WELSHROCKERSSwansea boys whomapped the world

SCOTSMISSEDEnd of Highergeology looms

GeoscientistThe Fellowship magazine of The Geological Society of London | www.geolsoc.org.uk | Volume 23 No 8 | September 2013

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INCIDENTThe evolution of Asia’s major rivers

YANGTZE

Thursday 26th September 2013

Morning

Session 1 – SuRF UK (Sustainable Remediation Forum)

• An overview of the SuRF UK Framework

• Case studies

• Ask the experts / debate session

Afternoon

Session 2 – Definition of Waste: Development Industry Code of Practice

• A review of this approach to excavated materials management

• Case studies

• An overview of plans and progress for version 3

• Lessons learnt from the development of similar initiatives overseas

• Ask the experts / debate session

£120 early bird – non CL:AIRE Member / Geol Soc Fellow [ends 30th August 2013]

£150 non CL:AIRE Member / Geol Soc Fellow

£100 CL:AIRE Member / Geol Soc Fellow

£50 Public Sector

£15 Student (limited spaces)

This event will be followed in the evening by a panel discussion on policy implications

Contact

Georgina WorrallConference Manager

E: georgina.worrall@geolsoc.org.ukT: +44 (0)20 7434 9944F: +44 (0)20 7494 0579

W: www.geolsoc.org.uk/slm13

The Geological SocietyBurlington House

PiccadillyLondon

W1J 0BG

CL:AIRE Annual Conference hosted by and inconjunction with the Geological Society, London

SustainableLand ManagementDecision support frameworks and tools for thesustainable development of land

CL AIRE

SEPTEMBER 2013 03

CONTENTS GEOSCIENTIST

06 18

12 COVER FEATURE: YANGTZE INCIDENTPeter Clift describes the event that changedthe drainage history of Asia

IN THIS ISSUESEPTEMBER 2013

18 WELSH ROOTS Martin Laverty on four Swansea brothers who travelledthe world in the 1840s

05 WELCOME Ted Nield on a regrettable attempt tocombine online anonymity with professionalaccreditation

06 SOCIETY NEWS What your Society is doing at homeand abroad, in London and the regions

11 SOAPBOX Ruth Robinson on the disappearance ofgeology from Scottish Highers

21 LETTERS We welcome your thoughts

22 BOOK & ARTS Four books reviewed by Trevor Ford,Bernard Elgey Leake, David Norbury and ColinSummerhayes

24 PEOPLE Geoscientists in the news and on the move

26 OBITUARY Two distinguished Fellows remembered

27 CALENDAR Society activities this month

29 CROSSWORD Win a special publication of your choice

FEATURES

REGULARS

n ERRATUM The picture associated with the Founder’sDay Dinner and Lecture announcement on page six of lastmonth’s issue was used in error. No photographs of Dr Parkinson are known to exist.

04 SEPTEMBER 2013

SEPTEMBER 2013 05

DR TED NIELD EDITOR

THE PUDONG BUSINESSDISTRICT IN SHANGHAI SITTING ON THEDELTA OF THE YANGTZE RIVER. THEDELTA HAS BEEN A REGION OF INTENSECULTURAL, SOCIAL AND ECONOMICACTIVITY SINCE NEOLITHIC TIMESFront cover: Songquan Deng / Shutterstock

~

~

EDITOR’S COMMENT GEOSCIENTIST

rofessor Mary Beard’s recent exposure of an online troll - whoapologised (by all accounts) becausehis re-tweeted posts were recognisedand someone threatened to tell his mum - throws into relief the whole issue of identity and

responsibility in the written word.Learned and professional societies are all about

owning up, standing up and being counted. Your Editorial Board (left) is keen to exhibit the factthat it is composed solely of Fellows of the Society,elected by their peers and possessing - as a lawyermight put it – ‘the dignity and responsibility theretoappertaining’. The key word is responsibility, for apostnominal requires a ‘nominal’. Anyone claiminga dignity must make themselves known, so theirbona fides may, if necessary, be verified. To claiman affiliation under an alias would be illogical - atworst, mendacious - because those whom you assertelected you (and who therefore act as your moralguarantors) would be unable to identify you.

Internet trolling is fostered by anonymity, and isthe direct antithesis of everything that affiliationstands for. Whereas anonymity fosters a freedomthat quickly becomes licence, affiliation andidentification impose the opposite – discipline inthought and word, circumspection, and (not least) politeness.

We are encouraged to embrace all innovation, forall novelty is bound to become the norm. We areenjoined to accept the Romantic notion thatindividualism and innovation are everything, andtradition nothing. But not everything lives byinnovation. Most creative activities are crafts thatneed to be learnt, and whose traditions need to beupheld against the forces that inevitably assailthem. Nobody should ever write anything to whichthey would not be content to put their name – ortheir postnominals.

Anonymity in the written word is a bigger evil,perhaps, than the discounting of expert editing inthe belief that democratic ask-the-audiencecrowdsourcing will somehow do instead. Try googling the sentence ‘I disapprove of what yousay but I will defend to the death your right to sayit’, perhaps French philosopher Voltaire’s best-known quote. The Internet will tell you so.Unfortunately, he never said it (it was put in hismouth by Evelyn Beatrice Hall in 1906). Truth is aprivilege known only to a few, and is notdetermined by show of hands. Nullius in verba and all that.

If you want anyone to defend to the death yourright to say something, better say who you are.

PCLUE IN THE NAME

Geoscientist is theFellowship magazine ofthe Geological Societyof London

The Geological Society,Burlington House, Piccadilly,London W1J 0BGT +44 (0)20 7434 9944F +44 (0)20 7439 8975E enquiries@geolsoc.org.uk(Not for Editorial)

Publishing HouseThe Geological SocietyPublishing House, Unit 7,Brassmill Enterprise Centre,Brassmill Lane, Bath BA1 3JNT 01225 445046F 01225 442836

Library T +44 (0)20 7432 0999F +44 (0)20 7439 3470E library@geolsoc.org.uk

EDITOR-IN-CHIEFProfessor Peter Styles FGS

EDITORDr Ted Nield NUJ FGSE ted.nield@geolsoc.org.uk

EDITORIAL BOARDDr Sue Bowler FGSMr Steve Branch FGSDr Robin Cocks FGSProf. Tony Harris FGSDr Howard Falcon-Lang FGSDr Jonathan Turner FGSDr Jan Zalasiewicz FGS

Trustees of the GeologicalSociety of LondonMr D T Shilston (President);Mrs N K Ala; Dr M GArmitage; Prof R A Butler;Prof N A Chapman; Dr A L Coe; Mr J Coppard;Mr D J Cragg (Vice president); Mrs N JDottridge; Mr C S Eccles; Dr M Edmonds; Prof A JFraser (Secretary, Science);Mrs M P Henton (Secretary,Professional Matters); Mr D A Jones (Vice president); Dr A Law(Treasurer); Prof R J Lisle;Prof A R Lord (Secretary,Foreign & External Affairs);Prof D A C Manning(President designate);Dr B R Marker OBE; Dr G Nichols; Dr L Slater; Dr J P Turner (Secretary,Publications); Mr M E Young

Published on behalf of the Geological Society ofLondon byCentury One Publishing Alban Row, 27–31 VerulamRoad, St Albans, Herts, AL3 4DGT 01727 893 894F 01727 893 895

E enquiries@centuryonepublishing.ltd.uk

W www.centuryonepublishing.ltd.uk

ADVERTISING EXECUTIVEJonathan KnightT 01727 739 193E jonathan@centuryone

publishing.ltd.uk

ART EDITORHeena Gudka

DESIGN & PRODUCTIONSarah Astington

PRINTED BY Century One Publishing Ltd.

Copyright The Geological Society ofLondon is a Registered Charity,number 210161.ISSN (print) 0961-5628 ISSN (online) 2045-1784

The Geological Society of Londonaccepts no responsibility for theviews expressed in any article inthis publication. All viewsexpressed, except where explicitly stated otherwise,represent those of the author, andnot The Geological Society ofLondon. All rights reserved. Noparagraph of this publication maybe reproduced, copied ortransmitted save with writtenpermission. Users registered withCopyright Clearance Center: theJournal is registered with CCC,27 Congress Street, Salem, MA01970, USA. 0961-5628/02/$15.00. Every effort has been made totrace copyright holders ofmaterial in this publication. If anyrights have been omitted, thepublishers offer their apologies.

No responsibility is assumed bythe Publisher for any injury and/ordamage to persons or property asa matter of products liability,negligence or otherwise, or fromany use or operation of anymethods, products, instructionsor ideas contained in the materialherein. Although all advertisingmaterial is expected to conform toethical (medical) standards,inclusion in this publication doesnot constitute a guarantee orendorsement of the quality orvalue of such product or of theclaims made by its manufacturer.

Subscriptions: Allcorrespondence relating to non-member subscriptions should beaddresses to the JournalsSubscription Department,Geological Society PublishingHouse, Unit 7 Brassmill EnterpriseCentre, Brassmill Lane, Bath, BA13JN, UK. Tel: 01225 445046. Fax:01225 442836. Email:sales@geolsoc.org.uk. Thesubscription price for Volume 23,2013 (11 issues) to institutionsand non-members is £108 (UK)or £124 / US$247 (Rest of World).

© 2013 The Geological Society of London

Earth Science Week 2013Earth Science Week will take place on 7 – 13 October. With a theme of‘Geology Outside’. Jo Mears reports.

The Society wants to encourage greater appreciation of the geology on ourdoorstep in the UK – whether you live in the city or the countryside. Regionaland national events will run throughout the week, culminating in a Great GeologyWalk on Saturday 12 – we hope as many people as possible will join us!

Walks can be self-guided, using material made available on our website; oryou can participate in one of many walks being organised by Regional Groups.However you choose join in, we would love to see pictures. Tweet us @geolsocusing #greatgeowalk, or email joanna.mears@geolsoc.org.uk.

GEOSCIENTIST SOCIETY NEWS

Kerbs and your enthusiasmSarah Day writes: as our contribution toEarth Science Week 2013, Geoscientistis setting out to unravel an urbanconundrum – with your help!

Across the country, Victorian pavements andkerbstones are dotted with mysteriousmarkings. Whether letters, symbols or shapes,

no-one seems to know what these engravings mean. Following Peter Dolan’sJune 2013 article (Geoscientist 22.05), our crack reporters have been searchingfor an answer; but not even the Worshipful Company of Paviors (est. 1479) hasthe answer. Quarry marks? Delivery instructions? Pointers to local services?Clues to a Da Vinci Code-style treasure hunt? We would like to know.

So, as an Earth Science Week ‘fringe event’, Geoscientist is calling on readersto help us build the largest kerbstone markings database the world has yet seen.If you spot a mysterious marking, snap it, use our handy identification guide to tell us about the rock it is carved in, and send us the information! You can findour guide at www.geolsoc.org.uk/kerbsurvey.

Email pictures to sarah.day@geolsoc.org.uk, or tweet us @geoscientistmagusing #kerbsurvey. The official data gathering week is 7 – 13 October – butthere is no need to wait until then!

Oh, and we promise that if the ‘Dan Brown’ theory pans out, any proceeds willgo to a well known charity of our choice. No 210161.

For more information about Earth Science Week events and howto take part, visit www.geolsoc.org.uk/earthscienceweek13

ELECTION – FELLOWSThe following names are put forward for election toFellowship at the OGM, 25 September 2013.ABBOTT Philip; AGG James Paul; ALI Zahid; ALLAN Sophie Louise; ARCHERJonathan Jeffrey; ATKINSON Emma; BALL Christopher John; BARKER RobertWilliam Noel; BASHAR Ibrahim Labran; BATA Timothy Peter; BEAVIS SaraGabrielle; BENGUIGUI Amran; BENNETT Nigel Peter; BERKENHEGER GavinIngo; BETHUNE Bruce George; BEYER Claus; BEYNON Steven John;BLANCHE Jamie Rowland Douglas; BOHILL Jennifer; BOYES Jonathan MarkRobin; BRIDDEN Michael Anthony; BROOK Nicholas; BRUMFIELD Guy William;BULL Charles Arthur; BULLEY Ian Martin; BURNS Michael; BURRAGE MarkGeorge; BUTTERWORTH Kristofer; BYRNE Keith Brendan; CARAVANTESGONZALEZ Guillermo; CARMONA CARRILLO Francisco Javier; CAYLEY GlenTerence; CHAMLEY Fraser; CHAN Sei Kin; CHAN Wing Kan Ada; CHAPMANRobert; CHARLES Jessica; CHATWIN Robert; CHEETHAM Rachel; CHOUDRYAuhlaaq Ahmed; CHRISTENSEN Peter Ronald; COBLEY Alexander Owen;CODY Samuel Franklin John; COLE Jonathan Paul; COLE-HAWTHORNE ClareRebecca; CONYBEARE Dominic; COOK Richard Charles; COSTEMA Thomas;CRAWFORD Lydia Joy; CROSS Ian Marcus; CUFF Christopher; CUNDY AndrewBrian; DARCY Mitchell Keith; DAVEY Jonathan Mark; DAVIES Edward Julian;DAVIES William Ivor; DECLERCQ Julien; DICKSON Euan Michael; DMITRIEVAEvelina; DODD James John; DODD Sarah Catherine; DODDS Peter; DUNHAMThomas Jack; DUNNE Gabrielle Katie; ELLIS Amy Clare; EMBER Richard;ENWEREM Chinyere Azubuike; FARO Geoffrey Robert; FELLOWS Susan AlisonFleur; FINNEY Alexander Peter; FISHBURNE Andrew Sam; FISHER WilliamJames; FITZGERALD-HUDSON April; FLEMING Edward James; FLOWERSAdrian Paul; FOK Wilson Wai Sun; FOORD Timothy Hugh; FORDHAM RobertDavid; FOSTER Adrian Mark; FOX Robert Ian; GILES David Arthur; GILMERAmy; GOLDSPINK Matthew; GOODBAND Ross; GOODFELLOW Thomas;GOODMAN Roisin Mary Bridgid Angela; GROCOTT Michael; GRUBER MatthewPail; GUERRA Ivan; HALL Siobhan; HAMMOND Lee Morgan; HARPER Michael;HARTLEY Matthew Thomas; HASITHA Lokusethu Hewage Don Danuska;HAWKINS Charlotte Elizabeth; HERBERT Paul David; HESP Elizabeth Ann;HOAD Bianca; HOFMANN Christian Marcelo; HOJNOWSKI Michal;HOLZWEBER Barbara Isabella; HUBERT Nicole Aisling; HYETT Timothy; IBEHChristopher Uchechukwu; ILIES Alice; JAMES Ian Gareth; JAMES Nicholas;JAMES Robert Andrew; JANAKA Mudiyanselage Dinusha; JEFFERD MatthewJohn; JIAGGE Robert; JOHNSON Gayle; JOHNSON Timothy Alexander; JONESBenjamin; JONES Oliver Mark Laurence; JONES Philippa Anne; KEITH RoryThomas; KELLY Thomas Peter; KENNAUGH Victoria Jane; KITE Graham David;KORIA Krishan; LAMBOURNE Eve Hannah; LANE Mark Robert; LAWRIE CraigBaxter; LEUNG Pak Wing; LEUNG Yuen Hong; LINDE-ARIAS Emilio; LIVESEYAthena; LIVSLEY Ernest Stephen; LO Choi Ying; MACCARTHY Finbarr Joseph;MACFARLANE Verity; MADDEN Robert; MAILEY Jane Christina; MALONEYPaul William; MAPHOSA Bridgette; MARTIN Jane Alexandra; MAWDITT GaryRobert; MCARDLE Peter Bernard; MCCOLLIN Heather Jane; MCGEEVERSiobhan; MCGRATH Conor; MCINTOSH Richard William; MCKENZIE Ian;MELLIN Adrian; MEREDITH John Edwin Charles; MIDDLETON Jay Leslie;MOHAMMAD Omar Adil; MOORE Lydia Danielle; MOREIRA Claire Nicola;MORELAND William Michael; MORRICE Susan Margaret; MOTT Gwen;MURDOCH Heather Gayle; NAIR Radhakrishnan; NEAL Harry Andrew; NEAVEDavid Axford; NEVE Peter Stephen; NIEBOER Ian; NOBLE Richard Philip;NORCLIFFE James Richard; OLIVER Andrew John; OLIVER Jonathan Oliver;OPUKMO Alfred Wilson; OWEN Edward Llewellyn; PACE Paulo; PEARSONJonathan; PIERPOINT Nicholas William; PLAMPTON William David; POTTERRebecca Kate; POWELL Lisa Marie; PRING Mark James; PROSSER Katherine;PYM David Ewan; RAE Lisa; RAFIPAY Charles; RANDLE Charles Henry;RAPHAEL Kern Finbar; REYNOLDS Catherine; REYNOLDSON Stephen;RICHARDSON Julie Ruth; RIDING Daniel Frederic; ROBINSON William John;ROORDA James Douwe; RORISON Philip John; ROSE Peter Robert;ROSENBERG David; ROURKE Peter James; ROVARDI Matthew Peter; RULE David Christopher Walter Will; RYAN Paul John; SANKEY Kate Christina;SIBERRY Claire Amanda; SMITH Alexander James; SMITH Stuart; SMYLYHeather; SOUFLERIS Christos; SQUIRES Claire Elizabeth; STEINER BenediktMaximilian; STEWART Amy Claire; STOREY Duncan Gareth; STOTT AndrewTuson; SULEIMAN Adamu; SUTTILL Hannah Louise; SWEENEY Mark John;SYDNEY Hannah; SZULC Joanne; TAYLOR Helen; TAYLOR Martin Stephen;TENNANT Stewart David; TESFU Abraham; THOMPSON Benjamin Charles;THORNTON Elizabeth Sarah; TURNER Matthew James; TYRRELL Toby;VILCHEZ PONS Elena; VINCENT Benoit; WAI PING Yiu; WALTERS AbigailSarah; WARD Christopher James; WARNOCK William; WATKIN Tegid Arwyn;WATSON Jonathan Adam; WEBB Daniel Robert; WEBBER Simon; WEBSTER Jenna; WESLEY Benjamin Joseph; WHEELER Ian Stewart; WHITE Lloyd Thomas; WHITELEY Martin John; WHITTINGHAM ChristineWILLIAMS Clive Albert John; WILLIAMS Nathan; WILS Tommy; WILSON PhilipSamuel; NTER Julian David; WRAY Wesley Philip; WU Kwok Hoong Brandon;YORIS-VILLASANA Franklin Gerardo.

SOCIETYNEWS

06 SEPTEMBER 2013

Image: S

tewart S

mith P

hotography / Shutterstock

Grisedale Pike, Cumbria. Not everyone has the Skiddaw Group ontheir doorstep. But everyone has a doorstep – and kerbstones!

lectures][Shell LondonLecture Series

SEPTEMBER 2013 07

SOCIETY NEWS GEOSCIENTIST

Society Awards 2014

Lambeck’s ‘return’

Fellows of the Society are invited tosubmit nominations for the Society’sAwards for 2014 to the AwardsCommittee. Full details about how tomake nominations may be found atwww.geolsoc.org.uk/awards.

Edmund Nickless writes: In order toreward excellence and promoteinternational recognition of Fellows ofthe Society, we would encourage youto nominate colleagues for awards ofother societies such as the AmericanAssociation of Petroleum Geologists,the American Geophysical Union, theEuropean Geosciences Union and theGeological Society of America.

There are different requirements and criteria for the awards made bythese societies; for example, somerequire candidates to be members. Details can be found at: n www.aapg.org/business/

honors_awards/ n www.agu.org/honorsprogram/n www.egu.eu/awards-

medals/proposal-and-selection-of-candidates/

n www.geosociety.org/awards/aboutAwards.htm

FROM THE LIBRARYThe library is open to visitorsMonday-Friday 0930-1730.

For a list of new acquisitions clickthe appropriate link fromhttp://www.geolsoc.org.uk/gsl/info

Nominations must be received at theSociety no later than 4 October 2013

For more information about this serviceemail library@geolsoc.org.uk or visitwww.geolsoc.org.uk/loans

The extinct dwarf elephants of the Mediterranean areremarkable. They evolved many times, on manyislands, from large mainland species such as the four-metre tall straight-tusked elephant. Some of thesedwarf elephant species were just one metre tall asadults. But although scientists know they evolved inresponse to the island environment, we still don’t fullyunderstand why. Victoria has been seeking out sitesexcavated by Victorian and Edwardian naturalists suchas Thomas Spratt, Andrew Leith Adams, Hugh Falconerand Dorothea Bate, and bringing modern methods tobear on their discoveries. In this talk, she will tell thestory of those pioneers, how she came to follow in theirfootsteps, and what her new findings might mean.

n Programme – Afternoon talk: 1430 Tea & Coffee:1500 Lecture begins: 1600 Event ends.n Programme – Evening talk: 1730 Tea & Coffee:1800 Lecture begins: 1900 Reception.

FURTHER INFORMATIONPlease visit www.geolsoc.org.uk/shelllondonlectures13. Entry to each lecture is byticket only. To obtain a ticket please contact us aroundfour weeks before the talk. Due to the popularity of thislecture series, tickets are allocated in a monthly ballotand cannot be guaranteed.

Contact: Naomi Newbold, The Geological Society, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London W1J 0BG, T: +44 (0) 20 7432 0981E: Naomi.newbold@geolsoc.org.uk

FUTURE MEETINGSDates for meetings of Council and OrdinaryGeneral Meetings until April 2014 shall be as follows:

n 2013: 24 & 25 September (Council residential)– OGM at 1630, 25 September; 27 Novembern 2014: 5 February; 9 April

Dwarfism in animalson islandsVictoria Herridge (Natural History Museum)

11 September 2013

anticipated lecture, Of Ice and Land,Sea and Strand: Sea Level DuringGlacial Cycles.

An unfortunate omission onPresident’s Day will be rectified inSeptember, reports Dawne Riddle.

Due to a most unfortunate diarymalfunction, Prof Kurt Lambeckmanaged to miss President’s Day andthe Awards Ceremony, at which hewas to receive the Wollaston Medal.We look forward to welcoming himback on Wednesday 25 September,when he will finally deliver his much-

The event will follow the AGM and beginwith tea at 1730. The medalpresentation talk will follow at 1800 andculminate in a wine reception, finishingaround 2000. Entry is free but by ticketonly. Please register withnaomi.newbould@geolsoc.org.uk

Flexible postal loansIn order to lower costs for Fellows andCorporate Affiliate companies, theLibrary is now able to post books andmaps using First or Second Classpostage. Items can be postedanywhere in the UK and Ireland, andthe majority of the Society’s holdingsare available through this service.

If you would like items urgently, thenno problem! We can guarantee itemswill reach you next day using RoyalMail Special Delivery.

GSLLibraryspecialdelivery

08 SEPTEMBER 2013

GEOSCIENTIST SOCIETY NEWS

Policy update This month’s interview date has elicited a recordnumber of applications - some 44 have been receivedto date, including two from overseas. Three are forCSci only, one for both CSci and CGeol, and 39 forCGeol. Six of the latter come from senior geologistswith 20+ years’ professional experience.

We shall therefore use four venues for interviews, and over 50 scrutineers have been called up for duty.This represents about 20% of our total resource ofscrutineers. If this trend continues, then we may haveto ask scrutineers for their help more than once in ayear unless we can recruit more.

We encourage any Chartered Geologist with overfour years’ professional experience after attaining CGeolstatus, or who has many years’ experience beforebecoming Chartered, to apply to be a Scrutineer.Invitations to act are governed by the types of expertiseclaimed by candidates in any one area; so it may wellbe that some scrutineers are rarely called upon.

Applications for November interviews are also lookinghealthy. The Central Scotland Regional Group askedfor an interview venue in Scotland and advertised this totheir members. This has resulted in some 13 confirmedapplications for interviews in Glasgow on November 5.We already have another six definite applications for theLondon venue on November 7, the application deadlinefor which is not until September 9. Interest is pickingup from the oil and gas and mining sectors as well asfrom senior Fellows who have yet to become Chartered.

Chartership applications peak

The University of Derby applied for accreditation of itsMSc in Applied Petroleum Geoscience. This applicationhas been successful and so is added to the growing listof vocational MSc programmes now accredited by theSociety. Graduates of these accredited programmesare eligible to apply for Chartership after four years’relevant experience, a year earlier than would be thecase without accreditation.

Two other MSc courses have been submitted and arepresently under review by the Accreditation Committee.The results of these applications will be published in thenext issue of Geoscientist. It is hoped that more willfollow and that the academics associated with allvocational MSc courses will become Chartered.Applications for accreditation of three more companytraining schemes have also been received and areunder review by the Professional Committee.

Accreditation news

Information on scrutineering is available onwww.geolsoc.org.uk/scrutineers. For furtherinformation, email: Chartership@geolsoc.org.uk or callBill Gaskarth on 07916 138631

Please see online for references www.geolsoc.org.uk/Geoscientist

SOCIETYNEWS...CHARTERSHIP NEWS Accreditation officer Bill Gaskarth ona new monthly record for Chartershipapplications, and new accrediteduniversity courses

Email: chartership@geolsoc.org.uk

n THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY CLUB The Geological Society Club, successor to the body that gave birth to theSociety in 1807, meets monthly (except over the field season!) at 18.30 for19.00 in the Athenaeum Club, Pall Mall, or at another venue, to be confirmednearer the date. Once a year there is also a buffet dinner at BurlingtonHouse. New diners are always welcome, especially from among youngerFellows. Dinner costs £55 for a four-course meal, including coffee and port.(The Founders' Dinner, in November, has its own price structure.) There is acash bar for the purchase of aperitifs and wine.

2013: 25 September (Ath); 16 October; 2014: 5 February (Burlington House);5 March (Ath); 14 May; 24 September; 15 October

Fellows wishing to dine should email Cally Oldershaw in the first instance, to secure a booking and receive payment instructions. E: cally.oldershaw@btopenworld.com or T: 07796 942361.

The Society has undertaken a wide range ofpolicy activities, from reform of the curriculum todeveloping the UK’s science infrastructure, writes Florence Bullough.

The Society often works with other organisations when responding to inquiriesand government consultations – we achieve more working together than we doalone. The most recent instance was the response to the House of Lords Scienceand Technology Committee’s inquiry on Scientific Infrastructure. We took part in adiscussion with other scientific societies convened by the Science Council, whichthen informed the Science Council’s response. The Society also provided asupplementary response supporting the Science Council’s more general onewhich addressed infrastructure needs specific to our community, and examples ofsuccessful collaboration nationally and internationally1. We also attended a recentstakeholder meeting at the Department of Business Innovation and Skills todiscuss the impact of EU membership on UK Research and Development2.

Reform of the National Curriculum for England is still underway, but a majormilestone has been reached with the publication of the final version of thecurriculum for Key Stages 1-3 (students aged 5-14) in July. We were pleased tosee that many of the comments which the Geological Society provided on thedraft curriculum were taken on board by the Department of Education3.

The Society also responded to a recent call for evidence from the Departmentfor Energy and Climate Change, which is reviewing the process for siting of ageological disposal facility for radioactive waste4. And we worked with the RoyalSociety to hold an event to mark the publication of a major report of the EuropeanAcademies Science Advisory Council on carbon capture and storage.

From time to time we also attend parliamentary events in London and elsewhereto meet a wider group of decision-makers and promote appreciation of the manyways in which geoscience underpins society. The policy team participated in the‘Science and the Assembly’ event in May, with the theme of ‘Innovation as a Driverof Growth in the Welsh Economy’, held at the Welsh Assembly buildings in Cardiff.

In July, the policy team, along with members of Council and other Fellows,attended the Parliamentary Links Day at Portcullis House, Westminster organisedby the Society of Biology, and hosted a table at a lunch held afterwards in theHouse of Lords. This year’s session focused on Science and Diversity.

SEPTEMBER 2013 09

SOCIETY NEWS GEOSCIENTIST

Navigate your way to the right map with new online tool

GEOFACETS MAP SEARCH & RETRIEVAL][

Right: Manygeoscientists stillhave a fascinationfor maps of all sortsand will seek themout for pleasure, orin the pursuit of theirprofession

An online map-finding tool designedfor the oil industry will soon beavailable to individual Fellows of theSociety. Neil Marriott reports.

Many of us remember the firstgeological map we saw – perhaps ofour local area, perhaps frame-mountedon a museum wall, or printed in thepages of our first geology textbook -and were struck by its vivid colours,unexpected patterns and the hint of astory to be told. Many geoscientistsstill have a fascination for mapsof all sorts and will seek them out for pleasure, or in the pursuit of their profession.

For those who use maps in theirwork, sourcing the right maps, whichgive the right information, may not beeasy. Some may be held by overseasgeological surveys, while others maybe available commercially. Still othersmay be held in extensive privatecollections and map libraries, such asthe Geological Society’s Map Library inBurlington House (see Folded or Flat,by Paul Johnson (Society MapLibrarian), Geoscientist 22.10,November 2012), or published withinthe pages of scholarly books andjournals. Even if appropriate maps canbe found, the search can be timeconsuming, and it can be difficult tointegrate diverse map data with modernworking methods or GIS systems.

GEOFACETSIt was with these challenges in mindthat Elsevier set about developingGeofacets, a unique map search andretrieval system for the geoscientist.After interviewing oil industrygeologists about their use of maps inregional evaluation, and how theyidentified and retrieved the key datarequired, they set about developing asystem to improve and accelerate theidentification of the most useful mapsand retrieve valuable articles ofparticular relevance.

Launched in 2010, Geofacets wasinitially designed for the oil industry and

enabled geoscientists to identify mapsand sections published withinElsevier’s Earth science journals.Since then more maps have beenadded, including those published bythe Geological Society in its books andjournals featured in the Lyell Collection.Other societies, including SEPM andthe Society for Economic Geologyhave also integrated their mapcontent, and this autumn further mapsfrom the Geological Society of Americawill be added.

Geofacets is an intuitive online map-based search tool, its key strengthbeing that it enables the extraction ofgeoreferenced geological maps andlinks to the articles they are publishedin. These maps can then be importedinto a variety of GIS systems andoverlain to extract maximum valuefrom the data retrieved. Searches canbe made geographically, and refinedby map type, key word, basin or dateof publication.

To date Geofacets has only beenavailable to corporate or institutionalsubscribers and has been especiallypopular with those working in the oilindustry where the stakes are high andinvestments of millions may ride on theaccuracy of map-based evaluations ofpotential new prospects. However,from January 2014 a new version ofGeofacets designed specifically for

Fellows of the Geological Society ofLondon will be available.

Geofacets GSL Millennium Editionwill provide individual Fellows with thefull range of Geofacets functionalityand enable the retrieval of the c.20,000 GSL maps published in its books and journals since 2000.Each map search result: n links to the full text of the article from

which is derived (read-only for titlesto which a Fellow does not haveaccess rights)

n can be downloadedn is accompanied by article and

metadata information, and therelevant abstract

The price of this new service will be£35 for 2014 and the Society hasorganised a series of webinars toprovide further detailed informationand enable you to ask detailedquestions. For details of Geofacets-GSL Millennium Edition, this autumn’swebinar programme and how tosubscribe, please visit www.geolsoc.org.uk. To find out more about howyour employer or business cansubscribe to the current full version ofGeofacets please email SeniorProduct Manager, Phoebe McMellonat p.mcmellon@elsevier.com orDirector of Marketing Regina Javier onr.javier@elsevier.com.

Future Petroleum Science & Technology Drivers100 Years and Beyond:

C E L E B R A T I N G 1 0 0 Y E A R S O F O I L T E C H N O L O G Y A T I M P E R I A L C O L L E G E

Date: 23-24 September 2013Venue: Imperial College London

This 2-day meeting will celebrate 100 years of petroleum-related scienceand engineering education at Imperial College. With a list of distinguishedspeakers, we aim to mark this landmark achievement by looking forwardto the next 100 years, with emphasis on discussing key future drivers andrelated energy supply issues. The meeting will be wide-ranging, withpresentations covering global energy trends, future geoscience andengineering technologies, unconventional hydrocarbon resources, carbonsequestration and climate change.

We have an outstanding group of confirmed speakers, including:• Richard Hardman CBE (past President, Geological Society) • Lord Oxburgh of Liverpool • Lord Browne of Madingley • Professor Scott Tinker (Director, Bureau of Economic Geology, Texas) • Dr Bruce Levell (VP Emerging Technologies, Shell) • Malcolm Brown (Senior VP Exploration, BG Group) • Dr Bryan Lovell OBE (past President, Geological Society)• Professor Joe Cartwright (University of Oxford) • Emeritus Professor John Woods (Imperial College & the 2007 Joint

Nobel Peace Prize Winner)• Dr Mike Daly (VP Exploration, BP)

The meeting is jointly convened by Imperial College London and by theGeological Society of London, supported by the American Association ofPetroleum Geologists, the Society of Petroleum Engineers, the PetroleumExploration Society of Great Britain and the European Association ofGeoscientists and Engineers.

I N A S S O C I A T I O N W I T H

S P O N S O R E D B Y

Further information and registration details:Further information and registration details can be found at: www.geolsoc.org.uk/oilcentenary13or contact Steve Whalley at the Geological Society, using thefollowing email address: steve.whalley@geolsoc.org.uk

Registration Open

SEPTEMBER 2013 11

SOAPBOX CALLING!

As the SQA ditches Higher Geology, Ruth Robinson* asks: is Scotland experiencinga loss of science breadth and reason?

In 2015, Scotland will discontinue theHigher Geology qualification. What wouldJames Hutton think of this, I wonder? The Scottish Qualification Authority (SQA)decided to close Higher Geology because ofpoor uptake by pupils. A previousGeoscientist article by Chris King and BenJones (‘Reasons to be cheerful?’ Geoscientist21.05, June 2011) presented trends in A Level and Higher Geology that illustratethe low numbers taking Higher Geologyrecently. However, no new Geologyteachers have been trained in Scotlandsince 1985 and there is a strong argumentthat low uptake is a direct consequence ofpoor provision.

However, enthusiasm for geologyeducation is high across Scotland, wheresupport is available. The GeoBus outreachproject has involved 15,000 pupils in 120different schools in Earth science teachingactivities since January 2012; 82,000 pupilsvisit Our Dynamic Earth in Edinburghannually, and a recent (unpublished) surveydemonstrates that over 130 teachers areinterested in offering the subject at Higher,given support.

This demand is not a sufficient argumentfor SQA to change their decision. They arguethat geology content is now spread acrosssubjects within Curriculum for Excellence; butour audit of the mandatory material inNational 5 (Key Stage 4) and Higherestimates this to be minimal anddisconnected coverage.

We have an opportunity to developsomething new. A group including PeterHarrison (Ullapool High School), JoyceGilbert (Royal Scottish GeographicalSociety), Stuart Monro (Our Dynamic Earth),John Banks (Maersk Oil Ltd) and I have metthe Scottish Government to propose a newHigher in Earth Science. This would coverthe solid Earth and Earth systems, the Earthscience behind climate and environmentalchange through time and natural resourcechallenges, as well as covering core aspectsof geology. It would build on the excitingresearch advances over the last 25 years and

highlightthe breadth

of potentialcareers

available. If offered in

S6 (Year 13), it isnot in competition

with other scienceand Maths Highers

typically taken in S5, andHigher Earth Science could

build on, and integrate, thelearning achieved in other

science subjects. The transitional year between school and

university or employment also provides anopportunity to develop independentlearning and transferable skills that aregeneric to other subject areas, including3D/4D visualisation and understandingconcepts of uncertainty. We want our nextgeneration of citizens to have an adequategrasp of the relevance of Earth science in the economy and for smart stewardship, not just an increased stream of Earth science graduates.

So - what would Hutton think of moderneducation systems? He would probably find our secondary science educationawfully narrow. Data from the Trends inInternational Maths and Science Survey(2007) shows that Scotland ranks 39th out of41 OECD countries in terms of thenarrowness of its science teaching (SEEAGReport 2012). This could be improved byoffering something with breadth, such asEarth science. We await a decision from the Minister for Learning, Science and Scots Language, Dr Alastair Allan, on our proposal.

Soapbox is open tocontributions from all Fellows.You can always write a letter tothe Editor, of course: butperhaps you feel you needmore space?

If you can write it entertainingly in500 words, the Editor would liketo hear from you.

Email your piece, and a self-portrait, to ted.nield@geolsoc.org.uk. Copy can only beaccepted electronically. Nodiagrams, tables or otherillustrations please.

Pictures should be of print quality – as a rule of thumb,anything over a few hundredkilobytes should do.

Precedence will always be givento more topical contributions.Any one contributor may notappear more often than once pervolume (once every 12 months).

WE WANT OURNEXT GENERATION OF CITIZENS TO HAVEAN ADEQUATE GRASP OF THERELEVANCE OF EARTHSCIENCE IN THEECONOMY AND FORSMART STEWARDSHIP, NOT JUST ANINCREASED STREAMOF EARTH SCIENCEGRADUATESRuth Robinson

~

~

SOAPBOX GEOSCIENTIST

WRITTEN BY RUTH ROBINSON

*Ruth Robinson is Senior Lecturer in theDepartment of Earth & Environmental Sciences at theUniversity of St Andrews. She is also Director of themobile Earth science outreach project, GeoBus

Scottish un-enlightenment

he highest and youngestcontinent on Earth, Asia, isalso the home of many of thelargest rivers on the planet.Although the Amazon has thegreatest water discharge of any

river on Earth, the great streams drainingthe Tibetan Plateau and HimalayanMountains carry the largest sedimentloads. These not only support humanactivities but also feed the biggestsubmarine sediment accumulations in theadjacent deep ocean basins of the IndianOcean and the Western Pacific marginalseas. The submarine fans are of greaterscientific and commercial interest; butevery grain of sand deposited there hadfirst to be transported by the rivers to thecoast. Understanding how the rivers haveevolved is essential if we are to decipherthe deep sea stratigraphic record.

Because rivers have to flow downhill, it has long been accepted that thedevelopment of topography in Asiafollowing the collision between India andEurasia around 50 million years ago (Ma)would have resulted in a significantreorganisation of the original riversystems. In the Palaeogene Central Asia was covered by the shallow seas ofthe Paratethys, but southern Tibet andthose regions now exposed along thesouthern coast of China were elevatedareas, as a result of the deformation andmagmatism of a subduction-related arcduring the Mesozoic.

The Oligocene extension anddeepening of the South China Sea,coupled with the growth of the TibetanPlateau, resulted in a reversal of theoriginal regional gradient. Likewise, ineastern China extension, starting in the

Oligocene and culminating in the Miocene (probably linked to rollback ofthe Pacific plate) resulted a series of basinsopening and subsidence accelerating inthe East China Sea just as the TibetanPlateau was growing towards the east andnorth. Together, these processes resultedin a re-tilting of the regional topographytowards the Pacific Ocean.

HEADWATER CAPTUREThe region of Southwest China, northernVietnam and southeastern Tibet isparticularly noteworthy in understandinghow the rivers have developed during theCenozoic because it has several largerivers (Irrawaddy, Salween, Mekong, Red and Yangtze) that flow within about180km of one another, separated byparallel mountain ranges. Early models,which suggested these streams are passive strain markers brought togetherby deformation of the upper crust, havemostly given way to hypotheses based onthe idea that they represent fragmentedparts of one larger pre-collisional riversystem that has been disrupted bytopographic growth as it spread from NW to SE - a view championed by MarinClark, now at the University of Michigan.

The Red River in particular attractedattention as being potentially the ancestral“mother river” of eastern Asia. In thisscenario the modern river represents only the main stem of the palaeo-river,with the headwaters having been lost toadjacent major drainage basins; althoughmore recently provenance work hassuggested that this basin may not haveinvolved quite as many neighbouringdrainages as some of the original modelswere inclined to believe.

T

Peter Clift* wades into the debate over the originof Asia’s modern drainage pattern

YANGTZE RIVER INCIDENT

GEOSCIENTIST FEATURE

▼

Panoramic picture showing the first bend of theYangtze River in Yunnan, Southwest China. In thislocation the Yangtze changes its direction of flow

from towards the south back towards the northeastfor the first time since starting its journey in Tibet

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Data from the sedimentary basinsformed along the India-Eurasia suturezones now suggest that many of the riversbegan their life shortly after the collisionbetween these major continental blocks. I and a number of colleagues, mostnotably Graham Layne now at MemorialUniversity in Newfoundland, used Pbisotope measurements of single grains ofpotassium feldspar analysed by ionmicroprobe from the Indus Molasse ofIndian Ladakh to show the start of anaxial river draining west into the Arabian Sea shortly after around 50Ma.This was supported by later U-Pb datingof detrital zircon sand grains from thesame sequences.

Likewise, new data based on U-Pbzircon dating of sandstones within theCentral Burma Basin and analysed byRuth Robinson and colleagues at St.Andrews University, show a convincinglink between the Irrawaddy River and theBrahmaputra/Yarlung Tsangpo in Tibet,demonstrating that large rivers hadstarted to drain the suture zone effectivelyafter the time that sea water had beeneliminated from within the collision zone.As soon as the colliding continents hadstarted to generate topography, the newrivers began to exploit it; and thesestreams have probably been in place,draining through the western and easternsyntaxes, since that time.

COMPLICATEDThe situation in eastern Asia is howevermore complicated because the majorrivers from Tibet are flowing parallel tothe structural grain out of the plateau andare also affected by the graduallyexpanding nature of Tibetan topography.It is now becoming apparent that the timearound the Oligocene-Miocene transition,~24Ma, is one of major change for theriver systems. It may not be a coincidencethat this was also a time when the Asianmonsoon began to strengthensignificantly in South and Southeast Asia,resulting in higher discharge and fastersediment delivery to the continentalmargins supplied by the major rivers.

In 2006 Nguyen Anh Duc from theVietnam Petroleum Institute, JerzyBlusztajn from the Woods HoleOceanographic Institution and I, thenworking at the University of Aberdeen,proposed that the Red River had achievedmuch of its present geometry as a resultof losing its drainage connection to whatis now the central Yangtze drainage, mostnotably around the Sichuan Basin in SWChina. This model was based on the bulkcomposition of sediment deposited under

The Red Riverof northernVietnam,proposed to bethe ancestralmother river ofEastern Asia

Shadedtopographymap of easternAsia showingthe courses ofthe major riversand theirrelationship tothe hightopography ofthe Tibetanplateau

Pagodas in theold city of Dali,Yunnan,SouthwestChina close tothe headwatersof the Red River

Fisherman onthe Red Riverin northernVietnam

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SEPTEMBER 2013 15

FEATURE GEOSCIENTIST

the modern delta of the Red River. Nd isotopes were used to identify the

bulk provenance of the river and showedthe palaeo-river sediments achievingvalues comparable to the modern riverbefore around 24Ma. Subsequently,application of Pb isotope methods tosingle grains of potassium feldspar andanalysed in the ion microprobe atEdinburgh University allowed us to makea link between the Red River delta andthe Yangtze Craton, exposed in centralsouthern China - the loss of drainageoccurring before 24Ma, at the start of theMiocene. The same study ruled out anyconnection between the Red River andthe Brahmaputra, as well as with theMekong or Salween. This limited the sizeof the palaeo-Red River. Subsequently,Long Van Hoang, now at the HanoiUniversity of Mining and Geology, usedzircon dating of fluvial sedimentary rocksin northern Vietnam to support thisgeneral picture of a larger palaeo-RedRiver extending into central China beforethe middle Miocene, but not one coveringthe enormous areas first proposed.

GROWING TOPOGRAPHYThis general picture of drainagereorganisation seemed to be broadlyconsistent with new data on the uplifthistory of the plateau. Earlier attempts tolook at how the elevation has changedfocused on a rapid uplift starting about8Ma, some workers even favouring rapiduplift extending as late as the Pleistocene(younger than 1.8Ma). Others, includingPaul Tapponnier (Earth Observatory ofSingapore), favoured a stepwise uplift,starting in the Eocene.

These models have now been testedthanks to the development of stableisotope proxies for plateau elevation andapplied to lake deposits and calcreteswithin continental sediments. Theseargue that southern Tibet came close to itsmodern elevation either shortly after - oreven before - the collision with India, andthat topography grew from this nucleus.Thermochronology work led by MarinClark in the gorges of eastern Tibet,showed that these valleys were primarily cut after around 11Ma; but thatdid not preclude an earlier upliftinvolving a gentle tilting towards theEast, which would have been sufficient toreorganise the rivers into the new patternwe see today.

Thus we can envisage a progressivegrowth of topography, spreading from thecollision zone, driving major drainagereorganisation across eastern Asia startingin the Oligocene. ▼

MODIS satelliteimage of theYangtze Delta inflood in 2003

The red River insouthwest Chinawithin its upperreaches close tothe proposedcapture pointwith the Yangtze

Outcrop of theYangtze Gravelsat Guizshan,near Nanjing inthe lowerreaches of theYangtze River.Volcanic rocksinterbeddedwithin thesequence showthat these riversediments weredepositedbefore 23 Ma

16 SEPTEMBER 2013

ROLE OF THE YANGTZEWithin this overall framework ofevolving topography the Yangtze stoodout as being anomalous because manygeologists considered the river to be ofPleistocene age and certainly not morethan a few million years old. This wasdespite its very central location betweenseveral other basins, its origins withinthe Tibetan Plateau and the fact thatmany models invoke headwater capturebetween the Yangtze and its neighbours.

The supposed young age of theYangtze was based mostly on theobservation that large deltaic clinoformsin the region of the modern river mouthonly date back as far as the Pleistocene;but this presumed that the river mouthhad not moved, despite the widelyrecognised tendency of such systems toavulse (as has been well documented inthe Mississippi).

Furthermore, zircon data collected byPing Kong and colleagues from theChinese Academy of Sciences in Beijingfrom close to the ‘first bend’ (theapparent capture point between the Redand the Yangtze rivers) seem to suggest are-routing of the river from south to thenortheast after only 1.7Ma. Why wouldthe Yangtze River be so young, when thetopography of Eastern Asia appears tohave been in continuous developmentthrough much of the Cenozoic? Wherewould the water from eastern Tibet haveflowed without the Yangtze, prior to the Pleistocene?

This question was of particularinterest to my colleague Hongbo Zheng,who living in Nanjing encounters theYangtze on a daily basis. He observed aseries of fluvial sedimentary rocksexposed close to the city that werecovered by lava flows. These sequencesare known as the Yangtze Gravels andhave always been assumed to be ofPleistocene age. However, Zheng andhis colleague Fred Jourdan (CurtinUniversity) sampled the flows and usingthe Ar-Ar method dated them as olderthan 22Ma!

As a result they were able to concludethat these sediments could act as amonitor of how well formed the Yangtzewas during the Early Miocene. A number of samples were then takenfrom the sediments beneath the lavaflows, and the zircon sand grains datedat Nanjing University using the U-Pbmethod. At the same time, sedimentswere taken from the modern YangtzeRiver and analysed similarly. The rangeof ages was very wide but can bedivided up into families reflecting the

times of orogeny and crustal formationin eastern Asia.

The illustration shows the closesimilarity between the age populationsin the Yangtze Gravels and those in theadjacent modern river. Although thereis some variability, even in the modernsystem (because of seasonal floods,climate change and even anthropogenicdisturbance) it is apparent that all themajor age populations are present, andin approximately similar proportions, inboth the gravels and the modern river.Zheng interpreted this to indicate thegravels were being deposited from ariver that was essentially similar to thepresent-day Yangtze. When the samedeposits were compared with otherpotential rivers, such as the YellowRiver, a very poor match was found.

REORGANISATIONUnderstanding that the Yangtze Rivermust be at least 22 million years oldmeans that this river, consistent withdata from the Red and IrrawaddyRivers, indicates large-scale re-organisation at the start of theMiocene. The Yangtze appears to havetaken up its present course immediatelyafter it was captured from the Red River.

Where was this river flowing if therewas no delta in the present location?Zheng has identified thick sequences ofclastic sedimentary rocks within theSubei Basin, which lies just to the northof the modern river mouth and whichseems to have been one of the primarydepocentres for this earlier drainagesystem. If the river reaching Nanjingwas really flowing close to the presentcourse before 23Ma then this impliesthat the Yangtze must have been passing through the Three Gorgesregion by that time.

In order to do that it has to flowthrough the Jianghan basin, which liesimmediately downstream of the gorges.During much of the Paleogene this basinwas receiving mudstones and evaporitedeposits, which continued until justbefore 36Ma. It is inconceivable that thelake in which the sediments formed(and which must have occupied thecenter of the Jianghan Basin) could havebeen supplied by the Yangtze River,because the volume of water wouldhave been too great to have permittedthe evaporites to have formed. This means that the Yangtze could nothave flowed on its modern path untilafter 36Ma.

This new study places the Yangtzefirmly within a coherent pattern of

Volcanic rocksoverlying theYangtze Gravelsclose to Nanjing

The YangtzeRiver(Jinshajiang)within the TigerLeaping Gorgewithin the JadeDragon SnowMountain ofYunnan,SouthwestChina justdownstreamfrom the first bend

Pie diagramsshowing thesimplified agecomposition ofzircon sandgrains withinYangtze Gravelsediment takenfrom close toNanjingcompared tothe modernYangtze River atNanjing, themodern YellowRiver and acompositeaverage ofsands from theYangtze Deltasince 3.1 Ma.Taser fromZheng et al.(2013)

Proposeddevelopment ofthe riversystems inEastern Asiaand itsrelationship tothe growingtopography ofthe Tibetanplateau as wellas the large-scale faultingthat controlsboth theextrusion ofSoutheast Asiaand thedevelopment ofbasins alongthe easternmargin of China duringthe Miocene

▼

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FEATURE GEOSCIENTIST

1 Clark, M.K., Schoenbohm, L.M., Royden,L.H., Whipple, K.X., Burchfiel, B.C.,Zhang, X., Tang, W., Wang, E. and Chen,L., 2004. Surface uplift, tectonics, anderosion of eastern Tibet from large-scaledrainage patterns. Tectonics, 23, TC1006,doi:10.1029/2002TC001402.

2 Clift, P.D., Blusztajn, J. and Nguyen,D.A., 2006. Large-scale drainage captureand surface uplift in eastern Tibet-SWChina before 24 Ma inferred from sedimentsof the Hanoi Basin, Vietnam. GeophysicalResearch Letters, 33(L19403),doi:10.1029/2006GL027772.

3 Zheng, H., Clift, P.D., Tada, R., Jia, J.T.,He, M.Y. And Wang, P. 2013. A Pre-Miocene Birth to the Yangtze River.Proceedings of the National Academy ofSciences, doi:10.1073/pnas.1216241110.

FURTHER READING

drainage development in Eastern Asia.It is a system in which major rivers aredirectly related to topographic upliftwithin the general region of the TibetanPlateau, starting within the Paleogene.Gradual tilting of the continent towards the East forced the drainagesystems to evolve.

A number of independent studiesnow show that the major rivers changedtheir provenance at around the sametime, close to the start of the Miocene.That is not to say that small adjustmentshave not been made subsequently, notleast because river systems tend toevolve through time - especially throughheadwater erosion leading to moderatedegrees of drainage capture.

Nonetheless, the major adjustment wesee close to the start of the Miocenereflects a critical time at which hightopography was beginning to form in aclimate where the monsoon wasintensifying and also when extensionalbasins were opening along the southernand eastern edges of the Asianmainland. There are close two-wayinter-relationships between climate,tectonics and erosion in Cenozoic Asia,with the rivers often acting as themechanism that allows the feedbacks totake place.

The antiquity of the Yangtze is nowwell placed within our improvedunderstanding of how Asia hasdeformed and grew since collision with India. n

The ThreeGorges regionthat separatesthe middle fromthe lowerreaches of theYangtze andwhichrepresents animportanttopographicbarrier to flowfrom Tibet intothe East ChinaSea

* Peter Clift is Charles T McCord Jr Professor ofPetroleum Geology in the Dept of Geology andGeophysics, Louisiana State University, Baton RougeE: pclift@lsu.edu

Four Swansea brothers criss-crossedthe geological world of the 1840s,mixing with great names in famousplaces, says Martin Laverty*

WELSH ROOTS

Image: Thierry M

affeis / Shutterstock.com

Above: Map of theDamoodah and AdjiGreat Coal Field in theZillahs of WestBurdwan, Monbhoom,and Beerbhoom,Bengal by David HiramWilliams 1847

Left (clockwise fromtop): Three Cliffs Bayon the Gower Peninsulanear Swansea

The Wrekin andCoalbrookdalecoalfield, mapped in1845 (Extract from 1stSeries sheet 61NE).One of D H Williams'last assignments forthe Geological Surveybefore leaving for India

Vertical Section Sheet9 (Extract) Sections ofthe Lower and Iron-stone Coal Measuresof Glamorganshire andMonmouthshire byDavid H Williams

Coal, Limestone, andOld Red Sandstone inthe Forest of Dean(Extract fromHorizontal SectionSheet 15), by D HWilliams

Somerset Coalfield tothe west of Frome,mapped in 1843(Extract from 1stSeries sheet 19SE).The Deputy Governorof Bengal was suitablyimpressed.

t is 100 years since AlfredRussel Wallace, theoreticianof evolution andbiogeography and sometimeland surveyor and engineerin West Glamorgan, died.

Influential names Hooker andLyell brought him to fame in 1858;but their earlier appreciation of aSwansea family responsible forpioneering practical geology inBritain, India, and Borneo, had nosuch effect for the brothersWilliams, who have sunk into obscurity.

PRACTICAL MEN David Williams (1783-1856), alabourer turned land and mineralsurveyor, did some work with oneof his sons for the great WilliamEdmond Logan (managing acopper works, he mapped the coalaround Swansea in search of fuel).This son, David Hiram Williams(1812-1848) has appeared in thesepages before (July 2009, Geoscientist19.7) as part of Nina Morgan’sseries Distant Thunder. As the firstassistant hired, in 1839, by HenryDe la Beche's Ordnance GeologicalSurvey to add to Logan's base, he specialised in preparingmeasured vertical and horizontalsections, mapping, especially, Coal Measures fromPembrokeshire, into Somerset andright up to Flintshire, beforefinishing at Coalbrookdale.

To his bosses, De la Beche andJohn Phillips, he was as valuableas Andrew Crombie Ramsay, andhe weaned Henry William Bristowfrom university into practice. In1845 the Survey became a civilianrather than military body; Ramsaywas promoted (both he andBristow went on to head theSurvey), and De la Beche arrangedfor Williams to start, in Bengal,what would become the IndianGeological Survey.

Early in 1846, he wrote toRamsay: “The Island of Ceylon is apleasant looking place, but Aden ishorrible, it is all on volcanicformation mostly scoria I foundsome Green Sand fossils in alimestone passing through EgyptMalta appears to be oolitic, andGibraltar, Mountain Limestone.”

Within six months he hadreconnoitred 420 miles west ofCalcutta; by 1848 he had mapped –

topographically as well asgeologically - a coalfield “withmore reserves than Britain orAmerica”, and begun calculationson the economics of buildingIndian ironworks for the comingrailway age. He reported theGlossopteris flora, and later noted adistinctive: “conglomerate ofquartz and granite boulders someof them 11 feet in diameter, andlots of them longer than anelephant's head!!”

Identified a decade later asglacial: both, a century later, keyevidence for plate tectonics, andeven later, for the Snowball Earthhypothesis. However, afterintroducing the GeologicalSurvey's first (and by then ex-)palaeobotanist, Joseph Hooker, toIndia early in 1848, he concluded:“Geologising in India is dull &torpid with nothing to be seen butCoal Measures and crystallinerocks. No fossils of any kind to be found but the impressions ofcoal plants”

Hooker wrote of their transport:“Our elephant was an excellentone, when he did not takeobstinate fits, and so docile as topick up pieces of stone if desiredand with a jerk of his trunk andthrow them over his head for therider to catch, thus saving thetrouble of dismounting. This isgeologizing in true oriental style,and no traveller's tale, I assure

you.” before he ”Bade adieu to Mr. Williams … whom I hopedto see [again]”.

Sadly this reunion never cameabout because, as Lyell wrote tohis own father about Hooker inJanuary, 1849: “no less than 4 ofhis intimate friends had died, andamong them Mr Williams thegeologist. … I pointed out thatevery one of five geologistswhom [the East India Company]had sent out [to India] had beencut off in the prime of life, forwant of aid in assistants,elephants, steamers, &c., whichalone could enable them safelyand effectively to perform theirmission; and I protested, with Dela Beche, against the best of hispractical men (the said Williams)being sent out on a forlorn hope.He has done his business, poorfellow, well, put them in the wayof working rich mines of coal,and is now left like hispredecessors to die in the ditch...”

After almost three years ofuninterrupted good health, D H Williams was:“unfortunately caught by abranch of a tree and fell from hisElephant, and was for some timesuspended by the heels - hesubsequently fell also from somerocks and hurt his knee andjungle fever followed...”.

Thus came Williams’ssomewhat undignified demise.

IFEATURE GEOSCIENTIST

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SEPTEMBER 2013 19

His name has remained in printever since 1845, when theGeological Survey first publishedacknowledgements on its mapsand sections and in its Memoirs.The latest Swansea sheet to bear his name was issued just ayear short of the bicentenary ofhis birth.

ACQUAINTED WITH COAL A delicate water-colourmanuscript 'Chart of Sarawak'drawn by another ‘HiramWilliams’, was donated to theSociety by the Admiralty in 1846.This Hiram (1816-1872) startedout as a Land and MineralSurveyor with his eldest brother,William (1811-1886); like Wallace,their work included tithemapping. Late in 1844, theAdmiralty instructed CaptainBethune RN to proceed to Borneoand: “take … [someone] ... who iswell acquainted with coal, andcan therefore form a correctopinion as to any in theneighbourhood of the spots youvisit, both as to its probable extent and its fitness for use insteam vessels...”

Bethune left alone, but EdwardForbes (Geological Surveypalaeontologist from 1844) askedDe la Beche to identify that‘someone’. Hiram soon arrived inthe idiosyncratic settlement ofSarawak on the island of Borneo,where James Brooke was the

Below: Extract from‘Drawn by Mr HWilliams Min Sur’.Hiram’s drawings,lithographed inLondon, sold asindividual prints, butmainly survive asthe illustrations ofthree books

▼ British ruler of his own,independent state. He examinedcoal in Labuan and made a planfor exploiting it in Brunei; but thebulk of his time was spentsurveying Sarawak on foot and byboat. Brooke facilitated this work,as well as at least one rice-wine-fuelled party, where his group:“finished the evening by treatingthe Dyaks with a dance in theirown style; Williams keeping the[chief] in perfect terror bythreatening his bare feet with atremendous pair of high-lows.”

Hiram also drew the scenery.His drawings, lithographed inLondon, probably sold asindividual prints, but mainlysurvive, with his map, illustratingthree books and regularly copiedever since.

Hiram settled in London. For ashort time in 1851 he was in a‘Civil and Mineral Engineering,Surveying, &c’ Partnership withErnest Noel (well-connected, lateran MP and FGS for 82 years whenhe died in 1931), before taking theposition of Secretary to a numberof (mainly) mining companiesfrom an office in the City between1851 and 1862. He becamemanaging partner of a coal minenear Rotherham in 1861 but thedeaths of six men, tipped out oftheir descending bucket, in 1863 led to his spending hisdeclining years as a gentlemanfarmer in Oswestry.

SURVEYORS, MANAGERSIn 1816, William, David Hiram, andHiram Williams were baptisedwith yet another brother, Lewis(1814-1873). Lewis created aspecial feeder for an iron works,was praised in court for his use ofmodels to explain the deleteriouseffects of patching (opencastmining) on nearby undergroundworkings, and helped the Surveywithout being actually employedby it. He and William brieflyopened their own coal mine, butdrainage problems brought debtand legal wrangles that lasted foryears. For a time he managed amine in the Forest of Dean (withHiram acting as Secretary), thenmoved to Cardiff and diedmanaging the Caerphilly Colliery.William, the least travelled butlongest lived brother, died anengineer in Swansea.

This remarkable geologicaldynasty did not last. Hiram tooktwo wives but fathered nochildren; David left four daughters;William's son Frederick wasrecorded as ‘geologist’, but only in1851; Lewis' s namesake soncontinued the trait, working as amining engineer in Bridgend; buthe, and William, died in 1886. n

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GEOSCIENTIST FEATURE

*After an IT career based in Cardiff, MartinLaverty rekindled his interest in geology, whichhad led through speleology and (geo)chemistryin Leeds and Oxford, to Sarawak - andSwansea. E: martinl@talk21.com

1 David Bate gives a brief introduction toDavid Williams’s Indian work in a videoand downloadable pdf, David HiramWilliams and the search for coal – fromSouth Wales to Bengal, 1839–1848, atwww.bgs.ac.uk/services/ngdc/archives/awareness/overseas.html

2 BGS has now digitised its mapping from1835-1905, so all D H Williams' work inEngland and Wales is available to viewvia www.bgs.ac.uk/data/historicalMaps/home.html

3 Frederick J North, Keeper of Geology atthe National Museum of Wales, obtaineda trove of De la Beche's papers andwrote about them in the Transactions ofthe Cardiff Naturalist's Society. Theseare now online from the National Libraryof Wales at http://welshjournals.llgc.org.uk/browse/viewpage/llgc-id:1373290/llgc-id:1378036/llgc-id:1378079/get650. Volume 67, pp31-

FURTHER READING

103 in particular, discuss D H Williamsin Further chapters in the history ofgeology in South Wales; Sir H T De laBeche and the Geological Survey.

4 For an invaluable catalogue of thesepapers, involving many of thecharacters of early and mid 19thCentury geology, The papers of H T Dela Beche (1796–1855) in the NationalMuseum of Wales … (1988) by TomSharpe and P J MacCartney is a fineresource (dip into an online preview atGoogle books:http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=WtCV8AlSBiMC).

5 Hugh Torrens's William EdmondLogan's Geological Apprenticeship inBritain 1831-1842 in GeoscienceCanada, v. 26(3), p. 97-110, (1999) isgood, but appears to conflate DavidHiram and Hiram (a quiteunderstandable slip).

READERS’LETTERS

Sir, I am grateful to John Cope and BernardLeake (Geoscientist, June 2013) for raising theissue of Library cuts but two things disturbme: the fact that they waited so long after theevent, and the fact that it was answered (July2013) not by an Officer of the Society but byone of its employees. This follows a trend thathas been developing for over a decade, in thatmany key decisions seem to be made by staff,with the role of committees and perhaps evenCouncil reduced to that of a rubber stamp.

As Cope and Leake point out, the savingsachieved pale into insignificance against themoney currently being spent to glorify theCouncil Room – going way beyond structuralnecessity – or that spent to create the under-used Lyell Room – a resource that is lovely tolook at but of little practical use (have you evertried to spread a map on a round table?).

The Library Advisory Committee, whichstrongly opposed the journal cuts, was‘suspended’ in December and the cuts wentahead. A similar thing happened around 15

years ago. Then, a proposal from the ruling executive to change receptionarrangements at BH (retaining the Courtyardentrance, but removing the reception deskand remodelling the general office) wasopposed by the House Committee ongrounds of expense and security. That committee too was promptly disbanded.The change went ahead, was found to beunworkable, and a proper reception re-instated (in the Piccadilly entrance, duringthe Bicentenary refurbishment).

The Society is fortunate in having a hard-working and professional staff; we pay them torun the day-to-day business of the Society, togive us advice and to implement decisions onour behalf. Are we content that they nowseem to be making the decisions?Michael PriceDr Michael Price is a former member ofCouncil, chairman of the former LibraryCommittee, and member of the formerLibrary Advisory Committee.

JOURNAL CUTS - WHOSE POLICY?

Geoscientist welcomes readers’ letters. These are published aspromptly as possible in Geoscientist Online and a selectionprinted each month. Please submit your letter (300 words orfewer, by email only please) to ted.nield@geolsoc.org.uk.Letters will be edited. For references cited in these letters,please see the full versions at www.geolsoc.org.uk/letters

SEPTEMBER 2013 21

LETTERS GEOSCIENTIST

Dr Jonathan Turner, Council Member, and Chair of the Publication and InformationCommittee, replies: The decision on the journal cuts for 2013 was made by Council at itsmeeting on 28 November 2012, at which I was present. Two lists of journals for possiblecancellation were considered by Council, one having been prepared by the Library AdvisoryCommittee and one by the Society’s professional librarian with responsibility for managing ourjournal collections. After discussion, Council found in favour of the latter list.

Regarding the works completed or underway in Burlington House the Society has anobligation under the terms of its lease to maintain the building in a fit and proper state andinvestment in refurbishment is an investment in the future of the Society, and the security of itslocation in central London.

On the question of ‘who makes the decisions’ at the Geological Society we are indeedfortunate to have such hard working and professional staff, and it is the close communicationand collaboration between staff, committees and Council that enables the Society to operate sosuccessfully in an increasingly complex environment. Policy and strategy are, of course, set byCouncil and its reporting committees, but if we wish to continue to progress and develop ourservices we need staff who are capable of interpreting these polices and intelligently applyingtheir initiative.

GEOCONSERVATIONSir, David Owen (Letters, July 2013) iscorrect in identifying geoconservation asa key activity for Earth Science withinthe UK and an endeavour that theGeological Society should indeedsupport strongly. He also identifies thelong and noble history throughout theUK of volunteer organisations, such asthe various RIGS groups, in developinglocal initiatives to preserve and promotethe geological heritage in their regions.As Owen puts it, the “quarries, pits,mines and cuttings” watched over bythese groups are important trainingresources for past, present and futuregenerations of Earth Scientists.

But just as importantly, geologicaloutcrops represent prime shop-windows for our science, and many areimportant milestones in thedevelopment of our science. In recognition of these and otherchallenges facing the UK’s geologicalheritage and our access to it, theSociety has restructured itsgeoconservation activities.

The new,reconstitutedGeoconservationCommittee isactive in feedinginto theSociety’sExternalRelationsand Scienceagendas. It willrepresent theviews of theFellowship, and redouble ourefforts to act on them. For example,we have responded to the ScottishGovernment’s Planning Consultationdrawing attention to the significantnumbers of un-notified sites from theGeological Conservation Review andthe threat this lapse represents.

Such interactions with public policyare clearly important for future safe-guards throughout the UK. The Societywill also continue to play an importantrole in providing a forum for practitionersin geoconservation across the UK toshare good practice, ideas andgenerally to network. There will be anannual gathering hosted by the Societyto provide just these opportunities. The next one is set for the morning of10 October. Interested individualswishing to attend should emailpolicy@geolsoc.org.uk. Rob Butler, Chair GeoconservationCommittee

22 SEPTEMBER 2013

Earthworks in EuropeThis collection of papers from theSecond International Seminar onEarthworks in Europe held in 2009 is atimely update on earthworks. Althoughearthworks activity in western Europehas moved from construction tomaintenance, major new earthworks areunderway and planned in centralEuropean countries. The London venueis reflected by the fact that two out ofthree papers originate in the UK, but it isgood to see papers from Czech Republic(two), as well as France, Ireland, Spainand Slovenia.

The book’s 18 papers fall into sixcategories. There are six on standards

EARTHWORKS IN EUROPET A RADFORD (Ed) Engineering Geology Special PublicationNo 26. Geological Society, London 2012. List price: £75.00, Fellows’ price: £37.50www.geolsoc.org.uk/SPE26

and specifications and then two each onasset management, use of natural andrecycled materials, slope stabilisation,monitoring and environmental impact.The coverage of each sub-topic isrepresented by the one or two countriesthat have presented.

The papers on standards andspecification report on the currentposition in UK, Czech Republic andSpain and so provide a useful currentview. These papers include reports onthe impact of Eurocode 7, ISSMGE onpavements and national specifications.

Asset and risk management paperspresent a very clear picture ofmanagement of the earthworksinfrastructure, but only in the UK.

The monitoring of earthworks isconsidered in the context of the climatechange on slopes. Changes in weatherpatterns are affecting operatingstrengths in the earthwork materials,and identification of the impact of theseand their monitoring forms the basis ofthese useful contributions.

Maximisation of the use of naturalmaterials has always been therequirement for designers, but this needbecomes ever more acute; reports fromIreland and Slovenia are particularlyvaluable here. Use of waste materialsin earthworks is very topical, and theCzech report on inclusion of industrialwastes such as colliery spoil, ash andslag in earthworks is useful. The UKreport on the use of tyre balesillustrates use of a waste to provide alightweight fill and resolution of astability problem.

Finally, the measurement ofenvironmental impact of earthworksrepresents a new aspect of design andthese UK reports provide a clear anduseful update on this topic.

The papers presented cover a usefulrange of topical earthworks issues,providing an important statement of current considerations. Therepresentation from around Europecould have been better, but there wereexternal financial restrictions on suchactivities at the time. This volume isrequired reading for those needing to get up to date on a range ofearthworks design, construction andmaintenance topics.

Reviewed by David Norbury

Caves and Karst of theYorkshire DalesThis magnificent book on the classicCarboniferous Limestone landscape ofNorth West Yorkshire is a much revisedand extended version of one firstpublished nearly 40 years ago. The areacovered is largely that of the YorkshireDales National Park. So much hashappened in Quaternary studies in thelast 40 years that a complete rewrite hasbecome necessary. In particular isotopedating of various features (U/Th, C-14,Al/Be, Cl, palaeomagnetism andluminescence methods), usingspeleothem samples (stalagmites) as wellas new geomorphologicalinterpretations, has enabled the authorsto correlate many aspects of theYorkshire Dales and caves with otherQuaternary sequences. The relationshipto the climatic fluctuations revealed byocean-floor oxygen isotopes shows thatthe Yorkshire Dales are much moresignificant in Britain’s Pleistocene historythan previously recognised.

Its chapters have been written by 20specialists, covering basic geology (withupdated stratigraphy), glaciation andQuaternary evolution, and karstgeomorphology. Discussion of cavegeomorphology emphasizes thetransition from inception alonggeological “weaknesses” such as beddingplanes, shale partings, joints and faults,to submerged phreatic passages and theirdevelopment into vadose caves abovefalling water-tables. Together, theseprovide a basis for correlatingsubterranean and surface features.

The volume continues with adiscussion of the limestone hydrology.Palaeoclimatic deductions have also been derived from a study of stalagmites. The last five chapters look at Holocene environments,subterranean biology, bats, cavepalaeontology and cave archaeology.The last two provide a useful overviewof the occupation of Northern Englandby animals and humans.

These new studies have extended the

timescale for karst development backinto the early Pleistocene, with the coverof Upper Carboniferous strata beingprogressively stripped back to exposethe limestone scenery now regarded asfluvio-glacial karst. Reconstruction ofthe geology in early Pleistocene timesyields a concept of the former extent ofthe Yoredale and Millstone Grit cover,with progressive exposure of thelimestone. The history of modificationby successive glacial advances andfluvial effects in interglacials can now be interpreted.

This review volume is very wellpresented with numerous maps,diagrams and photographs, almost all incolour. It should be essential readingfor anyone leading the many fieldclasses and excursions to the Ingletonand Malham areas. The book is the firstof two, and the second volume willcover individual cave systems such asGaping Gill and Stump Cross Caverns.

Reviewed by Trevor Ford

GEOSCIENTIST BOOKS & ARTS

CAVES AND KARST OF THE YORKSHIRE DALES TONY WALTHAM & DAVID LOWE (Eds) March 2013Published by: British Cave Research Association. (The Old Methodist Chapel, Great Hucklow, Buxton, SK178RG). A4, 265 pages, 165 maps and graphics, 354photographs. ISBN 978-0-900265-46-4 (Sbk). List price: £25.00,www.bcra.org.uk/bookshop/index.html

SEPTEMBER 2013 23

Read this book and gain a new perspectiveon climate change. This is above all aninterdisciplinary topic, and hard to graspin all its essentials by those of us broughtup in the old-fashioned ‘single discipline’mode of instruction. Few people have puttogether in such a compelling and reader-friendly way the full extent of informationabout climate change and its effects,ranging all the way from changes withgeological time to real or potential impactson human health and welfare and on plantand animal life.

The United Nations EnvironmentProgramme (UNEP) cited the first editionof this book (2007) as one of the topclimate-change science books of the 21stCentury. This second edition has beenfully updated and substantially expanded,with major updates on climate impacts onearly societies, and on biological impacts;updated graphs on energy production andconsumption; new sections on climate

thresholds, the Kyoto II conference, and the climate policies of Canada,Australia and NZ; and an Appendix withfurther thoughts for consideration tostimulate discussion.

This is an educational tome, suitable forthe scientifically literate layman, highschool and undergraduate students, aswell as policy makers. Chapter 1introduces the topic and its differentiationfrom weather. Chapter 2 is a useful primeron the modern approaches to measuringpast climate change. Chapter 3 takes thereader on a useful tour of climate changein the Earth’s 4.6 billion-year history. InChapter 4, Cowie focuses on climate’slinks to biology, from the Oligocenethrough the Pleistocene Ice Age and rightup to the Holocene.

In Chapter 5 he moves into theHolocene and present climate. Chapter 6considers current warming and itsbiological symptoms, ending with areview of possible surprise responses tofurther global warming. In Chapter 7 welearn about the human ecology of climatechange, and the nature and possiblemanipulation of photosynthesis in theinterests of mitigating the problem. In thefinal Chapter, Cowie documents thedevelopment of environmental policy atthe international level since the UNConference on the Human Environment in1972. He goes on to look at future energyoptions, and concludes by consideringhow humans may adapt to further climatechange. No matter what we do, Cowieconcludes, the biosphere will remain.

This is an invaluable, readable and well-referenced guide to where we are now,how we got here, what is happening now,what may happen next, and what we cando about it.

Reviewed by Colin Summerhayes

Climate Change:Biological and HumanAspects

CLIMATE CHANGE: BIOLOGICAL AND HUMAN ASPECTSJONATHAN COWIE, 2nd Edition. Published by CambridgeUniv. Press, 2013. ISBN 978-1-107-60356-1. 440 pp. List price: £34.99 www.cambridge.org.

BOOKS & ARTS GEOSCIENTIST

n NEW! The Self-Potential Method - theoryand applications in environmentalgeosciences by Adnre Revil and AbderrahimJardani. 2013 Cambridge University Press369pp hbk

n NEW Natural Disasters in a GlobalEnvironment by Anthony N Penna and JenniferS Rivers. Wiley Blackwell 2013 340pp sbk

REVIEWS: COPIES AVAILABLEPlease contact ted.nield@geolsoc.org.uk ifyou would like to supply a review. For a full listgo to www.geolsoc.org.uk/reviews

This book is misleadingly named as onlyone of its 14 papers deals with igneousintrusion and faulting. A better title isthat given by the editors to theirintroductory chapter: ‘Stress, faulting,fracturing and seismicity: the legacy ofErnest Masson Anderson’, especially asthe book arose from a conference to markthe 50th anniversary of his death in 1960.

Anderson’s classic 1905 paper on ‘Thedynamics of faulting’ is reproduced infacsimile. Anderson brilliantly explainedthe stresses that produced thrust, wrench,and normal (extensional) faults underisotropic conditions. This book concernsthe effects of the ubiquitous anisotropicconditions in the Earth’s crust includingvariable pore-fluid pressures.

Only four of the papers are singlyauthored (a rapidly dying type!).Gerbault shows that wall failures aroundcircular magma chambers occur in shearrather than tension unless the pore-fluidpressure in the bedrock cancels the effectof gravity. Sibson considers reverse faultrupturing: competition between non-optimal and optimal fault orientations.Lopez deals with Andersonian andCoulomb stresses in Costa Rica and thefault slip and seismic tendency potential.Healy develops the Law of EffectiveStress to incorporate anisotropicporoelasticity and the response of faultedrock to changes in pore-fluid pressure.

Sibson et al. give an excellent accountof Andersonian wrench faulting in the2010−11 Canterbury, NZ, earthquakes;Bistacchi et al. describe non-Andersonianfaulting along Alpine phyllosilicate-richmylonite belts; Tingay et al. similiarlydeal with such faults above evaporites inthe Nile delta; King et al. consider stressdeflections around salt diapirs that pierceoverlying Gulf of Mexico deltaicsediments; MacDonald et al. model faultreactivation in the Bight Basin in southernAustralia, while Tavani et al. analyse thestresses during thrust-related folding inthe Boltaña anticline, Pyrenees and VanNoten unravels the 3D stress state in

Faulting, Fracturingand Igneous Intrusion

compressional tectonic inversion at theonset of orogeny in the Ardenne Slate Belt.Main et al. consider the dilatancy-diffusionhypothesis and the flawed search forearthquake predictability.

Overall, this is an excellent andrecommended 2012 account of howAndersonian and other factors controlfaulting and its orientation, with a goodspread of geographical and geologicalsituations and modelling. Had it includedthe outstanding 2012 paper on ‘Granitemagma migration and emplacement alongthrusts’ (Ferré et al. Int J Earth Sci [GeolRundsch] 101, 1673−88) it would evenhave justified its title!

Reviewed by Bernard Elgey Leake

FAULTING, FRACTURING AND IGNEOUS INTRUSIONIN THE EARTH’S CRUSTD HEALY, R W H BUTLER, Z K SHIPTON & R H SIBSON(Editors), 2012. GSL Special Publication 367. ISBN 978-1-86239-347-9 (hbk). 253pp List Price £85.00,Fellows’ Price £42.50 www.geolsoc.org.uk/bookshop

primary education in the UKschool system.

The Society’s congratulationsgo to Clarysly Deller, who wonthe award for her lesson onfossils and the life of MaryAnning, which incorporated bothmicroscope imagery and adramatic intervention by ‘MaryAnning’ herself! Clarysly’s father,a long-standing FGS, attendedthe presentation by Nick Rogers,Chair of the Society’s EducationCommittee (picture).

Teaching award winnerClarysly Deller wins the firstSociety-endorsed primaryteacher award.

Dawne Riddle writes: This year, for the first time, theSociety endorsed an award to aprimary school teacher as part ofthe scheme promoted by thePrimary Science Teachers Trust(Formerly the Astra-ZenecaScience Teachers trust) torecognise outstanding andinspirational teaching of geology within the context of

24 SEPTEMBER 2013

GEOSCIENTIST PEOPLE

n KEITH GERDES Keith Gerdes has been elected President of theEuropean Region of the American Association ofPetroleum Geologists (AAPG) for 2013-15. Keithstudied Geology and Geophysics at DurhamUniversity and obtained his PhD from theUniversity of Swansea in Wales on the platetectonic evolution of the Red Sea and Gulf ofAden. He presented a 2011 Shell Lecture at the

Geological Society and edited SP 329 on Tethyan CarbonatePetroleum Systems. He is currently based in the Head Office ofShell International in The Hague.

n MICHAEL MCKIMMMichael McKimm, Senior Library Assistant, haspublished a collection of poems addressinggeology, the oil industry and climate change.Fossil Sunshine (Worple Press) is the result of ayear-long collaboration with Earth scientists in aproject funded by Arts Council England.Geoscientist readers are invited to the launch ofthe collection at the Geological

Society on Friday 18 October at a free eventwhich will include speakers Sarah Day, BarbaraCooke and former Society President BryanLovell. To register please emailmichael.mckimm@geolsoc.org.uk or visitwww.geolsoc.org.uk/askthemountains formore information. See alsowww.worplepress.co.uk/fossil-sunshine/

PEOPLE Geoscientists in the newsand on the move in the UK,Europe and worldwideCAROUSEL

All fellows of the Society are entitled to entires in this column.Please email ted.nield@geolsoc.org.uk, quoting yourFellowship number.

SEPTEMBER 2013 25

PEOPLE GEOSCIENTIST

HELP YOUR OBITUARISTThe Society operates a scheme for Fellows to depositbiographical material. The object is to assist obituaristsby providing contacts, dates and other information, andthus ensure that Fellows’ lives are accorded appropriateand accurate commemoration. Please send your CVand a photograph to Ted Nield at the Society.

Although partial skeletons andfragments were reported as earlyas 1605, plesiosaurs were notofficially recognised as a distinctgroup until much later. The genuswas first formally defined by WilliamConybeare (1787-1857) and Henryde la Beche (1796-1855) in 1821,on the basis of a partial skeleton inthe collection of Colonel ThomasBirch. But the most famous – andcertainly most controversial –plesiosaur fossil was the nearlycomplete skeleton found in 1823by Mary Anning (1799-1847) inLiassic rocks on the coast at LymeRegis. The fossil of this ‘New Fish’– actually a marine reptile – brokeall the anatomical rules.

William Buckland (1784-1856),first Reader in Geology at OxfordUniversity, likened it to "a turtlethreaded through with the body ofa snake”. When the preeminentanatomist of the time, the Baron Georges Cuvier (1769-1832)of the Muséum d’Histoire Naturellein Paris, saw drawings of the Anning specimen, he was, to put it mildly, sceptical. He declared it to be a compositefake, made up by joining the headand neck of a sea snake to thebody of an ichthyosaur.

A fanciful report in the February1865 issue of Charles Dickens’smagazine All the Year Round,described his indignant response:

“Verily, this is altogether the mostmonstrous animal that has yetbeen found amid the ruins of aformer world. It had a lizard’shead, a crocodile’s teeth, a trunkand tail like an ordinary quadruped,a chameleon’s ribs, a whale’spaddles, whilst its neck was ofenormous length, like a serpenttacked on to the body”

But in spite of Cuvier’smisgivings, Mary Anning’s fossilproved to be genuine. The anatomist and vertebratepalaeontologist Richard Owen(1804-1892), who played a keyrole in the establishment ofLondon’s Natural History Museum,

went on to name dozens of newspecies of plesiosaur. One ofthese was lent by thepalaeontologist and politician, SirPhilip Egerton (1806-1881), a keencollector of fossil fish. In a letterdated October 26 1840, Egerton,wrote to Owen to express hisdelight at seeing his prize in print:

My dear Owen, I have justcompleted the perus