At 107° epicentral distance, Keele is just in the shadow zone so the direct P and S-waves are not recorded. However, even at a distance of almost [...]]]> A very large earthquake, at 8.8, the sixth largest since modern seismic recording began around 1900, has struck off-shore southern Chile. More details from the USGS and Ole Nielsen.

At 107° epicentral distance, Keele is just in the shadow zone so the direct P and S-waves are not recorded. However, even at a distance of almost 12,000 km our seismometer went off-scale during the surface wave arrivals.

Now the only problem is that in the past week [...]]]> After 185 episodes I’ve finally won a Wo(G)E !! The bright orange colours led me immediately to the Namib Desert, it was just a matter of time until I found where two dune sets interfered at right angles to give the pattern in the image.

Now the only problem is that in the past week I have been having huge fun submitting images to the new multi-authored geopathology blog. It is devoted to landscapes that are pathological “in the sense of being developed or expressed in such a degree that is extreme, excessive, or markedly abnormal” according to the blog’s founder Dr Jerque. If you are a devotee of Wo(G)E and haven’t seen geopathology then please drop by, I’m sure you will find it of interest. Anyway, as a consequence of this, and never expecting to actually win a Wo(G)E, I have just blown most of the places I would have used for a place for you to find. Typical.

The image below has an eye altitude of about 12km and note that north is to the right. Vertical exaggeration is set to two and it is slightly oblique to make the structure a little more obvious.

So I need to know the latitude and longitude of the image, a general locality name and an explanation of the geological feature(s) illustrated. The first person with the correct answers gets to host the next edition.

No Schott rule on this one – everyone just dive in. Click the image for a larger version.

The earthquake magnitude has been determined by the Geological survey to be 1.3

The tremor is most likely related to subsidence or collapse due to dissolution of salt. The bedrock here is the Wilkesley Halite and [...]]]> There was a small earthquake just south of Nantwich, Cheshire on January 31st, 2010 which we recorded here at Keele.

The earthquake magnitude has been determined by the Geological survey to be 1.3

The tremor is most likely related to subsidence or collapse due to dissolution of salt. The bedrock here is the Wilkesley Halite and in the Google Maps image of the earthquake location below salt dissolution features can be seen. A word of warning though as this location from the British Geological Survey is unlikely to be precise.

View Nantwich Quake in a larger map

The main aim of our MIS:TIQUE project (mobility impaired [...]]]> This week I presented some work in progress on the use of gigapan and photosynth to assist mobility impaired geology students at the “Overcoming Barriers to Learning in the Geosciences” meeting of the Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences (GEES) subject centre of the Higher Education Academy (HEA).

The main aim of our MIS:TIQUE project (mobility impaired students : teaching in quite unsuitable environments) is to provide alternative technologies for mobility impaired students so that they can attain an equivalent learning experience to the able-bodied in geology fieldwork. Gigapan and photosynth allow us to mimic the observation patterns that we would like all students to use. This involves starting with an overview to develop hypotheses to what might be going on, moving in and around the outcrop to make more detailed observations and test the hypotheses, and then move back out again to revise the overview.

I’ve embedded the presentation below. Feel free to use any of the ideas but obviously if you use any of it please credit the source. If you have any questions, comments or feedback please use the blog comments. [Apologies for my powerpoint style - I tend to talk over images without using much text on the slides but this wouldn't make much sense in this context so I have added what I said to the images.]

This earthquake doesn’t appear to be that well recorded but the P and SS phases are identifiable.

The earthquake was a shallow left-lateral strike-slip earthquake along the Enriquillo-Plaintain Garden fault system, essentially a major component of the plate [...]]]> Here is the seismogram of the M7 earthquake in Haiti on January 12, 2010 recorded at Keele University, UK.

This earthquake doesn’t appear to be that well recorded but the P and SS phases are identifiable.

The earthquake was a shallow left-lateral strike-slip earthquake along the Enriquillo-Plaintain Garden fault system, essentially a major component of the plate boundary between the North American and Caribbean plates. The Caribbean plate is moving eastwards with respect to North America by about 20 mm per year.

Much more on the tectonics of the area from Chris Rowan at Highly Allochthonous.

Recorded as part of the UK Schools Seismology project.

July saw the start of working on the Staffordshire Strategic Stone Study which has seen me spend the summer traversing the county looking at various building stones. This has included visits to two quarries that have provided much of Staffordshire’s building stone, [...]]]> Continuing my photographic review of the year following on from Part 1 …

July saw the start of working on the Staffordshire Strategic Stone Study which has seen me spend the summer traversing the county looking at various building stones. This has included visits to two quarries that have provided much of Staffordshire’s building stone, Grinshill in Shropshire and Hollington in Staffordshire.

August saw the garden bloom in what little we had of a summer …

… and an evening field trip to Ossum’s Hill to see a new exposure of the bioclastic Carboniferous Limestone.

In September the study of Staffordshire Stone continued. Here is Mow Cop ‘Castle’ (actually a summerhouse) built on the edge of a Chatsworth Grit quarry.

I also visited Ireland for the EAGE Near Surface Geophysics conference and had a visit to the Tara zinc and lead mine.

Returning from Ireland, I spent a weekend in London.

After a day in the city, I spent a day down at Kew Gardens

October saw a visit to the National Arboretum at Westonbirt.

Finally, in November I was involved in some site clearance along the Hamps and Manifold Geotrail.

I’ve still got one major trip to do this month, more details in the New Year.

If you like my photographs have started a photostream that you can see on fluidr or flickr.

I’m also considering a ‘deskcrop365′ project with a new rock picture every day. If it happens then it will most likely appear on flickr and/or posterous.

It just remains for me to thank you for reading in 2009 and I hope to see you again in 2010.
Happy New Year

January came and went, unnoticed. In February I did a guided geological walk for the residents of Maer, Staffordshire and part of the Darwin bicentenary celebrations. Maer was where Charles married his [...]]]> In a fashion, after Sciencewoman, Tuff Cookie, Callan and Silver Fox, here is the first part of my personal photographic review of 2009.

January came and went, unnoticed. In February I did a guided geological walk for the residents of Maer, Staffordshire and part of the Darwin bicentenary celebrations. Maer was where Charles married his cousin Emma Wedgwood in this church.

February also saw the launch of the Cannock Chase Geotrail that I had worked on extensively in 2008. This is the Glacial Boulder (as opposed to a glacial boulder), turned into a monument.

In March I was part of a field course to Wenlock and Ludlow, classic British geological localities. This is Ludlow Castle from the Whitcliffe section…

… ran a one day field course to the Ercall Quarries in Shropshire, site of the Cambrian/Precambrian unconformity (when life became hard!)…

…I also went down the Ecton copper mine …

… and with the weather improving went for a walk in the Manifold Valley. This is the view from Thor’s Cave.

April saw two visits to Pembrokeshire – restore this! …

… Ogmore and Southerndown in South Wales (here is the Liassic / Lower Carboniferous unconformity) …

… and also had a brief holiday in Devon (this are feldspar megacrysts in the Dartmoor Granite).

With spring having sprung, May saw a visit to Ashridge, Hertfordshire to see the bluebells.

The second half of the year to follow…