Wednesday, 1st April 2015 – Forensic Geology – Dr Maggie Williams
Dr Williams, from the School of Environmental Sciences at the University of Liverpool, gave us an insight into the science of Forensic Geology and how it is applied in the investigation of crime scenes. Her slides can be downloaded here.
Wednesday, 4th June 2014 – “Chemical Elements – Part 1″ – a joint effort by 6 of our members, each talking for 10 to 15 minutes about their chosen element. The line-up was:
Patsy Colvin setting the scene with a brief definition of an element, a bit of atomic theory and a tour around the periodic table, then on with the show, starring your very own…
Edmund Moynihan talking about Iron. A whizz through the history of iron taking in Soviet Art, the Romans, the industrial revolution, geology with a bit of biology to finish with.
Beryl Yates talking about Copper. Its history, its geology complete with samples to show: what more could you ask for!
Chris Procter talking about Phosphorus. From its discovery to its critical importance in biology and agriculture, everything you wanted to know.
Peter Croughan talking about Noble Gases Six elements at once, not so unreactive as you might think with much curious chemistry and many important technological applications
John Parsons talking about Chlorine A much maligned element, critical to modern hygiene. The world of Domestos revealed
Tony Edwards talking about Platinum Not just for jewelry, important in many areas of technology especially the glass industry. We learned some metallurgy from an expert.
Each of these has a story, and each of the presenters took a different tack. We heared some fascinating things about the discovery, chemistry, physical properties, uses and economic importance of each of these elements; and with seven of our own presenters, no one fell asleep!
Wednesday, 2nd April 2014 – “Spectroscopy, gemstones and minerals”. Keith Snell, leader of the U3A Geology group, gave a very interesting talk about the use of Spectroscopy in the analysis of minerals and in the gems trade. Illustrated with some very colourful slides, and pieces of his own home-made equipment, Keith’s talk was laced with personal anecdotes of his interest in gems and minerals throughout his life.
Wednesday, 3rd April 2013 – Geoff Evans, a geologist who gave us such well received talks in the past as “Ice Ages and Volcanoes” and “The Yellowstone National Park” paid us a return visit to tell us about the geology of the Lake District. And what a tale it was! Using the geological timeline of the Earth, he illustrated with some wonderful diagrams how the movement of earth’s crust, and subsequent weathering, over 500 million years resulted in the formation of the mountains of the lake district. A most engaging speaker with a knack for putting across a complicated subject in an understandable way.
4th October, Scout HQ – Geoff Evans, a geologist who gave us a wonderful talk two years ago about Yellowstone, the Sleeping Giant, returned to give another fascinating talk about “Ice Ages“, and once again the large audience wasn’t disappointed.
Geoff outlined the history of the five “major” ice ages in the history of the earth, citing the evidence for their existence, and described the current theories of what causes a major ice age. His graphical depictions of long-term temperature fluctuations certainly raised the question of “is the current global warming a real trend or simply a statistical variation?”, and “even if it is a trend, is it caused by human behaviour?”
Plenty to think about.
Aughton & Ormskirk U3A Science Group (Archived) 