OPEN UNIVERSITY GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY
Ireland Branch Newsletter
2006 No.1
Calendar
Branch events
Mar
Sat 4 BRANCH AGM. Wellington Park Hotel, Belfast,
11am. (Details below p.7)
May
w/e 13-14 Field trip to Metamorphic and Igneous rocks in
Connemara, leader Martin Feely, NUI Galway
June
w/e 3-4 Field trip to the Dingle Peninsula led by Pat
Meere, NUI Cork.
Other events
Feb
Wed 22 CGA Lecture. Storms, waves and the impact
of the rising sea level on Ireland’s coastline Prof. Robert Devoy.
Department of Geology, NUI Cork. 8pm
Wed 22 BGS Lecture. The Mount Newman Story and the
Brockman Iron Ore Formation of north-east Australia by Leslie Wortley, Ulster
Museum, 7.30pm
w/e 24-26 IGRM (see item below) NUI Cork
Fri 24 Lecture by Dr. Mike Searle (Oxford) on Himalayan
tectonics. NUI Cork
Sat 25 Lecture by Prof Bill McGuire (Benfield Hazard Centre
on some aspects of geohazards. NUI Cork.
Mar
Wed 22 BGS Lecture. Iceland’s glacial landscapes
by Dr. Mark Cooper (GSNI), Ulster Museum, 7.30
Sat 26 CGA Field trip. Coastal dynamics in the Youghal
and Goat Island area, Co. Cork, led by Jim Curtin.
Wed 29 CGA Lecture. Darwin – Paramount geologist.
Padhraig Kennan, NUI Cork. Dept. Geology, 8pm
April
Wed 5 IGA Lecture. Darwin and Robinson Crusoe.
Padhraig Kennan, Room G01, School of Geological Sciences, UCD
26 CGA Lecture. Irish National Seabed Survey – the
shallow inshore dimension. Seán Cullen (GSI). Department
of Geology, NUI Cork, 8pm.
BGS Belfast Geologists' Society; CGA Cork Geological Association; IAEG Irish
Association for Economic Geology; IGA Irish Geological Association; NUIG
National University of Ireland Galway, TCD Trinity College Dublin; UCC University
College Cork, UCD University College Dublin.
EDITORIAL
The end of February marks one of the big events of geology in this island
– the Irish Geological Research Meeting (IGRM) that this year is being held
in Cork. The IGRM is a forum for everyone researching Irish geology
and consists of two days of short presentations (15 minutes each) and two
major evening lectures. In some cases the short presentations are very
technical. However, if you live in the Cork area the evening lectures
should be well worth hearing.
Don’t forget the Branch AGM is imminent. This is where you can have
a say in how the Branch is run and/or go forward as a Branch officer.
If you plan to be there please let Phyllis know.
If you feel you would like to have a try at editing the Branch Newsletter
I would be delighted to hear from you.
There are a couple of field trips in the offing. First to Connemara
with Martin Feely who is an expert on the area but particularly on the Galway
Granite. Then we have a trip to Dingle (An Daingean!) with
Pat Meere who led an truly impressive trip to Kenmare and Killarney last
summer. If you would like a field trip to visit a particular area or
on a particular aspect of geology let your Branch officers know and we will
do our best to make it happen.
Have you paid your subscription for this year yet? If you haven’t,
Penny Widdison, OUGS Membership Secretary, has asked us to remind you that
subscriptions are due and to write that cheque today (or you’ll forget it
again!) There is a Euro membership form at the end of this Newsletter,
there is a sterling one in the “National” Newsletter.
Hope to see you on the 4th or at one of our field trips.
Susan
FORTHCOMING BRANCH FIELD TRIPS
There will be a weekend field trip on 13/14th May to the metamorphic and
igneous rocks in Connemara (Co. Galway and Co. Mayo) led by Martin Feely
of NUI Galway. Martin is an expert on the area and has a particular
interest in the Caledonian Galway Granite.
The trip will be based in Galway City.
There will be a second weekend trip on 3/4th June to the Dingle Peninsula,
Co. Kerry, led by Pat Meere of NUI Cork. Dingle is noted for its Silurian
sediments and for its Quaternary glacial features. This trip will be
based in accommodation on the way to Dingle Town.
NEWS CUTTINGS
Seabed survey continues
The Geological Survey of Ireland and the Marine Institute have just embarked
on Phase Two of the Irish National Seabed Survey. This will involve
extensive research into the seabed closer to our shores.
Meanwhile, an exhibition in ENFO, the Environmental Information Services,
17 Andrew Street, Dublin, gives the public a snapshot (with photos of sea
mammals, coral reefs, etc. of how Phase One of the Survey was undertaken.
The exhibition continues until February 28th. Opening hours Monday to Saturday:
10am to 5pm, admission free. See also www.enfo.ie and www.gsi.ie
© The Irish Times Weekend Review, 18/2/2006
Bronze Age remains found in Burren cave
Human remains of an adult and a young child dating to the Bronze Age have
been discovered in a cave in the Burren. Dr Marion Dowd, a lecturer
in archaeology at the Institute of Technology in Sligo, who led the excavation
at Glencurran cave, said the findings were significant for a number of reasons.
"It is interesting that the remains were not burnt, because cremation was
the normal burial rite in the Bronze Age," she said.
Dr Dowd said Glencurran cave had not previously been identified as a Bronze
Age burial ground. After cavers discovered human bones on the floor
of the cave, she decided to investigate further. "When we started we
had no idea what we would find, or indeed if we would find anything," she
said. "I had never heard of Glencurran cave before and, indeed, there
are very few excavated Bronze Age burial grounds in Co Clare." Dr Dowd
added: "I have been digging for 14 years now, but I never worked on a site
like this before. It is very significant."
In 2004 and 2005 the remains of three adults and one child, aged two to three,
were found in the cave, as well as evidence of more recent human habitation,
probably dating back 1,200 to 1,400 years. The team has used carbon-dating
to conclude that the body of one adult was placed in the cave 3,000 years
ago and that the child died 2,500 years ago.
"We hope to establish how they died, how old they were, their sex, if they
had any illness or disease and more details about lifestyle," Dr Dowd said.
She said she also hopes to determine how old the other human remains found
in the cave are. "We believe that the cave was occupied probably by
one person who slept inside and cooked outside," she said.
Marese McDonagh © The Irish Times 1/2/2006
Public to see giant stalactite
The public is finally to get the opportunity to view what is reputedly the
world's largest free-hanging stalactite. Pol an Ionain cave in Co.
Clare, which is home to the 23 ft Great Stalactite, will be opened to the
public later this year at a cost of €20 a viewing.
© Irish Independent 25/1/2005
Wanted: masons to save historic buildings
Efforts to save historic buildings are being hampered by a shortage of tradesmen
with the necessary conservation skills. According to the government's
Environment and Heritage Service, 82 grants were given to restore historic
properties between 2004 and 2005 at a cost of nearly £1.5 million.
Television programmes like BBC's Restored to Glory and Restoration
have raised the profile of such projects. When the Lock Keeper's Cottage
in Castlereagh, Co Down, was featured on Restoration in 2004, councillors
were able to get European and lottery funding to restore the cottage.
But despite the funding now available for restoration, a new problem is emerging.
The Ulster Architectural Heritage Society said that few builders have the
expertise needed to sympathetically restore an older property. Spokesman
Andrew McClelland said there is a general shortage of traditional skills
like masonry. "In particular builders need to be trained in the use of lime
to bind walls," he said.
Mr McClelland also believes the north suffers from a lack of knowledge about
stone conservation. "Northern Ireland geologically is very interesting because
we have so much stone in such a small place," he said. "The distinctiveness
of local materials is very important but a lot of builders don't know how
to use them."
The Natural Stone Database, due to be completed in December 2007, will survey
2,500 listed buildings and stone monuments and develop guidelines for building
conservation. Project leader Dr Joanne Curran said there were no general
conservation guidelines in place. She said there is a "lack of authoritative
data on the performance of natural stone used on our historic buildings"
© Irish News 6/2/2006
Coal ready to take place on front burner
Coal is back and back in a big way. The black stuff, long derided as an environmental
nightmare, is once again being touted as a key part of Britain's energy future,
with a host of new technologies promising to make it clean enough for Kyoto.
Coal prices have almost doubled since 2003, making it economically viable
for miners to hunt for the more difficult-to-reach seams but at current prices
it is still relatively cheap compared with oil and gas.
German energy group Eon has proposed building Britain's first new coal power
station in 30 years on the east coast of England.
Furthermore, in a series of speeches - the latest of which will be delivered
today - energy minister Malcolm Wicks has said coal will be a significant
part of Britain's future energy plans. This is a far cry from 2003,
when the then Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, Patricia Hewitt,
indicated that coal-fired generation was a thing of the past, and gas was
the way forward.
But since then gas has barely been out of the headlines for all the wrong
reasons. Vague plans to rely on gas for more than 70pc of our electricity
have been swiftly shelved, and while the debate on nuclear power rages on,
coal, which currently provides a third of Britain's energy, is quietly gaining
more admirers.
According to engineering group Alstom, it will soon surpass gas as the world's
preferred power source for electricity generation, with 40pc of orders for
turbines over the next decade being for coal-powered units. Better
still, whereas most of the world's oil and gas reserves are in politically
sticky areas, the UK is sitting on years' worth of coal. Only last
week, the man once dubbed King Coal revealed he is returning to the market
with a company that will bring one of Britain's oldest mines back into operation.
Mining entrepeneur Richard Budge said he was floating a new company, Powerfuel,
with the purpose of reviving Hatfield Colliery, near Doncaster.
Scientists have discovered a number of ways to make coal more environmentally-friendly.
One is by mixing so-called biomass with fossil fuels to reduce the amount
of carbon generated. In Yorkshire, some farmers are growing elephant grass
as a crop to burn alongside coal. But so far the amount offered
by government in incentives for cleaner coal have been in the tens of millions
of pounds, rather than the hundreds needed to spark large-scale investment.
Edmund Conway © The Telegraph 20/2/2006
Bottled water big business but bad for environment
A surge in the global consumption of bottled water may be good news for those
who are selling it but all too often the picture is less rosy for the environment
and communities in parts of the developing world where drought is already
commonplace. According to a report published by Washington-based
NGO the Earth Policy Institute sales of bottled water have risen by 57% in
the past five years and in the past year 154 billion litres were consumed
around the world.
One third of the money spent on bottled water would be enough to halve the
number of people without ready access to clean, safe drinking water.
The increase is a global phenomenon, with sales steadily rising even in those
places where tests have shown time and again that tap water is equally safe,
leading to unnecessary packaging waste and huge amounts of energy used in
the extraction, bottling and transport of the water.
The situation is worse still for those living in the developing world, where
water is a precious resource being taken by companies keen to profit from
it. In the southern Indian States of Kerela and Tamil Nadu, for example,
soft drink giant Coca Cola has been engaged in a legal and PR battle for
years over accusations it has been draining the aquifer faster than it can
replenish itself [and] water extraction by Coca Cola for Dasani bottled water
and other drinks has caused water shortages for over 50 villages.
Similar problems have been reported in Texas and in the Great Lakes region
of North America, where farmers, fishers, and others who depend on water
for their livelihoods are suffering from concentrated water extraction as
water tables drop quickly. The surge [in India,] which is expected
to be mirrored in China in the near future, will put increasing pressure
on resources.
According to the institute it would take less than a third of the annual
amount spent by consumers on bottled water - some US$100 billion - to achieve
the UN's Millennium Development Goal of halving the number of people without
access to safe drinking water by 2015.
© Sam Bond (Edie News 14/2/2006)
BRANCH MATTERS
BRANCH AGM
The Branch AGM will be held on Saturday the 4th March, 2006, at 11am in the
Wellington Park Hotel, 21 Malone Road, Belfast. The hotel is close
to the OU Offices and Queen’s University.
Tea and coffee will be provided.
The AGM will be followed by a talk given by Tony Lee.
After the meeting we hope you will join us for lunch in the Bistro Restaurant
(for a modest sum.)
Please let Phyllis know if you wish to attend and whether you require transport.
If you would like overnight accommodation Phyllis will book you into a local
B&B.