Geology Of England Research Articles

The Geology of England – critical examples of Earth History – an overview

Over the past one billion years, England has experienced a remarkable geological journey. At times it has formed part of ancient volcanic island arcs, mountain ranges and arid deserts; lain beneath deep oceans, shallow tropical seas, extensive coal swamps and vast ice sheets; been inhabited by the earliest complex life forms, dinosaurs, and finally, witnessed the evolution of humans to a level where they now utilise and change the natural environment to meet their societal and economic needs. Evidence of this journey is recorded in the landscape and the rocks and sediments beneath our feet, and this article provides an overview of these events and the themed contributions to this Special Issue of Proceedings of the Geologists’ Association, which focuses on ‘The Geology of England – critical examples of Earth History’. Rather than being a stratigraphic account of English geology, this paper and the Special Issue attempts to place the Geology of England within the broader context of key ‘shifts’ and ‘tipping points’ that have occurred during Earth History.

Transdimensional Love-wave tomography of the British Isles and shear-velocity structure of the East Irish Sea Basin from ambient-noise interferometry

We present the first Love-wave group velocity and shear velocity maps of the British Isles obtained from ambient noise interferometry and fully non-linear inversion. We computed interferometric inter-station Green's functions by cross-correlating the transverse component of ambient noise records retrieved by 61 seismic stations across the UK and Ireland. Group velocity measurements along each possible inter-station path were obtained using frequency-time analysis and converted into a series of inter-station traveltime datasets between 4 and 15 seconds period. Traveltime uncertainties estimated from the standard deviation of dispersion curves constructed by stacking randomly-selected subsets of daily cross-correlations, were observed to be too low to allow reasonable data fits to be obtained during tomography. Data uncertainties were therefore estimated again during the inversion as distance-dependent functionals. We produced Love-wave group velocity maps within 8 different period bands using a fully non-linear tomography method which combines the transdimensional reversible-jump Markov chain Monte Carlo (rj-McMC) algorithm with an eikonal raytracer. By modelling exact raypaths at each step of the Markov chain we ensured that the non-linear character of the inverse problem was fully and correctly accounted for. Between 4 and 10 seconds period, the group velocity maps show remarkable agreement with the known geology of the British Isles and correctly identify a number of low-velocity sedimentary basins and high-velocity features. Longer period maps, in which most sedimentary basins are not visible, are instead mainly representative of basement rocks. In a second stage of our study we used the results of tomography to produce a series of Love-wave group velocity dispersion curves across a grid of geographical points focussed around the East Irish Sea sedimentary basin. We then independently inverted each curve using a similar rj-McMC algorithm to obtain a series of one-dimensional shear velocity profiles. By merging all 1D profiles, we created a fully three-dimensional model of the crust beneath the East Irish Sea. The depth to basement in this model compares well with that averaged from seismic reflection profiles. This result is the first 3-dimensional model in the UK with fully quantified uncertainties: it shows basin depths and basement structures, and their concomitant uncertainties.

Military aspects of hydrogeology: an introduction and overview

Abstract The military aspects of hydrogeology can be categorized into five main fields: the use of groundwater to provide a water supply for combatants and to sustain the infrastructure and defence establishments supporting them; the influence of near-surface water as a hazard affecting mobility, tunnelling and the placing and detection of mines; contamination arising from the testing, use and disposal of munitions and hazardous chemicals; training, research and technology transfer; and groundwater use as a potential source of conflict. In both World Wars, US and German forces were able to deploy trained hydrogeologists to address such problems, but the prevailing attitude to applied geology in Britain led to the use of only a few, talented individuals, who gained relevant experience as their military service progressed. Prior to World War II, existing techniques were generally adapted for military use. Significant advances were made in some fields, notably in the use of Norton tube wells (widely known as Abyssinian wells after their successful use in the Abyssinian War of 1867/1868) and in the development of groundwater prospect maps. Since 1945, the need for advice in specific military sectors, including vehicle mobility, explosive threat detection and hydrological forecasting, has resulted in the growth of a group of individuals who can rightly regard themselves as military hydrogeologists.

Geology; its principles, practice and potential for Geotechnics

Abstract Three themes are developed in this paper. The first deals with those principles basic to the science of geology and thus to the use of geology in geotechnical engineering; namely, the principles of superposition and uniformitarianism; their use is illustrated with reference to commonly occurring geotechnical situations. Then the application of these principles in practice is explained, together with the difficulties that follow if little thought is given to the demands they make for their proper use. Two common causes for difficulty are considered; namely, using an inappropriate description and working at an inappropriate scale. Finally, the potential geology has to open new areas of research is illustrated with examples, ranging in dimension over almost 14 orders of magnitude, the largest involving regional structure, the London Basin. The examples that follow are of progressively smaller volume: displacements in landslides, the failure of crystalline rock, the response of mineral surfaces to contact with water, the possible effects of strain energy stored in minerals, and the characters of silica gel, a material that could influence and possibly govern the geomechanical and geochemical response of silicate particles. Each of these subjects could lead to an understanding of geological materials that changes the development of geotechnical engineering. Each is capable of becoming a scientific area to which engineers refer for solutions to problems in ground engineering and guidance in the use of soils as a construction material. In developing these themes mention is also made of the roots of engineering geology in Britain, as these throw light onto the similarities and differences between engineering geology and geology for engineers, and between engineering geology used in practice and that needed to develop the subject. The greatest danger at present comes from the lack of education in practical and theoretical geology for many who enter engineering geology; it is that which will do most to limit the extraordinary potential for advances in geotechnical engineering that can be provided by geology.

Discussion of ‘The first engineering geological publication in the UK?’ by M.G. Culshaw, Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology, 37, 227–231

Graham West writes: Professor Martin Culshaw is to be congratulated on his very interesting paper bringing to our notice what, in dating from 1897, is most likely the first engineering geological map and memoir in the UK. Having noted that the origins of engineering geology can be traced back to William Smith (1769–1839), he remarks that: ‘In so far as British engineering geologists think about such things, there is probably a belief that engineering geology in the UK ‘started’ shortly after the Second World War…’ The purpose of this Discussion is to show that many examples of the practice of engineering geology in Great Britain can be found dating from before the Second World War, and, indeed, some from much earlier if we include rudimentary soil and rock mechanics, and the assessment of stone and rock for road making and building, as falling within the ambit of engineering geology. The examples that follow come from my own personal interests, but I am sure that readers will know of others. During the construction of the turnpike roads (1730–1890) there were occasions when the surveyors (as the engineers were called) working for the turnpike trusts had to deal with what we would call soil mechanics problems. One such instance was in 1823 when the Whetstone Turnpike Trustees wanted to ease the slope of the road up Barnet Hill for London-bound coaches, and their surveyor built a clay embankment at the foot of the slope to do so. The embankment slipped, much to the discomfiture of the surveyor who said that ‘he was not aware that clay would not stand at a less slope than 1 in 4’ (West 2000). This is an early example of soil mechanics inasmuch as the surveyor was aware that slope stability was related to soil type: this …

200 years of British hydrogeology — an introduction and overview

Abstract In the early years of the 19th century William Smith and his pupil John Farey began to apply stratigraphic principles to the sinking of water wells. Between 1840 and 1870 engineers, such as Robert Stephenson, and geologists, such as James Clutterbuck, Joseph Prestwich and David Ansted began to make systematic observations. After 1870 Geological Survey officers, particularly William Whitaker, Joseph Lucas and Charles de Rance, became involved in groundwater work. Lucas introduced the term hydrogeology and produced the first British hydrogeological maps. The first half of the 20th century was a period of missed opportunities with the significant advances in hydrogeology taking place in mainland Europe and North America. The Water Act of 1945 marked the start of a new era in which the Geological Survey and, after 1965, the Water Resources Board led the way. Hydrogeology is now a mainstream branch of geology in Britain and interest in the subject is such that the Hydrogeological Group of the Geological Society has a membership of around 1050.

C.H. Holland (Ed.). The Geology of Ireland. Edinburgh (Dunedin Academic Press). 2001, 531 pp. Price £55 paperback. ISBN 1 903765 04 8; £85 hardback ISBN 903765 08 0.

This welcome new overview of Irish geology is a major revision and amplification of A Geology of Ireland , edited by C.H. Holland, 1981. It is an ambitious work, and the sort of one which might not make good reading. However, as in the earlier edition, Holland has seen the need that to do justice to our modern understanding of Irish geology requires that the account be written by a team of experts, each a specialist in his own field. This is the successful format employed again in this new edition which now completes the trilogy of books which summarize the geology of the British Isles, the others being: the Geology of Scotland (G.Y. Craig, editor, 1991) and the Geology of England and Wales (P.McL.D. Duff and A.J. Smith, editors, 1992). Each chapter synthesizes material previously only available in published papers and includes information based on the authors’ own knowledge; …

The Life of Frank Cole Phillips (1902-1982) and the Structural Geology of the Moine Petrofabric Controversy

The Life of Frank Cole Phillips (1902-1982) and the Structural Geology of the Moine Petrofabric Controversy

WOODCOCK, N. H., QUIRK, D. G., FITCHES, W. R. & BARNES, R. P. (eds) 1999. In Sight of the Suture: the Palaeozoic Geology of the Isle of Man in its lapetus Ocean Context. Geological Society Special Publication no. 160. vi + 370 pp. London, Bath: Geological Society of London. Price £85.00, US $142.00 (hard covers); members' price £39.00, US $65.00.

Until recently the Manx Slates of the Isle of Man might fairly have been argued to be one of the very few remaining ‘frontier’ areas in the geology of the British Isles, largely neglected for almost 100 years save for one heroic singlehanded effort about 35 years ago which predated the impact of plate tectonics and modern sedimentology. Scope for progress was thus huge and has been fully realised with this documentation of the results of focused multidisciplinary attack by collaborative teams in the period 1995–8. After an editorial introduction and a very useful historical review of previous research, the book divides into six sections totalling twenty papers. ‘Stratigraphy and Lithofacies’ describes the graptolite/acritarch fauna and the associated …

Measurement, portrayal and analysis of orientation data and the origins of early modern structural geology (1670–1967)

Dip and strike measurements were made by miners as early as 1505 and by the 1770s took place in a ‘geognostical’ context. Early portrayal of dip and strike in maps and the emergence of cross-sections and block-diagrams is discussed. In the 1820s, recordings of cleavage and foliation, lineation, joints, faults and slickensides began. By the 1840s interest in Elie de Beaumont's Systemes de Montagnes encouraged graphical summaries of two-dimensional orientation data (e.g. the strike of bedding, mineral veins or joints). Towards the close of the nineteenth century, primary effort was devoted to regional mapping, resulting in improved understanding of the nature of structures, particularly ‘Alpine’ thrust tectonics. The emergence of Hans Cloos' school of ‘granite tectonics’ in Germany in the 1920s, and its subsequent uptake in the United States, with the emigration of Robert Balk and Ernst Cloos in 1923 and 1930, is noted. Meanwhile, in Austria, Walter Schmidt and Bruno Sander were developing ‘structural petrology,’ dominated by the microscopic analysis of grain-orientation. Its enthusiastic take-up in Europe, Scandinavia and the USA popularized statistical analysis of three-dimensional orientation data. As scepticism grew regarding kinematic interpretations made by structural petrologists, interest in structural analysis based on field mapping returned in the 1940s. The subsequent emergence of early ‘modern’ structural geology in Britain, with its emphasis on statistical analysis of small-scale structures, is discussed. The turning point is placed at about 1952.

Perpetual Excitement: The Heroic Age of British Geology

This paper is derived from a talk delivered to the annual meeting of the Geological Curators' Group held in the Yorkshire Museum, York, on 6 December 1990. That meeting attempted to examine why geology had lost ground to archaeology in the popular imagination and how museum geologists might help geology to re-capture the initiative. I was invited to review briefly the heroic age of British geology and the nature of curatorship at that time to see what could be learned from the past which might interest curators trying now to promote geology against the competing attractions of archaeology. The talk was accordingly divided into two parts. Firstly, it tried to analyse the attractions of geology in Britain in the so-called 'Heroic Age' which was adorned by such brethren of the hammer as William Smith, Greenough, Buckland, Sedgwick, Murchison, Lyell and Darwin. Secondly, given the location of the meeting, it seemed worth while to look at the aims of curatorship pursued by one of those heroic geologists, John Phillips, Keeper of the Yorkshire Museum from 1826 to 1840 and its leading spirit until 1853 when he left York for Oxford. Parts of the talk leaned on my current research towards a biography of Phillips and on my recent analysis of his geological work in the 1820s (Morrell 1989).

Geotectonic imaging of the north-western European continent and shelf

Gridding and merging of onshore gravity and topography information from the British National Gravity and Topography Data Bank with offshore free-air gravity anomalies derived from SEASAT altimeter data and bathymetry from the National Geophysical Data Center (USA) has allowed, for the first time, the production of digital images for the north-western European continent and shelf (48°–62° lat., 348°-010° long.). Further, using image processing techniques, the images have been selectively filtered (using artificial illumination) to enhance both Caledonian and Variscan trends. As a large amount of terrestrially-acquired offshore gravity data already exists within the North Sea region, it has been possible to test the accuracy of the SEASAT derived free-air gravity anomaly data. Hence its use in geological and geophysical interpretations, by comparing the two. We conclude that while the derived (SEASAT) gravity trends are essentially correct, significant error may exist in the amplitude determination, especially where anomaly wavelengths are short and oceanographic components in the altimeter data are significant. The potential value of ‘geotectonic images’ is as an aid in recognising trends and relationships between geological and/or tectonic domains that are not generally apparent in the more conventional representations of these data (e.g. profile and contour maps). We offer interpretations for both the local free-air/Bouguer gravity anomalies in terms of the known geology of the British Isles and offshore regions, and the regional gravity anomalies in terms of the thermal and mechanical response of the north-western European lithosphere during Variscan compression (continental collision and thrust-sheet migration) and Palaeozoic, Mesozoic, and Cenozoic rifting events (sedimentary basin formation).

Geology in Britain, 1660–1800: a selective biographical bibliography

Geology in Britain, 1660–1800: a selective biographical bibliography

Geology in Britain, 1660–1800: a selective biographical bibliography

Geology in Britain, 1660–1800: a selective biographical bibliography

The Changing Place of Geology in Science Education in England

Though it is the most rapidly growing subject in the school curriculum in England at the present day, Geology has had a chequered career in science education in the last hundred years. Between the two world wars it nearly suffered complete extinction. That it not only survived but mushroomed into a valued tool of scientific education is the major achievement of teachers of geology in Britain in the last thirty years.

The Early Days of Geology in Britain

The Early Days of Geology in Britain

A Map of the Drift Geology of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

A Map of the Drift Geology of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

History of Geology in Great Britain

Geological Survey of Great Britain By Sir Edward Bailey. Pp. xii + 278 + 4 plates. (London: Thomas Murby and Co., 1952.) 22s. 6d. net.

Geology in Great Britain

Geology in Great Britain

Geology in Great Britain

Geological Survey Publications