OPEN UNIVERSITY GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY
Ireland Branch Newsletter 2005 No.1
Calendar
Branch events 2005
March
Sat 5 Branch AGM. Room G01, Department of Geology,
UCD
September
w/e tba Field trip to the Burren led by Mike Simms of the
Ulster Museum. Further information from Phyllis Turkington.
tba Field trip to Iceland.
Other events
2005
February
Wed 16 BGS lecture on Forensic Geoscience by Alastair Ruffell
(QUB), Ulster Museum, 7.30pm
w/e 18-20 Irish Geological Research Meeting. Trinity
College Dublin.
Fri. 18 IGRM Lecture by John McCloskey (UUC) on The great
Sumatra-Andaman earthquake and implications for possible large near-future
earthquakes. Walton Theatre, TCD, 8pm.
Sat 19 IGA Guest Lecture by Prof. Tim Reston (Univ. Kiel)
on Continental breakup: lessons from the west of Ireland and the Alps.
Walton Theatre, TCD 7.30pm.
Sat 19 CGA Photographic workshop in UCC Science Building.
10am to 1pm approx.
March
Sat 19 CGA geological ramble in Killarney National Park
led by Noel Davin.
Meet Muckross House 10.00am
April
w/e 16-17 IGA Field trip to the Copper Coast led by Sophie
Preteseille.
May
w/e 8-9 IAEG Weekend course on Gold. Details in next
Newsletter.
Sat 28 CGA geo-walk to Coumshingaun, Co. Waterford.
BGS Belfast Geologists' Society; CGA Cork Geological Association; IAEG Irish
Association for Economic Geology; IGA Irish Geological Association; TCD Trinity
College Dublin; UUC University of Ulster at Coleraine
Hello everyone, welcome to a new year with the OUGS Ireland branch.
Congratulations to everyone who recently passed their OU exams. Well done.
The past year was a year of transition when John Leahy retired as branch
organiser and I took over.
We started late, but managed to organise two field trips. In June we
visited Loughshinny with Ian Somerville and all enjoyed a good, instructive
day out with good weather also. Thanks again to Michael Andrews who gave
us an excellent write up later for the newsletter.
In August Tony Lee took us to the Portrush Sill and Whiterocks. Although
some of us had done this trip before with Tony, it turned out to be very
worthwhile doing it again as we always learn something new with Tony who
is a great teacher. We even enlisted a new member that day. Again
we had good weather.
This year our first event is the AGM in UCD Dublin in March. (More details
later about this from Susan)
We have been promised field trips this year by other leaders and the first
to confirm one is Dr Mike Simms (Ulster Museum) who wants to take us to the
Burren in early June.
Full details of this and other trips will be in our next newsletter.
I look forward to seeing as many people as possible at our AGM and hope some
of our new members will come too. If any new member is unsure about
travel or any other matter please contact me. This also applies to
all events over the year
Best wishes for the New Year.
Phyllis
v The dinosaurs were deposited at a time of reverse polarity.
v Since the big stratigraphical gap makes it improbably,
[this species] was named suspiciously.
Greetings one and all,
Another year has passed, Christmas is a distant memory. I hope the
exam results were up to scratch. Many of you will be getting the head
down to another year’s studying but whatever you may be doing don’t forget
to get out into the countryside for some fresh air, excellent company and
a little education on one of our field trips. It is difficult to think
about the summer and field trips as I sit here typing with rain beating against
the windows, although, come to think of it ……………………!
We are delighted to hear that on 30th December our Treasurer, Eileen Doyle,
had a beautiful baby girl, Eimear. Congratulations to mother and baby!
The AGM is once again imminent and I hope as many of you as possible will
come along. We have a talk by Gareth Dyke lined up to follow the formal
part of the meeting. Gareth is a zoologist who has been working on
the evolution of birds from dinosaurs. I have been to an excellent
talk by him with spectacular pictures of fossil birds. He has worked
in Kazakhstan and has some interesting comments on his field work there.
Have you considered going to Symposium? I would encourage you to go,
it’s great fun and educational and you don’t have to take notes or answer
CMAs or TMAs
The Irish Geological Research Meeting will be held in Trinity College Dublin
in February. This is an informal meeting of people who are carrying
out geological research in Ireland. Registration is free, though
the organisers would like to know how many to expect for the meeting, so
if you intend to go, please "register" by sending an e-mail to Ian Sanders
(isanders@tcd.ie) The daily sessions are quite intensive and detailed,
however, watch out for the two evening lectures which are usually excellent
– no details at time of going to press.
Scattered through the Newsletter for your entertainment, there are short
items from the book Geological Howler: a second collection by William A.S.
Sarjeant. I’m sure you’ll spot them easily.
Looking forward to seeing you during the year, either at the AGM or on one
of our field trips.
Susan
The Branch AGM will be held in the Department of Geology, University College
Dublin on Saturday 5th March at 11.00am
The Department of Geology is on the ground floor of the Biology Building.
There will be ample parking in Car Park No. 1 opposite the building.
The layout of roads and parking in UCD has changed since last year so do
not park at the rear of the building or your car will be clamped! If
you need directions please contact a member of the Committee (details at
end of Newsletter.)
Following the AGM there will be a talk by Dr. Gareth Dyke, who has been working
on the evolution of birds from dinosaurs.
After the meeting we will have lunch in a nearby hostelry. You are
all welcome to come along to the lunch, cost in the region of €20.
Please let Phyllis know if you wish to join in the lunch
v At the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary, all living organisms
were wiped out, with the exception of those that survived.
v In the Cainozoic, life was closer to today’s standards
than it was at any period before then.
Geoliday
We still have some places on Mike Henty's "Geoliday" in Devon in April,
The "Geoliday" 15-22 April 2005 - 7 Days in S. Devon, staying at "Blagdon
Manor" in Collerton St. Mary, near Paignton.
Provisional Programme - dates and leaders TBC
The Start Point Series and the Pleistocene coastal features
The Limestones of the Devonian, including Hope's nose raised beach and mineralisation
The Permo-Trias, hopefully including the Neptunian Dykes, and the Exeter
Volcanic series
The Bovey Tracey Basin Tertiary deposits
The Dartmoor Granite, contact relationships, quarrying, mineralization and
Pleistocene history
The Chalk of East Devon
The accommodation is "self-catering", so although meals will be provided
by the organizers, some help with washing up and minor housekeeping tasks
will be required of participants. The cost of this study trip will be IRO
£250*, and will cover accommodation, breakfast and lunches on 7 days,
and *dinner on 6. We will arrange a "Night Out dinner" at a local hostelry
for the other night, when the organizers will have a night off, costs will
be advised later. Lunches will be on an "assemble it yourself" basis, from
a selection of breads, sandwich fillings, fruit, cake, drinks etc. So bring
a lunch box. For local travel, own cars & sharing will be organized.
The field programme is being arranged by Roger Beck (see list of proposed
locations below), Roger is ex Tutor from the South West, currently working
at Walton Hall. Roger will be arranging the daily field trips with a number
of local leaders - we are aiming to cover a range of basic field skills as
appropriate throughout the week. If anyone has mobility problems, please
ask for details about access to the proposed sites before booking, as many
sites will be coastal exposures, and the house has stairs and no lift. An
itinerary will be available shortly. We will start with an evening talk on
Friday 15th April to give an overview of the local geology, and the first
field trip will start on Saturday morning. The last will be on Friday morning
of 22nd April - in the going home direction if possible.
*Part Weeks can be accommodated, costs pro rata, please enquire about availability
SAE to Linda McArdell for programme, and a booking form, or email walton.hall@ougs.org
None of the information given about this field trip constitutes a brochure
under the Package Travel Regulations (1992)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
v Little-known geological units:
The Tectonic Orogeny
The Archiepelligo Orogeny
The Tourismian Stage
Question: We have all heard of the recent Asian tsunami but what does
the word tsunami actually mean and what language does it come from?
Answer at end of p.8.
Last year several payments (not just Euro payments I hasten to add)
didn't include the correct information so couldn't be traced until very late
on the year, therefore members didn't received newsletters as they were classed
as lapsed members.
Now you have absolutely no excuse for not paying your subscription.
News cuttings
19th Century Fire Extinguished
An underground mine fire thought to have been burning since 1874 has now
been extinguished in China’s Xinjiang Province, according to reports by the
country’s official Hinhua News Agency. Work to put the Liuhuanggou
Colliery fire out, the largest of eight serious underground fires in the
Xinjiang Province, started four years ago and is said to have cost $12 million.
Xinjiang Province houses just over 40% of China’s coal reserves and the plan
is to extinguish all 35 underground mine fires in the area by 2020.
these have already burned some 3.1 billion tonnes of coal across an area
of 8.26 million m3. Underground coal fires are generally triggered by spontaneous
combustion and form a major environmental hazard, causing desertification
of huge areas and spewing out vast quantities of carbon monoxide, sulphur
dioxide and ash, which are highly damaging to the atmosphere. This
one fire is estimated to have emitted 100.000 tonnes of gas and 40,000 tonnes
of ash/year, causing a serious smog hazard in the area.
World Mining Equipment, 14 December 2004
There’s gold in the hills: It’s a Celtic Klondike
A quiet village is at the centre of a gold rush after a Canadian company
discovered what is expected to be the largest deposit of the ore ever found
in Ireland. The Currahinalt mine, in the Sperrin Mountains, near Gortin,
Co. Tyrone is forecast to yield one million ounces of the precious ore.
With gold fetching $413 an ounce, the deposit is estimated to be worth at
least €400 million, more than a half of which will be spent on extraction.
While it has been speculated over the centuries that Ireland might be mineral
rich, this is the first time that evidence of a vein that could lead to a
“Celtic Klondike” has been produced. The find was made by Tournigan
Gold Corporation, a Canadian firm which bought the exploration rights from
another company, Ennex, last year. It will begin extracting the mineral
within two years.
Irish Independent, 14 October 2004
Oracle of Delphi a bit of a gasbag
The ancient Greek Oracle of Delphi, whose priestesses offered predictions
and advice on the key issues of the day, made their prophecies because they
were high on gas, a four-year study has concluded. In the August issue
of Geology, US scientists day they have discovered two geological faults,
intersecting directly beneath the ancient temple, and measured fumes rising
from a nearby spring. Anaesthetic gases including ethylene - which
causes euphoria - were found in sediments deposited by the springs.
The ancient priestesses or pythia were said to sit on a three-legged stool,
holding a laurel branch, and became gripped by the spirit of prophecy while
inhaling vapours from a fissure in the bedrock.
Ethylene was widely used as an anasethetic up to the 1960s and its initial
effects are similar to those described in the ancient texts on the Oracle.
Daily Telegraph article reported in the Irish Independent, 16 August, 2001
A walk on the wild side
With an expansion of the Cuilcagh Mountain Park already underway, the area
which promises some of the best potential for eco-tourism in Fermanagh was
shown to Northern Ireland Office Minister, Barry Gardiner at the weekend.
Mr. Gardiner and his wife, Caroline, were in the county to walk one of the
popular way marked trails featured in the walking book, "25 walks in Fermanagh"
by local authors, Noel Parker and Eamonn Keaveny. he Gardiners chose
Doohatty Glebe and Benaughlin for their walk. Despite the poor weather conditions,
the Gardiners who were accompanied by Richard Watson, Fermanagh District
Council's countryside officer; Dr. Patrick McKeever, from the Geological
Survey for Northern Ireland and an authority on Geoparks and by the Council's
environment officer, Brian Hegarty, made the short trek to the summit from
where they could see much of the 2,000 hectares of land now part of the Cuilcagh
Mountain Park.
The Park and the Marble Arch Caves, are the United Kingdom's only Global
Geopark and is the second one in Ireland, the other being the Copper Coast
in Waterford. Mr. Gardiner and his wife are keen hillwalkers and regularly
visit parts of Europe for walking holidays. The five walkers took the
route of the Ulster Way from the Swanlinbar Road, proceeding through Doohatty
Glebe forest and then up the summit of Benaughlin. According to Richard
Watson, the Minister and his visitors to the county were impressed by the
area, despite the low hanging cloud over Cuilcagh and rain at times.
After returning from Benaughlin, the party then set off for Claddagh Glen
where they walked along the path by the river to the Marble Arch and cave
entrance.
The future looks bright for Cuilcagh and Marble Arch Caves. European
Geoparks of which the landscape area is a member, is now extending to be
a global concern. Richard Watson attended the first International Conference
on Geoparks last summer in Beijing. Its idea is to promote the development
of a global network of sites, which represent exceptional examples of the
planet's geological heritage. The conference described the current state
of Geoparks in the world and presented a series of case studies focusing
on specific issues: methods and techniques for safeguarding geological heritage;
the scientific importance of Geoparks; the relationship between safeguarding
Geoparks and their use; and the parks' role in sustainable development of
regional economies.
The main purpose of the Conference was to raise awareness of the value of
the earth and its resources, and the importance of protecting and safeguarding
its geological heritage, which has a direct impact on people's quality of
life. Geoparks help stimulate development activities, such as ecological
tourism, crafts and cottage industries. Northern Ireland is set to host the
second International Conference on Geoparks supported by UNESCO in 2006.
Up to 1,000 delegates from around the world are expected to arrive for the
event which will have huge spin-offs for Fermanagh and the Cuilcagh Park
and Marble Arch Caves. This site will host field trips for delegates.
Richard Watson says that being a Geopark member does not end there. Their
entry must be validated periodically to show that there is a sustainable
development policy for the area and that the local area benefits from the
conservation through tourism and education at the Marble Arch Caves.
At present the underground lighting system is being completely replaced for
the first time since it was installed in 1985. The new lighting on view when
the Caves re-open for the 2005 tourist season at the end of March, will be
much improved with visitors seeing the natural formations in a different
light. This year will also be an important one for the Caves. The Council
expects to welcome its one millionth visitor there sometime this year.
Thousands of young people use the Cuilcagh Park and Marble Arch Caves as
an "outdoor classroom" each year, as they are shown the importance of geology
in the area, and the contrasting landscapes of blanket bog and limestone
cave systems. Hillwalkers too use the area frequently, enjoying the
rugged landscape and scenery in all weathers and at all times of year.
© Impartial Reporter, 25 January, 2005 (edited)
v For fossilization of carbonates, you want warm water,
so the shell won’t dissolve.
Answer: Tsunami is a Japanese word meaning “harbour-wave” tsu means
“harbour” and nami means “wave.”