Earth Sciences at Uni

This Youtube video is to promote Earth Sciences at Cambridge University.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUj4as55658

It gives a good overview to a prospective university Geology student (not only to Oxbridge potential students.)

REMEMBER: WE NEED GEOLOGISTS!

IF YOU CAN'T GROW IT, YOU GOTTA DIG IT!!

Links to some excellent geology departments (in alphabetical order):

Birmingham University Earth Sciences Dept

Bristol University Earth Sciences Dept

Cambridge University Earth Sciences Dept

Cardiff University Earth Sciences Dept

Durham University Earth Sciences Dept

Exeter University (Camborne school of Mines) Earth Sciences Dept

Imperial College, London Earth Sciences Dept

Leeds University Earth Sciences Dept

Leicester University Earth Sciences Dept

Liverpool University Earth Sciences Dept

Manchester University Earth Sciences Dept

Oxford University Earth Sciences Dept

Plymouth University Earth Sciences Dept

Royal Holloway, University of London Earth Sciences Dept

Southampton University Earth Sciences Dept

Plate Tectonics Website

A great resource for honing your tectonic skills and understanding:

http://www.geolsoc.org.uk/Plate-Tectonics

Geology fieldwork lecture date for your diary

The Practice of Geology Fieldwork 
Dr. Mary Benton, University of Bristol Earth Sciences Department 
West of England Geologists Association/Bristol 'Nats' Geology

Wednesday 26 November, 7.30 p.m.


Leave Wells     6.15pm
Return at         9.30pm

Amongst other subjects, Dr. Mary Benton teaches the Introduction to Field Skills in Earth Sciences course at Bristol Uni. 

Are Earth's tectonic plates BENDY?

Scientists say they're more flexible than first thought - and this could explain why some earthquakes occur

• A study by US scientists suggests Earth's tectonic plates are malleable
• They say that the plates can cool and change in size and shape
• This means they contract faster in certain sections and deform
• It could explain how earthquakes within a plate (intraplate earthquakes) can form 

They found that the cooling of the lithosphere, the outermost layer of Earth, makes some sections of the Pacific plate contract horizontally at faster rates than other sections, which causes the plate to deform.

For example they showed that there is a positive correlation between where the plate is predicted to deform and where intraplate earthquakes - ones inside a tectonic plate rather than two rubbing together - occur.They say that the deformation could explain why some parts of the plate tectonic puzzle don't make sense.

The formation of intraplate earthquakes has been somewhat of a mystery until now. 

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2822005/Are-Earth-s-tectonic-plates-BENDY-Scientists-say-flexible-thought-explain-earthquakes-occur.html#ixzz3Ih2hrCtq 

Rosetta mission: Could you land on a comet?

Can you land on a comet?

After 10 years, and a journey of more than six billion kilometres, the Rosetta spacecraft is set to launch its fridge-sized Philae lander on to 

Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko on 12 November.

Click here for more information and to play the interactive game 

on the BBC news website.

The Kiss of Death: LIPS

The kiss of death?: LIPs (Large Igneous Provinces) and mass extinction events

Dr. Andrew Kerr, School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, Cardiff University

      Bath Geol Soc Thurs 6th November. Minibus leaves at 1745

The nature and causes of mass extinctions in the geological past have been intensely debated for the past three decades. Central to this debate are the questions of whether one or several bolide impacts, the eruption of Large Igneous Provinces (LIPs), or a combination of the two, were the primary mechanisms driving the environmental and habitat changes that are universally regarded as the proximate causes for four of the five major Phanerozoic mass extinction events. 

Recent years have seen a revolution in our understanding of both the interplanetary environment and LIP eruptions and their environmental effects, such that the widely-accepted simple impact-kill scenario no longer seems adequate for the end-Cretaceous or any other mass extinction events. For example, single large impacts, (e.g., Chicxulub) as primary cause of mass extinctions have been questioned by planetary and space scientists because such impactors originating from the asteroid belt are random and rare. 

Amazing firework display

The Truth about Meteors 

Weds 5th November, 8pm BBC4

Following the Chelyabinsk meteor earlier in the year, Prof Iain Stewart looks at the Truth behind Meteors in this Horizon programme.