Dear Members,

I’m sorry to have to report the death of long-time supporter and HGS excursion leader, George Downie on 31 May. He hadn’t been in the best of health for a little while and died peacefully at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary. His funeral in Rosehearty was well attended and his nephew spoke movingly about George’s commitment to the British Schools Exploration Society (he led expeditions to Alaska, Greenland and the USA), as well as his love of teaching at the University of Aberdeen. Professor Stuart Munro drove up from Edinburgh for the funeral as he credits George with introducing him to the world of rocks having being shown a petrological microscope during a departmental open day. Although George hadn’t been active with the society for a number of years, he will be remembered with affection as a patient and knowledgeable field geologist.

On a happier note, the Friends of Hugh Miller, to whom the society is affiliated, had an extremely successful AGM in May. Prizes for a writing competition organised by the Scottish Geodiversity Forum were presented and the event culminated with one of the winning writers (Jim Gilchrist) picking up an almost complete specimen of the rare Devonian fish Cheirolepis trailli, described as one of the most extraordinary fossil finds at Cromarty for a generation. More information can be found at: http://s3.spanglefish.com/s/27844/documents/newsletters/newslettersummer16.pdf

Thank you to everyone who has supported our field excursions thus far. Our final jaunt this season will be:

 

Meet at the Kilmartin Hotel, Kilmartin, PA31 8RQ (NR 8351 9886) at 9.45 am. We plan to leave some cars at the hotel, if possible.

On Saturday we will examine coastal exposures of sedimentary and volcanic rocks at the boundary between the Middle and Upper divisions of the Dalradian Supergroup in the vicinity of Kilmory Bay (bottom end of Loch Sween, east side). The Ardrishaig Phyllites and Crinan Grits show changes in sedimentology and a variety of structural features. On Sunday we will continue looking at sedimentary and volcanic rocks of these Dalradian divisions around Rubha na Cille on the Tayvallich peninsula. In the afternoon, we will move forward in time and investigate Quaternary geomorphological features and archaeology in the Kilmartin area.

Dinner has been booked at the Kilmartin Hotel on Saturday so please let Alison know if you would like to join the group for dinner. See http://www.kilmartin-hotel.com/index.htm for more information.

 

**** New date****

The world of diamond exploration was, until the 1980's, largely unknown outside of one or two companies. Upper Mantle studies were confined to a handful of geoscientists worldwide until a partnership was formed with the diamond industry and those studies proved to have applications in not only finding, but also in

exploiting kimberlites and lamproites. The talk is set out as a journey from exploration concepts through

exploration methods, ending in the evaluation of kimberlites as potential mines. On the way, there will be

illustrated diversions to various countries, together with anecdotes and asides. There will not, however, be

any free samples of the elusive carbon polymorph!

Don has worked for over forty years in mineral exploration and mining in Africa, China and Australia, with

the occasional foray into Russia and South America. He is also the author of ‘The Psychologist's Just

Been...’ which is written under the pseudonym of Tom Lindsay. This is a tale in the style of the James

Herriot 'vet' books: young geologist goes off to seek fame and fortune, then, somewhat older but no wiser,

writes about his adventures. The central character has thus far led a life more reminiscent of that of an

explorer in the 1800’s than that which might be expected of a modern scientist. His somewhat wry views on

many issues are coloured by the numerous locations and cultures in which he’s not only worked, but lived,

often during periods of significant social change.

The book is available on Amazon Books (and other internet sellers) in both paperback and Kindle format

and has received numerous positive reviews. Don will be happy to sign copies for members after his talk.

 

Major engineering facilities in the Highlands and Islands provide visual evidence of the impact of the oil and

gas industry in the region. Examples include the platform fabrication yards at Ardersier, Kishorn and Arnish

Point on the Isle of Lewis, the exploration rig maintenance yards at Invergordon and Nigg with mobile rigs

lined up in the Cromarty Firth and, further north, the oil terminals at Flotta and Sullom Voe, as well as the

subsea production and control bundles fabrication facility at Sinclair’s Bay. What is perhaps less well

known is the important contribution of the Highlands and Islands to the understanding of the subsea geology

in the Moray Firth, North Sea and Atlantic Margin. The consequent successful exploration for, and

development of, oil and gas in these areas continues to be very important to the economy of Scotland and the

UK. Jim’s talk will give some examples of applying outcrop studies to the offshore environment and will

also describe some onshore hydrocarbon exploration and development activity. There will also be a

description of the components needed for a working petroleum system, which is essential for successful

hydrocarbon exploration.

 

Rocks and minerals mined or quarried in the UK provide many of the raw materials for our basic industries.

Those currently extracted include sand and gravel, limestone, dolomite, sandstone, igneous rocks, silica

sand, gypsum, potash, salt, china clay, ball clay, common clay, building and dimension stone, slate, fluorite,

barite, and talc. They are worth about £2.5 billion to the UK economy and provide around 20,000 jobs at

about 2,000 sites of extraction. Processing and manufacture into mineral-based and other products that

contain one or more of these minerals add considerably more value and gives even more employment. By

contrast, metal ore extraction in the UK in recent years was worth about £1 million, although this will

increase with a new tungsten mine now on-stream in Devon. The lecture will describe the geological

features of some of the minerals that were once extracted in the UK and discuss the geological problems in

extracting some of the present ones.

 

Chairman: Alan Thompson 01463 238992 alanrossthompson@hotmail.com

Secretary: Dr Alison Wright 01309 671949 a.j.wright00@aberdeen.ac.uk

Treasurer: Dr Rhona Fraser rhonabifraser@tiscali.co.uk