Kieren and Joe will provide an overview of part of the geological succession of the Triassic geology comprising the Helsby Sandstone Formation (Sherwood Sandstone Group) and the formations of the Mercia Mudstone Group relevant to the Warwickshire region. During the talk we will set the scene during the Triassic: Provide findings from recent field trips …
Although our understanding of the history of the Last Glaciation in Britain (c. 35,000 to 11,000 years ago) is the best in the world, our understanding of earlier glaciations is far from secure and subject to much disagreement and controversy. Recent publications relating to the glaciation of the West Midlands, using up-to-date methods of dating …
In November 1987 two young geologists stumbled upon evidence that the prevailing aridityof the Late Triassic was interrupted, for about a million years, by an interval of greatlyincreased rainfall that appeared synchronous with mass extinction and diversificationevents in both marine and terrestrial environments. This key episode in the evolution oftaxa from dinosaurs to dinoflagellates, coccoliths …
Dinosaurs in some cases were awkwardly large. This led to some incredible adaptations to overcome the challenge of vast size but makes them particularly difficult to excavate and study! Some of the largest dinosaurs were the sauropods, growing up to 37 metres in length…if we are to believe some of the skeletons in museums, which …
The AGM is a members only event held in Kenilworth and will not be available online.
Using examples from Australia (mainly South Australia) the talk willexamine existing landscapes which are directly inherited from Gondwana.It will consider the role of their location on the Australian Plate in theconservation of those landscapes and the significance of the dating of thebreakup of Gondwana to the evolution of the geology of Australia. Thetalk will reflect …
The rise of the animals was a profound transition in the History of Life; for the first-time organisms were able to engineer the environment around them, altering geochemical cycles, building complex ecosystems and diversifying into myriad forms. However, the rise of the animals is also one of the most controversial episodes in Earth History. Most major …
‘Volcanoes in the spotlight; Exciting examples from La Palma, Stromboli and the ancient rock record.’ Recent advances in the capture of 3D geological data has re-invigorated the way in which we study volcanoes and their deposits. The recent eruption on La Palma, on going active volcanoes such as Sromboli act as modern day laboratories to …
Flamborough Head is England’s most northerly outcrop of the Late Cretaceous Chalk Group and is home to the highest chalk sea cliffs and the only mainland gannet colony in the UK. In recognition of these latter claims, the RSPB has established the very popular and successful Bempton Cliffs reserve which sees around half a million …
For most of Earth history the only macroscopic evidence of life are the intricately layered rocks called stromatolites. Like trace fossils they record an interaction between organisms and sedimentary processes. The key players are the cyanobacteria, formerly known as blue-green algae, which played a vital role in oxygenating the Earth through their photosynthesis. Build-up of …