The Geological Formation of Britain (In Our Time)
Melvyn Bragg and guests Richard Corfield, Jane Francis and Sanjeev Gupta discuss the geological formation of Britain.Around 600 million years ago the island that we now call Britain was in two parts, far to the south of the Equator. Scotland and north-western Ireland were part of a continent (Laurentia) that also included what is now North America. To the south-east, near the Antarctic Circle, meanwhile, you would have found southern Ireland, England and Wales. They formed a mini-continent (Avalonia) with what is now Newfoundland.Over the course of hundreds of millions of years, as they inched their way north, the two parts came together - first as part of a vast unitary continent (Pangaea), later as a promontory on the edge of Europe, and eventually, as sea levels rose, as an island. The story of how Britain came to be where it is now, in its current shape - from the separation of North America and Europe to the carving out of the English Channel - is still being uncovered today.Richard Corfield is Visiting Senior Resarch Fellow at Oxford University; Jane Francis is Professor of Palaeoclimatology at the University of Leeds; Sanjeev Gupta is a Royal Society-Leverhulme Trust Research Fellow at Imperial College London.
London Lecture: Climate Change and Antarctica November 2016
Antarctica: the enigmatic, romantic, remote white continent. Antarctica lies at the bottom of the world and all waters south of 60°S latitude are designated Antarctic, where no country owns the land and where only scientific and peaceful operations may take place. Unlike the Arctic, where floating sea ice annually melts and refreezes, Antarctica is a solid ice sheet lying on a solid continent. The Antarctic summer is during the northern Hemisphere winter. Antarctica may be remote and isolated, but the dynamics of the three great Antarctic Ice Sheets (East Antarctica, West Antarctica and the Antarctic Peninsula) affect us all. If all the land ice in Antarctica melted, the world’s sea levels would rise by 58 m. The West Antarctic and Antarctic Peninsula ice sheets are currently undergoing rapid change due to changing ocean currents, wind patterns and air temperatures. Dynamic effects in these smaller two ice sheets may result in rapid sea level rise of up to 3.5 m over the next few hundred years.
Speaker:
Bethan is a glacial geologist interested in the interaction between glaciers and climate over multiple timescales. She specialises in ice-sheet and glacier reconstruction in temperate and high latitudes, using a combination of field studies, chronostratigraphical methods (especially cosmogenic nuclide dating), remotely sensed data sets and numerical glacier modelling to quantify ice-sheet and ice-shelf history. She is particularly interested in glacial processes at the ice-bed interface, and uses detailed sedimentological analyses and micromorphology to analyse processes of entrainment, deposition and deformation. Bethan is a lecturer in Physical Geography at Royal Holloway University of London.
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Megaflood: how Britain became an island
Dr Jenny Collier from the Department of Earth Science and Engineering gives a talk showing how a catastrophic megaflood separated Britain from France hundreds of thousands of years ago, changing the course of British history. For more information please visit
Drilling boreholes at the UK Geoenergy Observatories in Glasgow
Hugh Barron and Professor Zoe Shipton talk about drilling the first UK Geoenergy Observatories borehole in Glasgow, and collecting the core material.
Drilling, coring and sampling in Glasgow is all part of the project to realise the UK Geoenergy Observatories. The UK Geoenergy Observatories are being delivered by the BGS for the whole of the UK science community to conduct important research that will improve our knowledge of the underground environment.
The Glasgow observatory will look at the chemistry, physics and biology in and above the flooded mine workings below the east end of the city, looking at how heat of the mine water might be used as a renewable energy source and support decarbonisation of the UK energy systems and towns and cities built on coal across the globe.
For more information see:
#ukgeoenergyobs #glasgow #geoenergy #geology #drilling
In Our Time: S12/06 The Geological Formation of Britain (Oct 22 2009)
Melvyn Bragg and guests Richard Corfield, Jane Francis and Sanjeev Gupta discuss the geological formation of Britain.Around 600 million years ago the island that we now call Britain was in two parts, far to the south of the Equator. Scotland and north-western Ireland were part of a continent (Laurentia) that also included what is now North America. To the south-east, near the Antarctic Circle, meanwhile, you would have found southern Ireland, England and Wales. They formed a mini-continent (Avalonia) with what is now Newfoundland.Over the course of hundreds of millions of years, as they inched their way north, the two parts came together - first as part of a vast unitary continent (Pangaea), later as a promontory on the edge of Europe, and eventually, as sea levels rose, as an island. The story of how Britain came to be where it is now, in its current shape - from the separation of North America and Europe to the carving out of the English Channel - is still being uncovered today.
Richard Corfield is Visiting Senior Resarch Fellow at Oxford University; Jane Francis is Professor of Palaeoclimatology at the University of Leeds; Sanjeev Gupta is a Royal Society-Leverhulme Trust Research Fellow at Imperial College London.
Geoheritage and the UK's most Significant Geological Sites
Britain and Ireland have a unique variety of geology, manifest in spectacular outcrops and diverse landscapes.
Rob Butler (University of Aberdeen) presents the October London Lecture to celebrate the launch of 100 Great Geosites, to coincide with Earth Science Week 2014.
Mud, Mud, Glorious Mud_London Lecture_October 2015
How mud can be used for understanding Earth surface processes and time.
Mud, mud glorious mud…. How glorious is mud as a medium for recording Earth surface process and the passage of time?
The simple answer to this is excellent because of two key factors.
The first factor is that, in general, mud continuously settles out from suspension in quiet water areas such as the deep sea and lakes giving us probably the most continuous stratigraphical record. Secondly the fine-grained and platy nature of mud particles make them an excellent medium for preserving fossils and geochemical signatures by protecting these valuable records of life and changing Earth processes from post depositional changes.
At the same time, the fine-grained nature of mudrocks presents a challenge because they often appear monotonous and unexciting in the field, do not tend to form natural exposures or need to be extracted from the middle of the ocean, tend to lack markers for correlation and can prove challenging to breakdown and analyse. This probably explains why until recent decades they have not received as much detailed attention as other types of sedimentary rock.
Using mudrock successions from different parts of the geological record and particularly the Jurassic, Angela Coe shows how we can: reconstruct sea-level change over time, detect small-scale changes in the global carbon cycle, measure global chemical weathering rates, measure how oxygenated the sea-floor was during periods of extreme global warming and show how global warming influenced life.
In addition she also demonstrates how mudrock successions have been used extensively to construct astronomical timescales. These timescales form the highest resolution and most laterally extensive relative geological timescale that we currently have. In addition they are easily integrated with biostratigraphical, geochemical and palaeomagnetic timescales enabling an integrated approach.
Speaker
Angela Coe
The Open University
Angela L. Coe graduated from the University of Durham in 1986 with an honours degree in Geology and Geophysics, from there she went on to the University of Oxford to work as a research assistant on a British Petroleum funded project that was designed to test out the sequence stratigraphy model; this involved extensive field work as well as running some interesting field trips full of heated scientific debate for both British Petroleum and Exxon staff.
She is a passionate field geologist and teacher and has trained over a dozen PhD students together with many hundreds of Open University graduates. Angela is currently a member of Council of the Geological Society, London, Secretary of the International Subcommission on Jurassic Stratigraphy and a member of the Stratigraphy Commission.
Janet Watson 2018: KEYNOTE: Big Data and the British Geological Survey - Garry Baker
A talk from Garry Baker (British Geological Survey)
Janet Watson Meeting 2018
28 February
Geological Society, Burlington House
Geological Museum, London, England.
This is a part only of the museum. It is a walk around.
People of Science with Brian Cox - Richard Fortey on Charles Lyell
Richard Fortey talks to Brian Cox about pioneering geologist, Charles Lyell, whose work on extending geological time provided credibility to Darwin’s theory of natural selection.
Find out more about Charles Lyell in our Google Arts and Culture exhibit:
With special thanks to the Geological Society of London.
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Geofacets and the Geological Society of London
Geofacets from Elsevier and the Geological Society of London have launched a brand new partnership that revolutionises the integration of cutting-edge, peer-reviewed scientific research into oil and gas exploration. Visit unlockthescience.com
The Soils of London
Professor Burland of Imperial College - the man who saved the Leaning Tower of Pisa - explains the structural geology of London and the condition of soil types more broadly.
Janet Watson 2018: Virtual Glaciers and Glaciated Landscapes
A talk from Derek McDougall (University of Worcester)
Janet Watson Meeting 2018
Wednesday 28 February
Geological Society, Burlington House
Public Lecture 2018_January_Malcolm Brown
What is the role of oil and gas in future energy supplies?
Abstract:
Future forecasts of world energy demands show a growth of 30% by 2035, driven by population growth of 1.5bn people This growth in demand is driven by economic growth in China, India and in other developing countries. One of the biggest growth areas is car travel, predicted to double to 1.8bn cars. Forecasts from different sources suggest fossil fuels may still provide up to 80% of world energy supply in 2040. Others challenge those figures, suggesting the growth of renewables is continually under-estimated. Keeping pace with demand is less of an issue than that of the CO2 associated with it. To stay on course for the Paris Agreement of ‘well below 2 degrees C’ requires a major reduction in fossil fuel use.
In the UK, progress on emission reduction from 1990 to 2015 has been good. Replacement of coal power generation, initially by gas and latterly increased renewables has enabled the UK to lead the G7 nations performance. Unabated coal will be phased out entirely by 2025. Future alternatives include continued growth in wind and solar power, where costs have fallen considerably. Potentially tidal or small modular nuclear reactors are alternatives, though further research is required to prove these are cost competitive. Later targets in 2028-32 are more challenged and it should be remembered that these ‘80% below 1990 emissions’ targets were aimed at a 2 degrees C, not the more ambitious Paris target.
There has been less progress in transportation, which accounts for 24% of emissions (cars, aviation and shipping). Significant increases in electric vehicles (EVs) are expected, but forecasts vary. The UK government has said diesel and petrol cars will be phased out by 2040. Various car manufacturers plan to offer only hybrids much earlier than this and ING predicts Europe’s 290 million car fleet could be ‘all-electric by 2035’. The National Grid has scenarios which vary from 30% EVs to 100% in 2050, with potentially 18GW of additional power needed. This is 30% additional power, on top of today’s peak demand - how will this be generated? BP’s Energy Outlook however, suggests a more modest rise from ~2.5 million EVs worldwide in 2016 to 100 million by 2035, still less than 10% of a much larger car fleet. It’s clear that the introduction of EVs will be slower in markets with less infrastructure and increased efficiency of conventional engines will be key there.
Does this affect UK offshore oil and gas production? In 2015 only 45% of the UK’s gas came from offshore and its’s natural decline through the 2030s probably fits well with the expected move from fossil fuels. The ideal scenario of using existing infrastructure for carbon capture and storage (CCS) however, seems challenged. The government plans to meet the 2050 targets do include however, some greenhouse gas removal technologies or ‘negative emissions’, which are yet to be developed.
As geologists we are well accustomed to thinking about ranges, we are used to dealing with uncertainty. The talk, from a ‘non-expert’ in much of this subject will consider – from this array of predictions, what do we need to believe to accept either high or low scenarios and what are the indicators we may see along the way?
Speaker:
Malcolm Brown, President of the Geological Society
After graduating from Kingston Polytechnic (1976), with a BSc in Geology, Malcolm worked in Libya and Saudi Arabia before completing an MSc in Petroleum Geology at Imperial College (1982). He worked at British Gas / BG Group for over 30 years as it evolved from state owned utility to successful international business and was Executive Vice President, Exploration.
Malcolm became a Fellow in 1982, served on Council between 2009 and 2012 and became a Chartered Geologist in 2013. He took over as President of the Society in 2016.
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London Lecture: Risk and Uncertainty in Exploration for Oil and Gas January 2017
The fundamental requirements for the entrapment of oil and gas are the presence of a mature source rock, migration of those hydrocarbons from there into a trap, which contains an effective reservoir rock and an appropriate seal. There may be a difference of many millions of years in age of the source, reservoir and seal horizons and the timing of hydrocarbon migration and juxtaposition of these rocks to form a trap is critical.
Once formed, many traps may be destroyed or leak, due to later tectonics. When prospects are worked up and assessed, the overall “Chance of Success” is calculated on the basis of the probability of the presence and effectiveness of the source, reservoir and trap. This describes the overall ‘risk’ of finding hydrocarbons within the range estimated and this may vary from 10% in frontier basins to 30—50% in proven basins.
There is also ‘uncertainty’, which describes the range of outcomes, even when, say the reservoir rock is found to be present.
How thick is it?
How porous and permeable?
Is the original depositional facies as predicted?
How connected is it across the prospect?
There is also uncertainty even when hydrocarbons are found, as only a certain amount of appraisal wells can be afforded to establish the range of reserves, before making a multi-billion-dollar decision to develop the field.
Above surface uncertainty also exists. The oil and gas business is a capital intensive, long term business. An oil or gas field may have a life of 5 to 50 years, depending on size and economics. There will be uncertainty of future oil price, government tax rates and in some cases, the future political stability of the host country.
Environmental sensitivity, community relationships and ‘licence to operate’ are all key aspects which must also be assessed. And of course, the impact of fossil fuels on global warming and climate change, is now also a firm part of the context for any decisions, as the world needs to move to a lower carbon environment.
Speaker: Malcolm Brown, President of the Geological Society
After graduating from Kingston Polytechnic (1976), with a BSc in Geology, Malcolm worked in Libya and Saudi Arabia before completing an MSc in Petroleum Geology at Imperial College (1982). He worked at British Gas / BG Group for over 30 years as it evolved from state owned utility to successful international business and was Executive Vice President, Exploration.
Malcolm became a Fellow in 1982, served on Council between 2009 and 2012 and became a Chartered Geologist in 2013. He took over as President of the Society in 2016.
Life at deep sea hydrothermal vents: biodiversity in a new resource frontier
Lecture by Dr Adrian Glover given at the Geological Society on 3 July 2013 as part of the 2013 Shell London Lecture series.
It is an oft-told tale that the most famous biological discovery of the late 20th century was made by geologists. In the spring of 1977, a cabal of bearded American oceanographers made the first daring submersible dives to a deep-sea hydrothermal vent in the east Pacific ocean and filmed, photographed and collected the biology that would make them famous. But it was no ignominy for the biology community; uninvited on that first expedition they went on to lead the majority of research at vents over the next three decades.
Over 35 years on, it is the geology which may now turn attention back to the deep sea. In 2011 the government of Papua New Guinea granted the world's first deep-sea mining lease to a Canadian corporation to extract copper and gold from a hydrothermal vent field. In March 2013, the UK Prime Minister announced UK government support for the mining of polymetallic nodules in the central Pacific ocean at depths of 4000m.
This talk summarises our current understanding of biodiversity at deep-sea hydrothermal vents, and compares it with the soft-sediment, muddy habitats that dominate the rest of the deep seafloor. Dr Adrian discusses the potential impacts of deep-sea mining and the importance of biological data and outlines some of the very newest results from an expedition this year to the Cayman Trough, the worlds deepest hydrothermal vent, that lies in an exclusive economic zone of the United Kingdom.
Apollo and the Geology of the Moon
A 2015 remastered edit of Dr Harrison Schmitt’s lecture, ‘Apollo and the Geology of the Moon’, first delivered 19 December 1973.
Dr Harrison Schmitt was part of the three man crew of Apollo 17 which launched on 7 December 1972, returning to Earth on 19 December. Apollo 17 was the final of NASA’s manned lunar landing missions and therefore Schmitt remains the first and only geologist ever to walk on the Moon.
The following year, Dr Schmitt delivered a lecture on his experiences before a packed audience in the newly refurbished lecture theatre at the Geological Society. Indeed such was the demand for tickets that the lecture was relayed to the British Academy where extra seating had to be provided for another 130 attendees.
This video is a remastered edit of Dr Schmitt’s lecture, created in 2015 by the Geological Society Library. To find out more visit: geolsoc.org.uk/1stgeolmoon
Copyright 1973 & 2015 Geological Society of London
Stills copyright NASA
UK Networks and Projects - Bryan Lovell Meeting 2019
JONATHAN PEARCE, BRITISH GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
Map that changed the World - William Smith Strata Map
We heard from Edmund Nickless of the Geological Society of London, George Davis of University of Arizona, and William Smith, the 18th century geologist who seems to be a little out of time.
The Magna Carta of scientific maps
One of the most important maps of the UK ever made – described as the ‘Magna Carta of geology’ – is to go on permanent public display in Cambridge after being restored to its former glory.
- See more at:
William Smith’s 1815 Geological Map of England and Wales, which measures 8.5ft x 6ft, demonstrated for the first time the geology of the UK and was the culmination of years of work by Smith, who was shunned by the scientific community for many years and ended up in debtors’ prison. Today, exactly 200 years since its first publication, a copy of Smith’s map – rediscovered after more than a century in a museum box – will go on public display at the Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences. Aside from a copy held at The Geological Society in London, the Cambridge map is believed to be the only such map on public display anywhere in the world.