Hero Or Houdini? He the Origin, Transport and Accumulation of Helium
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VOLUME 27 NO 11 ◆ DEC 17/JAN 18 ◆ WWW.GEOLSOC.ORG.UK/GEOSCIENTIST The Fellowship Magazine of the Geological Society of London UK / Overseas where sold to individuals: £3.95 READ GEOLSOC BLOG!] [ GEOLSOC.WORDPRESS.COM Hero or Houdini? He The origin, transport and accumulation of helium THE ANTHROPOCENE ONLINE SPECIAL DEADLINE TIME Jan Zalasiewicz on the current ‘Sociohydrogeology’ Ted Nield ponders stratigraphical state of play in water-stressed India ‘anytime’ submission GEOSCIENTIST CONTENTS Geoscientist is the ADVERTISING SALES Fellowship magazine of the Jonny Knight Geological Society T 01727 739 193 of London E jonathan@ centuryonepublishing.uk The Geological Society, Burlington House, Piccadilly, ART EDITOR London W1J 0BG Heena Gudka T +44 (0)20 7434 9944 F +44 (0)20 7439 8975 DESIGN & PRODUCTION E [email protected] Jonathan Coke (Not for Editorial - Please contact the Editor) PRINTED BY Century One Publishing House Publishing Ltd. The Geological Society Publishing House, Unit 7, Copyright Brassmill Enterprise Centre, The Geological Society of Brassmill Lane, Bath London is a Registered Charity, BA1 3JN number 210161. T 01225 445046 ISSN (print) 0961-5628 F 01225 442836 ISSN (online) 2045-1784 Library The Geological Society of London 16 25 T +44 (0)20 7432 0999 F +44 (0)20 7439 3470 accepts no responsibility for the views expressed in any article in this E [email protected] publication. All views expressed, except where explicitly stated otherwise, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF represent those of the author, and not Professor Peter Styles The Geological Society of London. All All rights reserved. No paragraph of this EDITOR publication may be reproduced, copied Dr Ted Nield or transmitted save with written permission. Users registered with E [email protected] Copyright Clearance Center: the Journal is registered with CCC, 27 Congress EDITORIAL BOARD Street, Salem, MA 01970, USA. 0961- Dr Sue Bowler 5628/02/$15.00. 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The subscription Phil Gibbard explain Ms Naomi Jordan price for Volume 27, 2017 (11 issues) to institutions and non-members will Dr Robert Larter be £157 (UK) or £179 / US$358 (Rest Dr Jennifer McKinley of World). Dr Colin North (Secretary, REGULARS Publications) © 2017 The Geological Society Dr Sheila Peacock of London Prof Christine Peirce Geoscientist is printed on FSC® mixed 05 Welcome Ted Nield wonders if it’s time for research funders Mr Nicholas Reynolds credit - Mixed source products are a to kill the submission deadline Prof Nick Rogers (President blend of FSC 100%, Recycled and/or Controlled fibre. Certified by the Forest designate) Stewardship Council®. 06 Society News What your Society is doing at home and Dr Katherine Royse (Secretary, abroad, in London and the regions Professional Matters) Mr Keith Seymour (Vice Chris Evans welcomes the formation of a president, Regional Groups) 09 Soapbox Miss Jessica Smith Contaminated Land Group Mr John Talbot (Vice president, NLINE Chartership) 23 Calendar Society activities this month Dr Alexander Whittaker Published on behalf of the SPECIAL 20 Books and arts Six new books reviewed by Ross Roberts, Geological Society of Fiona Connor, Clive Waddington, Robert Anderson, Mark Griffin London by SOCIO-HYDROGEOLOGY and Pete Webb AND ITS APPLICATION Century One Publishing IN INDIA by Shrikant Daji 25 Letters Hot air, Rare Earths and the markets Alban Row, 27–31 Verulam Road, St Albans, Herts, Limaye, Director of the AL3 4DG Ground Water Institute, 26 People Geoscientists in the news and on the move T 01727 893 894 Pune. India. F 01727 893 895 28 Obituary Norman Edward Butcher 1928-2017 E enquiries@centuryone publishing.uk 29 Crossword Win a Special Publication of your choice W www.centuryone publishing.uk WWW.GEOLSOC.ORG.UK/GEOSCIENTIST | DECEMBER 2017/JANUARY 2018 | 03 Editor Geoscientist magazine Salary: £40,000 - £45,000, negotiable The Geological Society of London, a professional body and learned society, seeks to appoint an experienced science journalist/writer to be Editor of Geoscientist, the independent magazine of the Geological Society Fellowship. The post is full-time and based in Burlington House, Piccadilly, London. Geoscientist (with Geoscientist Online) is a 32-page colour magazine distributed to the 12,000+ worldwide Fellowship of The Geological Society, the world’s oldest national scientific and professional society for Earth sciences (founded 1807). Accountable to an Editor-in-Chief, who is traditionally a former President or senior Officer of the Society, the successful candidate will ideally be a science writer, having both a strong empathy for the membership and knowledge of earth sciences. He/she will have experience of editing with a record of sound writing and delivery. He/she will be able to communicate and inform across national and international communities. Geoscientist magazine provides a mix of opinion, features, Society news, people news, obituaries and letters. It acts as the Fellowship’s forum for discussion of the Society’s activities and of its elected Trustees (President, Officers and Council). It has 11 issues per year. The magazine is produced externally on the Society’s behalf. Issues of the magazine may be inspected online at www.geolsoc.org.uk/Geoscientist. Key skills of the Geoscientist Editor role are to deliver effectively within the governance framework of a charitable organisation and to edit the Fellowship’s magazine with that framework in mind. The closing date for applications is 12 January 2017. For more information and to apply, go to www.geolsoc.org.uk/editor. The Geological Society of London l Burlington House l Piccadilly l London l W1J 0BG l UK The Geological Society is a Registered Charity, No. 210161 04 | DECEMBER 2017/JANUARY 2018 | WWW.GEOLSOC.ORG.UK/GEOSCIENTIST ~ GEOSCIENTIST WELCOME I LOVE DEADLINES. I LIKE THE WHOOSHING SOUND THEY MAKE AS THEY FLY BY – DOUGLAS ADAMS ~ FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK: Kill the deadline? eadline’, meaning a line that neither moves nor program for instruments and facilities). strays (OED) went dark in 1886, when it came to Alex Isern, head of NSF’s Surface Earth Processes section, signify the line around a military prison beyond eliminated the standard time-honoured bi-annual deadlines in which prisoners could expect to be shot. It retains four of her grant programs. She saw applications fall from 804 much the same grim finality for journalists, for (in 2014) to 327 (April-March 2015). Moreover, the ‘lost’ proposals ‘Dwhom the only excuse for missing one is being dead. It is no boast appeared to constitute ‘the bottom 50%’ – the long tail of half- to say I have never missed a deadline. It is the way of one’s people. baked proposals done in a rush at the last minute. Other folks for whom, unlike Douglas Adams (see quote above) The new system meant that scientists (especially those in deadlines are more than mere aspirational targets – other people sciences like geology where deadlines can fall awkwardly with who really mean it - are administrators of scientific funding the field season) could bide their time, schedule the writing to suit programs. No appeals. Lines must be drawn. “If we were to their own timetables, and take greater pains. Success rates were make an exception for you…” they say - hinting that life would expected to rise sharply as a result. become simply unliveable. Are there drawbacks? Some scientists complained that However, evidence reported in Science1 has suggested that deadlines ‘motivated’ them… To which Isern responded deadlines themselves, in the research-funding context, may in fact laconically that they now had ‘365 deadlines a year’. As for NSF, be more problem than solution. They create lumpy workflows, – its program managers may fear achieving higher success rates for one thing. In an already strained review system, having to than their colleagues, because one criterion used historically to make all the effort in two annual binges can’t be good. And it may argue for higher budgets has been… pressure of applications. But go further. Deadlines may actually generate more, and poorer, clearly, if proposal pressure can be so easily manipulated, said proposals. Carol Frost, Head of Earth Sciences Division, “it is not a good Last year, the National Science Foundation (NSF) in Arlington, met r ic ”. Virginia, heard from Geosciences Assistant Director Roger Wakimoto that removing deadlines and replacing them with an Reference ‘anytime’ submission system caused the number of proposals 1.