WINTER PROGRAMME 2020-2021
2020
Monday 19th October 2020
Dr. Mike Simms
AS OLD AS THE HILLS? THE CHRONOLOGY OF CAVES
AND THEIR LANDSCAPES.
Followed by live Q&A.
7:30 pm
Also ... Mike has produced a blog describing his favourite fossils - to see
this <click here>
Monday 2nd November 2020
Peter McConvey
OSM Environmental Consulting
BELFAST – GEOLOGY, JOBS AND GINGER ALE <details>
A short tour of turn of the 20th Century Belfast via the deep well logs of the
1904 Belfast Geology Memoir.
7:30 pm
Monday 16th November 2020
Dr. Al Kennedy
A VERY OBSERVABLE CURIOSITY: THE GIANT'S CAUSEWAY AND
SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY NATURAL PHILOSOPHY.
Monday 14th December 2020
Dr. Paula Grgich <details>
PPROTECTING RECREATION: A COMPARISON OF
THE GEOTECHNICAL AND MANAGEMENT CHALLENGES
AT BLACKHEAD PATH AND
THE GOBBINS COASTAL FOOTPATH.
Monday 21st December 2020
BGS XMAS EVENING
To welcome in the festive season we are holding an informal evening
entertainment. We will start with a quiz courtesy of Phyllis Turkington,
followed by 2 short presentations - Ray Preston on geological tales from
Canada and Ian Enlander on the implications of geological processes on
wildlife in New Zealand. Feel free to have a bottle and nibbles on hand.
2021
Monday 18th January 2021
Dr. Mike Simms (NMNI)
METEORITES AND THE SOLAR SYSTEM <details>
Monday 15th February 2021
Professor Jennifer McKinley (QUB) <details>
MEDICAL GEOLOGY: PEOPLE, PLACE AND HEALTH
Monday 1st March 2021
Tim Fogg (Rope Access Specialists)
ADVENTURES IN ROCK <details>
Monday 15th March 2021
Dr Rob Raine (GSNI) <details>
A LITTLE BIT OF EVERYTHING - A POTTED GEOLOGICAL HISTORY OF
NORTHERN IRELAND
Monday 19th April 2021
Presented by the Geological Society Northern Ireland Regional Group:
Dr. Mike Simms
HUNTING FOR AN IMPACT CRATER IN SCOTLAND
6:30 pm
followed by:
BELFAST GEOLOGISTS’ SOCIETY ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
7:30 pm
With no change to Covid restrictions, BGS Committee have decided to
continue with the Zoom-based lecture programme through to June. Should
we be in a position to resume field excursions, we will let you know. Check
BGS website for updates.
For information on the forthcoming lectures, please see Summer page.
All other meetings will be in the Lecture Theatre,
Ulster Museum, Stranmillis Road, Belfast.
All lectures start at 7:30 pm unless otherwise
stated.
Because of Covid restrictions all lectures will
be disseminated using Zoom or YouTube for
the foreseeable future.
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A POTTED GEOLOGICAL HISTORY OF NORTHERN IRELAND
The Geology of Northern Ireland can be described as a bit of a mixture. When it
comes to geological time Northern Ireland seems, more than any other area of Britain
and Ireland, to be characterised by non-sequence and unconformity. Conversely, this
means that although there is much time with no preserved rock record, there are
rocks from many time periods found across Northern Ireland. This rich variety has led
to an interesting patchwork of different rock units, which is beautifully displayed on the
geological map and forms a diverse landscape.
Whilst Northern Ireland shares much of its tectonic and geological history with
Scotland, its Late Palaeozoic and younger history differs greatly and compares more
closely with offshore basins around Ireland. The complexity of Northern Ireland’s
geology is a welcome resource for students, a challenge for exploration geologists but
now holds the potential to facilitate the move to a low-carbon economy. This talk will
provide a potted geological history of Northern Ireland, highlighting some of the major
geological events. It will focus on basin formation and what we currently understand
of the sedimentary and igneous fill, and energy potential of those basins.
Dr Rob Raine
Energy Geologist at GSNI
Rob has worked at GSNI since 2013 and prior to that he worked as a Senior
Reservoir Geologist at Ichron Limited. Rob holds a PhD and undergraduate degree in
Geology from Birmingham. Rob's work at GSNI involves assessment of energy
resources, and is particularly focussed on the geothermal potential of NI. Rob also
curates the GSNI rock archive where many of the deep borehole samples are housed.
ADVENTURES IN ROCK
Tim's presentation is a romp up cliffs, down caves and into volcanos all of which have
given him a great interest and deep insight into geology.
Tim Fogg graduated in Environmental Science from The New University of Ulster,
followed by a post-graduate certificate in Outdoor Education in North Wales. He has
been rock climbing and caving since his school days.
After university he spent four years in the Antarctic with the British Antarctic Survey,
then returned to work as an Outdoor Education Teacher in Ireland where his passion
for caves grew. He is now a veteran of 20 caving expeditions worldwide.
Tim co-produced the Earth Science Conservation Review report for the caves and
karst of the Northern Ireland. And with his partner Pam, and Project Officer Ian
Enlander, he co-authored 'Beneath our Feet, The Caves and Karst of Northern
Ireland'. This won the British Cave Research Association annual award for best
contribution to British speleology in print.
Tim and Pam have directed Rope Access Specialists for 30 years. Their company
specialises in rope access for natural history and adventure filming, and has provided
rope access training, rigging and safety supervision for numerous productions
including the BBC’s Planet Earth 1 and 2, Life, Operation Iceberg, Human Planet,
Frozen Planet, Wild China, Seven Worlds and Disney’s Chimpanzee.
MEDICAL GEOLOGY: PEOPLE, PLACE AND HEALTH
Digital geoscience data are becoming increasingly available for environmental studies
through sub-continental scale and regional scale ground-based geochemical surveys
and an ongoing global geochemical baseline survey. These data can be used to
explore potential relationships between naturally occurring geogenic elements in soil
and water, potentially toxic elements (PTEs) and long term cumulative exposure
which may be linked to chronic disease. Soils are also potential sources of toxic
metals which can be used as tracers of anthropogenic pollution sources such as
atmospheric pollution deposition from traffic and brake wear emissions. However,
data sets such as geochemical survey data pose many challenges for exploratory
data analysis and any subsequent geospatial analysis. This presentation will present
a study using an urban soil geochemistry database of total element concentrations of
PTEs, and the UK Renal Registry which provided Standardised Incidence Rates
(SIRs) of Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD). A statistical relationship was found between
CKD of uncertain aetiology (CKDu) and environmental toxins. The findings of this
work provide a deeper understanding of the role of geogenic and anthropogenic
environmental toxins on chronic disease.
METEORITES
Are they just lumps of rock from Space, or something more interesting? They can
answer some of the great scientific questions. How old is the Solar System? How did
it form? Has it always been like it is today? How did Earth get its precious metals,
water, and even the ingredients for life? Mike will give a simple overview of what
meteorites can tell us about our Solar System.
Dr. Paula Grgich
Paula is an American ex-pat who has worked in the US and UK as a
geologist/engineering geologist for 25 years.
She received a MSc from the University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where
geophysics was an integral part of her study of ground voids/solution features and
their impact on quarrying and mining.
She specialises in rock mechanics and cliff stability where she uses abseiling
techniques for close up inspection and to refine stabilisation designs.
She has been employed by Red Rock Geoscience since the company was formed
in 2011, but she has worked with Dr Peter Arnold, a specialist in rock mechanics,
for nearly 15 years. Her unique skills have helped to shape the company in offering
diverse rock slope services which led to 3½ years working for Mid and East Antrim
Borough Council on the Gobbins project, and a current framework agreement that
has added numerous other slope and cliff projects in the Antrim area.
BELFAST – GEOLOGY, JOBS AND GINGER ALE
This presentation will provide an overview of the geology and hydrogeology of
the Belfast area and look at where and what use groundwater from the
underlying sandstone aquifers was being put to, as recorded in the well records
of the 1904 Belfast Geology Memoir.
