 25th anniversary year, Petroleum Geoscience has decided to introduce a new series of papers on the theme of Energy Geoscience.

Petroleum Geoscience already publishes papers on geoscience aspects of energy storage, CO2 storage and geothermal energy, although our current content is mainly research related to hydrocarbon exploration and production. Research focused on new and emerging topics, such as cyclic storage of gas or geothermal energy, will represent an increasing fraction of the Journal’s coverage and deserve a more speciﬁ c home. By introducing the Energy Geoscience Series, we hope to create a channel for the anticipated growth in non-petroleum related aspects of geoenergy and applied earth science. We continue to invite papers on any aspect of geoenergy and applied earth science, but now authors are able to choose between submission under Energy Geoscience alongside the traditional categories under Petroleum Geoscience or one of the more speciﬁ c Thematic Set topics we choose to run from time to time. Despite this important and stimulating interest in new forms of energy, the use of hydrocarbons remains essential to human society, and novel and innovative papers on the geoscience of petroleum will continue to be a vital part of our geoscience portfolio. We look forward to receiving a continuing stream of high-quality research papers across all aspects of applied geoscience.

Explore Petroleum Geoscience content in the Lyell Collection https://pg.lyellcollection.org More information on Petroleum Geoscience and how to submit a paper www.geolsoc.org.uk/Publications/Journals/Petroleum-Geoscience WWW.GEOLSOC.ORG.UK/GEOSCIENTIST | AUGUST 2019 | 3 GEOSCIENTIST CONTENTS

Geoscientist is the W www.centuryone Fellowship magazine publishing.uk of the Geological Society of London ADVERTISING SALES Alex Killen The Geological Society, T 01727 739 182 Burlington House, Piccadilly, E [email protected] Petroleum Geoscience London W1J 0BG T +44 (0)20 7434 9944 ART EDITOR The international journal of geoenergy and applied earth science F +44 (0)20 7439 8975 Heena Gudka E [email protected] (Not for Editorial - Please PRINTED BY contact the Editor) Century One Publishing Ltd. Publishing House Looking to the future The Geological Society Copyright Publishing House, Unit 7, The Geological Society of Brassmill Enterprise Centre, London is a Registered Charity, Brassmill Lane, Bath number 210161. BA1 3JN ISSN (print) 0961-5628 T 01225 445046 ISSN (online) 2045-1784 F 01225 442836 The Geological Society of London accepts no responsibility for the views 5 Library expressed in any article in this publication. T +44 (0)20 7432 0999 All views expressed, except where explicitly E [email protected] stated otherwise, represent those of the author, and not The Geological Society of EDITOR-IN-CHIEF London. All All rights reserved. No paragraph Professor Andy Fleet of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written DEPUTY EDITOR-IN-CHIEF permission. Users registered with Copyright Clearance Center: the Journal is registered Mr David Shilston with CCC, 27 Congress Street, Salem, MA EDITOR 01970, USA. Every effort has been made Dr Amy Whitchurch to trace copyright holders of material in this 10 16 publication. If any rights have been omitted, E [email protected] the publisher offer their apologies.

EDITORIAL BOARD No responsibility is assumed by the Mrs Natalyn Ala Publisher for any injury and/or damage to Mr Steve Branch persons or property as a matter of products Dr Robin Cocks liability, negligence or otherwise, or from ON THE COVER: Dr Howard Falcon-Lang any use or operation of any methods, products, instructions or ideas contained 10 SCIENCE, SEAMOUNTS Prof. Tony Harris in the material herein. All advertising Mr Edmund Nickless material is expected to conform to ethical AND SOCIETY Dr Alan Roberts and trading standards, and reasonable Prof. Peter Styles care is taken to ensure that advertisers are Dr Colin Summerhayes reputable and reliable. However, inclusion Tony Watts reviews the distribution Dr Jan Zalasiewicz in this publication or as an insert does not constitute a guarantee or endorsement and formation of seamounts, arguing Trustees of the of the quality or value of such products Geological Society or services, or of the claims made by that increased seafloor mapping is of London 2019-2020 its manufacturer. Geoscientist and the XR++++END USE OF ALL FOSSIL FUELS++++XR Prof Nicholas Rogers (President) Geological Society of London can give no urgently needed We are pleased to announce that, during its 25th anniversary year, Petroleum Geoscience has decided to introduce a assurance that an advertiser will fulfil its Mr Thomas Backhouse obligation under all circumstances. new series of papers on the theme of Energy Geoscience. Mr Andrew Bloodworth Mr John Booth (Vice President) Subscriptions: All correspondence Dr Michael Daly (President relating to non-member subscriptions Petroleum Geoscience already publishes papers on geoscience aspects of energy storage, CO storage and geothermal designate) should be addresses to the Journals FEATURESFEATURES 2 Subscription Department, Geological Ms Lesley Dunlop Society Publishing House, Unit 7 Brassmill energy, although our current content is mainly research related to hydrocarbon exploration and production. Research Dr Joel Gill Enterprise Centre, Brassmill Lane, Bath, BA1 18 WHEN STARS FELL TO EARTH Mr Graham Goffey (Treasurer) 3JN, UK. Tel: 01225 445046. Email: sales@ Douglas Palmer on the poetic, artistic focused on new and emerging topics, such as cyclic storage of gas or geothermal energy, will represent an increasing Dr Kathryn Goodenough geolsoc.org.uk. Contact us by phone or and astronomical accounts of meteor showers in 1860 Dr Sarah Gordon (Secretary, email for current rates. fraction of the Journal’s coverage and deserve a more speciﬁ c home. By introducing the Energy Geoscience Series, Foreign & External Affairs) Prof James Griffiths © 2019 The Geological Society we hope to create a channel for the anticipated growth in non-petroleum related aspects of geoenergy and applied of London Prof Chris King REGULARS earth science. Mr Andrew Moore Geoscientist is printed on FSC® mixed Prof Bryne Ngwenya credit - Mixed source products are a blend Mr Nicholas Reynolds (Vice of FSC 100%, Recycled and/or Controlled 05 WELCOME Amy Whitchurch ponders planetary defence We continue to invite papers on any aspect of geoenergy and applied earth science, but now authors are able President) fibre. Certified by the Forest Stewardship Council®. to choose between submission under Energy Geoscience alongside the traditional categories under Petroleum Prof Katherine Royse (Secretary, 06 SOCIETY NEWS What your Society is doing at Professional Matters) home and abroad Mrs Sarah Scott

SCIENTISTVOLUME 29 No. 07 ◆ AUGUST 2019 ◆ WWW.GEOLSOC.ORG.UK/GEOSCIENTIST Geoscience or one of the more speciﬁ c Thematic Set topics we choose to run from time to time. Ms Gemma Sherwood GEOThe Fellowship Magazine of the Geological Society of London @geoscientistmag A peak at Miss Jessica Smith (Vice planetary defence 09 SOAPBOX Murray Gray presses the Society to consider a Despite this important and stimulating interest in new forms of energy, the use of hydrocarbons remains essential to President) global geotourism project Dr Helen Smyth NLINE human society, and novel and innovative papers on the geoscience of petroleum will continue to be a vital part of Prof Robin Strachan (Secretary, SCIENCE, 22 BOOKS & ARTS Six new books reviewed by Simon Kettle, Publications) SEAMOUNTS AND SOCIETY SPECIAL Brent Wilson, Malcolm B. Hart, Richard Dawe, Robert Bowell our geoscience portfolio. We look forward to receiving a continuing stream of high-quality research papers across all Mr John Talbot (Vice President) Tony Watts on the urgent need Dr Alexander Whittaker for increased seafloor mapping & Richard Porter FALLING STARS GEOTOURSIM CONGLOMERATE CREDIT Douglas Palmer ponders To raise geology’s profile, Murray Gray Nina Morgan on the meteors, poetry and art pushes for a ‘Great Geosites’ project recognition of Anne Phillips aspects of applied geoscience. (Secretary, Science) WWW.GEOLSOC.ORG.UK/GEOSCIENTIST | AUGUST 2019 | 1 GREAT GLOBAL Cover image: A natural trench in the reef GEOTOURISM SITES 26 PEOPLE Nina Morgan applauds a remarkably frank Published on behalf of underwater, Pacific ocean © Shutterstock revelation, John Talbot reports on a recent Hong Kong the Geological Society Regional Group liaison & more of London by: TO HELP RAISE THE GLOBAL PROFILE OF Explore Petroleum Geoscience content in the Lyell Collection Century One Publishing GEOLOGY, MURRAY GRAY 29 CALENDAR Activities this month https://pg.lyellcollection.org Alban Row, 27–31 Verulam PROPOSES LAUNCHING AN Road, St Albans, AL3 4DG Keith Westhead 1965-2018 T 01727 893 894 INTERNATIONAL PROJECT 30 OBITUARY E enquiries@centuryone ON GEOTOURISM. More information on Petroleum Geoscience and how to submit a paper publishing.uk www.geolsoc.org.uk/Publications/Journals/Petroleum-Geoscience WWW.GEOLSOC.ORG.UK/GEOSCIENTIST | AUGUST 2019 | 3 WHERE IS YOUR FUTURE IN MINING?

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The Mesoproterozoic Stac Fada proximal ejecta blanket, A reassessment of the proposed ‘Lairg Impact Structure’ and its potential implications for the deep NW Scotland: constraints on crater location from field structure of northern Scotland observations, anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility, petrography and geochemistry By Michael J. Simms and Kord Ernstson

By Kenneth Amor, Stephen P. Hesselbo, Don Porcelli, Adam Price, Naomi The Lairg Gravity Low may represent a buried impact crater c. 40 km Saunders, Martin Sykes, Jennifer Stevanović and Conal MacNiocaill across that was the source of the 1.2 Ga Stac Fada Member ejecta The Stac Fada Member of the Mesoproterozoic Stoer Group (Torridon deposit but the gravity anomaly is too large to represent a simple Supergroup) in NW Scotland is a proximal ejecta blanket surrounding crater and there is no evidence of a central peak. Reanalysis of the an unidentified asteroid point Bouguer gravity data reveals a ring of positive anomalies impact crater. A around the central low, suggesting that it might represent the combination of field eroded central part of a larger complex crater. The inner or peak observations of the ejecta rings of complex craters show a broadly consistent 2:1 relationship deposit and underlying between ring diameter and total crater diameter... strata, the geographical distribution of terrane- Read more here https://jgs.lyellcollection.org/content/ identified basement clasts early/2019/04/30/jgs2017-161 found embedded in the impactite, and anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility of the impact melt rocks at different locations can constrain the crater location to be about 15–20 km WNW

Read the full abstract and paper in the Lyell Collection https://jgs.lyellcollection.org/content/early/2019/06/04/jgs2018-093

4 | AUGUST 2019 | WWW.GEOLSOC.ORG.UK/GEOSCIENTIST WWW.GEOLSOC.ORG.UK/GEOSCIENTIST | AUGUST 2019 | 5 ~ GEOSCIENTIST WELCOME

ASTEROID MONITORING AND IMPACT MITIGATION IS SWIFTLY MOVING FROM THE REALMS OF SCIENCE FICTION TO REALITY ~ FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK: Planetary defence

arly morning on June 30th 1908, a column of blue light Given our vulnerability, space agencies across the globe are glowed in the sky above the remote Tunguska region monitoring our skies—with increasing success. In the early of Siberia. Minutes later, a huge explosion and shock hours of June 22, telescopes at the University of Hawaii wave flattened over 2,000 square kilometres of forest, detected a small asteroid before it entered Earth’s knocked people from their feet and shattered atmosphere. About 12 hours later, a meteor (subsequently Ewindows in villages tens of kilometres away. Although no determined to be the same object) burned up in the sky impact crater has ever been found, the mysterious event is above the Caribbean Sea. The event is significant because it attributed to the mid-air explosion of a meteor, potentially marks the first time that astronomers have tracked an 40-190 metres across, making Tunguska the largest cosmic asteroid with sufficient lead-in time to issue a warning. impact event ever witnessed by humans. Of course, simply tracking near-Earth objects with the aim Thousands of meteors intersect our planet’s orbital path every of evacuating potential impact sites is insufficient—we must year. Most burn up in the atmosphere before reaching Earth’s actively mitigate those impacts that are likely to be surface. Rarely, such as during the Great Meteor Procession of devastating. To this end, numerous techniques have been 1860 (see page 18), meteors merely graze the Earth, passing proposed, with most aiming to alter the trajectory of an straight through the atmosphere to re-enter space. Others, like asteroid that is on a collision course with Earth. Tunguska, are more damaging—whether they reach the ground One of the more mature proposals is the joint NASA and or not. In February 2013, a 20-metre-wide meteor tore apart in ESA Asteroid Impact and Deflection Assessment (AIDA) the skies above Chelyabinsk, Russia. The shock wave smashed mission. The mission’s target is the binary system Didymos, windows and damaged over 7,000 buildings, injuring around composed of the asteroid Didymead and its satellite, 1,500 people. Didymoon, which will pass close to Earth in 2022. During Earth’s surface is littered with the scars of many damaging the approach, NASA aims to crash a spacecraft, the Double asteroid impacts. The most famous, the Chicxulub Crater buried Asteroid Redirection Test (DART), into Didymoon to alter its beneath the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico, is thought to have been trajectory. Three years later, ESA will send a follow-up craft, created by an asteroid impact ~66 million years ago that drove Hera, to carry out a post-mortem examination. the extinction of the dinosaurs. The best preserved is the This may sound like something from a Hollywood movie, Barringer or Meteor Crater in Arizona, created just 50,000 years but, if successful, this ambitious mission will demonstrate ago. And one recently discovered is a 1.2-billion-year old impact the viability of asteroid deflection as a planetary defence crater in northwest Scotland—though its precise location is technique, should we ever need to safeguard our world. debated (Amor et al. J.GSL 2019; Simms & Ernstson, J.GSL 2019). Science fiction, it seems, is rapidly becoming science fact.

Meteor crater, Arizona

DR AMY WHITCHURCH, EDITOR - [email protected] @geoscientistmag

4 | AUGUST 2019 | WWW.GEOLSOC.ORG.UK/GEOSCIENTIST WWW.GEOLSOC.ORG.UK/GEOSCIENTIST | AUGUST 2019 | 5 GEOSCIENTIST SOCIETY NEWS

SOCIETYNEWS

SOCIETY’S AWARDS 2020 – MAKE YOUR NOMINATIONS

Fellows of the Society are encouraged to submit nominations explaining how to go about nominating a person you feel is deserving for the Society’s Awards for 2020, writes George Jameson. of a Society Award. With the aim of broadening the demographics of those nominations Check out our new Awards booklet, which shows all of the changes put forward, this year we set ourselves a goal to revamp the awards made and how easy the whole process is, by visiting: https://www. process. Undertaking a holistic review of the procedures, focusing on geolsoc.org.uk/About/Awards-Grants-and-Bursaries/Society-Awards the nominations, application, submission, judging and assessment Full details of how to make nominations can also be found there. processes and criteria. Remember nominations must be received at the Society no later Our guidance documents have been revamped and help in than 27 September 2019.

LYELL’S NOTEBOOKS HONORARY FELLOWSHIP

Charles Lyell’s notebooks, currently in private hands, are due to be Following a proposal from the External Relations Committee, sold abroad. Government has imposed a temporary export ban to Council recommends the following candidate for election to enable fundraising to purchase them and to make them publicly Honorary Fellowship at a future Ordinary General Meeting. available online. If successful, the new home of the Lyell notebooks will be the University of Edinburgh Library, already home to the Professor Khin Zaw largest collection of Lyell material. The University of Edinburgh is Khin Zaw is Professor of Economic leading the fund-raising and has launched a dedicated website: Geology at the Centre for Ore Deposits https://www.ed.ac.uk/giving/save-lyell-notebooks. and Earth Sciences (CODES), in the The Geological Society is supporting efforts through a letter from School of Natural Sciences, University of the President, which is now published on the above website, and by Tasmania. He is the pre-eminent mineral making available for use an image of the Lyell portrait that hangs in deposits geologist in South East Asia, the Lyell Room at Burlington House. The temporary export ban had has supervised numerous MSc and PhD an initial deadline of 15 July, but the fundraising has made significant dissertations on economic and other progress, so the deadline has been extended until 15 October 2019. Earth science topics, and has participated For more information about the notebooks, the appeal, and to pledge in and organised sessions in numerous conferences in South a donation, please visit the website. East Asia. To further the study of the geosciences in Myanmar, and to provide a forum and support for Myanmar geoscientists, Prof Khin Zaw, together with Dr Yin Yin New, founded the Myanmar Applied Earth Sciences Association (MAESA) in 2016. MAESA arranges conferences and workshops with the aim of promoting the geosciences and mineral resources of Myanmar, and collaboration with foreign geoscientists, mineral companies and geoscience organisations, such as this Society. Prof Khin Zaw studied Geology at the University of Rangoon, graduating in 1968. After obtaining an MSc in 1969 from Queen’s University in Canada, he was appointed to a lectureship in the University of Yangon, Myanmar. However, he incurred the displeasure of the Military Government and was dismissed from his post. Eventually, Khin Zaw was allowed to leave Myanmar with his family to study for a PhD at the University of Tasmania in Hobart, Australia. After obtaining his PhD, Khin Zaw joined the CODES ARC (Centre of Excellence in Ore Deposits) group at the University of Tasmania, specialising in the economic geology of South East Asia. Portrait of Sir Charles Lyell (1797-1875) © Geological Society of London.

6 | AUGUST 2019 | WWW.GEOLSOC.ORG.UK/GEOSCIENTIST WWW.GEOLSOC.ORG.UK/GEOSCIENTIST | AUGUST 2019 | 7 GEOSCIENTIST SOCIETY NEWS

What your society is doing at home and abroad

SOCIETY DISCUSSION GROUP 2019 – ALL WELCOME!

The Geological Society Discussion Group exists to promote discussion n ‘UK Onshore earthquakes—natural or in a social setting on a variety of geoscience topics. Our meetings take anthropogenic?’, Stephen Hicks (Imperial College) place in the evening, at a range of different venues in London, when a - 23 October, Bumpkins, South Kensington. topical subject is raised by an invited speaker and debated over dinner. n Members’ geological object ‘show and tell’ evening Come and broaden you mind and your network! The meetings are - 4 December, Athenaeum, Pall Mall. open to all—Fellows, their guests and non-Fellows. For more information, please go to: www.geolsoc. org.uk/Groups-and-Networks/Specialist-Groups/ n ‘Critically stressed Earth’, Jonathan Turner (Director, Radioactive Geological-Society-Discussion-Group. To make a reservation, please Waste Management) - 18 September, Kings Head, Mayfair. contact: [email protected] EARTH SCIENCE WEEK 2019

Earth Science Week 2019 takes place on 12-20 October, with a Anyone can participate by either running or attending an event. Contact theme of ‘Geoscience is for everyone’. [email protected] if you’d like more information on how to If you’re thinking of running an event this year, you can apply for up get involved! to £150 to help! Visit www.geolsoc.org.uk/earthscienceweek where you can register your event and submit a grant application. The deadline to apply for grants is Monday 19 August, although you can continue to register your event without applying for a grant until Friday 4 October. Earth Science Week is an annual celebration of the geology all around us. Taking place in an increasing number of countries around the world, the week aims to raise awareness of the geosciences through public events like geowalks, talks, open days and hands-on activities.

ESW PHOTOGRAPHY COMPETITION

The Earth Science Week photography competition is back! This year, for the first time, we’re inviting entries featuring geology from all over the world. Entry is free to all, and there’s no limit on how many PUBLIC LECTURE SERIES images you can enter. As always, 12 winners will be displayed at Burlington House during Earth Science Week and feature in our 2020 Diamond windows into the deep Earth calendar. The top three images will also win cash prizes. You can email your entries to [email protected]. The Speaker: Kate Kiseeva, University College Cork, Ireland; deadline to enter is 9am on Monday 23 September. Full details can University of Oxford, UK be found at www.geolsoc.org.uk/photocompetition. Location: North East Futures UTC, Newcastle upon Tyne Date: 14 August Time: 18.00 Tea & Coffee; 18.30 Lecture begins

Further Information Please visit www.geolsoc.org.uk/GSL-Regional-Lecture-Aug. Tickets are now available on Eventbrite.co.uk and will work on a first come first serve basis.

Contact: The Geological Society, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London W1J 0BG T: +44 (0) 20 7434 9944 E: [email protected] Last year’s winning image, ‘Bow Fiddle Rock’ by Andy Leonard

6 | AUGUST 2019 | WWW.GEOLSOC.ORG.UK/GEOSCIENTIST WWW.GEOLSOC.ORG.UK/GEOSCIENTIST | AUGUST 2019 | 7 Corporate Supporters: Registration Open Salt Tectonics: Understanding Rocks that Flow 29-31 October 2019 The Geological Society, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London

The complex behavioural and rheological characteristics of salt can strongly influence the structural and stratigraphic evolution of a basin. With many of the largest hydrocarbon provinces existing within salt-related basins understanding of the processes involved in Convenors: salt tectonics has important scientific and James Hammerstein economic implications for geological research Royal Holloway and hydrocarbon exploration. University of London AD SPACEModern high-resolution 3D seismic data Jürgen Adam with improved imaging of salt structures in Royal Holloway combination with more advanced physical University of London and numerical modelling techniques Clare Bond revolutionises the way we see salt tectonics University of Aberdeen and the role of salt structures. and Tectonic Studies Group This three-day international conference aims to bring together leading academic and industry geoscientists to discuss new techniques and case studies, and to capture an up to date Christina assessment of our understanding of salt tectonic processes including: Von Nicolai BP • Geographical case studies; e.g. North Sea, Gulf of Mexico, Persian Gulf, Campos Basin • Salt tectonics in extensional and contractional settings • Halokinetic sequence stratigraphy • Analytical methods of interpreting salt in seismic data • Physical and numerical modelling of salt tectonics • Implications of salt tectonics for hydrocarbon exploration.

For further information please contact: Sarah Woodcock, The Geological Society, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London W1J 0BG. Tel: +44 (0)20 7434 9944

At the forefront of petroleum geoscience

www.geolsoc.org.uk/petroleum WWW.GEOLSOC.ORG.UK/GEOSCIENTIST | AUGUST 2019 | 9 GEOSCIENTIST SOAPBOX

Corporate Supporters: Registration Open Great global geotourism sites Salt Tectonics: To raise geology’s global profile,Murray Gray presses the Society to support an international project on geotourism Understanding Rocks that Flow n 2014, the Geological Society of 20,000 years ago, when world sea-level was London, together with partner 120 m lower. As sea-levels rose, coral SOAPBOX 29-31 October 2019 organizations, ran a “100 Great growth kept pace, creating the massive Geosites” project in the UK and structure we see today. The Geological Society, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London Ireland (https://www.geolsoc.org. There ought to be a karst site on the list, CALLING! Iuk/100geosites). Over 400 sites were and South China Karst and Ha Long Bay The complex behavioural and rheological nominated and the public were invited to together contain world-class examples of Soapbox is open to contributions characteristics of salt can strongly influence vote for their favourites. 1,500 votes were tower and cone karst, as well as giant from all Fellows. You can always the structural and stratigraphic evolution of a received, with the 100 most popular being dolines, river gorges, cave systems and the write a letter to the Editor, of basin. With many of the largest hydrocarbon placed into 10 groups. stone forest of Shilin. According to Professor Rob Butler, The World’s most impressive in situ course, but perhaps you feel you provinces existing within salt-related basins Chairman of the Geoconservation dinosaur site must be the dinosaur need more space? understanding of the processes involved in Convenors: Committee, the project generated a “pretty footprint site at Parque Cretácico, Cal salt tectonics has important scientific and major media storm” amounting to some of Orcko, near Surce, southern Bolivia. Here, If you can write it entertainingly in James Hammerstein economic implications for geological research the largest ever media interest in a over 5,000 footprints from 15 dinosaur 500 words, the Editor would like Royal Holloway and hydrocarbon exploration. to hear from you. Email your piece, University of London Geological Society topic. Given the low species are preserved. Modern high-resolution 3D seismic data profile of geology, geoheritage and The Golden Circle tourist route in and a self-portrait, to Jürgen Adam with improved imaging of salt structures in geoconservation in many countries, I south-west Iceland includes Thingvellir, [email protected]. uk. Copy can only be accepted Royal Holloway combination with more advanced physical believe there is a case for repeating the where the North American and European University of London electronically. No diagrams, tables and numerical modelling techniques Great Geosites project at a global scale? plates are moving apart at about 3 cm per year, resulting in open fissures, some of or other illustrations please. Clare Bond revolutionises the way we see salt tectonics Selection which have walking or canoe trails University of Aberdeen and the role of salt structures. and Tectonic Studies We would need to determine how many through them. Pictures should be of print Group This three-day international conference aims to bring together leading academic and industry sites and what criteria to use in our Finally, Cape Town and Rio de Janeiro quality – please take photographs geoscientists to discuss new techniques and case studies, and to capture an up to date selection. Certainly, the public must be able both reflect the important and close on the largest setting on your Christina assessment of our understanding of salt tectonic processes including: to easily and safely visit the locations, and association between human settlements camera, with a plain background. Von Nicolai we must consider visual impact, site and their physical settings. BP • Geographical case studies; e.g. North Sea, Gulf of Mexico, Persian Gulf, Campos Basin quality, educational potential and the Precedence will always be given • Salt tectonics in extensional and contractional settings availability of sufficient tourist facilities. Debate to more topical contributions. • Halokinetic sequence stratigraphy The sites should be globally distributed, These sites are not intended as a definitive Any one contributor may not • Analytical methods of interpreting salt in seismic data rather than focussed on a single continent, list. Rather, I hope they will trigger appear more often than once per volume (once every 12 months). • Physical and numerical modelling of salt tectonics and should reflect the geodiversity of discussion and start a process that may the planet. lead to a list of top geotourism sites • Implications of salt tectonics for hydrocarbon exploration. With these strictures in mind, I propose a endorsed by the geological community, GIVEN THE LOW number of sites for potential inclusion. For which can then be promoted to the public PROFILE OF example, the Iguaçu Falls represent the through the media. Endorsement should world’s most complex waterfall system, come through national and international GEOLOGY, GEOHERITAGE with 275 individual falls tumbling over two organisations such as the Geological AND GEOCONSERVATION For further information please contact: main horizontal lava flows. Most geosites Society of London, as well as the IUGS’s IN MANY COUNTRIES, are static, but this highly dynamic site has International Commission on Geoheritage Sarah Woodcock, The Geological Society, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London W1J 0BG. good tourist facilities, including trails over and the IUCN’s Geoheritage Specialist PERHAPS THERE IS A Tel: +44 (0)20 7434 9944 the water, helicopter and boat trips, visitor Group. CASE FOR REPEATING centres and restaurants. THE GREAT GEOSITES The Great Barrier Reef may seem a surprising site to champion, given that Murray Gray (FGS) is Honorary Professor in the PROJECT AT A GLOBAL School of Geography at Queen Mary University most visitors are interested in the reef of London; e-mail: [email protected]. The full SCALE? At the forefront of petroleum geoscience ecology rather than its geology. However, it article, including more detailed justification for each is believed that the reef started to grow proposed site, is available online www.geolsoc.org.uk/petroleum WWW.GEOLSOC.ORG.UK/GEOSCIENTIST | AUGUST 2019 | 9 SCIENCE, SEAMOUNTS AND SOCIETY

In reviewing the t has been more than one hundred was the Precision Depth Recorder (PDR), years since the publication of Sir which used a hull-mounted acoustic distribution and John Murray’s ‘bathymetrical chart’ transducer/receiver to continuously of the world’s ocean basins. measure two-way reflection time and formation of I Compiled from lead-line surveys hence depth. The Princeton academic, during expeditions such as Challenger Harry Hess, who had been given seamounts, Tony and Michael Sars, the coloured contour command of the troop-carrying ship USS map revealed for the first time the nature Cape Johnston, for example, used a PDR Watts highlights the of Earth’s surface beneath the oceans and to chart 160 flat-topped bathymetric the outline of the continental margins, features in the Pacific Ocean, rising up to societal implications of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and the 4.5 km above the seafloor. He named them these abundant intervening abyssal plains (Fig. 1). guyots, in honour of the Swiss born Profiles showed, however, that apart geographer and Princeton Professor, oceanic features and from the prominence of a few widely Arnold H. Guyot. Hess (Amer. J. Science scattered islands such as the Azores, 1946), and considered them as volcanic the urgent need for the seafloor of the oceans was smooth oceanic islands that had been wave and featureless—a view that persisted trimmed prior to subsidence below more seafloor for about the next four decades. sea level. The development of new technologies After more than three centuries of mapping during World War II dramatically altered discovery on sailing ships, we know there this view. Arguably the most important are 1,770 ocean islands (all but one was

10 | AUGUST 2019 | WWW.GEOLSOC.ORG.UK/GEOSCIENTIST WWW.GEOLSOC.ORG.UK/GEOSCIENTIST | AUGUST 2019 | 11 Fig 1: Sir John Murray and his ‘bathymetrical chart’ of the Atlantic, western Indian and eastern Pacific oceans published in 1912. Constructed from ~3,200 soundings made with pre-stressed hemp rope and lead weights on British and other survey ships. Abyssal plains (‘deeps’) correspond to depths >3,000 fathoms (5,486 m). Chart produced by John G. Bartholomew, cartographer to the King

discovered by 1840). 47 are active large majority of guyots and atolls are slopes and relatively small summit area” volcanoes. Approximately 439 are atolls located in the interior of plates, far from Menard estimated there were about (Goldberg, Atoll Research Bulletin 2016), plate boundaries (Fig. 2b). 2,000 seamounts greater than 1 km high in which Charles Darwin hypothesized in Here I show that when ‘seamounts’ are the ocean basins. Satellite-derived gravity 1842 comprise coral reefs that had grown added into the mix, most of which are also and ship PDR data, however, show there upwards on the summit of volcanoes as volcanic in origin (Fig. 3), the spatial are >14,500 seamounts higher than 1 km. they subsided below sea level. extent of magmatic activity on Earth A large concentration is found in the While we now attribute the subsidence changes even more dramatically. Indeed, western Pacific Ocean (Figs 2, 4). Some of of guyots and atolls to sinking of the the distribution raises important scientific these seamounts are growing up on the oceanic plate as it ages and cools, their questions about Earth’s ‘magmatic pulse’ seafloor and may become islands, spatial distribution raises questions about and the origin of intra-plate volcanism, as while others were once islands that the origin of volcanic activity on Earth. well as societal questions about the role are now sinking. The Smithsonian Global Volcano Program that seafloor volcanoes play in navigation, An important technological (SGVP), for example, lists 1,535 volcanoes fisheries and geohazards. development in the late 1980s was the that have been active since the Holocene, introduction of multibeam swath the large majority of which are associated What is a seamount? bathymetry systems. These had an with compressional plate boundaries, In his 1964 book, Marine Geology of the advantage over PDRs in that rather than where one plate is underthrust by another Pacific, Bill Menard defined a seamount as: determining water depth immediately (e.g. the circum-Pacific) and extensional “a more or less isolated elevation of the beneath a ship’s hull, they insonified a plate boundaries, where the plates are sea floor with a circular or elliptical plan, broad swath of the seafloor, up to 2.5 moving apart (e.g. East Africa). Yet, the at least 1 km of relief, comparatively steep times the water depth. Such systems

10 | AUGUST 2019 | WWW.GEOLSOC.ORG.UK/GEOSCIENTIST WWW.GEOLSOC.ORG.UK/GEOSCIENTIST | AUGUST 2019 | 11 A Fig 2: a) 60 60 revealed the morphology of Holocene-Recent seamounts, guyots, atolls and ocean volcanoes (filled islands in unprecedented detail, for purple triangles, from https:// example those along the Hawaiian- volcano.si.edu/), Emperor seamount chain in the 0 0 compared to central Pacific Ocean (Fig. 5). Other boundaries of major plates islands to have had their submarine (blue, subduction slopes swath mapped include the zones; orange, Canary and Cape Verde in the mid-ocean ridges; black, transform/ 60 60 Atlantic Ocean, and La Reunion and strike-slip Kerguelen in the Indian Ocean. faults). b) Ocean However, the number of swath islands (filled B 60 60 blue circles), surveys carried out to date is limited atolls (×). Guyots and only about 10-12% of the seafloor (unfilled circles, has been insonified. distribution incomplete) were once islands. c) 0 0 Seamount dynamics Seamounts (filled While we still do not know how many red circles) with height above seamounts are growing and sinking, seafloor > 1,344 field observations suggest they are m, the height of 60 60 important to fully understanding Ben Nevis, the UK’s highest Earth history and environmental mountain. (Data change. Field sample and scientific C 60 60 sources: Nunn, drill data suggest that there have been 1994; Goldberg, 2016; Smoot bursts of volcanism in the oceans, for & King, 1997; example the 90 to 100 -million-year Caplan-Auerback ‘event’ that created many of the et al., 2000; Hillier & Watts, 2007) 0 0 seamounts and oceanic plateaus in the central Pacific Ocean (e.g. Shatsky Rise, Hess Rise, Mid-Pacific Mountains). There may have been other such volcanic events in the 60 60 Pacific Ocean, peaking in the Eocene and Late Jurassic. Once formed seamounts are susceptible to

Fig. 3: The flanks modification by large-scale sector of intra-plate collapse, as manifest by scalloped oceanic islands coastlines, submarine debris flows and and seamounts comprise the emplacement of large blocks on the mainly basaltic seafloor. Such processes operate on rocks that are time scales on the order of hundreds of geochemically distinct from thousands of years as seen, for basalts sampled example, in the Icod and La Orotava at mid-ocean landslides on the north flank of ridges and islands arcs. Products Tenerife in the Canary Islands. of seawater-Fe- In historical times, seamounts show Mg reactions surprising variability on scales that (e,f) are an important source greatly exceed their terrestrial of microbial life. counterparts. The number of (a, A. Malahoff, historically active volcanoes in the U.Hawaii, 1980; c, Binard et al. SGVP data set is 538, about 35% of the & e, Scholten total number of volcanoes younger et al., both in: than Holocene. If a similar percentage Ocean Hotspots. Hekinian et of seamounts higher than 1 km are al. (eds) 2004 active, then we might expect upwards ©Springer; d, of about 5,000 historically active Public domain; f, Chan et al., volcanoes on the ocean floor. We 2016 CC-BY 4.0. know, however, only a few (~12) from c,e are exempt floating pumice and discoloured from CC licence, reprinted by water, Remotely Operated Vehicle permission from (ROV) observations, and repeat swath SpringerNature bathymetry surveys. SNCSC). One of the best-surveyed active

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submarine volcanoes is Monowai in the Tonga-Kermadec arc, southwest Pacific Ocean. The volcano (Fig. 6) was swath Fig 4: surveyed in 1998, 2004, 2007, 2011 and 2013. Western Pacific Ocean seafloor bathymetry, Large differences, up to several tens of between the Mariana metres, were measured between the Trench and the Mid- surveys. During the 32-day-long cruise of Pacific Mountains. a) Perspective view to NE M/V SONNE in 2011, the volcano was (gridded data set from surveyed twice. Seismic data recorded on Ryan et al., G3 2009; Rarotonga (Cook Islands) revealed that the GeoMapApp, http:// www.geomapapp.org/; volcano erupted during May 17-22, 2011 Marine Geoscience and surveys with swath bathymetry before Data System, www. and after the eruption showed dramatic marine-geo.org). Vertical exaggeration ×25. Scale differences: the seafloor depth on the cone approximate. White summit shallowed by up to 70 m and line illustrates the ship deepened by up to 18 m. track of R/V Vema cruise V3312. b) PDR The seismic events recorded on bathymetry profile along Rarotonga were generated by the rapid the Vema ship track. emplacement of volcanic rock onto the seafloor. They originated as hydroacoustic waves that had become trapped in the SOund Fixing And Ranging (SOFAR) channel, the low velocity sound layer in the ocean that transmits whale calls. When these waves, known as T-waves, impact an ocean island they convert to body waves and, depending on noise levels, may be recorded on a seismic station on an ocean island. Another recorder of T-waves are the hydrophone stations maintained by the Consortium for Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO). Three hydrophones are deployed on tethers in the SOFAR channel so a T-wave generated by an active submarine volcano will, if it is not obstructed, have a unique back azimuth when it arrives at a station. Explosive activity at Monowai, for example, has a back azimuth of 243.8° at a station located south of Juan Fernandez Island in the eastern Pacific Ocean (Fig. 7) and provide a means to continually monitor the Fig 5: Submarine flanks of the Hawaiian Islands (perspective views). a) SE flank of Hawaii. b) N flank of Maui, submarine volcanic centre. Remarkably, the Molokai and Oahu. 4x Vert. exagg. (Data: Ryan et al., 2009; http://www.geomapapp.org/; www.marine-geo.org) T-waves are able to transmit across the south Pacific Ocean despite possible bathymetric obstructions on the Louisville Ridge, East Pacific Rise and Chile Ridge. A recent study of these data by Dirk Metz (Oxford University) reveals that Monowai has erupted some 82 times over a 3.5-year period, making it arguably the most active volcano on Earth. Origin of seamounts Away from island arcs, many seamounts form distinct lines that progressively increase in age away from an active volcano and can be explained by absolute motion of a tectonic plate over a fixed mantle hotspot. The 7,000-km-long Hawaiian-Emperor Fig. 6: Monowai in the Tonga-Kermadec island arc (perspective view, towards NW), SW Pacific Ocean. A seamount chain in the central Pacific Ocean ~1,000-m-high, 10-12-km-wide stratovolcanic cone with parasitic cones and a flanking ~500-m-deep, 7-10-km- wide caldera with ring faults and a central mound. (Data: SONNE Cruise 215; https://www.bodc.ac.uk/.) is arguably the best-known example of

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such a hotspot track. Seamounts increase in age from ~20 ka at the young end of the chain, through ~50 Ma at the Hawaiian- Emperor ‘bend’, to ~80 Ma at the old end of the chain. The young end comprises ocean islands that are superimposed on a broad topographic swell ~1.5 km in height, which gravity and seismic data suggest is supported by a deep mantle plume, while the old end is characterized by guyots and an absence of a swell. A fixed hotspot origin for the seamount chain is supported by palaeomagnetic data that show the Hawaiian ridge, up to the ‘bend’, formed at or near the present-day latitude of the Hawaiian hotspot. But, palaeomagnetic data show that the Emperor Seamounts, beyond the ‘bend’, formed at a latitude up to 15o north of the Fig. 8: Isolated seamounts and short seamount chains (Pacific Ocean, perspective views). Data: Carbotte et al., 2006; Coumans et al., 2015; Ryan et al., 2009; http://www.geomapapp.org/; www.marine-geo.org; Split image courtesy of current location of the hotspot. John Bill Ryan). Vert. exagg. from ×2 (Taney) to ×5 (Split). Scales approx. Capricorn’s flat top tilts toward Tonga Trench. Tarduno (University of Rochester) and Sector collapses on Capricorn, Taney and Lamont seamounts. Summit craters on Lamont and Taney seamounts. colleagues have interpreted this as evidence that during 50 to 80 Ma, the Hawaiian more difficult to explain. Some show an age cracks generated by stresses set up in the hotspot was not fixed with respect to the progression, yet form close to a mid-ocean Pacific Plate by processes such as a slab deep mantle and had migrated south while ridge (e.g. the Lamont Seamounts close to pull, convective instabilities and mantle the plate moved north. the East Pacific Rise) and have been dynamics. While palaeomagnetic data suggest the attributed to a ‘mini hotspot’ at the ridge. Most difficult to explain are the Louisville Ridge, a seamount chain with a Others (e.g. the Puka Puka Seamounts, numerous isolated seamounts that litter ~50 Ma ‘bend’ in the southwest Pacific south-central Pacific) show no evidence of the seafloor (Fig. 2c). Some occur in Ocean, may also have formed at a fixed an age progression and have been regions of plate flexure at trench-outer mantle hotspot, other volcanic lines are attributed to magmatically filled tension rises (e.g. the ‘petit spot’ volcanoes in

Fig. 7: Typical T-wave generated by volcanic activity at Monowai in Fig. 9: USS San Francisco in Guam (Jan 2005). The submarine collided with an uncharted the Tonga-Kermadec arc and recorded at hydrophone stations south seamount while travelling at 33 knots between Guam and Brisbane. One sailor was killed, of Juan Fernandez Island, eastern Pacific Ocean. (data replotted from 115 were injured. (Credit: US Navy photo by Photographer 039, Mate 2nd Class Mark Allen Metz et al., 2018). Leonesio [Public domain])

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the western Pacific), submarine depth, so are potential hazards for have been targeted by the fishing volcanic loads (e.g. the ‘North and navigation. This was illustrated in a tragic industry, although not always with a South Arch’ volcanics of the Hawaiian accident in 2005. The USS San Francisco, a positive outcome for their coral habitats, Islands) and along transform faults and nuclear attack submarine, collided with as for example in the Graveyard ‘leaky’ fracture zones, where plate- an uncharted seamount at 160 m depth, Seamounts, east of New Zealand (Fig. 10). bending stresses may be high enough between Pikelot and Lamotrek atolls in to cause faulting. Others are too widely the western Pacific Ocean (Fig. 9). Four Limits of exploration scattered and show no obvious link to minutes prior to the collision, the seafloor The lack of field data limits our regions of loading and flexure. The depth was measured at 2,000 m. exploration of seamounts. The number occurrence of so many scattered Seamounts also act as seismicity of scientific research cruises with PDRs seamounts implies an extensive melt moderators, tsunami wave scatterers, onboard increased rapidly following source in or below the oceanic crust oceanographic “dip sticks” and World War II, but has been in a steady and lithosphere. The observation by biodiversity “hotspots”. Seamounts decline since the early 1970s. Single- Nicholas Schmerr (NASA Goddard) carried by plate motions towards a trench, beam bathymetry ship-track coverage is and colleagues of seismic precursors to for example, are potential asperities on a therefore limited, especially in the south underside reflections from the crust subduction zone megathrust and may Pacific Ocean, south of latitude 26o S between an earthquake and a receiver either inhibit or promote seismic activity. (Fig. 11, Despite their large surface area, that suggest an age-independent Furthermore, if intact when subducted seafloor the size of the UK, Germany discontinuity (the Gutenberg into a trench, seamounts may disrupt the and France has been sampled by the discontinuity) at about 65±10 km depth forearc (the region between the trench and equivalent of just 8, 8 and 5 ship tracks, is therefore an exciting development, arc) and cause submarine landslides. And respectively. Seafloor equivalent to especially as it might reflect an ocean- seamounts may diffract earthquake- entire countries (e.g. Greece, Bulgaria wide, thin zone of partial melt. generated tsunami waves, which may, in and Poland) has barely been sampled at turn, focus the waves more along one all). Multibeam swath bathymetry Seamounts and society segment of coastline than another. Finally, coverage is even sparser. Imagine the While the origin of seamounts, especially seamounts may be sites of a tidal-induced difficulty in determining the geology of the isolated ones, remains a scientific ocean turbulence, which aids in bringing a country the size of France from just a enigma, they are significant in a number nutrients from the flank of a seamount to few transects of geophysical data! of ways that impact society. Seamounts its summit. Indeed, some of our favourite The challenge becomes even clearer have steep slopes (up to ~25o) and rise fish and their predators are found on the when we consider the number of abruptly above the regional seafloor summits of seamounts and seamounts seamounts that might exist in the

Fig. 10: Unfished and fished seamounts in the Graveyard Seamounts, east of New Zealand. Unfished seamounts have extensive cold-water corals that support a diverse array of invertebrates. Corals are removed from fished seamounts by bottom trawlers that leave their marks in the pelagic drape.

(Images reproduced from Clark & Rowden, Deep-Sea Res.2009 © Elsevier) ▼

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world’s oceans. Satellite-derived WHAT MIGHT SIR JOHN soon in order to build a global database The Geologists’ Association provides gravity data have found most, if not all MURRAY AND THE OTHER that can be used as a reference to large seamounts, but few of the small compare with new data, so enabling ones, while ship PDRs have found some GREAT BATHYMETRIC CHART changes in seafloor depth to be detected. large seamounts (ships tend to avoid the MAKERS OF THE LAST CENTURY, The challenge will require international FINANCIAL SUPPORT largest seamounts!) and many of the SUCH AS HEEZEN AND THARP, collaboration and will take time and cost small ones (Fig. 12). If we assume that UCHIPI AND EMERY, AND FISHER money (Mayer et al. Geosciences 2018). for research in Earth Sciences satellites have found all the seamounts We could begin now, however, by with heights between say 2 and 9 km, AND MAMMERICKX, HAVE MADE OF encouraging academic research ships then the relationship between the THIS CHALLENGE? SURELY, THEY with onboard swath systems to record number and height of seamounts in this WOULD HAVE WANTED THE OCEAN data not only in their survey regions, but height range can be extrapolated into FLOOR TO BE MAPPED IN ITS during transits to and from a focus site. the domain of the smaller, yet still Such efforts could be enhanced by public Research projects New Researcher’s Award ENTIRETY? https://geologistsassociation.org.uk/newresearchers/ significant seamounts, taking into engagement using ‘ships of opportunity’, in any area of account the relationship found in the for example cruise ships, Navy vessels Aimed at undergraduate or postgraduate students enrolled at ship data. When we do this, we find that be mapped in its entirety? Walter Smith and ‘megayachts’. Only then might we Earth Sciences a UK university and who do not yet hold a doctoral degree. there may be upwards of ~30,000 and Karen Marks (Laboratory for be able to put to rest the well-known (up to £600) seamounts in the height range of 1 to 2 Satellite Altimetry, National Oceanic and cliché that we know the surfaces of the Typical awards are to support field expeditions, geological km that still remain to be discovered! Atmospheric Administration; NOAA) Moon, Mars and Venus better than we surveys or laboratory consumables. So, what might Sir John Murray and estimate that it will take about 200 ship know the surface of our own planet. the other great bathymetric chart years (e.g. 20 ships for 10 years) to —Full figure captions are available online makers of the last century, such as completely swath map the world’s ocean Heezen and Tharp, Uchipi and Emery, basins and their margins. Incidents such Geologists’ Association Research Award and Fisher and Mammerickx, have as the loss of flight MH370 and the 2004 Tony Watts is a Professor of Marine Geology and https://geologistsassociation.org.uk/research-awards/ made of this challenge? Surely, they and 2005 Java-Sumatra megathrust Geophysics at Oxford University; e-mail: would have wanted the ocean floor to earthquakes suggest that we should start [email protected] Aimed at fostering research in any area of Earth Sciences. Available to all members of the Geologists’ Association of at least one year’s standing, irrespective of age and status.

Financial support GA Meetings Award for attendance https://geologistsassociation.org.uk/meetings-award/ to meetings Available to students and GA members of at least one year’s standing to assist attendance to conferences, scientific (up to £250) workshops or field meetings.

Applicants should be members of the Geologists’ Association Fig. 11: All available single-beam bathymetry, gravity and magnetic ship- Fig. 12: No. of seamounts vs. seamount height above regional seafloor track data in part of the central Pacific Ocean (-165 o to -113 o longitude depth. Satellite data (red line) reveal nearly all the large seamounts, Limited funds may be available for non-members and -56 o to -26 o latitude) superimposed at the same scale on a map of while surface ship data (blue line) reveal most small seamounts. Orange/ Europe (blue lines, ship tracks; grey lines, national boundaries). green shaded region suggests many seamounts are undiscovered, tens of (Data from http://www.geomapapp.org/) thousands of which may have heights up to 1-2 km. (Data replotted from The for applications is the Hillier & Watts, 2007) deadline FURTHER READING 15th of November 2019

◆ Darwin, C., 1842. Structure and distribution of coral reefs, South Elder and Co., 2030, Geosciences, 8, 18, doi:10.3390/geosciences8020063 London, 207 pp. ◆ Murray, J. & Hjort, J., 1912. The Depths of the Ocean, MacMillan and Co., Limited, ◆ Hekinian, R., Stoffers, P. & Cheminée, J.-L., 2004. Oceanic Hotspots, pp. 480, St. Martin’s Street, London, 821 pp. Springer, ◆ Nunn, P. D., 1994. Oceanic Islands, Blackwell, Oxford, 413 pp. Berlin Heidelberg. ◆ Oceanog raphy, 2010. Special Issue on “Mountains in the Sea”, 23, No. 1., The ◆ Menard, H.W., 1964. Marine Geology of the Pacific, McGraw-Hill, New York, 271 pp. Oceanography Society, 231 pp. ◆ Smith, W. H. F. & Marks, K. M., 2014. Seafloor in the Malaysia Airlines Flight ◆ Mayer, L., Jakobsson, M., Allen, G., Dorschel, B., Falconer, R., Ferrini, V., [email protected] Lamarche, G., Snaith, H. & Weatherall, P., 2018. The Nippon Foundation—GEBCO MH370 search area, EOS, 95, 173-180. Seabed 2030 Project: The Quest to See the World’s Oceans Completely Mapped by —The full reference list is available with the online version of the article Geologists’ Association @GeolAssoc 16 | AUGUST 2019 | WWW.GEOLSOC.ORG.UK/GEOSCIENTIST WWW.GEOLSOC.ORG.UK/GEOSCIENTIST | AUGUST 2019 | 17 GEOSCIENTIST FEATURE

The Geologists’ Association provides FINANCIAL SUPPORT for research in Earth Sciences

Research projects New Researcher’s Award in any area of https://geologistsassociation.org.uk/newresearchers/ Earth Sciences Aimed at undergraduate or postgraduate students enrolled at a UK university and who do not yet hold a doctoral degree. (up to £600) Typical awards are to support field expeditions, geological surveys or laboratory consumables.

Geologists’ Association Research Award https://geologistsassociation.org.uk/research-awards/ Aimed at fostering research in any area of Earth Sciences. Available to all members of the Geologists’ Association of at least one year’s standing, irrespective of age and status.

Applicants should be members of the Geologists’ Association Limited funds may be available for non-members

The deadline for applications is the 15th of November 2019

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Geologists’ Association @GeolAssoc 16 | AUGUST 2019 | WWW.GEOLSOC.ORG.UK/GEOSCIENTIST WWW.GEOLSOC.ORG.UK/GEOSCIENTIST | AUGUST 2019 | 17 WHEN STARS FELL TO EARTH

Meteor shower 18 | AUGUST 2019 | WWW.GEOLSOC.ORG.UK/GEOSCIENTIST WWW.GEOLSOC.ORG.UK/GEOSCIENTIST | AUGUST 2019 | 19 Himalayan and US meteor showers during 1860 are documented in poetry, art and astronomical accounts. Douglas Palmer ponders potential connections

ne hundred and 59 years ago, very remarkable, each stone that fell bore on July 14th 1860, the people unmistakable marks of partial fusion’ of the remote Himalayan (Sedgwick Museum archives). hill station of Dharmsala in What the people of Dharmsala had in O Himalchal Pradesh, north- fact experienced was the intense coldness western India were treated to the awesome of deep space from where the meteorites sight of ‘shooting stars’ burning up as they originated. Despite their surface fusion, the plunged through the atmosphere into the low thermal conductivity and size of each surrounding landscape. The locals reported rocky meteorite before they fragmented seeing ‘flames of fire, nine feet in length preserved their low temperature. and clouds of dust as the incandescent fragments landed’ (Sedgwick Museum Poet, prince and president archives). Awed they may have been, but That might have been the end of the story, not too frightened to try to retrieve some but for an unlikely combination of events of the heavenly bodies. On doing so, the in New York State. A few days after the locals were in for a surprise—though not in Dharmsala meteorite, in New York on the the way you might expect. night of July 20, 1860 the great American poet Walt Whitman [1819-1892] saw a Empire’s reach ‘strange huge meteor procession, dazzling 1860 was just three years after the Indian and clear, shooting over our heads’ and Rebellion, the uprising against the British wrote of it in his poem Year of the Meteors. East India Company and the British The brief description was tantalising, Crown, and Earl Canning was still the for what kind of meteorite event had he British Governor General. The local actually seen? population of Dharmsala had increased in The full stanza of Whitman’s poem number, with the newly garrisoned Gurkha conflates the appearance of the meteors Light Infantry along with the seasonal with three other major American events influx of colonial administrators and their of 1860. There was the June arrival in families escaping the heat of Delhi. The New York of Brunel’s leviathan, the Great British presence and their observation of Eastern on her maiden voyage, the October the celestial drama drew the phenomenon state visit of the 18-year-old Prince of Wales to the attention of the Geological Survey and the November election of Abraham of India, which was then directed by Lincoln to the presidency. For Whitman an Irish geologist, Thomas Oldham. An and many others, such an astronomical investigation was ordered. event was ‘Year of meteors! Brooding year!’ and filled with foreboding—which the Hot news! subsequent outbreak of the American Civil The investigating officer reported that War seemed to confirm. eye-witnesses ‘ran to the spot to pick up the pieces. Before they had held them in And a painter their hands half a minute they had to drop Whitman was not the only observant them…’ (Sedgwick Museum archives). artist on the night of July 20th. One of However, the reason was not what was America’s most famous landscape expected. The report continued by saying painters, Frederick Church [1826-1900] it was ‘…owing to the intensity of the cold was equally impressed by the same event. which quite benumbed their fingers…’. Influenced by Humboldt’s vision of the As surprised and puzzled as the locals, interconnectedness of nature and Ruskin’s the officer continued ‘…considering emphasis on close observation, Church was the fact that they were apparently but a greatly interested in the scientific portrayal moment before in a state of ignition, is of nature. By 1860, he was the most

18 | AUGUST 2019 | WWW.GEOLSOC.ORG.UK/GEOSCIENTIST WWW.GEOLSOC.ORG.UK/GEOSCIENTIST | AUGUST 2019 | 19 famous and successful American painter and could afford to buy a farm in Hudson, New York. And, he was there on his honeymoon on the night of July 20th at 9.49 pm when the meteoritic fireballs passed horizontally overhead. They took some 30 seconds to cross the night sky, from the Great Lakes towards New York State and out over the Atlantic. Church saw enough of the unexpected and dramatic succession of bright fireballs to paint ‘The Meteor of 1860’. In this painting, Church clearly shows a train of fireballs following the same trajectory across the night sky with such brightness that their incandescence is reflected in the lake waters below. But despite his fame, Church’s painting did not become widely known because he kept it in his farmhouse bedroom for many years. The painting was not connected with Whitman’s poem for another 150 years. Whitman scholars had been puzzling over what had prompted his poem until 2010, when rediscovery of the Church painting allowed the connection to be made (Olson et al., Sky & Telescope Magazine 2010). Great Meteor Procession The rare and remarkable astronomical event observed in the USA is now recognised as ‘The Great Meteor Procession of 1860’. It was the result of a meteor breaking up as it entered the atmosphere and forming a train of fireballs all following similar paths. In this event, the meteor is thought to have entered the atmosphere at such a low angle that it became what is known as an ‘Earth- grazing’ meteor. It glanced through the upper atmosphere and returned to space. The extraordinary sightings in Dharmsala and New York took place less than a week apart. This intriguing coincidence does not appear to have been previously commented upon, but prompts the question of whether the events were in anyway related. Fragments of the Dharmsala meteorites are preserved in The Dharmsala stony meteorite was recovered in July 1860 the University of Cambridge’s Sedgwick and sent to the ‘Museum of Geology’ (now the Sedgwick Museum), University of Cambridge by the Indian Geological Museum, and appear to be the only Survey (image Sedgwick Museum archives) tangible evidence of the incident. But, given the New York meteors merely passed through our atmosphere, is FURTHER READING unlikely we’ll ever know whether these falling stars were sourced from similar ◆ Olson, D. et al. (2010) Walt Whitman’s “Strange ◆ Whitman, W. Year of Meteors (1859-1860) in parts of our Solar System. Huge Meteor Procession” Sky & Telescope Leaves of Grass. Philadelphia: David McKay, magazine https://www.shopatsky.com/sky- [c1900]; Bartleby.com, 1999. https://www. Douglas Palmer is Communications Officer at the telescope-july-2010-digital-issue bartleby.com/142/100.html Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences, Cambridge; e-mail: [email protected]

20 | AUGUST 2019 | WWW.GEOLSOC.ORG.UK/GEOSCIENTIST WWW.GEOLSOC.ORG.UK/GEOSCIENTIST | AUGUST 2019 | 21 The Meteor of 1860 by Frederic Edwin Church [1826-1900] (Courtesy of Judith Filenbaum Hernstadt. Public Domain)

Walt Whitman [1819-1892] American poet, author, and journalist in portrait from Mathew Brady studio, ca.1863 (By Frederic Edwin Church [1826-1900] Everett Historical) (Mathew Brady, Public Domain)

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Beyond Extinction: Continuities, which, through a multitude of all the terminology connected to the of phyla (including Cnidaria, Mollusca, stratigraphy and for some this can appear The Eternal Ocean. Echinodermata etc.), explores the idea to be a daunting read. The importance of Climate change & that life tends towards continuity and Devon in the establishment of the Devonian not change. This message of continuity is System is mentioned, though the early work the continuity of life described very well. When asked “How on the counties of South-West England do you survive a catastrophe?” Just ask by Sir Henry De La Beche (1839) is not This visually stunning any Nautilus as they thrived for 500 mentioned. The early work on the Torbay book is summarised million years, living through five mass- area (and elsewhere in South-West England) superbly by the extinctions! The final chapter discusses by William Pengelly and other founder author: “This book is our place in this world, considering what members of the Devonshire Association is nothing more than an we have learnt about deep time and the deserving of greater mention because they unbridled celebration continuity of life. tackled such issues as cave exploration, of life, over time, in that eternal ocean”. The I really enjoyed reading this book. It is the formation of the Dartmoor Granite, work explores, as discovered through the a strong story about where our species fits sea-level changes (including raised beaches, personal journey of the author, the history on Earth. submerged forests, etc.) and the origin of and evolution of life, its role in the Earth the ‘Red Beds’ in the Torbay area. system and how we fit into it. The book Reviewed by: Simon Kettle The guide is genuinely comprehensive successfully breaks down complex issues in coverage and one must avoid the including the evolution of life and deep BEYOND EXTINCTION: THE ETERNAL OCEAN. temptation to pick on what is missing rather CLIMATE CHANGE & THE CONTINUITY OF LIFE time into understandable bits. by Wolfgang Grulke, 2019. Published by: At One than what is covered. That said, there are We begin at Earth’s creation during Communications, 224 pp. ISBN: 9781916039407 (hbk.) three areas that could have been used more (Available from June 2019). the Hadean which, after a million-year List Price: £38.00 W: https://www.geolsoc.org. fully in explaining the geology of the area downpour, resulted in a vast ocean filled uk/MPBEXmitchell/978-0-12-803382-1 covered by the guide. The first of these is with anaerobic marine life. Slowly but Ladram Bay where there is a description surely that life, fighting the rusting of of the succession and the presence of Earth’s crust, altered the composition of the Geology of the South rhizoconcretions (calcareous concretions atmosphere to one rich in oxygen, leading to developed around plant roots). There the dominance of aerobic life and ultimately Devon Coast: From the is, however, no mention of the famous us, Homo Sapiens. Dorset County Boundary occurrence of rhynchosaurs in these strata, The book continues with a chronology especially around Ladram Bay. Clearly that tracks the evolution of life and Earth to the Brixham Area not every visitor will find bones of these up to and including the brief evolution vertebrates, but being aware that they can and history of Homo Sapiens, into the This field guide to the be present might mean that they are spotted Enlightenment of the 18th Century. This South Devon coast by those looking at these river channel section focusses on geology and fossils and carries a sub-title sandstones. There are very good ‘dioramas’ how their discovery has ultimately led to because there is a available that could have been used (with enlightened rationalism and understanding constant debate, even suitable permissions) to illustrate the of geologic time. in Devon, over what palaeoecology of the succession. With this understanding of ancient life constitutes South The other also concerns the ‘Red Beds’ and the concept of deep time, it is possible Devon or South-East along by the railway line between Dawlish for us to understand how the world was Devon. In essence, it continues the story Station and Langstone Rock. While the not all that different “back then” and in of the Dorset Coast westwards within the channels filled with breccias are mentioned, fact life’s story is more about continuity districts of East Devon, Teignbridge and one can obtain really good images of floods than extinction. The text investigates Torbay. of coarse sediment apparently stopping in mass-extinction events and, with a focus Like all Geologists’ Association Field mid-flow, presumably having run out of on animals, uses examples, charts and Guides of modern times, this guide is both energy within the dune sands or perhaps beautiful images. A traffic light system of colourful and informative, with a wealth of even water. species extinction, biological/evolutionary small maps and photographs coupled with In many parts of the succession there innovation and species continuations access and parking information. The East has been microfossil and palynological are presented. These sections explore Devon part of the guide clearly includes research that has contributed to our evolutionary innovations, including the UNESCO Dorset and East Devon World understanding of the stratigraphy or the skeletons, eyes, the egg and the migration of Heritage Site (the ‘Jurassic Coast’) and palaeoenvironments. Very little of this is animals from the oceans to land, as well as while this is a mouthful, abbreviating it to mentioned and while it is fully appreciated departures from the fossils record, like the Heritage Coast can be confusing. Equally, that such fossils are not seen in the field, Trilobites, Belemnites, Ammonites and “Sea the English Riviera UNESCO Global the interpretations are still important in the Dragons”, amongst others. Geopark, is another mouthful, although it overall understanding of the area covered However, the primary message of is scarcely mentioned. by the guide. this book can be found in the chapter on The introductory pages include a digest In summary, this is another valuable

22 | AUGUST 2019 | WWW.GEOLSOC.ORG.UK/GEOSCIENTIST WWW.GEOLSOC.ORG.UK/GEOSCIENTIST | AUGUST 2019 | 23 Would you like to receive a free book and write a review? Available titles are listed online. Contact the editor for further information [email protected]

contribution to the Geologists’ Association step on the road to sequence stratigraphy. Intrigued, you begin to read.’ range of field guides and I am sure that it That road we follow through Grabau’s Dear Saffron progresses chronologically will become popular amongst visitors to expression of Palaeozoic transgressions and from letter 1, with family history of the area, many of whom come as part of regressions, via Milankovich, to Vail’s sea- grandparents, parents and their route to organized groups. slug model of sedimentation and eustacy Halifax, Yorkshire, where Don was born in curve. Wegener’s model of continental drift 1939, via his schooling, university (Durham) Reviewed by: Malcolm B. Hart is shown to have been inspired not only by and doctorate (University College London), looking at an atlas, but also by a comment up to letter 73, 2016 when the book was by Krenkel regarding the geological written. GEOLOGY OF THE SOUTH DEVON COAST: similarities between Brazil and west Africa, The letters cover the various jobs Don had FROM THE DORSET COUNTY BOUNDARY TO THE BRIXHAM AREA and by Keilhack’s work on the distribution as he progressed in upstream petroleum by Cope, J.C.W., 2017. Geologists’ Association Guide of Carboniferous glacial drift across the exploration geology. These included Esso No. 73, 122pp. (pbk.) List price: £ 12.00 Fellow’s price: £ 9.00 W: https://www.geolsoc.org.uk/ southern continents. We follow this to plate Exploration in Senegal, Sonatrach in Algeria, GA073 tectonics, though Arthur Holmes, Marie BNOC on North Sea exploration and Chief Tharp’s maps, Harry Hess and Fred Vine to Geologist of its privatised successor Britoil, John Tuzo Wilson. That geological research then Sirte Oil Company, Libya, 1987-1997 and is a continuous, developmental process is finally as a Consultant Petroleum Geologist, Great Geologists made clear. specialising on Libya. Simmons asks, have we have reached It is an absorbing personal story including I wish I had had ‘Peak Geoscience’? Have we discovered the friends, family, marriages, births, deaths, this book, the first main paradigms, being left with only small tours, holidays and more, by an author of its kind, as an projects that fill gaps in our knowledge? who has the ability to paint an image in undergraduate. Back This he doubts. Technological advances a sentence or two. His style is to start at then, a seasoned, wise and data science will tease out patterns in one point then move to other points, but researcher informed geological data beyond the capacity for easy the whole letter fits together. We learn of me that, Kuhnian recognition by humans. What an exciting the reasons for the author’s career moves, scientific revolutions prospect! I recommend Simmons’ book including the ramifications of the break-up and paradigm shifts notwithstanding, to higher undergraduates, graduates and of Britoil by Margaret Thatcher, and the there is no such thing as a theory neutral aging geologists alike, it being a source of personalities of some of the bosses. observation. In other words, when we write awe and inspiration. There are many fascinating observations of something new to us, we interpret it of what caught the author’s eye, covering using our existing theoretical knowledge. Reviewed by: Brent Wilson history, geography, places, travel and If we don’t, we write science fiction. In people such as Gaddafi. A search on presenting 35 great geologists’ summarized GREAT GEOLOGISTS Wikipedia could flesh-out many of the by M.D. Simmons (2018). Published by Halliburton, biographies in chronological order (I cannot Abingdon, UK. 141 p. ISBN 978-1-9160054-1-9 (print), points. However, Don states (p399) ‘most discuss them all, so my apologies to James 978-1-9160054-0-2 (ebook). of my letters have been about places and List Price: Free (Available as a free gift to Hutton), Simmons has produced a very the geoscience community from Mike and events but very little about my interests readable book showing how the work of his employers, Halliburton) W: https://view. and beliefs’. I agree: the early letters gave joomag.com/exploration-insights-great-geos- successive geoscientists built, and still ebook/0172709001539012700?short good pictures of Algeria and Libya, but I builds, on their predecessors’. We learn that would have liked to have seen the reasons some of our present geological theories and for the later trips, maps of the places methods have very deep roots. and geography, more on the petroleum The histories commence with Nicolas Dear Saffron geology, Don’s professional views on Steno and end with Maureen Raymo (and what he actually did and what gave him include, of course, the Geological Society’s We are all told reward. But ultimately, Dear Saffron is the Janet Watson). Biostratigraphy is shown to sometime ‘You ought autobiography of Don Hallett. range back to William Smith. Sedgewick’s to write a book about Did I enjoy the book? Yes. I was left and Murchison’s contributions to the your life and times’. feeling that I would have liked my classification of the stratigraphic record into Dear Saffron is that grandfather to leave me such a treasure distinct time periods are covered, as is their book for Don Hallett, trunk. I found it a gentle read suitable for great falling out over the Cambrian-Silurian but written in an bedtime, a long journey or airport wait. issue. Lapworth is lauded for his solution innovative approach to this—the erection of the Ordovician in the form of 73 letters (chapters) to be read Reviewed by: Richard Dawe Period. Alcide d’Orbigny, despite his by his granddaughter, Saffron. The scene palaeontological work, is described as is ‘One day, while rummaging through DEAR SAFFRON by Don Hallett, 2018. Published by: Little Henry being “the architect of the cornerstone the attic, you come across a trunk which Publishing, 13 York House, Courtlands, Sheen Road, of chronostratigaphy”. His view of belonged to your grandfather. You open Richmond TW10 5BD, UK 407pp. (pbk.) ISBN: 978-1- successive unconformity-bounded marine it and find amongst other items a bundle 5272-2273-1 List price: £18.00 W: www.waterstones.com transgressions is regarded as being the first of letters, addressed to ‘Dear Saffron’.

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Characterization of The papers are well written, provoking topographic features, with almost every Ore Forming Systems and informative. The volume, as expected image taken by the author who is a very from this well-established series, is competent photographer. There are also from Geological extremely well edited and put together and, maps, diagrams and historical photographs Geochemical and despite the number of papers and authors, that enhance the well-written and is largely free of errors or typographic informative text. Geophysical Studies mistakes. The introduction to the book is The first county chapter is Cheshire, my available as an open access paper and is home county, and was a delight to read. The discovery of worth reading as a standalone article or There is an excellent review of the salt economically viable summary of the volume. My only small industry, covering both mined salt and brine mineral resources dissatisfaction with the volume is the lack extraction (with many historic photographs is increasingly rare, of examples illustrating where the ideas put of both), the subsequent subsidence caused despite the increased forward in the volume have been applied. by the industry, and the modern technology expenditure associated Hopefully the editors will correct this used in salt and brine extraction. Then with this activity minor shortcoming with a follow up volume follows a detailed account of the Alderley due to exhaustion of documenting real-world exploration studies. Edge copper mineralization, accompanied easier-to-locate resources. Most ore deposits It is possible that those reading the volume by the author’s delightful mineral mined in the past or currently being will be able to contribute. photographs. extracted are at or near Earth’s surface, As I read this chapter, I found myself and were often discovered serendipitously. Reviewed by: Robert Bowell constantly looking up the references in the However, to meet future demand for text. The reference section is an extremely mineral resources, exploration success CHARACTERIZATION OF ORE FORMING useful feature of this book, running to 16 SYSTEMS FROM GEOLOGICAL GEOCHEMICAL will require a more rigorous approach. AND GEOPHYSICAL STUDIES pages and making this volume the obvious Exploration will need to be more accurate, by K. Gessner, T.G. Blenkinsop & P. Sorjonen-Ward (eds), starting place for any future researcher. 2018. Geological Society of London SP 453, 416 pp. based on informed models of Earth’s ISBN: 9781786203137 (hbk.) This thorough research is concluded by three crust that utilize all available geological, List Price: £120.00 Fellow’s price: £ 60.00 W: very significant chapters on ‘Collectors and https://www.geolsoc.org.uk/SP453 geochemical and geophysical information, Collecting’, ‘Mineral Dealers’ and ‘Decorative and paired with an understanding of Stones’. The first of these, as the author states, how ore-forming systems relate to Earth’s is not all-inclusive, but does give a historical evolving structure. Advances in the Minerals of the overview and includes modern collectors. Then detection and interpretation techniques follows an overview of museum collections for geophysical and geochemical data English Midlands relating to these counties. The chapter on will greatly help with the location of such mineral dealers follows a similar format, deposits. However, the basis for successful This is an amazing starting with historical dealers and including exploration of mineral deposits will require book and a credit to some still active today. I was pleased to see a more fundamental understanding of the author. It has been listed and illustrated the premises of Gregory the processes that form economic mineral a pleasure to review and Bottley—an establishment I frequented in deposits and the identification of where such an erudite and the 1960s. The final chapter on decorative stones such processes could occur. As exploration lavishly illustrated has some excellent photographs of Derbyshire’s moves into more remote, complex or deeper volume. unique ‘Blue John’. geological terrain such skills will become The book This work has all the attractiveness of a increasingly more important. documents the rich mineralogical quality coffee table book, but it is much more This volume, therefore, is timely and heritage of the Midland Counties of than that; it is a monograph it its own right provides just such information. It brings Cheshire, Derbyshire, Gloucestershire, and the result of meticulous research over together a series of papers with a very broad Herefordshire, Leicestershire and Rutland, many years. This book holds its head high as a range of interests connected to the study of Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire, genuine scientific work. I highly recommend mineral deposits in Earth’s crust to develop Oxfordshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, it. All that is needed now is for someone to a better understanding of the formation and Warwickshire, West Midlands and produce books of similar quality for Northern location of such deposits, to aid ore-genesis Worcestershire. England, and Devon and Cornwall and our studies and mineral exploration. The It begins with an overview of the history cup will certainly runneth over. papers are broadly split into five sections: (i) and geography of the area, which defines applying advanced microscale geochemical the character of the thirteen counties, Reviewed by: Richard Porter detection and characterization methods; followed by a lavishly illustrated chapter (ii) introducing more rigorous 3D Earth on geology and then a description of the MINERALS OF THE ENGLISH MIDLANDS models; (iii) exploring critical behaviour mineral deposits. by Roy E. Starkey, 2018. Published by British Mineralogy Publications, Bromsgrove Worcestershire, UK. 426 pp. and coupled processes; (iv) evaluating the Each of the counties mineral wealth is ISBN: 978-0-9930182-3-7 (pbk.) role of geodynamic and tectonic setting; explored in the next thirteen chapters, List Price: £35.00 ISBN: 978-0-9930182- and (v) applying 3D structural models to all beautifully illustrated with colour 2-0 (hbk.) List Price: £50.00 W: https:// britishmineralogy.com/ characterize specific ore-forming systems. photographs of mineral specimens and

24 | AUGUST 2019 | WWW.GEOLSOC.ORG.UK/GEOSCIENTIST WWW.GEOLSOC.ORG.UK/GEOSCIENTIST | AUGUST 2019 | 25 Beyond Extinction NEW THE ETERNAL OCEAN Climate change & the continuity of life

By WOLFGANG GRULKE

Full of superb photographs and illustrations 224 pages 252 x 297mm, landscape Hardback Published by At One Communications Price: £38

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DISTANT THUNDER Credit where credit is due

Geologist and science writer Nina Morgan applauds a remarkably frank revelation

No doubt many of the early geologists received essential encouragement, inspiration and practical assistance from their wives, sisters and daughters. But generally they did not publicly acknowledge the help they received. However, one who did was the geologist thought that the ridge was already the western flanks of the sienitic [syenitic] John Phillips [1800-1874], the orphaned elevated and cooled before the Silurian masses of the North hill and Sugar-loaf nephew of William Smith [1769-1839]. rocks were laid down. Phillips based his hill. In this most unpromising search she Smith paid for John’s schooling and case on the fact that where the Silurian was entirely successful, and collected introduced him to the science of geology. sediments are found in contact with the from the midst of heaps of fallen stones, In 1829, John, then working as the volcanics, they are not affected by which seemed to be all trap, several keeper of the Yorkshire Philosophical metamorphism. He reasoned that as the masses richly charged with organic Society Museum, invited his sister Anne Silurian seas lapped up against the ridge, remains, and full of feldspar, quartz, and to join him in York. Neither married and fragments of the volcanics could have hornblende, in grains and large lumps ...It the two lived together and supported been eroded off and incorporated to was, in fact, certainly and evidently a each other emotionally, practically and form a conglomerate at the base of the conglomerate full of Silurian shells, and intellectually for the next 33 years, until Silurian. To clinch his argument, he pebbles and fragments of the sienitic, her death in 1862. needed to find the conglomerate. felspatho- quartzose and other rock- masses of the Malvern hills.” The rock Geological companion Miss Phillips’s became known as Miss Phillips’s Almost from the moment they were conglomerate conglomerate—and samples of it soon reunited, Anne became involved in On 1 August 1842, while Phillips was became highly collectable items on John’s geological work, and letters to her busy showing Murchison and other geology field trips. from both John and William Smith geologists around to explain his theories, Phillips repeated this account, slightly suggest that she was very well educated, Anne, who was staying with her brother abbreviated, in his 1848 Geological Survey and very knowledgeable about geology. in Malvern, went out in the field and Memoir. Considering that from its origin in But the ‘public debut’ of her geological found broken blocks of the 1835, the Geological Survey remained an prowess came in 1842 when she conglomerate. Within a week she and all-male preserve until the early 20th discovered a vital piece of evidence John, accompanied by John’s boss, Sir century, that must have taken some doing! about the origin of the Malverns. Henry De la Beche [1796-1855], In general terms, the Malvern Hills managed to locate a place where the End notes: References include: Morgan, consist of a central Precambrian core of conglomerate was in contact with the N., Anne Phillips and the Mystery of the igneous intrusives bounded by a intrusive. Malverns, Geoscientist, 16/7 2006; north-south trending fault, surrounded by Phillips quickly went into print with a Morgan, N, 2007, Anne Phillips: John Triassic sediments and marls on the east, report of the find in the October 1842 Phillips’s Geological Companion, Geol. and on the west by Cambrian and issue of the London, Edinburgh and Soc. Spec. Pub. 281, pp 265 -275; Silurian sediments, which lap Dublin Philosophical Magazine and Morrell, Jack, John Phillips and the unconformably onto the intrusives. In the Journal of Science. He described how, Business of Victorian Science, ISBN 19th century the origin of the Malvern while he was in the field discussing the 1840142391; and Phillips, J., 1848, Geol. Hills was a hot—and very controversial— origin of the Malverns with other Survey Memoir , Vol 2, Part 1, , pp. topic. On one side was Sir Roderick geologists: 66-67. Murchison [1792-1871], who believed that “... My Sister, knowing the interest I felt the Malvern Ridge was intruded as a hot in tracing out the history of the * Nina Morgan is a geologist and science writer body after the Silurian sediments were stratification visible in these trap based near Oxford. Her latest book, The Geology laid down. On the other was Phillips, then [volcanic] hills, sought diligently for of Oxford Gravestones, is available via working for the Geological Survey, who organic remains in the midst of and on www.gravestonegeology.uk

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

Hong Kong Regional Group liaison Staff

John Talbot (Vice-President, Chartership) reports Matters on recent meetings with the Hong Kong Regional Group Eleanor Lewis, Website Content Co-ordinator, Patricia In May, I took a holiday to Hong Kong. Taking organised by Kevin Styles, the Regional Group’s Petrovic, Receptionist, Darren advantage of my trip, the Hong Kong Regional Chair, and again led by me. About 50% of the Prewter, Data Clerk, and Group (HKRG) organised two events, which Hong Kong Scrutineers attended—again, an David Riach, Head of Events, I led. Trudy Kwong, the HKRG Secretary, excellent turn out. have left the Society. The arranged a Chartership workshop for early Both evenings commenced with short Society wishes them all well for career geoscientists on Wednesday 22 May. presentations, followed by an extensive the future and thanks them for Over 40 people attended—a record turnout, discussion and a general Q&A session. Before their valuable contribution to its indicating a real need to run similar events on a the first evening’s meeting closed and dinner was work over the years. regular basis. Of those attending (see image), served, I was available for one-to-one dialogue about a third are members of various company with the Chartership workshop attendees. training schemes accredited by the Geological To round off a concentrated series of liaison Society of London and of which there are meetings in Hong Kong, Burlington House was presently seven in the region, with two more pleased to reciprocate their regional group’s companies in the process of application and warm hospitality, when Kevin Styles visited assessment. the UK and attended our Chartership and The following evening, on 23 May, it was the Professional Committees, as well as the turn of the Scrutineers, with a seminar and round- next day’s Annual General Meeting and table discussion for Sponsors and Scrutineers, President’s Day. The Society notes with sadness the passing of: Black, John H * Bradshaw, Reginald Broecker, Wallace * Burke, Kevin Charles Anthony * Butler, Raymond John Thomas * Clayton, Keith * Crossley Nutt, Michael John * Herries-Davies, Gordon L * Huckerby, John Andrew * Jobbins, Alan * CAROUSEL Osmaston, Miles * Rocha, Rogerio * All Fellows of the Society are entitled to entries in this column. Simpson, Peter Robert * Please email [email protected], quoting your Fellowship number. Westhead, Robert Keith Whitham, Andrew Gordon

In the interests of recording Fellows’ ◆ Melanie Leng ◆ Patrick De Deckker work for posterity, the Society publishes Professor Melanie Leng, Chief Professor Patrick De Deckker obituaries online, and in Geoscientist. Scientist for Environmental of the Australian National Bold, recent additions to the list; * Fellows for whom no obituarist has been Change Adaptation and University, Canberra (and commissioned; § biographical material Resilience at the British Honorary Fellow of the GSL) has lodged with the Society. Geological Survey was awarded an MBE been awarded the Brady Medal of The If you would like to contribute an obituary, in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list 2019. Micropalaeontological Society. please email amy.whitchurch@geolsoc. org.uk to be commissioned. You can ◆ ◆ read the guidance for authors at www. Pavlos Tyrologou Wolfgang E. Schollnberger geolsoc.org.uk/obituaries. To save Pavlos Tyrologou, a GSL Fellow Dr. Wolfgang E. Schollnberger, former yourself unnecessary work, please do not and Chartered Geologist based Technology Vice President with Amoco write anything until you have received a in Greece, was elected External Corp. and BP plc., was recently named commissioning letter. Relations Officer for the European an Honorary Member of the Austrian Deceased Fellows for whom no obituary Federation of Geologists at the May council Geological Society in recognition of his merits in is forthcoming have their names and dates recorded in a Roll of Honour at meeting in Delft, The Netherlands. support of the Society and its scientific goals. www.geolsoc.org.uk/obituaries.

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Crossword

FROM THE LIBRARY The Library is open Monday-Friday 9.30am-5.30pm www.geolsoc.org.uk/library

u Online Library catalogue u Postal loans Search the online catalogue of books, journals and maps held You do not need to live in London to borrow books, maps or in the Geological Society Library. Fellows and Corporate Affiliate journals from the Library—we can post them to you! For more members can now login to the Library Catalogue to renew information, contact [email protected] or call 020 7432 0999 loans, view loan history, request items and create Favourite lists. ww.geolsoc.org.uk/librarycatalogue u Inter-library loans If the item you want is not in our collection, we may be able u E-Journals and e-books to obtain it from another library. To find out more about this Fellows of the Society can access over 100+ e-journals and service, please email [email protected] or e-books using Athens authentication. There is no charge to Fellows call 020 7432 0999 for this service. Visit www.geolsoc.org.uk/virtuallibrary to register. u Visit the Library u Literature searching Fellows and Candidate Fellows can visit the Library at Not enough time or struggling to find the information you need? Burlington House between 9.30am and 5.30pm, Monday to We can search a wide range of resources on your behalf and send Friday. You’ll find comfortable and quiet study space, scanning you the results directly to your inbox. To find out more about this and copying facilities, free Wi-Fi and all of the latest books and service, please email [email protected] journals. The Library’s professional, dedicated staff are on hand to answer any enquiries. u Document delivery Not based in London or simply too busy to come to the u Library newsletter Library? We can send you by email or post copies of articles Subscribe to our bi-monthly newsletter to keep up-to-date from our collection. To find out more about this service, please with important Library news, electronic journal updates, online email [email protected] or call 020 7432 0999 exhibitions, events and more—please email [email protected] to be added to our circulation list

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ENDORSED TRAINING/CPD AND EVENTS

MEETING DATE VENUE AND DETAILS

Endorsed CPD course Venue: Whitefriars Street, London Subsidised Introduction to Micromine Course 5-6 Aug W: https://www.geolsoc.org.uk/Micromine%20Intro%20course%20Aug19

Endorsed CPD course Venue: Whitefriars Street, London W: https://www. Resource Estimation - UK 7-8 Aug geolsoc.org.uk/Micromine%20Resource%20estimation%20course%20 Aug19

Regional Public Lecture: Public lecture Venue: North East Futures UTC, Newcastle upon Tyne 14 Aug Diamond windows into the deep Earth W: https://www.geolsoc.org.uk/GSL-Regional-Lecture-Aug

The Geological Society of Namibia - Conference Venue: Windhoek, Namibia W: https://www.geolsoc.org.uk/ 1-4 Sep 50th Anniversary Conference GeolsocNamibia-50-Anniversary-Conference

Workshop Venue: Burlington House, London Debris Covered Glaciers 2-4 Sep W: https://www.geolsoc.org.uk/GSL-Debris-Covered-Glaciers

Conference Venue: 8 Northumberland Avenue, London, UK Future of Mining EMEA 2019 4-5 Sep W: https://www.geolsoc.org.uk/EMEA-Future-of-Mining19

Evening meeting, lecture Venue: The Birmingham & Midland Institute WMRG Chartership Evening 10 Sep W: https://www.geolsoc.org.uk/WMRG-Chartership-Evening-2019

Lecture Venue: The Adelphi Hotel, Leeds Yorkshire: Sub-surface surveys 11 Sep W: https://www.geolsoc.org.uk/YRGGS-Subsurface-surveys

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OBITUARY Keith Westhead (1965-2018) RESPONSIBLE

A runner, piper and British Geological Survey geologist, ost Geoscientist easy, but organised, way with obituaries focus with Black Country wit colleagues and the public. on scientific Enquiries became an exemplar INVESTING achievement; for geological and environmental M organisations across the world they list publications and professional accomplishments, and a huge commercial success in Natural Resources and include something for BGS. personal as an added extra. th th This approach would be a Scotland 7 – 8 October 2019 disservice to Keith. His life/ In 2003 Keith transferred to work balance was distinctly Edinburgh and joined the Marine The Geological Society of London, Burlington House Scandinavian, perhaps the Geology Unit, remaining until result of early exposure to retirement in August 2018. He Norway. He worked to live, was convinced that the subsea not the other way around. His geology around the UK was What is responsible investing, how should we measure it and how can we all-consuming passions were neglected. As part of this work, shape its future? These are some of the questions that investors, operators, he returned to his Dorset roots, geology, the Great Outdoors, policy makers and NGOs will challenge and answer during this two day cars (including electric—he producing a superb paper and was an ‘early adopter’), offshore geology map for the conference. music, cycling, running (11 Journal of the Geological Society. Keith embraced his new marathons) and, strangely Responsible investment is currently driven primarily by the volume of carbon an for a Black Country boy, the surroundings and took up bagpipes. piping. He progressed rapidly, organisation releases to the environment. This blanket approach can have unintended ending up as Pipe Major of consequences for the extractives sectors and its customers. Responsible investment A fine start Stockbridge Grade 4 Pipe Band. Keith came from a polymath He competed in World and should encompass a broader and more balanced set of requirements, as suggested by Walsall family, with a strong European Championships and the Sustainable Development Goals, thereby ensuring that those organisations who truly scientific bent, including a KEITH CAME After Dorchester, he moved to toured the continent. Jamie, strive to operate in a more sustainable manner are actively supported by responsible biochemist father. His brother FROM A Weymouth and worked on the Keith’s son, followed in Keith’s Steve recalls fossil hunting as Purbeck Beds. Rejecting the footsteps, playing bagpipe solos investors. kids, but Keith’s passion for POLYMATH WALSALL status quo, his classic paper with at the Usher Hall in Edinburgh—a geology truly ignited during FAMILY, WITH A STRONG Anne Mather on the Purbeck great source of pride for his If you are an investor, natural resources company such as mining or oil & gas, policy A-level Geology at Queen Mary’s SCIENTIFIC BENT, stratigraphy of Dorset is a prime parents. make r, industry body, regulator, NGO, insurer, analyst or interested party seeking to Grammar School. That led to INCLUDING A BIOCHEMIST example of original thinking. He Keith was funny, modest a Geology degree from Leeds then moved to Somerset and and gracious; a family man par shape the future of responsible investment in the natural resources sector, we hope to FATHER. HIS BROTHER and PhD research on Norwegian mapped Lower-Middle Jurassic excellence. He engaged with see you at the conference. Palaeozoic rocks (at Liverpool STEVE RECALLS FOSSIL strata. Several published BGS all his many interests during his investment in the natural resources sector, we hope to see you at the conference. University). HUNTING AS KIDS maps and memoirs resulted. final year, even managing to In 1994, Keith become Head surf. His celebration on the 10th Mystic arts of Enquires at BGS Keyworth. As February 2019 was joyous, funny and the BGS us. It clearly worked; Keith turned an experienced field geologist, he and, given the presence of 30 For further information please contact: Convenors: Keith and I joined BGS on the his back on Hard Rock and, brought a deep understanding of plus pipers and drummers, very same day in 1990. Mapping for the remainder of his career, the strengths and weaknesses loud. Keith is survived by his wife Sarah Gordon, c/o Conference Office, The Geological Sarah Gordon (Satarla / The Geological Society) training began in Derbyshire. was a Soft Rock geologist. He inherent in geological maps and Helen and his children, Ellie Society, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London W1J 0BG David Bamford (Petromall) My October 1990 diary entry joined BGS Exeter and was borehole records. He used these and Jamie. Christopher Reeves (DIGBY WELLS) records ‘…tedious, gently dipping trained by Roger Bristow in the skills, and an early appreciation T: +44 (0) 7815285466 Aldo Peninni (Satarla) Coal Measures’. Our trainer, an mystic art of mapping Chalk. of the power of digital information By Warren Pratt and Keith’s E: [email protected] Ellen Casey (Satarla) intimidating type with piercing Keith adapted brilliantly to Hardy systems, to completely overhaul BGS colleagues blue eyes, did his best to enthuse country and ‘feature’ mapping. Enquiries. He had a deceptively

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 Amy Whitchurch at the Society.

30 | AUGUST 2019 | WWW.GEOLSOC.ORG.UK/GEOSCIENTIST RESPONSIBLE INVESTING in Natural Resources

7th – 8th October 2019

The Geological Society of London, Burlington House

What is responsible investing, how should we measure it and how can we shape its future? These are some of the questions that investors, operators, policy makers and NGOs will challenge and answer during this two day conference.

Responsible investment is currently driven primarily by the volume of carbon an organisation releases to the ADenvironment SPACE. This blanket approach can have unintended consequences for the extractives sectors and its customers. Responsible investment should encompass a broader and more balanced set of requirements, as suggested by the Sustainable Development Goals, thereby ensuring that those organisations who truly strive to operate in a more sustainable manner are actively supported by responsible investors.

If you are an investor, natural resources company such as mining or oil & gas, policy make r, industry body, regulator, NGO, insurer, analyst or interested party seeking to shape the future of responsible investment in the natural resources sector, we hope to see you at the conference. investment in the natural resources sector, we hope to see you at the conference.

For further information please contact: Convenors:

Sarah Gordon, c/o Conference Office, The Geological Sarah Gordon (Satarla / The Geological Society) Society, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London W1J 0BG David Bamford (Petromall) Christopher Reeves (DIGBY WELLS) T: +44 (0) 7815285466 Aldo Peninni (Satarla) E: [email protected] Ellen Casey (Satarla)

30 | AUGUST 2019 | WWW.GEOLSOC.ORG.UK/GEOSCIENTIST Click and collect a better career

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