WINTER PROGRAMME 2023-2024
2023
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26th September <Details>
THE NORTHWEST HIGHLANDS GEOPARK
Peter Harrison
North West Highlands Geopark Geologist
Zoom, 7:30pm. (Suggest connecting from 7:15pm).
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Saturday 14 th October
FIELD TRIP TO DUBLIN
Down to Earth exhibition, Collins Barracks
Trinity College
Geology Museum, Pearse Street
8:00 am Enterprise from Belfast Lanyon Place to Dublin Connolly.
Red line Luas to Collins Barracks. (Museum stop).
1.30pm meet in front of the Trinity College Geology Dept/Museum
Building.
To download a more detailed printable itinerary <click here>
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Tuesday 17th October <Details>
(Joint with Geologists' Society Northern Ireland Regional Group)
GEOTHERMAL ENERGY: NORTHERN IRELAND'S COOL HEAT
Dr Rob Raine GSNI
6:30pm for 7.00pm
Queens University Geography Department, Elmwood Avenue
Room GEO/0G/006
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Tuesday 28th November <Photos>
MOURNE GULLION STRANGFORD UNESCO GLOBAL GEOPARK
Dr Kirstin Lemon GSNI
6:30pm for 7.00pm
Queens University Geography Department, Elmwood Avenue
Room GEO/0G/006
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23rd January
THE MINERAL PRODUCTS INDUSTRY
Our journey to Net Zero and becoming a socially responsible sector
Gordon Best, MPANI
ZOOM, 7:00 pm
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13th February <Photos>
A JOURNEY THROUGH TIME IN ICELAND
Focussing on the South East region.
Karen Parks
This talk will discuss the formation of Iceland and outline how important
scientific monitoring is to identify the problems linked to Global Warming
and how the volcanic risks are reduced in the island. It will also cover the
sustainability issues linked to the use of the natural resources and the
conflicts with increased tourism.
ZOOM, 7:00 pm
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24th
February
Science Festival event – Carrickfergus Museum
FUN WITH FOSSILS
Leader Karen Parks – volunteers needed!
10.30 am – 3pm.
Booking through NI Science Festival system
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26th March <Photos>
CAPTURING THE SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL EVOLUTION
OF GLACIAL LANDFORMS AT BREIÐAMERKURJÖKULL, SE ICELAND
Amy Lally, QUB
see:- https://pure.qub.ac.uk/en/persons/amy-lally
Live meeting + ZOOM, 6:30 pm
Queens University Geography Department, Elmwood Avenue
16th April
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
and
ARCHAEOLOGICAL TALK
Methodist College
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Drone photo of the Breiðamerkurjökull calving margin
View across Lake A and B: Drone photo across proglacial landscape
Drone photo of an esker melting out of the ice-margin
Amy using ground penetrating radar on recently created landforms
Amy will present the evolution of a rapidly retreating glacier in SE
Iceland spanning from the early aerial photographs to the latest drone-
captured imagery. This talk will focus on how the shape and
distribution of landforms can provide insights into the processes
occurring within and beneath the ice.
The talk will introduce the geology of the northwest highlands and some of the stories
that it has to tell. This includes the oldest rocks in the UK, the first life on land, a
meteorite impact, and the formation of a mountain range of the proportions of the
present-day Himalayas and of course a much more recent glacial episode.
The scientific debate involved in unpicking the immense history will be briefly
considered, especially that at the end of the 19th centaury, which established some of
the tectonics that takes place as part of mountain building.
The work of the North West Highlands UNESCO Geopark is to celebrate this
geoheritage and explain how an understanding of it can help visitors and residents
alike. Some of the ways this is achieved will be described.
PETER HARRISON has lived for 40 years in the northwest Highlands working as a
teacher and geoscience educator. During that time, he has worked with several
organisations that have sought to help individuals to understand more about how our
planet works.
He is now the geologist with the North West Highlands UNESCO Global Geopark and
works on landscape interpretation for the general public and leads geotours to the area.
Although Northern Ireland is not known for the active volcanoes, hot springs and
geysers that we typically associate with geothermal power, there exists a huge
amount of heat in the sediments and rocks beneath our feet. This talk will explore the
different types of geothermal energy available to Northern Ireland, the technologies we
use to access them and recent work to explore Northern Ireland’s potential.
Rob Raine works at the GSNI (Geological Survey of Northern Ireland), an office of the
Department for the Economy, staffed by BGS scientists. Rob is the senior energy
geologist at GSNI, and is involved in providing geological advice to the Department,
carrying out research and promoting energy resources in Northern Ireland. He is a
member of the Geothermal Advisory group for the department, and is the science lead
for the geoenergy NI demonstrator project.
From 2008-2013 Rob worked for Ichron Ltd as a reservoir geologist and before this
completed a degree in geology and a PhD at the University of Birmingham on
Cambrian and Ordovician sediments in NW Scotland.
https://www.thinkgeoenergy.com/geoenergy-ni-reports-completion-of-geophysical-
campaign-at-antrim-northern-ireland/amp/
Vibroseis truck carrying out seismic survey near Antrim. Photo: GeoEnergy NI
Kirstin Lemon
Slieve Gullion (©Mourne Gullion Strangford Geopark)
Strangford L. (©NITB Photographic Library)
Gulley on Hen Mountain, Mournes
Mournes from Slieve Foye, Louth
The Mourne Gullion Strangford UNESCO Global Geopark is unique as it tells the tale of
two oceans through just over 400 million years of geological history.
It charts the closure of the Iapetus Ocean and the birth of the North Atlantic Ocean. Both
generated large amounts of molten rock (or magma) within and upon the Earth’s surface:
evident today by the Ring of Gullion Ring Dyke and granites of the Mourne Mountains.
The subsequent rocks and landscapes have since been shaped by numerous Earth
processes but dominated by those during the most recent Ice Age. This geology forms the
bedrock to the Geopark’s Archaeology, built heritage, biodiversity and people and culture.