SCIENTIST GEO VOLUME 24 NO 5 u JUNE 2014 u WWW.GEOLSOC.ORG.UK/GEOSCIENTIST The Fellowship Magazine of the Geological Society of London UK / Overseas where sold to individuals: £3.95
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Arctic Azolla An event that changed the world, and may again
100 GEOSITES ORDNANCE SURVEY EXIT INTERVIEW Nominate your favourite UK Is the UK’s mapmaker losing David Shilston reflects on and Ireland localities the plot over contours? two hectic years at the helm The best digital mapping app in the world
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0OMJOF(PPHMF.BQTBOEPGnJOF map support for disconnected mapping New expanded library of symbols for planar and linear data Stereonet display of geological data Draw contacts, faults and outcrops on your chosen basemap* Export KML and CSV data to other applications like FieldMove or Move In app purchase in FieldMove Clino Change the way you map More than 10,000 geologists† can’t be wrong!
Midland Valley, 2 West Regent Street, *Only aavvailable in iOS version †Number of downloads during first six months Glasgow G2 1RW UK +44 (0)141 332 2681 www.mve.com GEOSCIENTIST CONTENTS
06 24
10 16
FEATURES IN THIS ISSUE... 16 100 Geosites Rob Butler on the project to find our islands’ 100 best geological sites
REGULARS
05 Welcome Ted Nield wonders whether ‘Open Access’ is accidentally endangering learned societies 06 Society news What your Society is doing at home and abroad, in London and the regions 09 Soapbox David Nowell thinks the Ordnance Survey is losing the plot ON THE COVER: 21 Letters We welcome your thoughts 10 Arctic Azolla 22 Books and arts Four new books reviewed by Ted The freshwater fern, Azolla. Could this Nield, Paul Younger, Alan Lord and Dick Selley superorganism explain our present icehouse world, 24 People Geoscientists in the news and on the move and help us survive the coming greenhouse? 26 Obituary Edward Irving 1927-2014 27 Calendar Society activities this month ONLINE SPECIALS David Shilston reflects on his term as President; Howard Lee considers the effects of Large Igneous Provinces on global climate; 28 Obituary Richard John Aldridge 1945-2014 ‘The only way is up’ Nik Reynolds recalls a NWRG careers day 29 Crossword Win a special publication of your choice
WWW.GEOLSOC.ORG.UK/GEOSCIENTIST | JUNE 2014 | 03 Deep Earth Processes windows on the workings of a planet
The Geological Society, Burlington House, 15-16 September 2014 Piccadilly, London, UK
The physical and chemical nature of Earth’s deep interior is key in controlling many of the processes that shape our planet: from mantle convection to melting, from volcanism to plate tectonics. Rationalising the latest observations – be they clues revealed in the compositions of mantle melts, diamond formation, seismological nuances, or atomistic scale predictions – requires interaction across sub-disciplines. This international meeting seeks to draw together the latest ideas and results from geophysicists, geochemists, mineral physicists, geodynamicists and petrologists to identify the processes shaping the inaccessible depths of our planet.
Thematic sessions: • Deep mantle structure • Composition of the lower mantle • Core formation, CMB & D" • Surface expression of deep Earth processes Convenors: Sally Gibson, University of Cambridge, UK Saskia Goes, Imperial College, UK Simon Redfern, University of Cambridge, UK Mike Walter, University of Bristol, UK Keynote Speakers: John Hernlund, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan Bernie Wood, University of Oxford, UK Invited Speakers: Chris Ballentine, University of Oxford, UK John Brodholt, University College London, UK Arwen Deuss, University of Cambridge, UK Dan Frost, Bayreuth, Germany Matt Jackson, UC Santa Barbara, USA Further information Peter van Keken, University of Michigan, USA Mike Kendall, University of Bristol, UK For further information about the conference please contact: Graham Pearson, University of Alberta, CA Dan Shim, Arizona State University, USA Naomi Newbold, Conference Office, The Geological Society, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London W1J 0BG Call for abstracts T: 0207 434 9944 E: [email protected] There is a call for abstracts and contributions are W: www.geolsoc.org.uk/deepearth14 invited by 30th May 2014. Further information on submitting an abstract can be found at Follow this event on Twitter #deepearth14 www.geolsoc.org.uk/deepearth14 Image credit: Planetary Visions Ltd Visions Planetary Image credit:
GEOSCIENTIST WELCOME Geoscientist is the ADVERTISING EXECUTIVE ~ Fellowship magazine of Jonathan Knight COULD AZOLLA EXPLAIN OUR the Geological Society T 01727 739 193 of London E jonathan@centuryone PRESENT ICEHOUSE WORLD, AND HELP US publishing.ltd.uk The Geological Society, SURVIVE THE COMING GREENHOUSE? Burlington House, Piccadilly, ART EDITOR Front cover image London W1J 0BG Heena Gudka ~ T +44 (0)20 7434 9944 F +44 (0)20 7439 8975 DESIGN & PRODUCTION E [email protected] Sarah Astington (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 BA1 3JN Charity, number 210161. T 01225 445046 ISSN (print) 0961-5628 F 01225 442836 ISSN (online) 2045-1784 Library FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK: The Geological Society of London T +44 (0)20 7432 0999 accepts no responsibility for the F +44 (0)20 7439 3470 views expressed in any article in E [email protected] this publication. All views expressed, except where explicitly EDITOR-IN-CHIEF stated otherwise, represent those Open access Professor Peter Styles of the author, and not The Geological Society of London. All rights reserved. No paragraph EDITOR of this publication may be Dr Ted Nield reproduced, copied or transmitted ertain propositions are available – so far, so good. E [email protected] save with written permission. Users registered with Copyright inherently difficult to But publishing is not an activity EDITORIAL BOARD Clearance Center: the Journal is counter. Appeals to the free of investment or labour, or in Dr Sue Bowler registered with CCC, 27 Congress Street, Salem, MA 01970, USA. market, for example, were itself worthless. Rain may fall gently Mr Steve Branch 0961-5628/02/$15.00. Every Dr Robin Cocks effort has been made to trace particularly hard to counter from heaven, but to make it safe Prof. Tony Harris copyright holders of material in C in the 1980s, and the associated and accessible to me in my house, Dr Howard Falcon-Lang this publication. If any rights have Dr Jonathan Turner been omitted, the publishers offer concept of ‘customer choice’ was then I expect to pay. their apologies. Dr Jan Zalasiewicz applied willy nilly where it has since True, costs are falling with the advent No responsibility is assumed by Trustees of the the Publisher for any injury and/or been recognised as completely of online publishing. True, much Geological Society damage to persons or property as inappropriate. It is hard to argue research publishing is highly lucrative of London a matter of products liability, Mr D T Shilston negligence or otherwise, or from against the democratic principle, even to publishers; good research is in (President); any use or operation of any methods, products, instructions or though a majority in favour is no demand. True, some publishers are Mrs N K Ala; Dr M G ideas contained in the material guarantee of anything at all, except making profits off the back of research Armitage; Prof R A Butler; herein. Although all advertising Prof N A Chapman; material is expected to conform to possibly the lowest common paid for by the public, often using Dr A L Coe; Mr J Coppard; ethical (medical) standards, denominator of understanding. some volunteer labour from the very Mr D J Cragg (Vice inclusion in this publication does president); Mrs N J not constitute a guarantee or Is Open Access Publishing one of academics who perform it, but who by endorsement of the quality or Dottridge; Mr C S Eccles; value of such product or of the these? Its very name makes it almost the process of peer review, give the Dr M Edmonds; claims made by its manufacturer. Prof A J Fraser unseemly to oppose. Who would results dignity. Their validation (Secretary, Science); Subscriptions: All champion the restriction of renders the published results ‘scientific’. Mrs M P Henton (Secretary, correspondence relating to non- Professional Matters); member subscriptions should be information? Not I. It is the However in going after commercial addresses to the Journals Mr D A Jones (Vice Subscription Department, Government’s view that the results of profiteers, and in so doing further president); Dr A Law Geological Society Publishing research for which it has paid should forcing the pace of publishing reform at (Treasurer); Prof R J House, Unit 7 Brassmill Enterprise Lisle; Prof A R Lord Centre, Brassmill Lane, Bath, BA1 be available to the taxpayers who a time when nobody is really sure if (Secretary, Foreign & 3JN, UK. Tel: 01225 445046. Fax: funded it. It is equally hard to argue revenue streams will hold up at all, is External Affairs); 01225 442836. Email: Prof D A C Manning [email protected]. The against that, though elsewhere, paying this process not in danger of subscription price for Volume 24, (President designate); 2014 (11 issues) to institutions for things does not automatically confusing baby and bathwater? Dr B R Marker; and non-members is £125 (UK) or Dr G Nichols; Dr L £143 / US$286 (Rest of World). entitle me to access them. Learned society publishers plough Slater; Dr J P Turner Taxpayers fund many things that their surpluses back into fostering (Secretary, Publications); © 2014 The Geological Society Mr M E Young of London remain unavailable to them, or even new and better science through unadvertised to them – for reasons meetings and research sponsorship. Published on behalf of the that are sometimes bad, but sometimes We do not line shareholders’ Geological Society of London by conceivably very good. pockets. Our shareholders are - Century One Publishing It is at this point that for me the scientists themselves. Alban Row, 27–31 Verulam Road, St Albans, Herts, argument becomes a little confusing. Is it now more than ever timely to AL3 4DG Research paid for by the Government issue an appeal to scientists to show a T 01727 893 894 F 01727 893 895 should be published, if it is little solidarity with their learned E enquiries@centuryone worthwhile, and therefore made societies and publish with them? publishing.ltd.uk W www.centuryone DR TED NIELD, EDITOR - [email protected] @TedNield @geoscientistmag publishing.ltd.uk
WWW.GEOLSOC.ORG.UK/GEOSCIENTIST | JUNE 2014 | 05 GEOSCIENTIST SOCIETY NEWS
What your society is doing SOCIETYNEWS at home and abroad, in London and the regions Policy update
The policy team has been active in environmental policy, carbon capture and storage (CCS) and shale gas, writes Florence Bullough. Issues such as shale gas may grab headlines, but we also aim to communicate an understanding of the importance of geology to inform a wide range of interdisciplinary areas of policy-making. The Society responded to several consultations on environmental management in the first part of 2014, in which we highlighted the vital functions performed by the geosphere within wider LONDON LECTURE SERIES natural systems. Please see the online version of this piece for hotlinks to the policy documents referred to. Geology in Space: Meteorites and Cosmic Dust Environmental policy Speaker: Matt Genge (Imperial College, London) Natural Resources Wales (NRW) launched a consultation on their corporate plan to which the Society responded. We supported their recognition of the Date: 18 June 2014 importance of geodiversity and geosphere functions, and stressed the need to ensure that these considerations are fully applied in practice in a holistic Programme u approach to environmental management and ecosystem service delivery, rather Afternoon talk: 1430 Tea & Coffee: 1500 Lecture than just focus on air, water and living things. The Society also reiterated its begins: 1600 Event ends. u concern at the backlog of Geological Conservation Review sites that are awaiting Evening talk: 1730 Tea & Coffee: 1800 Lecture designation as SSSIs. begins: 1900 Reception. The Society also responded to a Welsh Government consultation on the Environment Bill White Paper. Our response again emphasised the importance of Further Information the geosphere as a first-order control on ecosystems services and expressed Please visit www.geolsoc.org.uk/gsllondon concern that the abiotic elements of ecosystems are often undervalued in policy lectures14. Entry to each lecture is by ticket only. documents in comparison to biotic elements, and urged the Welsh Government To obtain a ticket please contact the Society around to ensure that the forthcoming Environment Bill recognises the importance (and four weeks before the talk. Due to the popularity of this interconnectedness) of both. In both these responses, we highlighted the lecture series, tickets are allocated in a monthly ballot importance of retaining geoscience capacity and human capital following the and cannot be guaranteed. creation of Natural Resources Wales, and the restructuring of policy functions this has entailed. ➤ Contact: Naomi Newbold, The Geological Society, The Society also responded to the London Geodiversity Partnership, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London W1J 0BG, T: +44 supporting their 2014-2018 geodiversity action plan for London and highlighting (0)20 7432 0981 E: [email protected] the work of our Geoconservation Committee. Shale gas Other activities The Shale UK 2014 conference, organised by Global Event Partners on behalf of In December, as part of the Society’s ongoing work on the Society, took place in London on 4-5 March. It presented a state-of-the-art radioactive waste disposal policy, we responded to a DECC view of the geology of shale gas to a diverse audience of industry decision- consultation on the ‘Review of the Siting Process for a makers, policy-makers, regulators, community representatives and others. Geological Disposal Facility’, and have also attended A wide-ranging and engaging programme of talks over the two days of the stakeholder meetings in connection with this review. conference featured leading experts in many relevant areas of geology from Following the launch of our major report on ‘Geology for across industry, government and academia, including several from North Society’ at the Southern Wales Regional Group’s event America, providing an opportunity to learn from experience there. ‘Geology and the Welsh Economy’ (reported in the April As well as drawing on expertise on resource exploration and production from Geoscientist), the report is continuing to attract considerable the hydrocarbons industry, the conference also featured hydrogeologists, interest, both in the UK and more widely. engineering specialists and regulators, who presented a geological view of the In April, we hosted the third in a series of conferences held potential impacts and environmental management of shale gas extraction. jointly with AAPG on CCS entitled ‘Geological Carbon Feedback on the conference was very positive – we succeeded in our aim of Storage: Meeting the Global Challenge’, a two-day delivering something different from other shale gas conferences, of real value to programme of research and field experience relating to the our audience. development of geological storage. This concluded with We also responded, together with the PESGB, to a House of Lords Inquiry discussion on wider economic, commercial and policy into the ‘Economic Impact on UK Energy Policy of Shale Gas and Oil’ in issues, at which conference delegates were joined by addition to the recent DECC consultation on the ‘Environmental Report for parliamentarians, officials, and representatives of further onshore oil and gas licensing’. environmental NGOs and other scientific societies.
06 | JUNE 2014 | WWW.GEOLSOC.ORG.UK/GEOSCIENTIST GEOSCIENTIST SOCIETY NEWS
NEWS IN BRIEF
Future meetings The dates for meetings of Council and Ordinary General Meetings until June 2015 will be as follows: ➤ OGMs 2014:-18 June; 25 September; 26 November. 2015:- 4 February; 8 April ➤ Council 2014:- 18 June; 25 & 26 September (residential); 26 November. 2015:- 4 February; 8 April.
PERC Committee: L-R: Carlos Almeida, Steve Henley, John Clifford, Gordon Riddler, Graham Woodrow and Markku Iljina Research Grants, 2014 Stephanie Jones writes: The RGC recommended to Council that £22,761 be awarded to 15 Chartership news - PERC up your ears applicants, which Council approved at its 2 April meeting. News from the Pan European Reserves and markets Authority (ESMA) might be persuaded to The Jeremy Willson Charitable Resources Reporting Committee (PERC). specify PERC for reporting to European Stock Trust and Novas Consulting Ltd. PERC was set up in 2006 in order to formalise Markets. This is particularly important as the UK continued their generous support, a European Standard for reporting (as an update Stock Exchange has over 40% of the world and this year the Society has to the IMM Reporting Code of 1991 and "The investment in resources and, together with the been able to do even more Reporting Code" of 2001), equivalent to the other European Exchanges, comprises well over because of the additional gift in Australian JORC, South African SAMREC and 50% of the global total. memory of Robert Scott which will Canadian CIM NI43 101, and others from the A training workshop entitled ‘Best Practice for fund Lisa Mol’s project. USA, Chile and Russia in the international the Assessment and Reporting of Exploration The Society is most grateful to CRIRSCO (Committee for Mineral Reserves Results, Mineral Resources and Mineral CASP for this endowment, which International Reporting Standards) family of Reserves’, was presented by Dr Edmund Sides was facilitated by Gary Nichols. reporting codes/standards. (AMEC). PERC has plans to develop further A complete list of the approved It was founded by collaboration between the training in good practice for geologists and projects, with sums awarded, is Geological Society of London (GSL), the Irish others in the Mineral Exploration/Mining area. available in the online version of Geological Institute (IGI), the Institution of Further information on PERC can be found at this article. Materials, Minerals and Mining (IMMM) and the www.percstandard.eu. European Federation of Geologists (EFG) and replaced the defunct IMM Reserves Committee CGeol in Hong Kong New CGeol logo and an ad hoc European working group. The We hear from Mr Sam Ng that CGeol has been The Professional and Chartership Committee has four members from each of the adopted by the Civil Engineering and Committees have agreed this founding organisations, and at present eight co- Development Department (CEDD) for Civil Logo for use by CGeols on letters, opted members representing various other Service recruitment of Geologists, and that the reports etc. It will be provided European national professional geological and Accredited Training Scheme has also been free in electronic form and CGeols mining organisations and industry sectors. The adopted by the Civil Service for training will personalise it by the addition Chairman of the Committee is Eddie Bailey who of Geologists. of their Fellowship Number. is one of the GSL representatives. This is the first time that CGeol’s effective The logo will also be available for The latest version of the PERC Standard was equivalence to ‘MHKIE’ has been put in writing in purchase as a stamp from the published on March 16th 2013 and is a an official government document. In practice, Fellowship Office. We hope it will principles-based standard providing since the 1980s the Geotechnical Engineering be widely used by CGeols on all Transparency, Materiality and Competence. Office (GEO) of CEDD has accepted CGeol, and business correspondence to raise Please see online for further details. MIGeol before it, as equivalent to MHKIE - but the profile of the The Committee met in Dublin on 29 March for that was decided ad hoc by the GEO without qualification its second AGM. Promotion of the PERC there ever being official written acceptance. among Standard, to make it the reference standard for The important step forward is that ‘Chartered clients European reporting, is the main aim. In particular Geologist’ is now the de facto qualification for and other we hope that the European Securities and professional geologists in Hong Kong. geologists.
WWW.GEOLSOC.ORG.UK/GEOSCIENTIST | JUNE 2014 | 07 GEOSCIENTIST SOCIETY NEWS
SOCIETYNEWS...
Scrutineers
Over 40 attended a Scrutineers’ FROM THE LIBRARY Information, Consultation & ~ Training Day at Burlington House,
writes Bill Gaskarth. Image: Aaron Amat / Shutterstock.com Attendees heard Mike De Freitas THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY speak on Duty of Care and the Code of Conduct, David Norbury on LIBRARY IS A RESEARCH LIBRARY what is expected of Candidates for WHICH OFFERS ITS FELLOWS THE CPD records, Supporting BEST OF BOTH WORLDS: RICH Documents, and the types of material that may be used as such. HISTORICAL AND ARCHIVE The Chartership Officer offered an COLLECTIONS AS WELL AS THE outline of what scrutineers are sent, MOST UP-TO-DATE INFORMATION and what is expected of them before interview. We held breakout- The Society has 366 scrutineers on RESOURCES IN PRINT AND group discussions on what its list, and of these some 242 are ELECTRONIC FORMATS* information should be provided on a aged between 40 and 60. Eighty- scrutineers’ Page on the Website, nine scrutineers are now in their 60s. ~ the design and use of the Post- The low number of scrutineers under Improving remote services to Fellows Interview Report form, and common 40 is to be expected, but CGeols In April, Council approved the five-year Library reasons for deferring aged 35-40 are particularly Strategy, writes Fabienne Michaud. recommendations. Further detail of encouraged to apply, so that we can The Strategy has at its heart the necessity to evolve the discussion can be found in the replace scrutineers who retire and no and adapt to a fast-changing library and information website version of this article. longer retain their Chartership. environment, and the research needs of its users. The Geological Society Library provides a wide range of resources such as electronic journals, document The Geological Society Club supply, postal loan and enquiry and literature searching services on-site, in Burlington House. As well as being available in London these services are also accessible The Geological Society Club, port. (The Founders' Dinner, in off-site. In 2013, some of the Library’s most popular successor to the body that gave birth November, has its own price structure.) services were largely used remotely and more Fellows to the Society in 1807, meets monthly There is a cash bar for the purchase of each year are taking up the opportunity to access its (except over the field season!) at 18.30 aperitifs and wine. collection of over 90 electronic journals via u for 19.00 in the Athenaeum Club, Pall 2014: 24 September; 15 October. Athens. In the last five years, the number of Athens Mall, or at another venue, to be registration has risen by 57%, and in 2013: confirmed nearer the date. u ➤ Fellows wishing to dine or request- 20,299 articles were downloaded Once a year there is also a buffet u 3,803 enquiries were made** dinner at Burlington House. ing further information about the Geological Society Club, please u 605 documents were supplied New diners are always welcome, email Cally Oldershaw (Hon Sec) at especially from among younger [email protected] With 85% of the Fellowship based in the regions and Fellows. Dinner costs £57 for a four- or T: 07796 942361. DR overseas, one of the Library’s key objectives is to deliver course meal, including coffee and better electronic and remote services, while simultaneously, working to develop, preserve and Image: David Iliff via Wikimedia Commons Image: David Iliff via Wikimedia promote its collections and improve their content findability online. The Library Strategy provides the basis upon which this will be achieved within the next five years. *Library Strategy, approved by Council 2 April 2014. **Library staff responded to a total of 8,885 enquiries in 2013.
➤ You can read the Library Strategy online at www.geolsoc.org.uk/LibraryStrategy The Athenaeum Club, Pall Mall
08 | JUNE 2014 | WWW.GEOLSOC.ORG.UK/GEOSCIENTIST GEOSCIENTIST SOAPBOX
Losing the plot?
David Nowell* wonders why the Ordnance Survey is restricting sales of its own products when people want to buy them
recently overheard a bizarre If the residents of Ventnor on the Isle of conversation. Apparently, the Ordnance Wight can be trusted with complex mapping, Survey (OS) no longer allows retailers to zoning the risks to their homes from SOAPBOX sell contoured 1:10,000 to 1:5,000 landslips, why can’t we add spot heights to I printouts to the general public. rivers? Surely the Environment Agency can CALLING! Chatting to their topographic IT expert, I tie them in to local flood gauges, to benefit discovered that this has left customers residents who are sometimes unfairly puzzled and confused, because the OS blighted by their insurers. And in flatter Soapbox is open to contributions patronisingly presumes that people fit neatly areas, is it asking too much for their from all Fellows. You can always into their inflexible user-groups. cartographers to look at continental maps write a letter to the Editor, of and plot intermediate 2½ m, if not 1¼ m course: but perhaps you feel you Contours contours, as many countries do? need more space? Even if geologists can afford their eye- watering prices, this causes immense Explorer If you can write it entertainingly in problems, as fieldwork often requires Instead, there is a great temptation to fall 500 words, the Editor would like contours. And, where recent mapping has back on the 25k ‘Explorer’ series and scan an to hear from you. Email your been completed, the British Geological enlargement for detailed contours. Just like piece, and a self-portrait, to Survey must sell their 10k geological maps the music industry mishandling new ted.nield@geolsoc. org.uk. with OS base maps for £80 each, so that even technology, the OS should not be surprised if Copy can only be accepted professionals balk at using them. this results in lost revenue. Successive electronically. No diagrams, tables In contrast, German regional surveys governments have failed to grasp the wider or other illustrations please. produce cheap 5k maps, including annotated benefits of affordable mapping by ensuring contoured aerial photographs with that economic gains were picked up by Pictures should be of print invaluable coverage within quarries and spot effective corporate taxation. Before mapping quality – please take photographs heights on rivers. Even on some 100k maps was considered passé, the BGS published on the largest setting on your you can see how the river Rhine steepens some innovative 50k posters of Anglesey, camera, with a plain background. going through the Lorelei Gorge. In France using Lidar images as base maps to reveal the IGN sells géorando disks with enlargeable the geomorphological grain of the glacial Precedence will always be given
25k mapping and aerial photography, landscape, and the outstanding 625k bedrock to more topical contributions. which yield stunning 3D block-diagrams to geology (5th edition) maps used a rival Any one contributor may not
look in detail at the geomorphology of a cartographer as the kilometre national grid is appear more often than once per selected area. out of copyright. volume (once~ every 12 months). Even without mildly jingoistic These 25k maps could have limited tidal assumptions about our beloved OS maps information, like the levels stated on some (France was mapped in great detail in the BGS 50k coastal sheets: many educated late 18th Century) things could be improved. people wrongly assume Ordnance Datum is THERE IS A synonymous with spring high tide - actually, GREAT TEMPTATION TO over seven metres above OD in places along FALL BACK ON THE 25K the Bristol Channel. Furthermore, since the Explorer series has ensured that fewer ‘EXPLORER’ SERIES topographic maps are being sold, by AND SCAN AN covering much larger areas than before, why can’t the OS produce a third 1:50,000 ENLARGEMENT FOR series on new sheet lines? These could be DETAILED CONTOURS... printed on bigger sheets of paper: their THE OS SHOULD bilingual maps of Wales already extend to an extra ninth fold, and a tenth would be NOT BE SURPRISED quite feasible. IF THIS RESULTS IN
* David Nowell is a freelance geologist whose LOST REVENUE publications include over 120 geological map David Nowell David Nowell ~ and book reviews
WWW.GEOLSOC.ORG.UK/GEOSCIENTIST | JUNE 2014 | 09 THE ARCTIC AZOLLA EVENT
he Cenozoic was characterised glaciation and succession of glacial- Jonathan Bujak by enormous changes in the interglacial cycles, is highly Earth’s climate that affected the unusual and possibly unique in the and Alexandra entire biosphere, including the Earth’s history. T evolution of our own species. The asteroid impact at Chicxulub on Bujak* reveal how These changes resulted from a the Yucatán coast, which marked the combination of factors that end of the Mesozoic 66 million years a unique plant progressively sequestered the ago, combined with other factors may greenhouse gas carbon dioxide from have had a devastating effect on marine changed our the atmosphere, resulting in cooler and terrestrial biotas, but it did not global temperatures, particularly at the affect long-term climate. The early part planet’s climate poles with their year-round cover of ice of the Cenozoic therefore inherited the and snow. Mesozoic greenhouse world, which Our modern bipolar icehouse world continued through the Paleocene. contrasts strongly with the earlier Extensive volcanism associated with the greenhouse climate of the Mesozoic, Greenland mantle plume injected which had lower latitudinal thermal enormous quantities of gases, including gradients and poles that were much carbon dioxide, into the atmosphere, warmer than those of today. raising temperatures and triggering the The Cenozoic greenhouse-to-icehouse release of methane clathrates. shift is even more striking because the This potent combination resulted in geological record indicates that our high levels of greenhouse gases 55 Above: Azolla from North America present climate, with its bipolar million years ago during the Paleocene-
10 | JUNE 2014 | WWW.GEOLSOC.ORG.UK/GEOSCIENTIST ~ THE ARCTIC AZOLLA EVENT LASTED FOR ABOUT A MILLION YEARS, BEGINNING IN THE LATEST EARLY EOCENE (YPRESIAN) AND ENDING JUST AFTER THE ONSET OF THE MIDDLE EOCENE (LUTETIAN) ~ Courtesy of Dr Ron Blakey, Professor Emeritus NAU Geology
The greenhouse world at the end of the Cretaceous 66 million years ago compared to the modern icehouse world with its bipolar glaciation
Part of the ACEX core dominated by thin brown The ACEX scientific drillship, Vidar Viking beds of Azolla
Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM, icebreakers Oden and Sovetskyi Soyuz, to Lomonosov aka. the Early Eocene Thermal undertake a unique voyage to the North Vidar Viking reached its drilling location Maximum, EETM). Pole. This was Leg 302 of the Integrated on August 13, but was forced to move to Ocean Drilling Project (IODP), also a nearby site due to deteriorating ice Trigger known as the Arctic Coring Expedition conditions. Drilling began on August 18 Although temperatures fell after EETM, (ACEX). Over the past five decades, in 1209 metres of water, but soon they remained high during the early IODP and its predecessor, the Deep Sea encountered more problems, this time Eocene and averaged 12oC to 15oC in the Drilling Project (DSDP), had due to a shattered core liner, forcing Arctic, where the remains of lush forests systematically drilled sediments beneath Vidar Viking to move to a third location on are preserved in sediments on Ellesmere the world’s oceans, but extensive ice August 27. This time it was successful Island. It is therefore surprising that cover had prevented an expedition to and cored into the Lomonosov Ridge as initiation of the greenhouse to icehouse the Arctic Ocean. the two ice-breakers protected it from the shift occurred at the end of the early The expedition’s objective was to core drifting sea ice. Eocene which, apart from the EETM, Upper Cretaceous and Cenozoic Finally, on September 8, ACEX experienced the highest temperatures of sediments of the Lomonosov Ridge, recovered cores from sediments the Cenozoic. What could have which extends for 1800km across the deposited during the initial greenhouse triggered this remarkable climatic Arctic Ocean and rises three and a half to icehouse shift, revealing thousands of change which eventually led to our kilometres above the surrounding organic-rich layers filled with beautifully present bipolar icehouse world? seafloor. Would the expedition preserved remains of the floating The answer came in 2004, when accomplish its mission to core more than freshwater fern Azolla. Later analyses reduced ice conditions allowed the 300 metres, while maintaining its confirmed that the ‘Arctic Azolla Event’ scientific drillship, Vidar Viking, drilling location in constantly moving lasted for about a million years,
supported by the Swedish and Russian sea ice? beginning in the latest Early Eocene ▼
WWW.GEOLSOC.ORG.UK/GEOSCIENTIST | JUNE 2014 | 11 Eocene palaeogeograp hy of the Arctic Ocean before (Turgay Strait open) and during (Turgay Strait closed) the Azolla event
▼ (Ypresian) and ending just after the onset of the Middle Eocene (Lutetian). Specimens of Azolla is a floating freshwater fern that Azolla from Ecuador where can only tolerate slight amounts of Dr Mariano salinity. What were millions upon Montaño is millions of Azolla plants doing in the developing its use as a rice middle of the Arctic Ocean, and why biofertilizer were they there precisely when the Earth experienced one of the most dramatic climatic changes in its history? Was there a connection between the two events? Fossil Azolla Following ACEX, a model answering dated between these questions was proposed and 50.5 and 55.5 Ma (million repeatedly tested during the next decade years) from the when scientists from all over the world Green River Formation of analyzed the ACEX cores, confirming its Garfield County, validity and refining its details. It was Colorado, which subsequently published in a series of are similar in age to Azolla in papers, and featured in the New York the ACEX core. Times on 30 November 2004 (‘Under all The floating that ice, maybe oil’), National Geographic leaves and tendrils are in May 2005 (‘Was the icy Arctic once a identical to warm soup of life?’) and Nature in June those of modern Azolla 2006 (‘From greenhouse to icehouse in 55 million years’). Turgay Following the EETM, the Arctic Ocean was largely land-locked and centered on the North Pole, as it is today, so that it experienced Arctic summers with 24 hours of daylight and winters with 24 hours of darkness, but with much warmer temperatures than those seen today. Its only significant marine connection was through a long narrow seaway called the Turgay Strait, which extended southwards across western Siberia to the equatorial Tethyan Ocean. Then, 49 million years ago, the shallow Turgay Strait became blocked, and the Arctic Ocean became isolated from the other oceans, similar to today’s Henk Brinkhuis Black Sea, which only has a single very at the North Pole narrow connection to the Mediterranean GEOSCIENTIST FEATURE
through the Bosporus. Like the Black were supplied by rocks exposed on the Sea, the Arctic Ocean became ‘stratified’, land surrounding the Arctic, rocks that with little vertical mixing of its water, so may have eventually been eroded away, that its bottom waters became anoxic and ending the Azolla Event. all bottom-dwelling benthic organisms died out. High greenhouse temperatures Impact also caused more energetic weather than Calculations of Azolla’s volume during today and increased the amount of the event show that it had a huge impact rainfall. Rivers discharged large on the world’s climate. The billions of volumes of freshwater, resulting in layers tiny plants drew down the carbon of surface freshwater extending out into dioxide needed for their growth directly the ocean. Satellite images show similar from the atmosphere, reducing freshwater layers spreading out from greenhouse gases, and ending the today’s Amazon River for hundreds of greenhouse climate that had prevailed for kilometres into the Atlantic Ocean. hundreds of millions of years. Levels of This explained Azolla’s presence far atmospheric carbon dioxide that had from the ancient Arctic Ocean shoreline. been as high as 2500 to 3500ppm before Above: ACEX coring locations close to the North Pole In the Arctic spring and summer, the the Azolla Event were reduced by up to a free-floating freshwater plant spread and half by the Azolla Event. Below: ACEX ~ scientists at the North Pole multiplied on surface freshwater layers Atmospheric carbon dioxide continued that extended from rivers discharging to fall over the next 49 million years due into the ocean. Each bed of Azolla in the to mountain uplift and changing oceanic WHAT WERE ACEX cores represents a single mat or currents that sequestered even more succession of mats of floating Azolla that carbon dioxide. As atmospheric carbon MILLIONS UPON MILLIONS extended away from shore towards the dioxide fell below 1000ppm about 40 OF AZOLLA PLANTS DOING centre of the Arctic Ocean. As the million years ago, permanent ice and floating mats became waterlogged or as snow increased in Antarctica. Then, as it IN THE MIDDLE OF THE storms fragmented them, the plants died fell even lower to 600ppm just 2.6 million ARCTIC OCEAN, AND WHY and sank to the sea floor and lay years ago, widespread glaciation began in WERE THEY THERE undisturbed, due to the absence of the Arctic, initiating the succession of benthic organisms. The remains of Azolla glacial-interglacial cycles that characterise PRECISELY WHEN THE were then gradually buried by fine today’s icehouse world. Present values EARTH EXPERIENCED ONE sediments or the remains of plankton are just above 400ppm, having risen from OF THE MOST DRAMATIC and other organisms living in the surface pre-industrial values in the mid 18th water, which formed the thin beds Century of about 280ppm. CLIMATIC CHANGES IN separating the Azolla layers. The atmospheric carbon dioxide ITS HISTORY? This process was repeated again and sequestered by Azolla was incorporated again, gradually forming the thousands into the plant biomass, which is ~ of Azolla beds seen in ACEX cores. preserved in sediments beneath the Some of them may have been deposited Arctic, but a crucial question still needed annually, some every few years or longer, answering. Nitrogen is essential for the others in clusters that were related to growth of all plants and almost all of climatic cycles that affected temperature them obtain this nutrient from nitrogen- and the amount of rainfall and runoff. based compounds present in the soil or These details would be gradually teased underwater substrate. How was Azolla from the core samples, and many still able to grow so rapidly, free-floating in wait to be refined as increasingly the middle of an ocean without this
sophisticated techniques become source of nitrogen? ▼ available. However, the general model has stood the test of time. The Arctic Azolla Event lasted for about a million years and scientists are still unsure why it ended. Perhaps the Turgay Strait re-opened and the Arctic Ocean resumed its earlier configuration, or maybe the nutrients needed for Azolla’s growth were finally depleted – nutrients such as phosphates that
WWW.GEOLSOC.ORG.UK/GEOSCIENTIST | JUNE 2014 | 13 GEOSCIENTIST FEATURE
▼ Nine months after ACEX, Henk symbiotic cyanobacterium called fixing organelle in Azolla, and in 2010 Brinkhuis, the expedition’s palynologist, Anabaena azollae. Francisco Carrapiço published his arranged the first meeting of the ‘Darwin Although a few other plants have landmark paper: ‘Azolla as a Azolla Group’ at Utrecht University in cyanobacterial symbionts, the Superorganism’, proposing that Azolla and the Netherlands for geologists with relationship is lost when the plant dies A. azollae are so closely interconnected expertise relevant to the Azolla Event. and has to be renewed each generation. that they represent a single Also invited was biologist Francisco Azolla is unique because it is the only superorganism. This was the missing Carrapiço, Assistant Professor at the known plant in which a cyanobacterial part of the puzzle needed to explain the University of Lisbon’s Department of symbiont is passed to successive Arctic Azolla Event. It showed how Plant Biology, and the world’s leading generations during the plant’s Azolla was able to repeatedly spread expert on modern Azolla. He was to reproduction. The fossil record indicates across freshwater surface layers in the provide information that would answer that the relationship between Azolla and Arctic Ocean, sequestering large the question. A. azollae was established in the mid quantities of atmospheric carbon dioxide, Cretaceous, so that the two organisms to trigger the initial change from a Superorganism have been co-evolving for about 100 greenhouse to icehouse climate. Azolla is a fern that floats freely on the million years. This has resulted in their surface of quiescent freshwater bodies, developing highly efficient and Perfect storm such as ponds, lakes and gently flowing complementary biochemistry, enabling We humans are threatened by a perfect rivers, and it is one of the fastest growing Azolla’s phenomenal growth rate. storm as our population passes seven plants on the planet, doubling its It is a perfect marriage: Azolla billion thanks to shortages of land, food biomass in as little as two days. provides a home for A. azollae, which and energy. Increased emissions of We know that Azolla is a fern because of sequesters nitrogen fertilizer for Azolla greenhouse gases are also reversing its internal structure and the way that it directly from the atmosphere. climatic changes that occurred over reproduces, but it looks nothing like a Their relationship is now so intimate that millions of years. The greenhouse-to- fern. Its leaves are composed of small many of A. azollae’s genes have been lost icehouse shift was caused by a spongy lobes, just a few millimetres long, or transferred to the nucleus in Azolla’s succession of processes that took 49 which float on the water with hair-like cells, so that A. azollae can no longer million years, but mankind’s emission of tendrils dangling in the water below. survive independently outside Azolla. greenhouse gases could reverse this Its larger dorsal leaves are buoyant All of the genetic evidence indicates that process in just a few decades, changing and contain cavities enclosing a A. azollae is evolving towards a nitrogen- the climate back to a greenhouse world Photograph kindly provided by Dr Ian Miller of the Denver Museum Science
Azolla fertilizing a rice paddy in Ecuador Inset: Azolla usually floats freely on the Bread made from Azolla by Erik Sjödin at Wysing surface of freshwater, but tendrils that dangle freely beneath the plant can also Arts Centre, England. Erik also has recipes for root in wet muddy substrate to provide additional nitrogen fertilizer for the plant pancakes, soup, burgers, and more... GEOSCIENTIST FEATURE
with dizzying speed. Could Azolla help nitrogen-enriched water used to grow their people, rather than dealing with us combat man-made climate change and Azolla is an ideal biofertiliser for problems of climate change. The billions also provide local renewable food, hydroponics to grow fruit and of pledged ‘climate change dollars’ can livestock feed, biofertilizer and biofuel? vegetables, providing local renewable therefore help developing countries using Azolla has been used for thousands of food. And because Azolla can be grown Azolla’s synergy, thus turning Perfect years in India and the Far East as a indoors, anywhere in the world under Storm into Perfect Opportunity. biofertilizer and livestock feed, and its carefully controlled conditions, it has Geologists are fortunate in having a potential as a biofuel is indicated by the potential to provide these products unique perspective grounded in deep- (unpublished) studies on modern Azolla. globally, promoting urban agriculture in time. We have traditionally used the It has also been taken on space missions our growing cities and megacities, and present as a key to the past, but we can to confirm its use as a food, water helping to provide a permanent also use the past to understand the purifier and oxygen provider for space solution to regions with repeated present and shape the future in a positive travel because of its ability to rapidly famines such as East Africa. way. Perhaps the remarkable events that grow in stacked trays of shallow water occurred 49 million years ago in the less than three centimetres deep. Azolla Global potential Arctic can help us do that. u can therefore help us tackle the threat of This flexibility is the key to Azolla’s man-made climate change and shortages global potential. The complex * Dr Jonathan Bujak is a palaeontologist who of land, food and energy. Its potential biotechnology has already been has spent the past 40 years studying Arctic can be increased because the water in developed by Azolla and A. azollae’s palaeoclimate and the greenhouse to icehouse which Azolla grows is enriched in co-evolution, so all we need to do is shift. His daughter, Alexandra Bujak, is an nitrogen sequestered by A. azollae from work with nature instead of destroying environmental scientist specializing in modern the atmosphere. it. And because Azolla’s biosystem Azolla’s multiple uses. Their book ‘The Azolla For example, Azolla’s growth can be addresses the problems of energy and Story’ will be published in 2014. Author contact: integrated with the production of algal food as well as climate change, it is E: [email protected] oil (‘algoil’), with the nitrogen-enriched not necessary to prioritise them. water from Azolla fertilizing algal growth This resolves the main problem that ➤ FURTHER INFORMATION and increasing the sequestration of plagued the 2009 and 2013 Copenhagen You can read more about this carbon dioxide to produce a range of and Doha Summits on Climate Change remarkable plant at: biofuels precisely where they are needed. when many developing countries http://theAzollafoundation.org Or, to take another example, the argued that their priority was to feed Image: Nikita Tiunov / Shutterstock.com Image: Nikita Tiunov
Above (upper): Azolla and inset Azolla’s cyanobacterial symbiont, A. azollae Above (lower): Azolla’s leaves and a magnified image of A. azollae living inside Azolla’s leaf cavities DECENT EXPOSURE As the Society develops its 100 geosites project, Rob Butler* looks at some of these islands’ great outcrops
well remember my first residential talk to Earth processes and ancient field trip: day one - among the landscape evolution. Permian breccias at Oddicombe, For some, great outcrops must be Devon, picking through the large. A list of great global stratigraphic I detritus of the Variscan Orogeny. sites must include the Grand Canyon: We had been directed by trip leader, nowhere in Britain is there such a Mike Coward, to ‘find pieces of remorseless demonstration of the law of ophiolite’. It was a crazy challenge, superposition. We rely on picking over pebbles – how would you unconformities, such as Siccar Point, to know if a chunk of basalt came from tell stories of deep time. Non-geologists former sea-floor? Pretty much might find it perplexing that such everything was slate and limestone narratives speak of the missing, rather anyway. But it filled me with an than the present – the lost stratigraphy enthusiasm for British geology that and the deductions of tectonics and remains to this day, some 36 years later. denudation rather than the dynamic Since then I’ve had the immense landforms themselves. And there are privilege to research in some truly many greater stratigraphic omissions in brilliant field locations, and visited Britain - such as the two billion year gap many others around the World. But caught between the base of the there’s something special about British Applecross Formation of the Torridonian outcrop geology. Perhaps it's the and the late Archaean gneisses of the exceptional variety that has inspired me Lewisian’s Central Block in Assynt. and many other geologists over the My personal favourite British centuries. As the Society began it search unconformity for getting up close and for 100 top geosites - with the list set to personal with ancient landscape appear during October’s Earth Science processes is up on the north Sutherland Week, I got to thinking - what makes a coast, at the tiny fishing village of truly great outcrop? Portskerra. The contact undulates, picking out low hills within the Playfair Caledonian mountain belt. Fragments Top of most people’s list, perhaps even of the metamorphic Moine rocks form of world outcrops, comes Siccar Point - screes on the hill slopes that grade out Above top: Siccar Point still attracts the masses, with no a rather anonymous corner of the into fluvial sandstones. Small, prospect for an end Berwickshire coast were it not for the compared with the Grand Canyon, but Above middle: Getting to grips with fault zone processes and reservoir properties at Clashach Cove, Moray work of James Hutton and his publicist perfectly formed. Above lower: Excursions in deep time - Aberdeen - John Playfair. There are many other So, size isn’t everything. For tectonic undergraduates seek to piece together the complex stratigraphic sites of importance in folk like me, perhaps the most dramatic history of igneous intrusion, metamorphism and deformation in some of the oldest rocks of NW Europe - Britain but Siccar Pont stands out not global location is the Alpine Fault of Scourie More, Sutherland only for historical precedence but also New Zealand. Ocean is juxtaposed Left: Skrinkle Haven Pembrokeshire - a great location to because of its architectural simplicity - against 3000m peaks along an active examine the marine transgression during the late
part of the site has been replicated by thrust - mountain building in action. Devonian that inundated a swathe of the Old Red casting in the American Museum of But the processes that shape these Sandstone continental environment
Natural History. mountains - mutually focusing Gazing away from the headland tectonics and meteorology, serve also to itself, with gently inclined Devonian red continuously bury and re-excavate the ~ beds and the steeply-dipping Silurian Alpine Fault Zone itself. While the turbidites, helps us to “upscale” - the surface processes are exciting - the term used by some to express the outcrops themselves are often deeply THERE IS SOMETHING concept of taking local observations and disappointing. For great fault visualising their impact on a scale zones, Britain’s long-dead structures SPECIAL ABOUT BRITISH beyond the immediate. Zooming into such as the Outer Isles Fault on the OUTCROP GEOLOGY. the contact itself reveals fragments of Uists, or the Mesozoic structures that the underlying turbidite sandstones creep onshore around Durness, in PERHAPS IT'S THE trapped in hollows and crevices passing Sutherland are better places to see the EXCEPTIONAL VARIETY up into continental sandstones, which products of slip and shear. ▼ ~ WWW.GEOLSOC.ORG.UK/GEOSCIENTIST | JUNE 2014 | 17 With folds like this – why go to the Alps? Broadhaven’s structures in the far west of Pembrokeshire
Footprints pertinent to the Clair field, out in the glimpses at the processes that put them Or try Clashach Cove on the Moray coast Atlantic, west of Shetland. together. It’s about form and structure – - perhaps best known for its rather Britain has dozens, perhaps hundreds, be it sedimentary, igneous or tectonic spectacular dune sandstones and the of important sites for the history of in origin. early reptilian tracks, uncovered by geology. The key places are listed in the quarrying on the cliff-top. These dune great Geoconservation Review. But for Moine sandstones are excellent outcrop me, few qualify as great outcrops. So what makes UK and Ireland’s analogues, perhaps the best in Britain, for Away from Siccar Point’s storm-swept outcrops so great? Certainly there are showing non-geologists what a crags, other examples of unconformities some stunning large outcrops and conventional hydrocarbon reservoir can described by Hutton have fallen beneath geological landscapes, from the inner look like. But the normal fault and its vegetation, left to rot. Likewise it is architecture of the Tertiary volcanic associated deformation bands, perhaps hard to be inspired by a pile of grey, centres and their lavas on Skye to the only bettered by examples in Utah, hint at lichen-covered slate hidden under a mountainsides of structures in the Moine the complexities of exploiting oil and gas thicket of brambles - even if it once Thrust Belt. And certainly upland from structurally complex reservoirs. yielded a particularly critical graptolite landscapes and coasts tell stories of Structural geologists now use the site to the diligence of a 19th Century Quaternary climate change and to discuss with reservoir engineers about natural scientist. glaciation. Yet these can all be upstaged how these features and their impact on Perhaps as a community we have by global examples. It’s not their size – it permeability structure in the subsurface tended to tell our outcrop stories is their human scale that makes British might be predicted. Gazing across the through stratigraphy, rather than Earth outcrops so special. They can be Moray Firth to the platforms and wind processes. By all means keep the classic appreciated immediately and accessibly - turbines of the Beatrice field give palaeo-biological and stratigraphic sites as if laid out in a gallery. They serve to such discussions special relevance. protected – especially from collectors. inspire and educate current and future Likewise the relationships and fracture For me, great outcrops are those that geoscientists. And the really great patterns in the Old Red Sandstone and its have great architecture – show the exhibits tend to lie along our coast. basement at Portskerra have inspired relationships between rock units and British coastal geology is second to discussions of subsurface geology give our imaginations some tantalising none, from the huge sea cliffs and remote ~ beaches of the Scottish islands to the popular tourist beaches of SW Wales and SW England. For me, these are the BRITISH COASTAL GEOLOGY IS SECOND TO NONE, FROM outcrops that define the quality of our geosites. It’s perhaps no coincidence that THE HUGE SEA CLIFFS AND REMOTE BEACHES OF THE SCOTTISH the UK geology’s two totemic World ISLANDS TO THE POPULAR TOURIST BEACHES OF SW WALES Heritage Sites, the Giant’s Causeway and ~ the Jurassic Coast, are both beside the sea. 18 | JUNE 2014 | WWW.GEOLSOC.ORG.UK/GEOSCIENTIST Achmelvich - Late Archaean gneisses in the Lewisian at Achmelvich, a window into the formation (and deformation) of the continental crust
Neist - The exhumed igneous complexes in the Hebrides have been a proving ground for models of volcanic and subvolcanic processes
With Scotland’s Land Reform Act and the opening of the Welsh Coast Path in 2012, many of these great locations can be accessed - tide, surf and the occasional steep scramble permitting. You would Adventures in the think that with the Marine and Coastal middle crust - syn-tectonic Areas Act (2009), England would be granitic following suit, delivering access to the pegmatites in sheared Moine rest of the shoreline. But implementation metasediments has been painfully slow, hampered by at the remote some commercial lobby groups. Even beach of Torrisdale, north with improved access rights, some of our Sutherland outcrops are threatened by coastal defence schemes, exacerbated by last winter’s storms. So we cannot take our outcrop heritage for granted – and we certainly should celebrate its diversity and importance, not just for the history of our science but for its continued use as a training resource for future geoscientists, and a showcase for inspiring others to understand Earth processes. u
* Rob Butler is Professor of Tectonics at the University of Aberdeen and chair of the Society’s Geoconservation Committee
Debating the ➤ EDITOR’S NOTE relationships To see the list as it builds and to contribute between a geosite, visit www.geolsoc.org.uk and deformation click on the link to the Society Blog, top and intrusion in the Moine at right. All submitted geosites must be Portvasgo, within the UK and Ireland. Sutherland
WWW.GEOLSOC.ORG.UK/GEOSCIENTIST | JUNE 2014 | 19
Geoscientist welcomes readers’ letters. These are published as promptly as possible in Geoscientist Online and a selection READERS’ printed each month. Please submit your letter (300 words or fewer, by email only please) to [email protected]. LETTERS Letters will be edited. For references cited in these letters, please see the full versions at www.geolsoc.org.uk/letters Reality wins Geologists – seeing the world at other people’s expense for 200 years Sir, Whether or not fieldwork works as bait, it remains a necessity. Experience of the real Earth, by reading rocks and by being subjected to its processes now and in person, are essential for any thinking geoscientist and paramount. If a graduate wants somewhere 'warm and dry' then the local supermarket is but a few steps away. Geoscientists need to be fit, capable and able to climb mountains, carry loads and be good sailors if they are to truly understand the planet. They must experience planet Earth in all its glory. Of course scientists must keep up to date with technology and industry, but Selling geology - another way getting to grips with reality early on in Sir, Having read the discussion on ‘selling’ geology to prospective university students your career should still be seen as our (Geoscientist 24.3 April 2014). Can I offer this as an outline sales pitch that other people might prime attractor for the most able, lively want to adapt? and creative thinkers leaving school. No other subject touches more bang up-to-date political, economic and social concerns than Would Jonathan Paul conduct intimate relations by remote sensing? geology. Want a long term view of climate change and how, and by how much, CO2 varies in the atmosphere? How about energy supplies and natural resources? What about natural Are his summer holidays spent on resources in the Arctic? Want to have a sensible discussion about shale gas? Concerned about virtual beaches? Does he play tennis relationships with Islamic countries? The answer to all these questions is - ask a geologist. with a Wii? If he answers 'no' then real Geology is an observational rather than experimental science, which makes it appealing to experience wins. people (like me) who can’t do maths and prefer to think in images and like to construct a ROY GILL narrative from physical clues. But you can still be a geologist even if you can do maths! Geologists get to think at micron to global scale and at scales ranging from minutes to billions of years, very few professions need a such a perspective. You can do geology up a mountain, As sixth formers, the down a mine, in a quarry, down a microscope, in a laboratory, in a library or on a computer, practically anywhere in fact. You may be the best accountant in the world but then you will never roaring consensus is have the chance to discover something new to science every day you go to work. (And you get to do work outdoors in beautiful countryside - and even on tropical beaches, - fieldwork rocks! from time to time, and always at someone else’s expense too.) PETER GUTTERIDGE We have embraced the cliché and pulled on our waterproofs, Fieldwork forever Every year I take my second year class to the jumped into the mud Sir, Having read the article 'Adapt or Die' by Isle of Arran. Yes, there were looks of outright Jonathan Paul, one of my AS classes hatred when I first mentioned the idea. But, give and puddles, and if it suggested that we rise up as one to defend the my second year students any time to talk about role of fieldwork. the week-long field school and words such as is raining sideways, As sixth formers, the roaring consensus is - 'awesome', 'engaging', 'fantastic', and 'life- even better. We do fieldwork rocks! We have embraced the cliché changing' are bandied around with ease. and pulled on our waterproofs, jumped into the Not all our sixth formers are couch potatoes, not shy away from mud and puddles, and if it is raining sideways, or think that geology is now the domain of even better. We do not shy away from this computer analysts. Let us not suggest however this 'manual labour' 'manual labour' and Clare from my A2 geology that academics and industrialists do not need WORCESTER 6TH FORM class would like to point out that the 10kg similar skills. In colleges across the country weightlifting exercise she undertook on A level geology includes students with a wide COLLEGE GEOLOGISTS Penarth beach last February was well worth it - range of skills and abilities. Not all of them love not only did she give her quads a workout, but fieldwork, but most thrive on it. I have a PhD, ➤ Erratum: In May’s issue (p21) we the giant ripple marks now enjoy pride of place work in industry (in my spare time) and teach. erroneously suggested that the in her bedroom. The consensus in this college is simple - author of the letter ‘Off the rails’ My AS students, washed out from their Jonathan can keep his books and comfy sofa. was Hugh Torrens. We are happy Penarth experience this year, are ridiculously We will all be half way up a mountain, measuring to acknowledge that its true author enthusiastic about climbing the hills around strike and dip! was Ian Harrison, and apologise to Martley, Worcestershire, attempting to find DAN BOATRIGHT & WORCESTER 6TH all concerned. Editor trilobites and other exciting marine dwellers. FORM COLLEGE GEOLOGISTS
WWW.GEOLSOC.ORG.UK/GEOSCIENTIST | JUNE 2014 | 21 have no Internet access? CALL THE [Library Bookshop 0207 432 0999 for] BOOKS & ARTS advice and to purchase publications
Island on Fire further reading lists will recommend it literature is impressive and more than to an academic audience, who also will matched by his knowledge of world In 1783 a section of welcome the way it broadens to look at history during this horrific episode of south west Iceland split global volcanic eruptions generally. catastrophic global climate change. open. Huge volumes However while lay readers will end it Through the mass of information he has of lava and ash spewed better informed, they may, as I was, assimilated, he skilfully weaves a tale full out along a wall of fire be a little surprised that they were not of human and cultural interest, drawing - the Laki Fissure better entertained. in a “forgotten” 1818–16 Irish potato Eruption. It lasted into famine and Monticello, the Virginia 1783, causing famine Reviewed by Ted Nield estate where Thomas Jefferson’s dream of and death in Iceland the New World as an Arcadian and beyond. Crops ISLAND ON FIRE – THE EXTRAORDINARY STORY agricultural idyll fell apart during the failed all over northern Europe and its OF LAKI, THE VOLCANO THAT TURNED “Tambora period”. climatic repercussions may even have EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY EUROPE DARK Also making an appearance is John helped precipitate the French Revolution. ALEXANDRA WITZE & JEFF KANIPE, 2013. Published Barrow. This scheming second secretary by Profile Books. ISBN 978-1781250044 Hbk. Similar eruptions are bound to occur List price: £12.99 to the British Admiralty successfully again. How would we cope? This is the petitioned his employers to resume the question this book’s two science-writer quest for a North West Passage. This he authors set out to examine. The answer is did, with support from naturalist Joseph not cheerful. Banks at the Royal Society, on the basis of Ask a member of the public to name whaler William Scoresby’s reports of any historic eruption, and you will get Tambora finding ice-free waters off northern ‘Krakatoa’ and for another year or two, Tambora’s Canada in 1817. With Napoleon defeated, one with the already forgotten name that stupendous 1815 Navy men needed to be kept busy, and stopped flights in 2010 - Eyjafjallajökull, eruption can hardly this provided another compelling reason news peg for this book. However it is one be oversold. for renewed exploration. Many Navy of the authors’ more surprising assertions The author, a men, Rear Admiral John Franklin being that Laki is ‘forgotten’. Actually, professor of English the best known, were sent to their deaths commented on by great contemporaries, at the University of in the following decades. Tambora’s far- documented in detail by local eyewitness Illinois, broadens our flung climatic effects having waned, the Jòn Steingrímsson, perpetuated in Earth understanding of this ice had returned with a vengeance to science curricula, rarely omitted from event beyond the destroy them all. popular volcanology books, Laki is a lot well-rehearsed ‘year without a summer’ This book is much more than just a less forgotten than most. clichés, and all those oft-parroted stories piece of brilliant popular science. The book reads like a set of excellent of Mary Shelley and Lord Byron gloomily Drawing together a world of data relating lecture notes, detail omitted for the sake penning Frankenstein and Darkness in the to this epoch-changing eruption, Wood of brevity (and to give students eruption’s aftermath while staying at has made a major contribution to something to look up in the library). history’s most famous holiday let, the volcanology, climatology and cultural Difficult science is rather glossed over. Villa Diodati near Lake Geneva. history, in a writer’s quest that was Areas of controversy (most interesting to Tambora’s eruption completely clearly driven by a deep personal passion the general public) are sadly ignored devastated the island of Sumbawa in and conviction. while history comes perilously close to Indonesia, and led to a miserable decade the ‘cardboard’ that Steven Jay Gould so of adverse weather that spread starvation Reviewed by Ted Nield abominated. Scholarly accounts are and disease across North America, name-checked throughout and well Europe, India and China — notably TAMBORA – THE ERUPTION THAT CHANGED referenced, which will please students Yunnan Province, where successive crop THE WORLD and academics. failures turned a rice bowl into an opium- GILLEN D’ARCY WOOD, Princeton University Press, 2014. ISBN: 9781400851409. 312pp. What of human interest? The story of growing state. List price: £19.95. Laki hardly lacks harrowing tales - death The author’s command of the scientific by starvation, asphyxia, fluorosis - described by Pastor Steingrímsson (the miracle worker whose ‘fire mass’ Foram finale appeared. Drs Philip Copestake, FGS and apparently halted the lava, and to science, Book in brief reviewed by Alan Lord Ben Johnson have authored the Laki’s great chronicler). His career is The Llanbedr (Mochras Farm) Borehole monumental 'Lower Jurassic Foraminifera perhaps even more compelling raw (1967-69) penetrated and cored the longest from the Llanbedr (Mochras Farm) material for a writer than Iceland’s Lower Jurassic sequence onshore in Britain Borehole, North Wales, UK' Monograph of volcanoes; but it is recounted here in with an essentially complete and expanded the Palaeontographical Society, 167: 1-403 surprisingly neutral tones, crammed into section. Over the years most but not all + 21 plates. For the non-specialist the a short chapter. The ‘completist’ urge to biostratigraphically important fossil groups opening introduction on the NW European mention everything has won out over have been published, and now the the final onshore and offshore geological context is creative storytelling. Once again, major group, the foraminifera, has a helpful read. students may be grateful for this. ➤ Island on Fire is an excellent COPESTAKE, P & JOHNSON, B 2014: Lower Jurassic Foraminifera from the Llanbedr (Mochras Farm) Borehole, North Wales, UK. Monograph of the Palaeontographical Society, London: 1-403, pls 1-21. (Publ. 641, v167, 2013). undergraduate reader, and its notes and
22 | JUNE 2014 | WWW.GEOLSOC.ORG.UK/GEOSCIENTIST Would you like to receive a free book and write a review? Available titles are listed online, of which a small selection is shown below. Contact the editor for further information [email protected]
Returning Carbon Again, the discussion is honest, lucid geologist James Henry with identifying and engaging. the productive potential of the Barnett to Nature The book is beautifully illustrated in shale but does not include the paper in the colour throughout, though Elsevier could bibliography (below). The book shows In this slim, dense, have made put a little more effort into every sign of being written in haste and is yet highly readable proof-reading, and putting the title on poorly edited. It contains extensive volume, BGS the spine might have been useful. dialogue, much of which, if not made up, Director of Science But these quibbles are minor: the book must be hearsay at best. The book and Technology is a tour de force and I recommend it concludes with a brief ‘Afterword’ that Mike Stephenson without hesitation. dismisses the environmental opposition sets out the whole to fracking. landscape of coal Reviewed by Paul L Younger These criticisms should not detract use, climate change from the reader wanting an exciting and CCS with great account of the shale gas revolution. RETURNING CARBON TO NATURE: COAL, clarity. The account benefits greatly from CARBON CAPTURE AND STORAGE This is not a book to read for a careful the ‘long view’ which geology affords. MICHAEL STEPHENSON, Elsevier, 2013, 143pp, ISBN study of the renaissance of the US shale The first chapter, ‘Of Hockey Sticks and 978-0-12-407671-6.List price: £30.99 gas (and oil) industry. It is perfect www.elsevier.com Coal’, sets out the central dilemma: however, in tone and length, for a flight reconciling the increasingly pressing need between London and Dallas-Fort Worth. to address climate change with the ongoing centrality of coal to economic Reviewed by Dick Selley development in the world’s most populous countries. It is no good Reference: Henry, J.D., 1982, Stratigraphy of the Barnett The Frackers Shale (Mississippian) and associated reefs in the northern wringing our hands and wishing it were Fort Worth Basin, in Martin, C.A., ed., Petroleum geology otherwise: “A CO2 emissions strategy for The book tells the story of the Fort Worth Basin and Bend Arch area: Dallas these countries therefore relies on an of the shale gas Geological Society, Dallas, Texas, p157-177. abatement method that is consistent revolution, tracing the with long-term coal use, or coal use as renaissance of an old- THE FRACKERS a bridge to renewables. Such an established GREGORY ZUCKERMAN, Portfolio Penguin. London abatement method could be carbon Appalachian cottage (2013) 404pp. ISBN 978-0-670-92367-0 capture and storage”. industry into the boom List price: £14.99 www.penguin.com The second chapter takes a brief pause in shale gas and oil from present-day controversies to offer an brought about by the absorbing update on the scientific combination of BOOKS Available for review understanding of coal formation and its hydraulic fracturing and horizontal consequences for palaeoclimate. drilling. Gregory Zuckerman, who writes Please contact [email protected] if you would Stephenson highlights how the swift- for the Wall Street Journal, describes the like to supply a review. You will be invited to keep the growing nature of the main Carboniferous birth of artificial fracturing using review copy. See a full up-to-date list at swamp plants, coupled with rapid gunpowder (a technique developed by www.geolsoc.org.uk/reviews subsidence and burial of the peats, led John Wilkes Booth - who later more to a “negative greenhouse” effect famously applied it to Abraham Lincoln). u NEW! Seismic Reflections of Rock Properties by attested by δ13C signatures in sedimentary The tale continues with the advent of gel- Dvorkin, J., Gutierrez, M A & Grana D. Cambridge organic matter. fracks and then how, almost by accident, UP.,324pp, hbk The account then returns to the present by diluting the gel, slick-water fracks u NEW! Geology of Gem Deposits (2nd edn.) by day, with overviews of carbon capture finally enabled gas to be produced at Groat, Lee a (Ed.). Mineralogical Ass. Canada, Short technology and its scope for deployment economic flow-rates. Parallel with this Course Series Vol 44. 405pp, sbk. in distinct industrial clusters in the UK tale the book describes the evolution of u NEW! Antarctica and Supercontinent Evolution by and elsewhere (Chapter 3), and the horizontal drilling by Sun Oil and its Harley S L et al (Eds). Published by The Geological practicalities of creating deep spinoff Oryx. Society SP 383 2013 237pp (hbk) underground carbon stores (Chapter 4). The science and technology is u NEW! Isotopic Studies in Cretaceous Research by In addressing the key question “Is there presented higgledy piggledy, with geo- Bojar A-v et al. (Eds) Published by The Geological enough storage space, then?” Stephenson boobs to make geologists wince. But what Society 2013 SP 382 221pp (hbk) examines CCS prospects in the crux really makes it come alive are the u NEW! Remote Sensing of Volcanoes and Volcanic countries of India and China. characters - like the late George Mitchell. Processes: Integration Observation & Modelling Clearly those prospects need much He drilled 200 wells in the ‘tombstone’ by Pyle D M et al., (Eds). Published by The Geological more research, but by this account there rock of the Barnett shale before his Society SP 380 2013 360pp (hbk) are certainly grounds for cautious company perfected the drilling/fracturing u Orogenic Andesites and Crustal Growth by optimism. The fifth chapter (“Will it combo that made the tombstone yield up Gomez-Tuena A et al., (Eds) Published by The leak?”) addresses the bête noir of the new its gas. Many others, winners and losers, Geological Society SP 385 2014 414pp (hbk) generation of geologically-challenged litter pages along the way in colourful u Thick Skin Dominated Orogens - from initial opponents of all subsurface engineering, descriptions of physical characteristics, inversion to full accretion by Mencok, Mora & while the final chapter (“Accounting sporting and business prowess, and Cosgrove (eds)., 2013 Geological Society Special for carbon”) considers the economics sexual proclivities. Publication 377 482pp (hbk) and politics of making CCS happen. Zuckerman credits George Mitchell’s
WWW.GEOLSOC.ORG.UK/GEOSCIENTIST | JUNE 2014 | 23 PEOPLE NEWS CAROUSEL IN MEMORIAM WWW.GEOLSOC.ORG.UK/OBITUARIES All Fellows of the Society are entitled to entries in this column. Please email [email protected], THE SOCIETY NOTES WITH SADNESS THE PASSING OF: quoting your Fellowship number. Baker, John Macrae Christian Wellstood* Hull, John Crook, John P u Phil Gibbard In the interests of recording its Fellows' work for posterity, the Society publishes Phil Gibbard has been awarded the André obituaries online, and in Geoscientist. The most recent additions to the list are shown Dumont Medal by Geologica Belgica, the in bold. Fellows for whom no obituarist has yet been commissioned are marked with Belgian national geological society. The medal an asterisk (*). The symbol § indicates that biographical material has been lodged with was presented in Ghent on 1 April 2014, in the Society. recognition of Professor Gibbard’s If you would like to contribute an obituary, please email ted.nield@geolsoc. contribution to Quaternary Geology. org.uk to be commissioned. You can read the guidance for authors at www.geolsoc.org.uk/obituaries. To save yourself unnecessary work, please do not u Ian Harper write anything until you have received a commissioning letter. Ian Harper has been appointed by ENVIRON Deceased Fellows for whom no obituary is forthcoming have their names and dates to join its Birmingham office, as Principal recorded in a Roll of Honour at www.geolsoc.org.uk/obituaries. Consultant. Ian’s role will be to direct and deliver contaminated land and due diligence projects, in the UK and abroad. He will also further develop ENVIRON’s expertise in probabilistic liability modelling, linking up with key practitioners across the international business.
William Tannat Edgeworth David, the ‘Knight in the Professor Graham Evans Old Brown Hat’
Mrs Flora Patten has written in with an unusual request. She is compiling a collection of messages and memories about her father, Professor Graham Evans, to give to him as a present to celebrate his forthcoming 80th birthday. She is keen to hear from anyone who feels they may have something to contribute. E: [email protected] Ted Nield
Rose to the occasion Image: http://www.awm.gov.au
In the year during which the Edgeworth David (1858-1934), world is marking the centenary of was to set sail in had been the start of the First World War, delayed and seizing the the Library is restaging the lecture opportunity, he was persuaded given by Lt Col Tannatt by the Society’s officers to give Edgeworth David on 26 February an impromptu account of his 1919, before his return to experiences of the ‘application of a commissioned major to the the Society 1953-1955). Australia to be officially geological knowledge to the War new mining battalion in October The re-staged lecture will be demobilised. on the Western Front’. 1915. Travelling to France and delivered by Colonel Edward P F Until recently the contents of His full career had already seen the Western Front in February Rose, this year’s Sue Tyler the lecture, ‘Geology at the David study under John Ruskin 1916 he provided invaluable Friedman medallist, in the Upper Western Front’, were unknown. and Joseph Prestwich in the advice to troops on groundwater Library on Thursday 10 July 2014 Only the title appears in the 1870s, setting up the new School and the positioning and design of at 1830. As was the custom for ‘Proceedings’, and it was thought of Mines at the University of trenches and tunnels. Ordinary Meetings during the that the War Office had denied Sydney in the 1890s and First World War, tea and non- permission for it to be published. accompanying Ernest Shackleton Not well anachronistic biscuits will be However a few months ago, the to the magnetic South pole in Despite seriously injuring himself served at 1800. handwritten notes to David’s 1907-09. Four years previously, falling 24 metres down a well in lecture were rediscovered tucked David had convinced the October 1916, David continued If you would like to attend, into a box in the Library. Australian government to his war service as geologist to ➤ spaces are limited to 40 establish a corps of geologists the British Expeditionary Force, people. Tickets cost £5. South pole and miners for military use in the collaborating with his British Please contact The troopship on which the First World War, and at the counterpart William Bernard [email protected] extraordinary Tannatt William mature age of 57, he enlisted as Robinson King (later President of
24 | JUNE 2014 | WWW.GEOLSOC.ORG.UK/GEOSCIENTIST GEOSCIENTIST PEOPLE NEWS
Geoscientists in the news and on the move in the UK, Europe and worldwide
DISTANT THUNDER Guess who's coming to dinner?
Emma Darwin - making small talk with great men whom even Commons By Thomas Phillips (1770 - 1845) via Wikimedia her husband found hard going Image from Wikimedia Commons Image from Wikimedia
Adam Sedgwick William Henry Fitton By George Richmond (1809-1896) via Wikimedia Commons By George Richmond (1809-1896) via Wikimedia
and Darwin's mentor at comfort, and Mrs Lyell has a Cambridge, who encouraged very constant supply of talk ... Darwin to join the Beagle Charles [Darwin] was dreadfully expedition] come on Monday, exhausted when it was over, and and Charles is much more is only as well as can be alarmed at the thought of them expected today ... He is rather than I am. On Monday the Lyells ashamed of himself for finding dine with us... his dear friends such a burden." But for her part, Emma seems Learned party to have taken the evening in her And on Tuesday 2 April 1839, stride. The food, at least, she she provides a full report of how reveals was very good! it all went: ... I must tell you how our learned party went off ➤ Acknowledgement Sources for this vignette Geologist and science discoveries to take place is yesterday. Mr and Mrs Henslow hinted at only in posthumously came at four o'clock and she, include: Emma Darwin A writer Nina Morgan* published ‘Lives and Letters’, like a discreet woman, went up Century of Family Letters 1792- 1896, edited by her daughter sympathises with the but not in scientific publications to her room till dinner. The rest Henrietta Litchfield, John geological wives of the time. of the company consisted of Mr Murray, 1915; Anne Phillips and and Mrs Lyell and Leonora the Mystery of the Malverns by The important intellectual role Socially inept Horner [Mrs Lyell's sister], Dr Nina Morgan, Geoscientist, played by women in geology In letters written on 29 March Fitton and [botanist] Mr Robert Vol.16, No 7, July 2006, pp. 6 – during the 19th Century is now and 2 April 1839 to her sister Brown (1773-1858). We had 7 and 12-15; entries for John increasingly celebrated. But Elizabeth Wedgwood, Emma some time to wait before dinner Henslow and Charles Lyell in often these achievements went Darwin, then just two months for Dr Fitton, which is always Wikipedia and the Dictionary of unrecognised at the time. into her marriage to the awful, and, in my opinion, Mr National Biography. The credit given by the geologist and biologist Charles Lyell is enough to flatten a party, ➤ If the past is the key to your geologist and palaeontologist Darwin (1809-1882) reveals the as he never speaks above his present interests, why not join John Phillips (1800-1873) to his difficulties of dealing with socially breath, so that everybody keeps the History of Geology Group sister Anne in his 1848 inept scientists, including lowering their tone to his... Mr (HOGG). For more information Geological Survey Memoir on geologists, Adam Sedgwick Brown, whom Humboldt calls and to read the latest HOGG the Malverns, highlighting her (1785-18730), Charles Lyell "the glory of Great Britain," looks Newsletter, visit the HOGG discovery of a crucial piece of (1797-1875) and WH Fitton so shy, as if he longed to shrink website at: www.historyof geologygroup.co.uk, where evidence about the origin of the (1780-1858). into himself and disappear you'll also find abstracts for the Hills is a rare example of credit On 29 March 1839, she entirely; however talks and posters presented at being given where it was due. writes: ...On Thursday Mr notwithstanding those two dead the Conference on Geological More usually, the behind-the- Sedgwick called and was very weights, viz., the greatest Collectors and Collecting, April scenes social and diplomatic pleasant; there is something botanist and the greatest 2011 available free to download skills of loyal wives, sisters and remarkably fresh and odd about geologist in Europe, we did very as a pdf file. daughters in bringing together him. The Henslows [The Rev. well and had no pauses. Mrs scientists and providing the John Stevens Henslow (1796- Henslow has a good, loud, *Nina Morgan geologist and favourable environment for 1861), botanist and geologist sharp voice which was a great writer based in Oxford
WWW.GEOLSOC.ORG.UK/GEOSCIENTIST | JUNE 2014 | 25 GEOSCIENTIST OBITUARY
OBITUARY EDWARD IRVING 1927-2014
Doyen of palaeomagnetism who discovered early ed Irving was the geophysical evidence for continental drift a full decade before evidence doyen of land-based of sea-floor spreading and palaeomagnetism transform fault motions throughout the clinched the argument. In the T second half of the meantime he brought the 20th Century. By the early comparison of geological and 1960s he convinced sceptics palaeomagnetic data to the that continental drift had forefront of the debate in a occurred. His postgraduate series of papers beginning work in Cambridge (1951- with ‘Palaeomagnetic and 54) on the ‘Torridonian’ palaeoclimatological aspects of NW Scotland was the of polar wandering’ (1956) first study of Precambrian which also reported the first rocks to establish consistent data from the Deccan Traps palaeomagnetic directions pointing to the enormous
strongly divergent from Cenozoic northward drift the present geomagnetic of India.
field, including a Ted Irving was born in coherent stratigraphy of Colne, Lancashire, on 27 May polarity ~ reversals. 1927, educated at Colne Grammar School and, after military service, graduated in TED SEEMED geology from Cambridge QUITE SURPRISED AT (1951). He married Sheila (née Irwin) in 1957. They had THE HIGH REGARD two daughters and identical AND AFFECTION IN twin boys who arrived as Ted was completing his WHICH HE WAS SO monumental WIDELY HELD Nor was the reality of been awarded an ScD ‘Paleomagnetism and its geomagnetic polarity (Cambridge 1965), elected Application to Geological and ~ reversals proven, or even Fellow of the Royal Society Geophysical Problems’ Discontinuity widely accepted. The results (1979) and of the American (Wiley, 1964), which still He also discovered a were published in a landmark Geophysical Union (1976). makes salutary reading today. previously unrecognised issue of Philosophical In 2005, Irving was discontinuity in the lower Transactions of the Royal Bullard awarded the Wollaston Medal part of the sequence – later Society A in 1957. From Cambridge, Irving was of the Geological Society. At recognised geologically as a Astonishingly, Irving’s recruited by J C Jaeger to the dinner in the Council Room major unconformity PhD thesis was failed. It is fledgling Australian National following that award, Ted between the Torridon Group thought his supervisor, Keith University’s Department of seemed quite surprised at the and the Stoer Group Runcorn, and the internal Geophysics where he swiftly high regard and affection in beneath. He wrote: “In 1951 examiner and head of determined an apparent which he was so widely held. it was not known if Earth department (Ben Browne) polar wander path from Ted Irving died of cancer had a magnetic field as far were in conflict. The Australian Phanerozoic in Saanichton, British back as the Precambrian or unorthodox evidence may rocks. This diverged wildly Columbia, Canada, on 25 even whether rocks could have been unacceptable to his from both the British path February 2014. retain a memory of the external, John Hemingway, and one from North America geomagnetic field for that who felt his geological derived by Runcorn. For long. Demagnetisation fiefdom intruded upon. many, including Sir Edward ➤ By Jim Briden. A longer techniques had not yet been Later, Irving would simply Bullard, this evidence was version of this obituary is developed; we had only say that his thesis had been the decisive proof of available online. field and consistency tests.” ‘skimpy’. But by then he had continental drift. It would be
HELP YOUR OBITUARIST The Society operates a scheme for Fellows to deposit biographical material. The object is to assist obituarists by providing contacts, dates and other information, and thus ensure that Fellows’ lives are accorded appropriate and accurate commemoration. Please send your CV and a photograph to Ted Nield at the Society.
26 | JUNE 2014 | WWW.GEOLSOC.ORG.UK/GEOSCIENTIST GEOSCIENTIST CALENDAR Can’t find your meeting? VISIT www.geolsoc.org.uk/listings] [full, accurate, up-to-date
ENDORSED TRAINING/CPD COURSE DATE VENUE AND DETAILS
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DIARY OF MEETINGS JUNE 2013 MEETING DATE VENUE AND DETAILS
President’s Day, AGM, Awards Ceremony 4 June Burlington House. AGM begins at 11.00am. There is a charge for buffet lunch with Award Winners – GSL see website and Geoscientists passim.
Hydrogeology & WASH: What can hydrogeologists contribute to safe 5 June Burlington House 0930-1830, incl. Drinks reception. Charges apply, with discounts. See website. water supply and poverty reduction? HWB UK, IAH, Hydrogeology Group Contact: Kirsty Upton E: [email protected]
Bromate Pollution in Hertfordshire 5 June Affinity Water, Tamblin Way, Hatfield Business Park, Hatfield, AL10 9EZ, 1800 for 1830. Speaker: - Rob Sage HC North Regional (Affinity Water). Contact E: [email protected]
Big, bad and bizarre, the devil frog from the Late Cretaceous of 6 June Burlington House. Time: 1730 for 1800. Speaker: Susan Evans. Contact E: [email protected] Madagascar. GA
Groundwater Management in Construction 11 June Burlington House. 0930-1830, incl. Drinks reception. Charges and discouts – see website for details and EGGS. Hydrogeology Group registration form. Contact (EGGS) Darren Page E: [email protected]
Codes and Standards for the Public Reporting of Exploration Results, 11 June Burlington House, 0900. Course. Charges apply. Organised by: Amey. Instructor: Edmund Sides, Ph.D., Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves P.Geo., EurGeol. See website. Contact: [email protected]
Be a geo-detective at Boxgrove Priory. Rockwatch (members only) 14 June Venue: Boxgrove Priory, W Sussex. Time: 1100-1800. E: Geraldine Marshall [email protected]
Field Meeting: Geological Gems of The South Downs 14-15 Field Meeting. Venue not available at time of writing. See Website. Leader: Rory Mortimore. GA June Contact: Sarah Stafford E: [email protected]
Geology in Space: Meteorites and Cosmic Dust 18 June A Society London Lecture. Speaker: Matt Genge (Imperial College). Entry free, by ballot only. Please see GSL advertisement on p.6
Dealing with radioactive waste. The Geological Disposal option 18 June Brewery Tap, Leeds. Speaker: James Lawrence (NDA). Evening meeting. Time not available at time of Yorkshire Regional writing. Further information E: [email protected]
Fracking & Shale Gas Production 18 June NOC So’ton. Speaker: Dr Juerg Matter. Time not available at time of writing. Contact: Wendy Fergusson Solent Regional E: [email protected]
The Role of Geologists in World War I (prov.) 19 June BGS, Keyworth. Time: 1830 for 1900. Speaker: Andrew Morrison (BGS). Contact: Helen Burke West Midlands Regional E: [email protected]
Communicating Contested Geoscience: new strategies for public 20 June Burlington House. A one-day conference. Charges and discounts apply. Please see website for details and engagement. GSL registration. Convener: Prof. Iain Stewart. E: [email protected]
Geometry and Growth of Normal Faults 23-25 Burlington House. Conference with field trip. Charges and discounts. Please see website for details and GSL June registration. Contact Laura Griffiths E: [email protected]
ppv@10: Celebrating the 10th Anniversary of Post-perovskite 25-27 University of Bristol School of Earth Sciences. Please see bebsite for details and registration. University of Bristol June Contact organising committee E: [email protected]
Annual Dinner 26 June Natural History Museum. Contact Laura Griffiths E: [email protected] Petroleum Group Leader: Richard Scrivener. See website for details. Contact Sarah Stafford E: [email protected]
WWW.GEOLSOC.ORG.UK/GEOSCIENTIST | JUNE 2014 | 27 GEOSCIENTIST OBITUARY
OBITUARY RICHARD ALDRIDGE 1945 - 2014
World authority on conodont palaeobiology, ichard John Silurian stratigraphy and fossil lagerstätten professional duties included (‘Dick’) Aldridge being Chair of the Conodont died 4 February Group of the British 2014, aged 68. He Micropalaeontological Society R undertook his BSc (as was), President of the at the University of Geology Section of the British Southampton where he Association, serving on the completed a PhD on the Councils of The Geological early Silurian conodonts of Society and The the UK under the Palaeontographical supervision of Ronald Society and, for the Austin. He moved to Palaeontological Association, lecturing positions at UCL as Marketing~ Manager. and then Nottingham University, finally moving in 1989 to the University of DICK TOOK HIS Leicester where he remained ROLE IN SUPPORTING until retirement (2011). Dick’s research was initially THE CAREERS OF focused on exploiting OTHERS SERIOUSLY conodonts to unravel the ~ Silurian stratigraphy of the Dick also served as the UK and beyond, before a Chairman/President of most lucky break served to define of the major professional his career. societies in palaeontology, but seemed happiest in a tutorial, Conodonts lecture hall, lab or fieldtrip, Conodonts are known sharing his knowledge but almost wholly from their challenging his students to tooth-like ‘elements’ of an think for themselves. Dick otherwise enigmatic vertebrate evolution. NERC became a father figure to organism, guessing whose In parallel with this work, Dick took his role in those of us lucky enough to biological affinity was the Dick continued his taxonomic supporting the careers of become his responsibility. ultimate palaeontological studies; employed conodonts others seriously, serving two None will forget long journeys parlour-game. As the UK’s to unravel the geothermal terms as Head of Department, shared with Dick, that passed foremost conodontologist, history of the Caledonides; as a Senator, and Chair of invariably with games of Dick was called upon to elucidated (with David Siveter) Physical Sciences, all at ‘conodont genera A-Z’ and pronounce on the discovery the micropalaeontology of Leicester University. He also music trivia, interspersed with of conodont soft tissue Silurian stratotypes and, with served on the Review Panel of gentle teasing. remains by Euan Clarkson Lennart Jeppsson, established a the Natural Environment He leaves behind a large and Derek Briggs in the provocative model of Research Council, as a academic family in addition to Lower Carboniferous alternating ocean-climate state Specialist Adviser for his wife Alison, their children limestones of Edinburgh’s in the Silurian world. RAE2001 and RAE2008. James, David and Rebecca, Granton foreshore. So began However, conodont He served on Royal Society their partners and his seven a renaissance in conodont palaeobiology led him to research grant committees, grandchildren, to all of whom palaeobiology that soon, led the Ordovician Soom Shale co-chaired the Third he was devoted. His loss is by Dick, recruited which, with colleagues, International Palaeontological felt keenly by all. generations of researchers. shifted the focus of the last Congress (London, 2010), and Together they transformed decade of his career onto co-wrote the bid to make the ➤ By Philip Donoghue. understanding of the elucidating the faunas and Chengjiang Largerstätte a A longer version of this anatomy of conodonts and fossilization mechanisms of UNESCO World Heritage obituary is available online. their significance in early Konservat-Lagerstätten. Site. Early in his career, Dick’s
HELP YOUR OBITUARIST The Society operates a scheme for Fellows to deposit biographical material. The object is to assist obituarists by providing contacts, dates and other information, and thus ensure that Fellows’ lives are accorded appropriate and accurate commemoration. Please send your CV and a photograph to Ted Nield at the Society.
28 | JUNE 2014 | WWW.GEOLSOC.ORG.UK/GEOSCIENTIST GEOSCIENTIST CROSSWORD
CROSSWORD NO.180 SET BY PLATYPUS WIN A SPECIAL PUBLICATION!
The winner of the April Crossword puzzle prize draw was Bill Walbank of Cranleigh.
All correct solutions will be placed in the draw, and the winner’s name printed in the August 2014 issue. The Editor’s decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into. Closing date - 18 June.
The competition is open to all Fellows, Candidate Fellows and Friends of the Geological Society who are not current Society employees, officers or trustees. This exclusion does not apply to officers of joint associations, specialist or regional groups.
Please return your completed crossword to Burlington House, marking your envelope “Crossword”. Do not enclose any other matter with your solution. Overseas Fellows are encouraged to scan the signed form and email it as a PDF to [email protected] ACROSS DOWN Name ...... 1 Unconformable strata, or cross-cutting 1 Conduit (4) ...... intrusion (10) 2 Ancient continental cores (7) 6 Largest modern megacontinent (4) Membership number ...... 3 Where pore pressure 9 Most powerful recorded earthquake, exceeds hydrostatic Address for correspondence ...... 1960 (7) pressure in the hole (13) ...... 10 Greenockite is this metal's only significant 4 Give, charitably (6) ore, usually associated with sphalerite (7) 5 Pearly lustre (8) ...... 12 Wake region behind a moving object (10) 7 Detectable changes in the ...... 13 Last month, abbreviated Latinly (3) environment of a sensitive organism (7) ...... 15 Drug dealer (6) 8 The point referred to being 16 Most rapid downhill mas wasting (8) ...... conceded (10) 18 Organelle, primary site of protein 11 Chapter one of the Origin Postcode ...... synthesis (8) describes variation under 20 'Third eye' endocrine gland in vertebrate this (13) brain (6) 14 Helically coiled diderm SOLUTIONS APRIL 23 US spooks (1,1,1) bacteria (US spelling) (10) 24 ...as opposed to nationally (10) 17 Mineral-infilled gas bubble ACROSS: (8) Seismicity Draw Emerges Klippen 26 Compiler's spiny cousin and fellow 1 6 9 10 monotreme (7) 19 Arms, not only of the Man (7) 12 Parasitism 13 Ash 15 Caddis 16 Meanders 18 Neonatal 20 Plunge 23 MRI 24 Ideologies 27 Fancy, and rather old-fashioned, 21 Chipped flint nodules once 26 Channel 27 Absolve 28 Late 29 Solipsists fly-boy/girl (7) supposed to be rudimentary artefacts (7) 28 An hairy man, my brother (4) DOWN: 22 Salt containing K (6) 29 Descriptive of a function performed by a 1 Step 2 Iceland 3 Migmatization 4 Casein contrivance rather than the human hand 25 Landscape with severe lack 5 Tektites 7 Replace 8 Winchester (10) of available water (4) 11 Immunologists 14 Economical 17 Waterloo 19 Oxidant 21 Needles 22 Alkali 25 Zeus
WWW.GEOLSOC.ORG.UK/GEOSCIENTIST | JUNE 2014 | 29 GEOSCIENTIST
The new book RECRUITMENT frfromom TTeTedeed Nield
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30 | JUNE 2014 | WWW.GEOLSOC.ORG.UK/GEOSCIENTIST
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