Dorset pt 1

So... For the last few days I have been in Dorset on my university field trip... And so far it's been pretty interesting!! What in learnt from today is basically that Portland is kind of sliding into the sea because of the fact that it has an unusual stratigraphic formation and the heavier Portland and Perbeck beds are deposited on top of a bed of kimmeridge clay.. Anyway we saw some dinosaur footprints:

We then went down onto Portland Bill where we saw the 200,000 year old raised marine deposits (raised beaches), the weather as per usual this week then got quite stormy and I was able to get some nice pictures of wave spray!! 

Anyway that was today!! I know it's not the most geological of posts but there we go... More of an excuse to put photos of geology stuff up... Hopefully should have some more bits up soon!!! 

Bigger update!!!
Well.. having now gone back to universoty o have the pleasure of saying that i am now also one pf the student ambasadors to GFGD (Geology for Global Development) Plymouth. so alond with my fellow ambasador i hope to be doing alot more with them this year

http://www.gfgd.org/groups/plymouth

On Posts

hopefully should be one ariving shortly= im just finishing one so yeh hopefully update soon!!!

Update

Hi,
Sorry that I haven't updated more... Life got in the way and meant that I couldn't... However I now hope to be able to do more on the blog and hopefully get going again!!
AJ

Screaming Volcanos

http://www.washington.edu/news/2013/07/14/some-volcanoes-scream-at-ever-higher-pitches-until-they-blow-their-tops/ 



This caught my eye whilst trawling through some geology websites!!!


Will update again soon with a proper post! :)

Kilve Beach, Fossils and all

Kilve Beach.... Fossils and all....

 The Beach is incredibly close to my house so i have spent alot of time here over the years. also helps that it has fossils! Ammonites are the most common but various reptiles can also be found...  however both are covered by the fact that the area is an SSSI (Site of Special Scientific Interest) so unfortunatly you cant take them with you if you do find one!!!!

Kilve Beach was also the considered site of oil extraction as the shale in the cliffs was discovered to be rich in oil however the

company that intended on exploiting the oil could never raise the money to do so ending the anticipated Somerset Oil Boom.

Geology

Over 40ft of limestone and shale's from the Lower Lias is exposed at Kilve. These contain psiloceras planorbis succeeded by a thick sequence of shale's with a few thin limestone's. Above this are some 60ft of shale's in which limestone's become more numerous and more massive upwards from the bucklandi zone. The lias dip eastwards. The Lias themselves are part of the Kilve Shales (approximatly 17m in thickness), blue lias and Quantock's beds which continue to Quantoxhead. Within these dark shales, occasional limestones appear containing coroniceras.

So there it is... I would definitely recommend the beach for a good day out.

Fact File; Popocatapetl

Well... it's at it again... so... seeing as I haven't done a fact file on this volcano yet... and now the fact is that it is erupting again makes me think that its about time that I do one.. so... back to my favorite topics... Volcanoes! :)

Fact File; Popocatepetl

 Location;   Popocatepetl is 70 km (43 mi) southeast of Mexico City,
Magma Type- Predominantly Andesitic, but it has also erupted large volumes of Dacite.                                                     Magma produced in the current cycle of activity tends to be a mixture of the two.
Typical eruption style: Dominantly explosive, construction of lava domes. Plinian eruptions at intervals of several centuries or few thousands of years, vulcanian and strombolian activity in intermittent phases.

General Background;  Popocatépetl, whose name is the Aztec word for smoking mountain, towers to 5426 m 70 km SE of Mexico City to form North America's 2nd-highest volcano. The glacier-clad stratovolcano contains a steep-walled, 250-450 m deep crater. The generally symmetrical volcano is modified by the sharp-peaked Ventorrillo on the NW, a remnant of an earlier volcano.
At least three previous major cones were destroyed by gravitational failure during the Pleistocene, producing massive debris-avalanche deposits covering broad areas south of the volcano. The modern volcano was constructed to the south of the late-Pleistocene to Holocene El Fraile cone. Three major plinian eruptions, the most recent of which took place about 800 AD, have occurred from Popocatépetl since the mid Holocene, accompanied by pyroclastic flows and voluminous lahars that swept basins below the volcano. Frequent historical eruptions, first recorded in Aztec codices, have occurred since pre-Columbian time.

This 2003 photo from the International Space Station shows a pair of volcanoes in Mexico. As part of the “Ring of Fire” stretching around the Pacific, Mexico hosts several of the world’s most continually active volcanoes, including the massive Popocatepetl (Aztec for "Smoking Mountain") at left. The neighbouring volcano is Iztaccíhuatl (the "Woman in White"). The faint plume emanating from Popocatepetl’s summit crater shows the ever-present hazard the volcano represents to the 25 million people living in the region, including the nearby city of Amecameca, as well as the metropolitan centres of Mexico City to the northwest and Puebla to the east. Credit: NASA

Danxia Landform!!! Amazing :)

The Danxia landform refers to various landscapes found in southeast and southwest China that "consist of a red bed characterized by steep cliffs". It is a unique type of petrographic geomorphology found in China. Danxia landform is formed from red-coloured sandstones and conglomerates of largely Cretaceous age. The landforms look very much like karst topography that forms in areas underlain by limestones, but since the rocks that form danxia are sandstones and conglomerates, they have been called "pseudo-karst" landforms. Danxia landforms cover several provinces in southeast China. 

Taining County, Fujian Province, has very good examples of "young" danxia landforms wherein deep, narrow valleys have been formed. As the landform gets older, valleys widen and one gets isolated towers and ridges.

The danxia landform is named after Mount Danxia, one of the most famous examples of the danxia landform.

A very peculiar feature of danxia landscape is the development of numerous caves of various sizes and shapes. The caves tend to be shallow and isolated, unlike true karst terrain where caves tend to form deep, interconnecting networks.

In 2010, several danxia landscapes in southern China, with a general name of "China Danxia", were inscribed as a World Heritage Site.

The six inscribed danxia landform areas are: Mount Langshan and Mount Wanfoshan (Hunan Province), Mount Danxia (Guangdong Province), Taining and Guanzhishan (Fujian Province), Mount Longhu and Guifeng (Jiangxi Province), Fangyan, Mount Jianglang (Zhejiang Province), and Mount Chishui (Guizhou Province). The total core area of 6 regions above is 73945 ha, and the total buffer area is 65446 ha.

So... just a quick something that caught my eye.