Sunday, 25 November 2012

WINTER PROGRAMME

Copper Mineralisation
Tom Cotterell (NMW)
Saturday 15th December 2012, 11.00 am
Joint Meeting with the Russell Society
Department of School of Earth & Ocean Sciences, Cardiff University
Refreshments from 10.15
ALL WELCOME

Holiday Geology
BOOK ESSENTIAL

National Museum Cardiff
Saturday 12th January 2013, 11.00 am
Fossil starfish - evolution and origin of the modern species
Andy Gale (Portsmouth)

Saturday 26th January 2013, 11.00 am
In the Wallace Lecture Theatre, Department of Geography, Swansea University
Refreshments from 10.15
ALL WELCOME

Seismic Faults and Sacred Sanctuaries
[Joint Meeting with the Geological Society, South Wales Group]
Ian Stewart

School of Earth & Ocean Sciences, Cardiff University
Saturday 23rd February 2013, 11.00 am
Refreshments from 10.15
ALL WELCOME

AGM & Geology of Antarctica
Tom Sharpe (NMW)

In the Wallace Lecture Theatre, Department of Geography, Swansea University
Saturday 23rd March 2013, 11.00 am
Refreshments from 10.00
ALL WELCOME

Monday, 28 November 2011

Winter Programme 2011/12

Saturday 22nd/Sunday 23rd October: Geofest; National Museum of Wales, Cardiff

Saturday 19th November: Brian Williams (Aberdeen): Triassic Basins, North Atlantic Borderlands: Understanding the break-up of Pangea in the search for oil and gas: Cardiff University

Saturday 10th December
(NOT AS PREVIOUSLY ADVERTISED): The 1st Douglas Bassett Memorial Lecture. Michael Bassett (National Museum of Wales). Adam to Douglas: a geo-historical journey through North Wales. Swansea University

Saturday 14th January: Holiday Geology National Museum of Wales, Cardiff

Saturday 28th January: Jonathan Lee (BGS) Cool Britannia: From Milankopvitch wobbles to Ice Ages. Swansea University

Saturday 18th February:[Joint Meeting with the geological Society, South Wales Group] Alex Maltman; Wine, whisky and beer: the role of geology. Cardiff University

Saturday 17th March: AGM and Presidential Address: Malcolm Shaw: Where Plates Meet: Danger and Delight. Swansea University

Please see newsletter for more information about our meetings.
(http://www.swga.org.uk/pdf/newsletter.pdf)

Change of Meeting Date

Due to an unforeseen clash of our speaker’s commitments the December meeting in Swansea University, the Douglas Bassett Memorial Lecture by Prof. Mike Bassett, has had to be moved a week earlier than that advertised in the programme.  The meeting will now take place on Saturday 10th December and not Saturday 17th December as originally planned. 

Saturday, 5 November 2011

Geofest 2011 - Local Groups and Organizations

The event was as usual hosted at and supported by the National Museum of Wales which is a superb location for such events and an institution with a fine heritage for geological research and exhibitions. It almost seemed a pity to be inside on such a nice day as you can see from this rare picture of Wales in the sunshine

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The museum provided not just a location, but a great deal of support to the event including behind the scene tours such as the ones to look at the fossil collections being led by Tom Sharpe as you can see below

And this one to look at the mineral collections and the equipment used to identify such and research them being led by Tom Cotterell


The event was also supported well by many local geological groups. The South Wales Geologists Association were the hosting group and had a stand with many bargains to be had in the form of books and specimens for sale


The Russell Society were well represeted with a display of local minerals and information about them


Others including the Severnside OUGS group were also present, but i failed to get a good picture of their stand - sorry !

In addition to the groups a number of local professional geological and conservation groups were present such as the Forest Fawr Geopark (foreground) and Countryside Council for Wales (background) which you can see here, and the BGS Cardiff Office who you can't


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Sunday, 23 October 2011

Geofest 2011 - Lectures

At the Geofest 2011 hosted by the National Museum of Wales and the South Wales Geologists Association we were treated to a pair of excellent speakers.

First up was Dr John Nudds from Manchester University who took us through the history and biology of the famous fossil Archaeopteryx lithographica from the discovery of the first specimen that is now housed in the Natural History Museum in London to the very latest specimen which has only just been announced

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In taking us through the history John explained how each specimen found has added to our knowledge of this important evolutionary "link" between dinosaurs and birds with features of both present


With the annopuncement of some brand new science that is about to be published and some interesting qurestions John brought the first session to a close

In the later afternoon we were entertained by Dr Dave Martill of Portsmouth University who explained to us the biology and history of discovery of Pterosaurs and how by looking at the features of the bones and using comparative anatomy we can come to learn how they lived.

Despite this being an excellent presentation in its intended content, probably the highlight of the talk for many came when Dave decided to demonstrate how they could work as quadrupedal land animals and not bipedal as suggested by some authors

This started with a demonstration of how amphibians and early reptiles have a very sprawling gate, but this is very energy inefficient

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As things developed the legs were brought under the body which is more effective, but still requires a lot of energy to support the body

Until with Dinosaurs the legs are brought under the body which allows for long periods of standing with virtually no energy expended. He described them as coffee table animals


And finally how some of them achieved a bipedal gate


Pterosaurs on the other hand have a bent leg gate for their rear legs


Which works well as you lean forwards into a quadrupedal stance


But not so well if you try and stand upright 


He told us how the animals developed a fantastic structure in their bones such that when they were wanting to take off they could crouch with all four limbs


And then quite literally throw themselves into the air. As you can see from this picture Dave is quite an inexperienced Pterosaur as he's only managed to get his rear end into flight


[Click any picture for slideshow format]

Friday, 17 June 2011

Sully Island Field Trip Cancelled

Sully Island Field Trip Cancelled

Due to the weather forecast for Saturday 18th June 2011 (Sharp thundery/hale showers and high winds!), and the fact that there is no-where to shelter we have decided to cancel the Sully Island field trip.

Apologies for any inconvenience.

Saturday, 11 June 2011

Building Stones of Cardiff Bay - Thursday 11th August 2011

An evening stroll around Cardiff Bay looking at building stones and their geology led by Lynda Garfield and Dave Wellings on behalf of the Cardiff Naturalists Society . Meet at the Junction of Bute Street and St James Street

The walk will take about 2 hours and finish around the Scott Harbour area