teaching - Earth Science Teachers' Association

teaching 

EARTH 

SCIENCES 

From the Editor 

From the Chair 

ESTA Conference 

Extreme Earth: Climate 

Change Through Deep 

Time 

Lone Museum Curator 

Attends his First ESTA 

Conference 

Blakeney Esker 

Chartered Geographer 

(Teacher) – The Only 

Ongoing Professional 

Accreditation Linked to 

CPD in Geography 

ESTA Conference Field 

Report 

Geodiversity, 

Geoconservation 

and GeoValue 

A Sub-Mendip Field Trip! 

The Science of Global 

Warming 

Ecton Rises Again! 

Inspiring the New 

Generation to Opt for 

A level Geology 

News and Views 

ESTA Diary 

Reviews 

PEST – Issue 56 

Magazine of the EARTH SCIENCE TEACHERS’ ASSOCIATION 

Volume 31 ● Number 4, 2006 ● ISSN 0957-8005 

www.esta-uk.org

Teaching Earth Sciences: Guide for Authors 

The Editor welcomes articles of any length and nature and on any topic related to 

Earth science education from cradle to grave. Please inspect back copies of TES, 

from Issue 26(3) onwards, to become familiar with the magazine house-style. 

Text 

Please supply the full text on disk or as an email attachment: Microsoft Word is 

the most convenient, but any widely-used wordprocessor is acceptable. Figures, 

tables and photographs must be referenced in the text, but sent as separate jpeg 

or tiff files (see below). 

Please use SI units throughout, except where this is inappropriate (in which case 

please include a conversion table). The first paragraph of each major article should 

not have a subheading but should either introduce the reader to the context of the 

article or should provide an overview to stimulate interest. This is not an abstract in 

the formal sense. Subsequent paragraphs should be grouped under sub-headings. 

To Advertise in 


EARTH 

SCIENCES 


EARTH 

SCIENCES 

References 

Please use the following examples as models 

(1) Articles 

Mayer, V. (1995) Using the Earth system for integrating the science curriculum. 

Science Education, 79(4), pp. 375-391. 

(2) Books 

McPhee, J. (1986 ) Rising from the Plains. New York: Fraux, Giroux & Strauss. 

(3) Chapters in books 

Duschl, R.A. & Smith, M.J. (2001) Earth Science. In Jere Brophy (ed), Subject- 

Specific Instructional Methods and Activities, Advances in Research on Teaching. Volume 8, 

pp. 269-290. Amsterdam: Elsevier Science. 

Figures 

Prepared artwork must be of high quality and submitted on paper or disk. Handdrawn 

and hand-labelled diagrams are not normally acceptable, although in some 

circumstances this is appropriate. Each figure must be submitted as a separate file. 

(not embedded in a Word file) Each figure must have a caption. 

Photographs 

Please submit colour or black-and-white photographs as originals. They are also 

welcomed in digital form on disk or as email attachments: .jpeg format is to be preferred. 

Please use one file for each photograph, to be at 300dpi. Each photograph 

must have a caption. 

Copyright 

There are no copyright restrictions on original material published in Teaching Earth 

Sciences if it is required for use in the classroom or lecture room. Copyright material 

reproduced in TES by permission of other publications rests with the original 

publisher. Permission must be sought from the Editor to reproduce original material 

from Teaching Earth Sciences in other publications and appropriate acknowledgement 

must be given. 

All articles submitted should be original unless indicted otherwise and should 

contain the author’s full name, title and address (and email address where relevant). 

They should be sent to the Editor, 

Adrian Pickles 

Email: Adrian.mt@field-studies-council.org 

Tel: 01729 830331 



Telephone 

Jane Ladson 

01142 303633 

www.esta-uk.org 

COPY DEADLINES 

TES 32.1 (PEST 57) 13 December 2006 for 

publication January/February 2007 

TES 32.2 (PEST 58) 20 February 2007 for 

publication April/May 2007 

TES 32.3 (PEST 59) 22 May 2007 for 

publication July/August 2007 

TES 32.4 (PEST 60) 25 September 2007 for 

publication November/December 2007 

WHERE IS PEST? 

PEST is printed as the 

centre 4 pages in 

Teaching Earth Sciences.




TEACHING EARTH SCIENCES ● Volume 31 ● Number 4, 2006 


EARTH 

SCIENCES 

Teaching Earth Sciences is published quarterly by 

the Earth Science Teachers’ Association. ESTA 

aims to encourage and support the teaching of 

Earth sciences, whether as a single subject or as 

part of science or geography courses. 

Full membership is £25.00; student and retired 

membership £12.50. 

Registered Charity No. 1005331 

Editor 


Tel: 01729 830331 

Email: adrian.mt@field-studies-council.org 

Advertising 

Jane Ladson 

Tel: 01142 303 633 

Email: janeladson@tiscali.co.uk 

Reviews Editor 

Dr. Denis Bates 

Tel: 01970 617667 

Email: deb@aber.ac.uk 

Council Officers 

Chairman 

Dawn Windley 

Tel: 01709 300600 

Email: dawn.windley@thomroth.ac.uk 

Secretary 

Susan Beale 

Email: beales.lowrow@virgin.net 

Membership Secretary 

Hamish Ross 

PO BOX 23672 

Edinburgh EH3 9XQ 

Tel: 0131 651 6410 

Email: hamish.ross@education.ed.ac.uk 

Treasurer 

Maggie Williams 

Email: maggiee.williams@tiscali.co.uk 

Primary Co-ordinator 

Niki Whitburn 

Email: farfalle@btinternet.com 

Secondary Co-ordinator 

Chris King 

Email: c.j.h.king@educ.keele.ac.uk 

Higher Education Co-ordinator 

Mike Tuke 

Email: miketuke@btinternet.com 

CONTENTS 

4 From the Editor 

5 Letters to the Editor 

7 From the Chair 

9 ESTA Conference 

10 Extreme Earth: Climate Change Through Deep 

Time 

Dr Howard Falcon-Lang 

13 Lone Museum Curator Attends his First ESTA 

Conference 

Jan Freedman 

15 Blakeney Esker 

Anna Jarrow 

17 Chartered Geographer (Teacher) – The Only 

Ongoing Professional Accreditation Linked to 

CPD in Geography 

Claire Wheeler 

18 The Science of Global Warming 

Professor Colin Prentice 

19 Geodiversity, Geoconservation 

and GeoValue 

Professor Peter W. Scott, Dr Robin Shail, Dr Clive Nicholas 

and David Roche 

22 ESTA Conference Field Report 1 

Burrington Combe, Mendips 

Peter Kennett 

23 ESTA Conference Field Report 2 

Tedbury Camp / Vallis Vale 

Rick Ramsdale 

24 Ecton Rises Again! 

Alastair Fleming 

26 Inspiring the New Generation to Opt for 

A level Geology 

Paul Douglas, Karl Gray, Chris King 

30 News and Views 

31 ESTA Diary 

34 Reviews 

PEST – Issue 56 – Building Stone Walks 

Visit our website at www.esta-uk.org 

Contributions to future issues of Teaching Earth 

Sciences will be welcomed and should be 

addressed to the Editor. 

Opinions and comments in this issue are the 

personal views of the authors and do not 

necessarily represent the views of the Association. 

Designed by Character Design 

Highridge, Wrigglebrook Lane, Kingsthorne 

Hereford HR2 8AW 


EARTH 

SCIENCES 

Front cover 

The intrepid cavers outside Goatchurch 

Cavern, Mendips. From L to R – 

Barry Cullimore, David Fuller, Geoff 

Nicholson, Ros Smith, Mike Tuke, Chris 

Binding (our cave leader), Dave Turner. 

© PETER KENNETT 

3 www.esta-uk.org


Farewell and Thank You 

It has been a good summer, with another visit to the 

Big Green Gathering – fieldtrips and camping trips 

are so much more fun if it doesn’t rain, and this year, 

although there were a few wet moments, there was no 

flooding which meant plenty of time sitting round the 

camp fire, star gazing and sampling the occasional bottle 

of red amongst friends. 

Then back to work. The conference in Bristol was a 

good way to start the new term, getting back into the 

work routine. I don’t know how we managed to drink a 

pub dry – maybe they were running down stocks before 

the return of the ‘real students’. 

There was a range of talks and workshops, covering 

all interests from primary to HE. As in previous years, I 

found it difficult to choose between them and ended up 

moving from room to room. Speakers, workshop and 

fieldwork leaders and delegates have been invited to 

submit their write-ups for publication in this and 

future issues of Teaching Earth Sciences. Keep a look out 

for them. 

Curriculum development and discussions continue 

at all levels, from the staff room to the ‘corridors of 

power’ in Westminster. Over the last few years, I have 

been involved in working groups looking at primary 

science, KS3 Science Strategy, KS4 and now Geology A 

level. Opinions vary, but the future looks bright. 

Coursework, assessment and content continue to excite 

and frustrate and new ideas abound. 

I was interested to hear more about the International 

Baccalaureate from Tony Grindrod, particularly as one 

of my local schools in St Albans is introducing this next 

year. Whether it turns out to be a success or not, it has 

already had the effect of involving parents and getting 

them discussing their children’s school work and future 

education. It is also motivating staff with the excitement 

of something new and different, rather than just more 

administration and yet more changes to their lessons. 

So, the debate continues. 

GCSE work at home is banned 

At the Labour conference in Manchester, the Education 

Secretary, Alan Johnson, said that GCSE maths 

coursework would be scrapped. Projects in other subjects 

would have to be completed in school under 

supervision. This is to avoid cheating; the Qualifications 

and Curriculum Authority (QCA) said that it 

has identified persistent evidence of abuse. One in 20 

parents admits doing their children’s coursework, 

which may account for 20-60% of the marks. So, less 

work for teachers in setting and marking coursework 

(unless they find themselves having to supervise 

coursework in school), less work for those parents 

who will no longer have coursework to do (unless 

they choose to attend adult classes) – but maybe more 

revision and exam nerves for those who rely on doing 

their best under exam conditions? 

Pink Diamonds 

As a gemmologist and author of books on gemstones, 

my eye is often caught by articles on gemstones and 

particularly the unusual, the biggest or the best. I was 

interested to read that the largest collection of pink diamonds 

in the world went on sale in London on 28 September. 

65 gems were shown to potential buyers at a 

secret location in Mayfair. The pink diamonds are selling 

for more than £200,000 per carat (carat = 0.2g). The 

diamond collection is from the Argyle Mine in Western 

Australia. I also mention gemstones as a reminder about 

careers, so that when you hear an occasional student, 

friend or colleague mistakenly associating geology or 

mining with ‘boring grey rocks’ or ‘only oil rigs and 

things’ remind them that mineralogy and gemmology 

are also worthwhile and often well-paid careers and 

they could be handling some of the most attractive and 

valuable rocks on Earth! 

Graduate Skills and Recruitment Report 

It seems that the wide range of Earth science careers 

are seldom, if ever, mentioned at schools as worthwhile 

or well-paid careers. This lack of awareness is 

often duplicated in HE/FE. The Earth Science Education 

Forum for England and Wales (ESEF(EW)) is 

particularly concerned about the lack of Earth science 

teachers and the lack of qualified Earth scientists. Following 

on from the conference report ‘Improving the 

Effectiveness of Education Resources for Earth Science 

and Industry’, ESEF(EW) has set up a working 

group to look at workforce issues (www.esef.org.uk or 

contact me for further details). 

The lack of graduate skills and recruitment issues has 

also been highlighted in other areas. The City of London 

Corporation and the Financial Services Skills 

Council surveyed 25 banking, insurance, asset management 

and legal, accounting and maritime services firms 

(but not geological firms). Results indicated that British 

graduates are missing out on top City jobs because they 

do not have the skills of their overseas counterparts. 

Employers recruit up to one in five foreign youngsters, 

because they are more mature and better prepared for 

the workplace, speak more languages and have greater 

working experience. In some companies, the figure is as 

much as 50%. Earth scientists are a global workforce 

and these figures should be heeded as a warning, but 

also as an incentive to train more Earth scientists for the 

global market. 

And so it is farewell 

I was pleased to report to the AGM at Conference: 


4


‘With time spent on commissioning articles and promoting 

the magazine there has been plenty of good 

copy and there is no longer the need to accept ‘anything 

that is offered’ for publication. This also means that the 

magazine can be better tailored to the readers’ interests. 

Research has been carried out to identify options for 

introducing colour printing while retaining the good 

reputation and quality of TES, but finances have been 

such that no action has been taken. Now that the backlog 

is cleared, and in order to continue to publish four 

issues a year, it is essential that copy deadlines (printed 

inside the front cover of each issue) are adhered to. 

I would like Council to note its vote of thanks to 

Denis Bates for his work with book reviews. I would 

also ask Council to give its thanks to Ian Ray who has 

handled advertising and inserts and Maggie Williams 

for providing diary information.’ 

And finally, I would also like to thank everyone who 

has helped me over the last three years; contributing 

articles, proof reading and giving valuable feedback. 

I have enjoyed doing the job as editor although it 

has been time consuming and on occasions quite frustrating, 

but it has also been an honour and at times a 

pleasure. 

And so after 16 issues of TES, it is farewell from me 

as Adrian Pickles takes over the reins. 

Cally Oldershaw 

Email: cally.oldershaw@btopenworld.com 

Welcome 

Adrian Pickles, Head of Centre at Malham Tarn, is an Earth scientist, orienteer and educationalist with 30 years’ 

experience of helping people navigate their way in the world. 

Contact details: 


Head of Centre, Malham Tarn Field Centre 

Settle, North Yorkshire BD24 9PU 

Tel: 01729 830331 

Email: adrian.mt@field-studies-council.org 

Letters to the Editor 

Dear Editor 

There is a potential shortage of professional geologists. 

This is a recurring theme when talking to practising geoscientists 

and Earth science academics, and occasionally 

it is backed up by concrete figures. In July of this year a 

report by the British Geophysical Association warns of a 

chronic shortage of geophysics graduates (Education 

Guardian; 25/07/06). Geophysicists are required in a 

wide range of Earth science disciplines such as climate 

change, radioactive waste disposal, energy supply and 

global water resources. “The population in the industry is 

ageing while the number of students entering university to read 

geophysical science is falling and courses are being discontinued. If 

current rates of decline continue there will be no geophysics undergraduates 

by 2030. The problem is global.” 

This is not a new situation. In 2004 the Institute of 

Physics bemoaned the relentless decline in A level 

physics students, and this affects not only Earth science, 

also engineering and a host of scientific disciplines, 

many of them in hospitals. Dr Julia King, the chief 

executive of the Institute said that, “Physics is in decline 

and other subjects, such as media studies and art, are increasingly 

popular despite the poor career prospects they offer. It’s a 

crazy situation.” Last year, Lord May of Oxford, the President 

of the Royal Society commented, “We are still facing 

a crisis in physics, maths and chemistry at A level. Compared 

to 1991, the overall numbers of A level entries in 2005 

were 12.1% higher. But entries in physics were 35.2% lower, 

entries in mathematics were 21.5% lower, and entries in chemistry 

were 12.6% lower. We will not be able to meet the needs of 

employers and enjoy a strong economy in the UK in the future 

if we do not have sufficient numbers of people trained and qualified 

in science and mathematics,” 

This is being written one week before the 2006 

A level results are announced, but I would be surprised 

if this trend is not continuing. In 2004 there were 

28,698 A level entries for physics, 37,254 for chemistry 

and 58,508 for maths, all declining. For comparison the 

entries for psychology were 46,933; media studies 

26,894 and sociology 25,571 and all increasing. The 

total entries in all subjects in 2004 were 766,247. The 

solutions offered are that the ‘at-risk’ subjects must be 

made more attractive to students in the market place, 

then more 16 year olds will choose them. 

It is time the whole question of the free market and 

complete freedom of choice in 16-19 education is 

appraised. A level courses are increasingly taught in 

Continued on page 6 

5 www.esta-uk.org


Further Education and Sixth Form Colleges. They are 

in competition with each other for students, and likewise 

within the colleges, individual faculties and 

departments are also often in competition. If a subject 

is losing students, to maintain staff in employment 

you may have to offer new subjects. The student perception 

and that of many teachers is that maths, 

physics, chemistry along with foreign languages are 

‘hard’ subjects whereas the newer subjects are not 

only easier but; ‘sound interesting’. There is evidence 

that students tend to choose ‘easier’ subjects. If a college 

tries to restrict student choice or decides not to 

offer a subject because it does not believe it has a place 

on the curriculum, it risks losing the student to a rival 

college. Targets are all about total student numbers 

and pass rates, not about curricular content. It is a 

crazy situation. 

A level geology is a small subject with entries around 

2,000 - 3,000 mark, and yet probably provides a significant 

number of professional geologists. It is kept going 

in schools and colleges by a band of enthusiasts, but like 

all sciences it is expensive to deliver, requiring laboratory 

space, and cost is another consideration in our 

market orientated further education system. 

Bill Groves 

billgroves300@btinternet.com 

Also printed in the Newsletter of the Black 

Country Geological Society, August 2006 

Dear Editor 

“I tell my friends, ‘I’m gay!’” These are the words of a 

Past Master Cutler of Sheffield, the late Raymond 

Douglas. He would then bring down the raised eyebrows 

by saying, “Gay is a lovely little English word that 

means happy and carefree, and I refuse to have it highjacked 

by a certain section of the community.” 

In a similar way, in response to Antony Wyatt’s article 

on creationism (Teaching Earth Sciences, 31.3), I can 

say that I am a creationist. In case any geological eyebrows 

are on their way up, I should explain that what I 

mean by the term is that, for me, God did it, and goes 

on doing it. My role, as a geologist, is to enjoy finding 

out how he did it and how long it took him. Fortunately 

for the geological profession, there is still a lot more to 

be found out than is contained in the first few verses of 

Genesis! 

In common with other Christians who are also scientists 

(and there are many among the membership of 

ESTA), I have had to work out my own position over 

the years and be ready to consider fresh ideas as I go. For 

me, there is no major problem – the Bible and science 

are addressing different aspects of human experience. 

We were never meant to learn all our biology and geology 

from a text whose main purpose is to point to a creator. 

The Bible is also intended to show that 

humankind is not what that creator would have it to be. 

However, he has also provided the remedy in sending 

Jesus Christ as our saviour. (Incidentally, chemists and 

physicists have less of a problem, since the Bible has little 

to say about these sciences). 

I can understand where the “creationists” (i.e. literalists) 

are coming from. In accepting the Bible as God’s 

Word, they fear that it will be diminished if we view different 

bits of it in a different way. Rather than accept, as 

I do, that some is poetry, some is real history, some allegory 

and much (especially the New Testament) is literally 

true, they opt for the simplistic solution of having 

every word as literally true, contradictions and all. They 

forget that the Bible itself says that the Holy Spirit 

guides us in its interpretation, and makes it all relevant 

to our needs (but not as a science textbook). 

Antony asks the question, “Does it matter?” and I 

agree with him that it does, which I can perhaps illustrate 

with a few anecdotes of my own. 

I once went to a meeting addressed by an eminent 

Professor of Biology who called himself a “scientific 

creationist”. I was not qualified to comment on the 

accuracy of his biological arguments, opposing evolution 

(me, I dropped Biology at 14!), but when he 

started on supposed geological evidence, my hackles 

rose. He talked about radioisotopic dating, but only 

mentioned the C14 method and not those techniques 

that are of more use to geologists. He was at pains to 

point out that if the graph were in error in one direction, 

then the resultant date would be an overestimate: 

he totally failed to discuss what would happen if the 

equally likely error were to occur in the other direction! 

The rest of his talk was just as full of inconsistencies 

and I became annoyed enough to tackle him 

afterwards over a cup of tea, accusing him of taking my 

beloved science back to the 18th Century! At that time, 

I had a number of sixth formers who were enquiring 

about Christianity and I had nearly invited them to the 

meeting – I am glad I didn’t! 

The Professor and I agreed that the most vital thing 

about our shared faith was the centrality of Jesus 

Christ and our personal response to him, but we 

clearly differed strongly on “creationism” As we 

parted, he called me a “theistic evolutionist” – I don’t 

think he was being rude! 

I gather that some devout Moslems take a similarly 

literalistic line, but I knew little of a modern Jewish 

viewpoint until I heard the comments on the radio of 

Lord Robert Winston, the eminent fertility expert. He 

is a practising Jew, and stated that Jews are quite happy 

in seeking scientific explanations for miracles such as 

the parting of the Red Sea. The miracle to him would 

then be in the timing of God’s actions rather than in 

the method. 

Antony considers the influence of “creationist” 

beliefs on science, and I too would express some anxi- 


6


ety. Is the growing publicity about “creationism” and 

the underlying confusion which it sows another factor 

in the perceived drift away from science in our schools, 

in favour of “arts” subjects? 

I have recently been made aware of the influence of 

literalistic beliefs on politics too. My wife and I were 

able to visit Israel/Palestine during a relatively peaceful 

time, two years ago. One day, we entered into a 

lunchtime conversation with a group of English people 

wearing badges proclaiming “Friends of Israel” or 

something similar. These were Christians, mainly middle 

aged ladies, who were adamant that God had given 

the land to the Israelis for all time, based on an Old Testament 

passage, and taking no notice of Jesus’ teaching 

in the New. Their leader was a charismatic man, whose 

following clearly adored him. In order to counteract his 

seven day creation diatribe, my wife asked him if he 

knew any geology. He then claimed to be qualified in 

palaeontology, astronomy, archaeology, etc, but sadly 

was called away by one of his disciples before we could 

test the evidence! 

We were later reminded that American policy in the 

Middle East is, at least in part, dictated by the President 

looking over his shoulder at his electorate, not it would 

seem, the relatively small Jewish vote, but the much 

larger and more vociferous “Christian Right”. If these 

people are as literalistic as the folk we met, it may 

explain why, to many of us, the U.S. treatment of the 

situation in Israel/Palestine seems unbalanced. 

Oops! I have erred and strayed from the geological 

way, like a lost sheep! I must now attend to those things 

that I have left undone and cast myself on the mercy of 

the editor as to how much of the above gets published!! 

Peter Kennett 

peter.kennett@tiscali.co.uk 

Greetings to ESTA Members 

Iwrite this piece having just returned from an actionpacked, 

fun-filled and inspiring weekend – our 

Annual Course and Conference which this year was 

held at Bristol University. Here I was duly elected 

ESTA Chairman (person?). As a practising A level 

Geology teacher I am not completely new to ESTA 

Council. Some of you may remember me as ESTA Secretary 

(1999-2003). I thoroughly enjoyed my involvement 

with ESTA then and I am honoured to be serving 

on Council once more and looking forward to an exciting 

and fulfilling term of office. 

The Bristol Course and Conference was a great success 

in every respect, with over 120 people being 

involved over the three days. The success was mostly 

due to our retiring Chairman Martin Whiteley, who as 

Conference Convenor, worked with a number of key 

aides to ensure that the whole event ran smoothly and 

efficiently. A programme of lectures and workshops 

formed the mainstay of the weekend and I’m delighted 

that some of these appear in this edition with others to 

follow in due course. These important contributions 

serve to both update us on current topics in Earth science 

and to provide inspiration for the classroom. 

A wealth of activities took place during the conference. 

Friday was the specific INSET day – with separate 

activities taking place for Primary (Earth Science to the 

Core), Key Stage 3 & 4 (Teaching the Dynamic Earth), 

Post-16 (Teaching for the Future) and, for the first time 

in a number of years, a workshop for Higher Education 

Staff specifically involved in Schools Liaison (Geo- 

Science in Transition). As a practising A level Geology 

teacher in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, I was lucky 

enough to experience “Lifting the Lid on Vulcanism” – 

the experimental modelling lecture and practical flume 

tank demonstrations from Jeremy Phillips (Bristol 

University), “Mining is (y)our future business” – Toby 

White (Leeds University), “Getting more out of Fossils” 

– Joe Botting (Natural History Museum), a fascinating 

and thought-provoking facilitated discussion on 

HE and Post-16 collaboration and the ever-excellent 

regular feature, the all-inspiring “Bring and Share” session 

which every year amazes me with the new ideas for 

teaching and learning it provides. Even after 10 years of 

Earth science teaching I am still discovering new and 

innovative ways to ensure our students have understood 

key concepts and ideas. Some of these will appear 

in later editions. 

Maggie Williams and I presented our own work in 

progress which was conceived at the A level workshop 

day in May this year – a PowerPoint encouraging students 

to choose Geology as a subject by making them 

aware of the different career paths it can lead to. This 

work is to be further developed for inclusion on both 

the ESTA (GEOTREX) website and the re-launched 

and updated Geological Society website. Any comments 

are invited, especially if you have student profiles 

we could use as examples. 

A wine reception (sponsored by Bristol University) 

was followed by the evening lecture given by Professor 

Mike Benton, Head of Department at Bristol on the 

popular topic of Mass Extinctions. 

Saturday dawned a little too soon for some participants 

who had been out in Clifton until the early hours, 

generally catching up on a year’s gossip and teaching 

stories whilst enjoying some of the local curry houses 

and bars. One group of delegates arrived to find that the 

public house had “run out of beer”. The other geologists 

had obviously got there before them! Saturday 

morning included parallel sessions for Secondary and 


7 www.esta-uk.org


Primary teachers covering a range of topics including: 

Ancient Climates, Global Warming, the Jurassic Coast, 

the Mendips, Building Stones, ESEU, Fieldwork discussions, 

the International Baccalaureate and UKRIGS 

On-Line projects, whilst the afternoon allowed an 

introduction to the various fieldtrips that took place on 

Sunday. More on these will follow in future editions. 

Martin conducted the AGM with his usual efficiency 

before stepping down as Chairman. Martin has 

put in an incredible amount of effort in over the past six 

years, not only as a hardworking Chairman (2004- 

2006) but also as President (2001-2003), and ESTA 

indebted to him for establishing a number of important 

contacts and valuable sponsorships, and ensuring that 

the Association remains healthy and prosperous. 

Thanks Martin. Council reports from the AGM 2006 

can now be found on the ESTA website. 

As well as myself, other elections to Council were 

made at the AGM, including the re-appointment of 

both Maggie Williams as Treasurer and Susan Beale as 

Secretary, both for another 3 years in office. Thank you 

Maggie and Susan, your hard work is much appreciated. 

Thanks are also extended to Cally for agreeing to 

continue as Editor for this issue as she shows the “new 

editor” the ropes. In the meantime keep the contributions 

coming! The website is to be taken over by Peter 

Williams. David Whiteley, who has worked efficiently 

managing the website, and with Ben Church on the 

development of GEOTREX, is helping to ensure a 

smooth transition. Thank you David for helping to set 

up this excellent resource – how did we manage before 

this evolutionary event? As far as you the member is concerned, 

everything will be “business as normal” during 

this transition period. Advertising has been taken over 

by Jane Ladson whose contact details can be found in 

the front of the magazine. Do remember to pass on any 

details of anyone you think may want to advertise 

through us via Teaching Earth Sciences or the website. 

Professor Jon Blundy’s talk on “Forecasting Volcanic 

Eruptions” concluded an excellent series of lectures and 

workshops and certainly provoked many questions 

which were still being discussed at the Conference 

Dinner and bar later in the evening. 

The Sunday morning fieldtrips included subterranean 

geology in Burrington Combe, local building 

stones in Bristol, Red Beds in Portishead and limestones 

in Vallis Vale. Thanks are extended to all fieldtrip 

leaders for increasing our knowledge of the geology of 

the Bristol area and helping us to consider possible student/pupil 

fieldwork activities. 

I certainly returned home full of enthusiasm and 

drive, armed with a number of key ideas to put into practice 

over the coming months. As usual the ESTA Conference 

proved to be an incredibly important INSET 

opportunity. If you missed this year, then make sure you 

check out the website, this issue and future editions of 

TES to capture the main essence of the weekend. 

Finally in my capacity as new Chair, may I take this 

opportunity to thank those of you who have renewed 

your ESTA subscriptions (hopefully with a Gift Aid) 

and to extend a particularly warm welcome to new 

members. Make a note in your diary now for the next 

Conference in Belfast, Northern Ireland, 14-16th September 

2007 with guaranteed awesome geological fieldwork. 

Dawn Windley 

ESTA Chair 

Contact details : 

Dr Dawn Windley 

Thomas Rotherham College 

Moorgate Road 

Rotherham 

South Yorkshire S60 2BE 

Email: dawn.windley@thomroth.ac.uk 

For a trial period, we are putting GEOTREX and 

past issues of Teaching Earth Sciences under 

password protection on the ESTA website. 

Pssst… don’t forget… 

the word is… esta 

These resources have cost thousands of pounds 

to develop and we want to capture their value 

for ESTA members. 


8


ESTA Conference 

Primary INSET with John Reynolds 

Primary INSET acid test 

Toby White 

(University of Leeds) 

Joe Botting (Natural 

History Museum) 

Happy Primary teachers going home with their boxes! 

A group of ‘charismatics’ at worship!! (Mike Tuke persuaded all of 

the Post-16 group to climb on the bench and drop sycamore 

seeds. Some connection with graptolites, he said!) 

Conference Dinner in stately home 

Maggie Williams and Dawn Windley with 

their presentation on geological careers 

9 www.esta-uk.org


Extreme Earth: Climate Change Through 

Deep Time 

DR HOWARD FALCON-LANG 

Climate change is nothing new. Over the billions of years of deep time, the Earth’s climate has 

fluctuated between periods of extreme warmth and cold. We can think of these extremes as 

experiments that nature has undertaken on our behalf. These experiments teach us how the 

Earth’s System works, and give us a better idea of the implications of our current meddling with 

planetary dynamics. In this article, I review some of the ways that geologists investigate ancient 

climate and give examples of what Earth was like during some climatic extremes. 

Figure 1 

The author with a 

Carboniferous 

fossil tree at 

Joggins, Nova 

Scotia, Canada. 

These fossils are 

remains of the 

earliest tropical 

rainforests. 

The study of ancient climates has a long history. 

One of the first palaeoclimatic investigations was 

made by Lun Sun in China way back in the 

twelfth century AD. He discovered a fossil forest of 

what he thought was petrified bamboo. As bamboo did 

not grow in that area, he argued that the climate must 

have been different when the rocks were formed. 

Palaeoclimatic research in a modern sense really began 

in the nineteenth century with the work of Charles 

Lyell. He sought to explain the mounting geological 

evidence for past climate change by means of observable 

natural causes rather than catastrophic events. 

Palaeoclimate toolbox 

So how can we study what the Earth’s climate was like 

millions of years ago? There are four main approaches 

to palaeoclimatology. One of the most useful for field 

geologists is sedimentary evidence. For example, tillites, 

the deposits of ancient glacial moraines, imply permanently 

freezing conditions; evaporites, such as gypsum 

and halite, suggest sufficient aridity to precipitate out 

salts; whereas laterites, iron-rich soil profiles, indicate 

very humid climates under which all other soil constituents 

were weathered away. In fact, ancient soils, or 

palaeosols, are one of the best sedimentary indicators of 

past climates as the global distribution of soil types is 

strongly controlled by temperature and rainfall, as well 

as bedrock. 

Another popular approach to palaeoclimate research 

involves fossils. Here, inferences are based on the 

known climate tolerance of the nearest living relative of 

the fossil in question. For example, crocodiles are today 

limited to environments with a mean annual temperature 

of 14°C. So when fossil crocodiles turned up in the 

Paleogene of northern Canada, geologists painted a picture 

of a subtropical Arctic Eden. Similarly, the widespread 

discovery of palm trees in the Tertiary London 

Clay points to England having had a much warmer climate 

in the distant past. 

Isotopes represent a third method for exploring 

ancient climates. One particularly useful isotope is oxygen, 

which comes in two main forms, light oxygen-16 

and heavy oxygen-18. Because light oxygen fits into the 

ice lattice more easily that heavy oxygen, their ratio in 

seawater is influenced by the size of the polar ice caps. 

In short, the larger the ice caps, the greater the proportion 

of heavy oxygen in seawater. Study of the oxygen 

isotopic ratio of marine foraminifera therefore provides 

one of the most detailed records of the various ice ages 

that have affected the Quaternary. 

Computer models represent a final palaeoclimatic 

technique. The Met Office has developed accurate simulations 

of the Earth’s climate based on general physical 

principles. These General Circulation Models 

(GCMs) can also be applied to the geological past by 

changing the various input parameters such as continental 

position and atmospheric composition. For 

example, modelling of the Triassic period, when all 

landmasses were joined together and atmospheric carbon 

dioxide levels were higher, has suggested very hot 

arid conditions at the heart of Pangaea. Such model 


10


results can then be tested against the other kinds of 

palaeoclimatic indicators. 

Carboniferous Icehouse Earth 

From a palaeoclimatic perspective, the latter part of the 

Carboniferous period, 315-290 million years ago, may 

be one of the most interesting phases of Earth history. 

Like today, Carboniferous climate was cold with large 

polar ice caps. Geologists refer to this kind of climate as 

an Icehouse world. When Alfred Wegener proposed his 

theory of continental drift in the early twentieth century 

he used evidence for these ice caps to support his 

argument. He noticed that Carboniferous tillites 

occurred widely across Antarctica, South America, 

Africa, India and Australia, and proposed that they had 

once comprised a single landmass (Gondwanaland) 

positioned over the South Pole. The remaining continents 

of Europe and North America comprised 

Euramerica, which lay over the equator. 

Every geologist knows that British Carboniferous 

rocks are rich in coal (Carboniferous literally means 

coal-bearing), the compacted remains of primitive 

tropical rainforests (Figure 1). One interesting feature 

of these successions is that they contain distinct cycles 

of coal interbedded with marine bands. These 

‘cyclothems’ record repeated sea-level fluctuations of 

about 70 metres, and average cycles are estimated to 

have been about 100,000 years in duration. They were 

probably formed as the Gondwanan ice cap waxed and 

waned in size through successive ice ages. The cause of 

cyclic ice build up and retreat was probably linked to 

wobbles in the Earth orbit (Milankovitch cycles), 

which changed the amount of solar energy that reached 

the surface. The Quaternary ice ages were driven by the 

same phenomenon. 

What was the effect of these ice ages on the Carboniferous 

coal forests? Lying on the equator, they were 

far away from the nearest ice sheets, nevertheless there 

is evidence that climate exerted a major influence. During 

ice ages, the Earth’s atmosphere becomes drier as 

cold air cannot carry so much moisture, and this is 

notably the case in the tropics. Tracking fossil plants 

through Carboniferous cyclothems shows that coal 

forests flourished during the warm, wet interglacial 

phases, but during subsequent ice ages were replaced by 

drought-adapted vegetation. One big debate raging at 

the moment is what happened to the Amazon rainforest 

during the height of the last ice age, 18,000 years ago. 

Some say it contracted, while others argue that it 

remained intact. Carboniferous studies contribute to 

this debate showing that the earliest rainforests to 

evolve did indeed respond to ice age fluctuations. 

Cretaceous Greenhouse Earth 

Another interesting period for palaeoclimatologists is 

the Cretaceous, some 144-65 million years ago. At this 

time, our planet appears to have experienced the other 

climatic extreme, a Greenhouse phase. Computer 

models predict that global mean annual temperature 

may have been 10°C greater compared to today. So what 

was Greenhouse Earth like? For one thing, the polar ice 

caps appear to have almost entirely melted, as there are 

no known tillites and only limited evidence of icerafted 

debris near the Cretaceous poles. Consequently, 

sea level was raised by as much as 200 metres. The 

familiar Chalk seas of Europe, and similar marine 

deposits in North America, are some of the most tangible 

evidence for such a global sea-level rise. 

Today, the formation of polar sea ice is the main driver 

of ocean circulation. As seawater freezes, salt is 

expelled from the ice lattice, and cold, dense brines form 

that sink to the ocean floors creating currents. In a more 

or less ice-free Earth, as envisaged for the Cretaceous, 

one might expect that ocean circulation would be much 

reduced. This has, in fact, proved to be the case, as Cretaceous 

successions contain common black shales. 

These organic-rich deposits accumulated in stagnant 

seas where there was too little oxygen to break down 

organic matter. These relics of Cretaceous oceanic stagnation 

are of enormous economic importance, as black 

shales are source rocks for many oil fields. 

If an ice-free Earth with stagnant oceans sounds 

pretty hard to believe, one final aspect of the Cretaceous 

world was even more bizarre: the existence of temperate 

rainforests over both poles, similar to those of present 

day Chile (Figure 2). Some of the best fossil forests 

have been discovered on Antarctica, which, like today, 

lay over the South Pole in Cretaceous times. Growing 

at more than 75° of latitude, an intriguing feature of 

these ecosystems is the fact that they would have had to 

endure months of continuous darkness during the winter. 

However, studies of tree-rings in fossil woods show 

that the trees actually thrived in these environments. 

Annual rings are typically more than 2 mm in width, 

and Antarctic forests were as productive as any English 

woodland. 

Figure 2 

Did Antarctica 

once look like 

this? Monkeypuzzle 

forests in 

Chile are the 

nearest living 

relatives to 

Cretaceous polar 

forests. 

11 www.esta-uk.org





Charles Lyell once famously argued that “the present 

is the key to the past”, but in the case of the Cretaceous 

Earth, the past may be the key to the future. As 

Arctic sea ice dramatically thins in the wake of current 

global warming, there are signs that ocean circulation 

may be slowing down. If oceans began to stagnate, 

what might be the implications for marine biodiversity? 

Furthermore, should the collapse of Antarctic 

ice-shelves continue at the extraordinary rate seen 

since the early 1990s, could we once again see the rise 

of polar forests? 

Final reflections 

Geological studies through the millions of years of 

deep time are crucial if we are to put future global 

change in its proper perspective. Specifically, they 

make two contributions. First, they help us understand 

just how much our planet can cope with. The 

Cretaceous and Carboniferous worlds amply demonstrate 

that life can still flourish in a world of climate 

extremes. Second, they help us to assess the significance 

of rates of change. Although the Cretaceous 

Earth was much warmer than present, what is alarming 

about our current climate experiment is that 

change is occurring at a rate far greater than generally 

seen in the geological record. One of the very few 

well-attested examples of rapid global warming 

occurred at the Triassic-Jurassic boundary, some 200 

million years ago. As a cautionary end to this article, 

it’s worth reflecting that this event coincided with one 

of the ‘Big Five’ mass extinction events of all time – 

wiping out 20% of marine families and decimating life 

on land. 

Dr. Howard Falcon-Lang 

Department of Earth Sciences 

University of Bristol 

Bristol BS8 1RJ, UK 

Email: howard.falcon-lang@bris.ac.uk 

www.gly.bris.ac.uk/www/admin/personnel/HJFL.html 

Further reading 

Skelton, P.W. 2003. The Cretaceous World. Cambridge 

University Press, 360 pp. 

Parrish, J.T. 1998. Interpreting pre-Quaternary climate from 

the geological record, Columbia University Press, 348 pp. 

Stanley, S.M. 2005. 

A copy of the PowerPoint presentation that Dr. Howard 

Falcon-Lang used to illustrate his lecture with at the 

ESTA Conference is available on the ESTA website. 

New Posting? Retiring? Stay in touch with 

Teaching Earth Sciences News and Activities 

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SCIENCES 

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Tel: 0131 651 6410 

Email: hamish.ross@education.ed.ac.uk 

Teaching Earth Sciences - serving the Earth Science Education Community 


12


Lone Museum Curator Attends his First 

ESTA Conference. The Message – Make 

More of your Museum 

JAN FREEDMAN 

The third weekend in September, the 15th-17th, was an interesting and exciting one. Not only 

was it the first time young Cally Oldershaw admitted that it was her birthday at Conference, but it 

was my first time at an ESTA Conference. 

Based in the beautiful old city of Bristol, with the 

soft purple-green Pennant Sandstone paving 

stones and the old granite, basalt and Millstone 

Grit cobbled roads. Walking along Queen’s road, with 

the grand Wills Memorial Building and the majestic 

edifices surrounding, all a slight golden honey colour 

from the Bath Stone they are built from. You can close 

your eyes and imagine yourself in a lagoon, with the 

hot sun beating down on your back and the warm 

water splashing gently on your legs as you walk on 

thousands of tiny ooids almost crunching beneath 

your feet. A small school of brightly coloured fish may 

dart past your feet forcing you to look down into the 

crisp, clear, turquoise sea and see hundreds of enigmatic 

fish all diverse shapes, sizes and colours shooting 

swiftly through the water. 

The weekend Conference was fascinating, packed 

with hands-on workshops and lectures, from mass 

extinctions to volcanic eruptions. There were three 

things that stood out for me at the weekend. The first 

was that my old A level teacher was there, and hadn’t 

aged or grown an inch! Mr Loader was still the same 

enthusiastically charismatic little fella with his highly 

contagious laughter, reminding me of first being taught 

about pyroclastic flows and differentiation in the 

magma chamber. 

The second and third things go hand in hand. From 

speaking to lots of different people in the coffee and 

lunch-time breaks, it was interesting that not many 

teachers knew they could use museums as a valuable 

and often free resource (not only for geology, but art, 

history and ancient history too) I think I was the only 

person from a museum at the Conference. ‘Often free’ 

as some museums may charge to show groups of school 

children around; not so Plymouth Museum, which 

offers a completely free service! 

The larger museums usually have dedicated 

museum education, learning or outreach officers. 

Museum education staff, and even the curators themselves, 

can be available to go into schools and bring 

with them minerals, rocks and fossils for the children 

to handle. Day field trips around the local area can also 

be arranged, in their museum or out and about in 

town. Museum education officers are also ex-teachers, 

so they know the curriculum and can tailor their 

events, making them relevant to the key-stage, attainment 

targets or age group. This is an interesting 

approach, as the museum education staff use the 

museums’ collections for the students to handle and 

learn from, resulting in a fun and imaginative way of 

learning for all involved. In another way, it is incredibly 

important as it can give the teacher the day to relax 

a little, as the museum staff member will probably do 

all the talking! 

If there are smaller museums near your school, without 

dedicated museum education staff, they can still be 

useful. If you pop in and speak to the geology (or sometimes 

natural history or natural science) curator, they will 

usually be more than happy to arrange something. 

It is important that schools are aware of their local 

museums and how they can be used, but it is also 

important for the museum education officers to be 

knowledgeable about what they teach. I found out from 

the Membership Secretary, Hamish Ross, that there are 

9 people out of 529 members with ‘museums’ somewhere 

in their address record. This is important as 

museum education officers need to understand geology 

in order to teach it well, which is why I was surprised to 

see no other museum education officers at this Confer- 


Figure 1 

Looking at cave 

deposits. Just one 

of the many ‘Wild 

About Plymouth’ 

activities – a 

monthly event 

organised by the 

museum for 

children and their 

parents. Activities 

include day events 

such as guided 

walks in and 

around Plymouth 

to look at rocks 

and plants and 

visiting the 

estuaries to do 

some birdwatching. 

13 www.esta-uk.org


Figure 2 (below) 

Museum staff 

taking part in a 

parent (Helen 

Fothergill, Keeper 

of Natural History) 

and child event. 

Evan is looking 

closely at his 

magnifying glass! 

Continued from page 13 

ence. ESTA is such a close community of people with 

different areas of knowledge and experience, bringing 

together new ideas for the teaching of Earth sciences. As 

well as bringing new ideas to the magazine and the 

Conferences, the museum education officers themselves 

could learn about the different and inspiring 

ways in which the subject can be taught. 

It was a fantastic Conference; I learnt a lot and met 

a lot of wonderful people. I would like to say that 

schools anywhere could and should use museums any 

time of the year as a resource. On the other side of the 

coin, museum education departments need to know 

about ESTA and what a valuable resource ESTA can 

be for them. I also learnt, regardless of age or sex, 

what stamina the geology community has! I flaked 

out at 1:30am on Friday and Saturday nights after 

drinking some good – and some not so good – ales, 

but I am sure there were others who stayed on later, 

and managed to get up with no problem for the following 

day’s events! I might have been the youngest 

member at the Conference, but I think little Mr 

Loader may have put me to shame! 

Jan Freedman 

Assistant Keeper of Natural History 

Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery 

Drake Circus 

Plymouth PL4 8AJ 

Tel: 01752 30 4774 

jan.freedman@plymouth.gov.uk 

www.plymouthmuseum.gov.uk 

Figure 3 

Watching the reaction – 

a beautiful calcite block 

reacting with a mild acid. 

Geoscience Choices 

You will find a leaflet published jointly by the Geological 

Society and ESTA enclosed with this issue of 

Teaching Earth Sciences. Called ‘Geoscience – choices 

after school or college’ this is one of two free publications 

intended to provide basic information, and to 

give pointers to other reference sources. We hope this 

will be useful to students and teachers, particularly the 

latter who can use the poster side as display material in 

classrooms. The second leaflet deals with making 

career choices after higher education and is available 

from the Geological Society on request; see contact 

details right. 

This updating of careers information marks a new 

period of activity at the Geological Society, which now 

has an Education Committee and a dedicated (part 

time) member of staff. The Committee is concerned 

with issues at all levels, from primary school education 

to professional training and CPD. One major project 

over forthcoming months is the rebuilding of the Society’s 

website, which will include an expanded area for 

education and careers advice. There will be links 

between these pages and some ESTA projects, so that 

new ventures are complementary rather than overlapping. 

Work is already well advanced on a KS3 ‘primer’, 

which will be an ongoing project in 2007, although a 

first version of the webpages should be ready for launch 

in May when the new site is officially unveiled. 

So that you can keep up to date with progress, 

please visit the Geological Society website on 

www.geolsoc.org.uk. The Education and Training 

Officer, Judi Lakin, can be contacted using 

judi.lakin@geolsoc.org.uk. 


14



ANNA JARROW 

Blakeney Esker, on the north Norfolk coast, provides a fascinating glimpse into the region’s glacial 

past. With an aim of improving the public’s understanding of the esker and the local landscape, the 

British Geological Survey (BGS), Norfolk County Council, and Murray Gray of Queen Mary, University 

of London, have collaborated to produce a website for teachers and the general public. The website 

(www.bgs.ac.uk/blakeney) provides editable and printable teaching aids aimed at the A level 

Geography syllabuses, and supporting Microsoft PowerPoint presentations. 

The esker: 

BGS is currently mapping the geology of north Norfolk, 

a region that has been shaped by glacial 

processes. Glacial-interglacial cycles have controlled 

the Earth’s climate during the last 800,000 years. 

Norfolk has therefore experienced alternating periods 

of cold and warm environments during this time, 

each with differing landscapes, ecosystems and 

deposits. Ice sheets have advanced into the region 

during the cold periods, on at least five occasions, 

each depositing fresh material. The esker (Figure 1) is 

a meandering ridge of sand and gravel that started life 

as a tunnel beneath one of these glaciers. A river of 

water flowed through this, carrying large amounts of 

sediment, which were gradually deposited and eventually 

filled the tunnel. Although the glaciers have 

long since retreated, the esker remains as a prominent 

ridge on the coastal landscape, 3.5km long and up to 

30m high, near the village of Blakeney. During the 

last hundred years, sand and gravel extraction from 

the esker has produced some useful exposures, providing 

further information about how the esker 

formed. The route of the esker is now highlighted on 

the landscape by the gorse that covers the ridge, 

attracted by its well drained sandy soil. 

The teaching aids: 

The first stage of this collaborative project, which 

started in November 2005, was a consultation phase 

with local school teachers. Following this, it was clear 

that teachers required not only teaching aids on the 

esker’s formation, but also the bigger picture of climate 

change, the geology of the region, and how glacial features 

such as the Cromer Ridge, a glacial moraine, are 

related to Blakeney Esker. All teachers agree that field 

visits are the best way to learn, but for various reasons 

such as inclement weather, finance or health & safety 

issues, they aren’t always possible. 

Based on this feedback, the Blakeney Esker 

Explored website (Figure 2) has been developed to 

provide free downloadable teaching aids to support A 

level Geography classroom teaching. Topics covered 

are Climate Change & Norfolk, Esker Formation, 

Biodiversity on the Esker and Eskers & Man. The 

teaching aids have been provided in three formats to 

IMAGES © BGS – NERC 

improve accessibility and give teachers the freedom to 

modify them for their syllabus or Key Stage. They 

cover diverse subjects and can be used for teaching 

both human and physical geography, A level Geology 

and Environmental Science. They are provided in 

Microsoft Word and PowerPoint, and Adobe PDF 

(Figure 3). The Microsoft Word documents are 

editable, but the PDF documents have a smaller file 

size. The Microsoft PowerPoint presentations have 

been written to support classroom teaching using the 

printable documents. 


Figure 1 


Figure 2 

The Blakeney 

Esker Explored 

homepage 

15 www.esta-uk.org


Figure 3 

An example of a 

downloadable PDF 

teaching aid 

Figure 4 

The notice board 

at Wiveton Down 

Local Nature 

Reserve 

Figure 5 

The view of Cley 

next the Sea and 

the coast, from 

the esker. 

The website also provides photographs of newly 

formed eskers in Iceland and other images showing 

how the landscape of Norfolk formed, and a list of recommended 

further reading. For those who are unable 

to visit the site, there is a “virtual fieldtrip” to the esker. 

The information board: 

To complement the website, an information board 

was installed on the southern end of the esker (Figure 

4), at Wiveton Down Local Nature Reserve, 2km 

south of Blakeney. It provides the visitor with an 

overview of how the esker formed, the animals and 

plants found on the esker, the history of quarrying at 

the site, and other places of interest in North Norfolk. 

The site was chosen as it is suitable for field visits 

for numerous reasons. It provides fantastic views 

in all directions, both inland and to the coast (Figure 

5), providing the ideal opportunity to teach coastal 

geomorphology and climate change in a single trip. 

The nature reserve has ample parking, and a short circular 

walk that takes in views in all directions. It 

would be possible to combine this visit with another 

to the coast. 

To find out more about the esker, visit the Blakeney 

Esker Explored website at www.bgs.ac.uk/blakeney. If 

you use the teaching aids, any feedback would be gratefully 

received. 

The project was funded by English Nature and the 

Countryside Agency, as part of the Department for the 

Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) Aggregate 

Levy Sustainability Fund (ALSF). The British 

Geological Survey is grateful for this financial support. 

Considerable effort has gone into the website and 

notice board at Blakeney Esker, and the contributions 

of Norfolk County Council and Murray Gray of 

Queen Mary, University of London, and the school 

teachers involved in the consultation, are gratefully 

acknowledged. 

Anna Jarrow 

British Geological Survey 

Kingsley Dunham Centre 

Keyworth 

Nottingham 

NG12 5GG 

Email: amja@bgs.ac.uk 

To find out more about the esker, visit the Blakeney Esker Explored website at 

www.bgs.ac.uk/blakeney. If you use the teaching aids, any feedback would be gratefully received. 


16


Chartered Geographer (Teacher) – The 

Only Ongoing Professional Accreditation 

Linked to CPD in Geography 

CLAIRE WHEELER 

“Knowing Chartered Geographer is on my teaching CV gives me professional status,” Tessa Willy, 

CGeog (Teacher) 

If you are using your geographical knowledge to 

teach young people about geographical Earth sciences 

– both in the classroom and in the field – you 

can now have your professional status recognised 

through the Society’s Chartered Geographer (Teacher) 

accreditation. This accreditation is being rolled out as 

part of the Action Plan for Geography (APG). The APG 

was launched in March 2006 and is delivered equally 

and jointly by the GA and the RGS-IBG. 

What is a Chartered Geographer (Teacher)? 

For teachers, Chartered status recognises your subject 

knowledge in geography; professional practice & expertise 

(both in the classroom and in the field); and your 

commitment to CPD and sharing your expertise 

beyond your specific teaching responsibilities. The 

Chartered Geographer (Teacher) accreditation is on a 

par with Chartered Awards offered by other professional 

bodies – such as becoming a Chartered Surveyor 

or Accountant. Becoming a Chartered Geographer 

(Teacher) indicates that you are: 

● involved in influencing the advancement of geographical 

teaching and learning in the wider teaching 

community; 

● committed to promoting learning and to raising 

geography standards in schools; 

● and aware of recent developments in the subject, its 

delivery in schools and the importance of good practice 

in dissemination. 

The benefits of becoming a Chartered Geographer 

(Teacher) cover a number of areas including: 

● Professional Development: Chartered Geographer 

(Teacher) is being developed to be relevant to 

the developing TDA framework of professional and 

occupational standards for teachers. CGeog 

(Teacher) will provide an accredited award relevant 

to your professional and career development. 

● Career progression: It can support your application 

for a leadership or Advanced Teacher role. 

● A wider contribution to geography: It shows that 

you are committed to geography beyond your specific 

teaching responsibilities, by recognising your 

ongoing contribution to teaching and learning and 

the wider discipline, and demonstrates your maintenance 

of professional standards through continually 

developing your geographical skills and knowledge. 

As Garry Atterton, a Chartered Geographer from The 

Castle School, South Gloucestershire, recently 

commented: 

“Continued professional development is essential to practising 

geography teachers to keep up-to-date with changes to the 

curriculum and teaching and learning methodology. Therefore 

the regular delivery to and attendance of conferences and meetings, 

as is required for the annual continuation of the Chartered 

Geography (Teacher) status, has greatly benefited myself, members 

of the department and my students”. 

To become a CGeog (Teacher) you will need an Honours 

degree or B.Ed in geography (or equivalent), at least 

six years teaching experience and a demonstrable commitment 

to CPD by embedding it in your own practice, 

and supporting others. And if you are successful in your 

application you will also become a Fellow of the Royal 

Geographical Society (with IBG). Full application details 

can be found on www.rgs.org/cgeogteacher and you can 

use existing documentation such as your Professional 

Development Record or performance management evidence 

to support your application. 

For further information about Chartered Geographer 

(Teacher) please contact: 

Claire Wheeler 

Professional and Communications Officer 

Action Plan for Geography 

Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) 

1 Kensington Gore 

London 

SW7 2AR 

Tel: 0207 591 3053 

Fax: 0207 591 3001 

Email: cgeogteacher@rgs.org 

Website: www.rgs.org/cgeogteacher 

17 www.esta-uk.org


The Science of Global Warming 

PROFESSOR COLIN PRENTICE 

Peter Kennett’s notes on the lecture at Bristol 

Conference 

Changes in the Earth System are approached at three 

levels: 

● Detection i.e. it can be demonstrated that a change 

has happened. 

● Attribution i.e. the cause of the change can be 

demonstrated. 

● Prediction at three levels; a deduction can be drawn 

that should be true in general; a statement that if x 

happens then y will follow; a statement that x will 

happen, i.e. a forecast. 

The media do not always distinguish between these different 

levels in reporting changes to the Earth! 

Evidence for carbon dioxide content of the atmosphere: 

● Carbon dioxide levels at Mauna Loa and at the South 

Pole are rising in parallel. 

● Ice cores from the Antarctic show stable levels of 

CO 2 from 1000 A.D. to the start of the Industrial 

Revolution around 1800, followed by a rapid rise. 

● The Vostok (Antarctica) ice cores show an oscillation 

in CO 2 content which can be correlated with glacial 

and interglacial epochs. 

Carbon stores in the Earth system are vast, but by far 

the greater part lies in the lithosphere, and not simply in 

fossil fuels. In the surface carbon cycle, on average, 

every molecule of CO 2 goes through a plant every 6 

years! 

The amount of CO 2 in the atmosphere roughly correlates 

with fossil fuel emissions, but not completely. 

Carbon flux between ocean and atmosphere and 

between land and atmosphere must also be taken into 

account, although the factors are difficult to quantify 

exactly at present. 

The conclusion is that the rise in CO 2 since the 

Industrial Revolution has been detected: It can largely 

be attributed to rise in emissions from the burning of 

fossil fuels: Predictions for the future are dubious. 

Gases other than CO 2 also contribute to climate 

change. They include methane, nitrogen oxides, CFCs, 

water vapour and tropospheric ozone etc. Although less 

in quantity, their radiation efficiency is very much 

higher than CO 2 , so a little goes a long way in affecting 

the average temperature of the Earth. 

Aerosols (tiny particles in the atmosphere) also have 

an effect on global temperatures. Dust and soot absorb 

heat, but sulphates, sea salt and some organic compounds 

reflect it back into the upper atmosphere, thus 

having a cooling effect. 

A reconstruction of past global temperatures from 

1000 A.D. shows a generally level graph, with perturbations 

attributable to solar events and to volcanic eruptions, 

but since the 1980s it shows a dramatic rise. The 

resultant shape of the curve is referred to as a “hockey 

stick” graph. 

So, temperature rise since the 1980s has been 

detected and it has been attributed to human “forcing” 

(accepted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate 

Change in 2001). Predictions are very difficult 

to make with any confidence, because of the uncertainty 

about the effects of aerosols. For example, governments 

are encouraging the reduction in emissions 

of sulphates for other good reasons, and yet it is sulphates 

in the atmosphere which help to keep down 

rises in temperature. 

Conclusions 

● In order to stabilise climate, CO 2 emissions must be 

reduced to very low levels. 

● Large uncertainties arising from the other factors 

outlined above must be reduced. 

● The consequences of climate change need to be better 

quantified – we still do not really know how 

much global warming is dangerous for the vast range 

of ecosystems and human activities on the planet. 

A copy of the PowerPoint presentation that Professor 

Prentice used to illustrate his lecture with at the ESTA 

Conference is available on the ESTA website. 

Peter Kennett 



18


Geodiversity, Geoconservation 

and GeoValue 

PROFESSOR PETER W. SCOTT, DR ROBIN SHAIL, DR CLIVE NICHOLAS AND DAVID ROCHE 

There is a much increased awareness of geodiversity and its fundamental contribution to Britain’s 

natural heritage. Geodiversity Action Plans (GAPs) are being introduced at local and county level. 

But how do you set about deciding which sites are the best for observing particular geodiversity 

features and, once you’ve done that, are there ways to try and improve access for geological 

groups? The GeoValue project hopes to help out. 

The Geodiversity Profile, developed as part of the 

GeoValue project, is a new procedure for 

describing and valuing geodiversity. As well as 

having a wider application in providing a methodology 

for gathering data for stakeholders, such as quarry operators, 

planners, conservation groups and others, it is 

suitable for use by educational groups as part of raising 

awareness of the differences in the geodiversity 

between sites. The data are recorded on a two-page 

form that summarises the geological features, records 

prior knowledge from literature, and values the site by 

comparing it with others in the area having similar 

characteristics. A second component of GeoValue has 

been addressing the legal, safety and practical issues of 

visiting sites on public and private land to study the 

geology, including active and former quarries. Even if a 

site is apparently open, an automatic right of access does 

not necessarily exist, and there are potential liability 

problems for both the visitor and landowner. 

The Geodiversity Profile 

The profile is a standardised quantitative procedure, 

with clearly defined criteria that is based on elements 

of best practice adopted by many Regionally Important 

Geological and Geomorphological Sites (RIGS) 

and County Geology groups. It is intended as an 

assessment tool to allow comparisons to be made 

between any sites of broadly similar geology. It is not 

intended as a site designation in its own right, but 

could be used to inform such decisions. It has been 

developed specifically for application to rock exposures 

in working, disused and abandoned quarries 

(Figure 1), although it can be applied to most geological 

sites. The profile is presented as a fully justified 

open-book statement. 

Data for the profile are gathered through a desk 

study supported by fieldwork at the site and surrounding 

area. The site’s geodiversity is summarised and then 

valued in terms of its scientific and educational importance 

within the context of the number of sites with 

similar geology that display the same features. Any 

applied geology features of the site, which could be 

mineral resources, engineering or environmental geology, 

hydrogeology or applied geomorphology, are also 

valued for both their scientific and educational importance. 

Historical, cultural and aesthetic attributes of the 

site are rated as having local, countywide, national or 

international importance. The profile assigns numerical 

values, typically 1-4, with clearly defined criteria that 

promote reproducibility between different assessors, 

and links these to justifying statements. Obvious links 

between geodiversity and biodiversity are recognised 

within the profile. 

The main use intended for the Geodiversity Profile 

is as a standardised procedure to help inform the decision-making 

process on a site’s future management, for 

example in forward development of an active quarry, in 

considering a former quarry for restoration, or for conservation 

of its geological features. It can be used to 

resolve conflict between stakeholders on the relative 

merits of a site, and as a way for establishing the best site 

for illustrating specific aspects of geology. It will aid in 

the drawing up of Geodiversity Action Plans (GAPs) by 

local government and other groups, and Company 


Figure 1 

Sand quarry in 

Lower Cretaceous 

Lower Greensand 

and overlying 

Gault Clay, 

Bedfordshire, with 

high value 

geodiversity for 

science and 

education. 

19 www.esta-uk.org


Figure 2 

An abandoned 

quarry with high 

value geodiversity 

in serpentinite, 

Lizard, Cornwall. 

The site is within a 

designated ‘open 

access’ area, but 

has safety 

problems for 

visiting groups. 

Geodiversity Action Plans (cGAPs) by highlighting 

those quarries that make a significant contribution to 

geodiversity. 

Gaining access to geological sites for fieldwork 

The second component of GeoValue is examining 

issues of gaining legal, safe access to geological sites. 

Land ownership in the UK, and who can do ‘what, 

where and when’ legally on public and private land, is 

complex. Basically, unless a geological site is on or visible 

from a public right of way or in an area where legal 

or voluntary access exists, permission from the 

landowner is required if a visit is to be made without 

trespassing. This would apply to most geological sites 

inland in England. A geological site on ‘Open Access’ 

land designated by the Countryside and Rights of Way 

Act (2000) can be visited without seeking further permission 

if one is ‘walking freely’. There is no right to 

undertake any other type of geological activity without 

seeking permission from the landowner. There are further 

restrictions in place within 

some types of ‘Open Access’ land 

and at certain times of the year. 

Some abandoned quarry sites are 

within areas designated as ‘Open 

Access’ land. These present potential 

liability issues for the landowner 

if a visitor suffers injury, and leaders 

of groups may need to be especially 

wary (Figure 2). Whilst the 

landowner has a duty of care under 

the Occupiers Liability Acts (1957 

and 1984) for those persons visiting 

any geological site with or without 

Even if a site is apparently 

open, an automatic right of 

access does not necessarily 

exist, and there are potential 

liability problems for both 

the visitor and landowner 

permission, especially unaccompanied children, their 

responsibilities do not stretch to ensuring that there is 

complete safety to every visitor in every situation. The 

visitor has to be responsible largely for their own safety 

and that of others. 

For quarrying companies, visits by groups provide 

an opportunity to develop valuable links with the local 

or wider community. Access to geological features in 

working quarries is wholly dependent on gaining the 

permission of the operator, and adhering to their policies 

and procedures. These include at least meeting 

the requirements of the Quarries Regulations (1999), 

the Health and Safety at Work Act (1974), and the 

Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 

(1999). A short induction with a safety briefing 

for individuals and all members of a group is usually 

required as a minimum before a visit to a working 

quarry takes place. Unaccompanied visits to observe 

the geology without a competent person in attendance 

are not permitted. Personal protective equipment has 

to be worn at all times. There are increasingly severe 

restrictions on pedestrians in working quarries when 

mobile plant is operating and close-up access to quarry 

faces usually is not permitted. These constraints affect 

the ability to examine geological features at close quarters, 

to make measurements or collect material, 

thereby reducing the value of any visit for many individuals 

and educational groups. The removal of 

selected quarried material having interesting geological 

features and placing it in a safe location away from 

mobile plant to enable close examination would partly 

mitigate any disappointment the visitor may have. 

Some quarries have internal or external viewing platforms 

from which the major geological features can be 

seen (Figure 3). 

Public bodies (e.g. government ministries) mostly 

have clearly defined policies and procedures for visitors 

to gain access to their land to observe the geology. 

Many large charities (e.g. National Trust) owning land 

operate in a similar way. There is generally a presumption 

for access by these landowners to allow walking to 

observe the geology, although a licence or permit is 

usually required. There may be restrictions at certain 

times and in some locations. The policies and procedures 

by establishment bodies (e.g. 

the Crown and Duchies) owning 

land vary. It appears that each 

request for access is assessed on its 

own merits and sometimes according 

to the benefit gained by the 

landowner from granting the 

request. Tenants (i.e. the occupier) 

rather than the landowner may be 

authorised or consulted before any 

decision on access is made. Large 

private landowners do not have 

general policies or procedures for 

granting access, which may be 


20


denied on quasi-safety or potential liability issues. 

Under the Occupiers’ Liability Act (1957), the 

landowner has a greater responsibility for ensuring the 

safety of any visitor if permission for access is granted. 

Thus, it is important for the landowner to make the 

visitor aware of any potential hazards associated with 

gaining access and for the activities during a visit to be 

agreed with the landowner or other occupier. An 

indemnity and suitable public liability insurance by a 

visiting group may be required. 

Acknowledgements 

The Minerals Industry Research Organisation funds 

GeoValue through the Minerals Industry Sustainable 

Technology initiative (MIST), which is part of the 

Aggregate Levy Sustainability Fund (ALSF). The partners 

for GeoValue are: David Roche GeoConsulting, 

Camborne School of Mines (University of Exeter), 

Cornwall Wildlife Trust, British Geological Survey, 

English Nature (now Natural England) and the 

Health and Safety Executive. The project has been 

aided by the University of Plymouth, many RIGS 

Groups / County Geology Trusts, who have tested the 

procedure for the Geodiversity profile, many quarrying 

companies, and other geological site land owners. 

Professor Peter Scott 

Camborne School of Mines 

University of Exeter, Cornwall Campus 

Penryn, Cornwall 

TR10 9EZ 

Email: P.W.Scott@ex.ac.uk 

Figure 3 

A large working quarry in Somerset with dipping Carboniferous Limestone, overlain by 

horizontal Jurassic Inferior Oolite limestone. The broad structures can be seen, but the 

details of the lithologies cannot be studied from the external viewing platform. 

The Geodiversity, Geoconservation and GeoValue Conference 

The Geodiversity, Geoconservation and GeoValue Conference 

The GeoValue project finishes at the end of January 2007, and an 

open conference to disseminate the results is being held at the De La 

Beche Lecture Theatre, British Geological Survey, Keyworth, 

Nottingham NG12 5GG on Wednesday 24th January, 2007 

commencing at 10.30am. The conference is being opened by Dr John 

Ludden, Executive Director, BGS. There will be two presentations on 

the GeoValue project, The GeoValue project: Valuing 

geodiversity in quarries and other geological sites and Access 

to quarries and other geological sites on private land: the law, 

liability and practical solutions, along with further presentations 

entitled: ‘Geodiversity in action: quarries in the UK’, Clive 

Nicholas, David Roche GeoConsulting and Robin Shail, Camborne 

School of Mines; ‘BGS and geodiversity: An example from 

Leicestershire and Rutland’ Keith Ambrose, British Geological 

Survey; ‘Delivering geoconservation through Natural England’, 

Jonathan Larwood and Colin Prosser, Natural England; and, ‘Visitors 

in quarries: obstacle or opportunity’, Helen Turner, Health and 

Safety Executive. The conference is free and lunch is provided. Prior 

registration is required, and the publications arising from GeoValue 

will be provided to all those attending. 

For further information and to register for the 

conference contact: 

David Roche GeoConsulting, 

19 Richmond Road, 

Exeter EX4 4JA 

Tel: 01392-217200 

Fax: 01392-217211 

Email: drgeo@ukgateway.net or 

Peter W. Scott, Camborne School of Mines, 

University of Exeter, 

Cornwall Campus, 

Penryn, Cornwall TR10 9EZ 

Tel: 01326-371837 or 01326-340214 

Fax 01326-371859 

Email: P.W.Scott@ex.ac.uk. 

21 www.esta-uk.org


ESTA Conference Field Report 1 

Burrington Combe, Mendips, Sunday September 17th 2006 

PETER KENNETT 

Six of ESTA’s more arthritic members, plus Dave Turner and Barry Cullimore, were led on a superb 

field trip to the Mendip Hills by Chris Binding on the Sunday of the Bristol Conference. Another 

member who had booked the excursion was sleeping off the effects of the excellent Conference 

Dinner and missed a bit of adventure! 

Figure 3 

The intrepid 

cavers outside 

Goatchurch 

Cavern. From L to R 

– Barry Cullimore, 

David Fuller, Geoff 

Nicholson, Ros 

Smith, Mike Tuke, 

Chris Binding 

(our cave leader), 

Dave Turner 

(see front cover). 

Once the Bristol Half Marathon had allowed us 

to get out of the city and travel to Burrington 

Combe, Chris issued some very professional 

looking caving kit, complete with tough overalls, helmets 

and laser headlamps. He led us into a cave beside 

the road and introduced us to our first professional caving 

technique i.e. bottom sliding! 

At the back of the cave were some recently discovered 

cave graffiti, dating back some 10,000 years. The 

cave had been used as a charnel house by our ancestors 

and was not discovered until the late 18th century. The 

scratchings were only noticed very recently with the 

advent of the LED caving lamp. 

The next cave was considerably higher up the 

Mendip slopes, necessitating some walking in heavy 

gear on a hot day, but the rewards were worth it. The 

cave is called Goatchurch Cavern, 

and it has two entrances. We 

promptly disappeared into one 

hole and worked our way underground 

to emerge at the other. 

En route were splendid examples 

of flowstone, stalagmites in 

cross-section, well polished by 

previous bottoms, phreatic tubes 

and vadose incisions etc. Caving 

techniques on this occasion 

included descending a slide with 

a rope as a handrail and using the 

rope to assist the exit up an 

equally steep slope. Great fun, in spite of the occasional 

knee twinge! 

After our packed lunch at Somerset LEA’s wellequipped 

Charterhouse Centre, we drove nearer to the 

top of the Mendips and traced the younging geological 

succession from the Old Red Sandstone, through the 

Lower Limestone Shales into the Carboniferous Limestone 

itself, with a maze of swallow holes evident in the 

landscape. 

Perversely, the weather was bright and sunny whilst 

we were below ground and drizzling once we were on 

the hillside, but this did not dampen the party’s spirits 

and all would wish to extend their thanks to Chris for a 

very competently led and enjoyable experience. 

Peter Kennett 


Figure 2 

Ascent from 

Goatchurch Cavern 

on a rope 

Figure 1 

Caving – Ros 

Smith and Geoff 

Nicholson 

descending 


22


ESTA Conference Field Report 2 

Tedbury Camp / Vallis Vale, Sunday September 17th 2006 

RICK RAMSDALE 

We were able to take advantage of the 

small group to split the transport 

between both ends of the vale and 

extend the route to include the full distance 

between Hapsford Bridge and Mells – and still 

get back in time for a leisurely lunch outside the 

Frome pigeon fanciers Flying HQ before the rain 

started. As is usual with good field experiences 

we raised and debated more questions than we 

answered. Many thanks to Martin Whiteley, our 

guide and chauffeur, and others for providing 

the additional input. Briefly, the main field 

activities were: 

● Inspecting the erosion surface between the folded 

Carboniferous Limestone and the Inferior Oolite an 

extensive, more-or-less planar junction dipping gently 

southwards. It clearly had an extensive erosional 

history before the onset of Bajocian deposition, and 

was examined at two localities. 

● Inspecting the Jurassic colonisation sequence of the 

erosion surface which can be deduced using crosscutting 

relationships, (after the work of Copp). The 

fossils are Jurassic boring worms and molluscs. 

● The Triassic / Carboniferous contact was examined 

and the nature of its relationship to the Carboniferous 

discussed. These ‘fossil’ scree and valley fill 

deposits are commonly developed on the steeply 

dipping flanks of the Mendips. The enigmatic “fissure 

deposits” at Spleenwort Shelter were observed: 

are they pre-Triassic, post-Triassic, post-Jurassic or 

more recent? The jury is still out. 

● We observed the karst features of the Carboniferous 

Limestone, which are poorly developed here compared 

with other parts of the country. They are similar 

to most other parts of Mendip, having developed 

in a periglacial setting rather than the glacial conditions 

that affected Carboniferous Limestone successions 

further north. 

● The influence of the large (and getting deeper) quarries 

on the water table was reviewed. Here we had 

the advantage of some very recent research and 

hydrology maps. Thanks to a cunning groundwater 

engineering scheme by Hanson, which drains the 

quarry and also recharges the groundwater, the draw 

down, which is considerable immediately adjacent 

to the quarry, is almost nil elsewhere. 

Geological cross-sections showing the explored underground 

sections of the area between the quarry and the 

surface drainage demonstrate the groundwater flow 

zig-zags, alternating between the bedding and joint 

planes, until it reaches the rivers. Also there are a series 

of limestone sinks which drain and feed the River 

Mells, depending on the season. 

And finally, two questions for the next pub trivia 

quiz: 

What is the most unlikely site for an iron works on 

the planet? 

Answer: the Fussells iron works just east of Mells, and 

Why are the crayfish in the Mells River so large? 

Answer: they’re American. 

Notes: Keep a look out next spring for Andy Farrant’s 

(BGS) publication called Foundations of Mendip. It will 

contain two specially modified geology maps at 

1: 25,000 which allow the topography to show through, 

along with a guide book that describes a number of 

spectacular geological locations throughout the 

Mendips. This publication will be linked to a website 

containing much more detailed information on certain 

localities, such as Martin’s recently completed structural 

map of the Tedbury Camp erosional surface. 

The ESO-S Primary material for Vallis Vale and Tedbury 

Camp will be posted up on the UKRIGS website 

in the next month or so. (www.ukrigs.org.uk click 

; click ). 

Rick Ramsdale 

Email: rick.ramsdale@btinternet.com 

Figure 2 

Discussing the 

hydrology of the 

Mells River. 

Figure 1 

Discussing the 

Inferior Oolite 

23 www.esta-uk.org


Ecton Rises Again! 

ALASTAIR FLEMING 

The Ecton Copper Mines are set for a new life! Many ESTA members know of the Ecton Copper 

Mines in the Staffordshire Peak District and their use as a base for educational activities, started 

under the aegis of the former Mineral Industry Manpower and Careers Unit (MIMCU). Indeed many 

will have been there, or to the nearby spectacular structural geology of Apes Tor. 

Figure 1 

View of the 

Boulton and Watt 

Engine House, and 

the buttress 

around the 

balance shaft for 

Deep Ecton Mine, 

from the ruined 

buildings around 

Dutchman Mine. 

Ecton provided intensive one-day courses for both 

A level Chemistry and A level Geology students. 

Other users ranged from primary school groups 

to GNVQ students to undergraduate geologists and 

PGCE Science groups, from local church groups to 

professional experts and researchers. Supporters of 

Ecton included the Royal Society of Chemistry, which 

ran several teachers’ courses there, the local group of 

the Geologists’ Association, and the Royal School of 

Mines. Five years ago these educational activities were 

suspended during the foot-and-mouth disease out- 

Figure 2 

Eyes down! Picking mineral specimens from the old tips at Waterbank Mine. 

This mine was more lead-rich, less copper-rich, than Deep Ecton Mine. 

break, and other factors then prevented the resumption 

of those activities. 

In those five years the small band of volunteers who 

ran these courses under the banner of the Ecton Hill 

Field Studies Association (EHFSA) kept up their hopes 

of an eventual re-opening. In that time the mines’ 

owner, Geoff Cox, sadly died, which put the future of 

the mines themselves into doubt as his estate was settled. 

However there is now new light at the end of this 

tunnel, as the ownership of the mines, with their mineral 

rights, and the Ecton Educational Centre itself, has 

been transferred to a newly-formed charitable trust 

company called the Ecton Mine Educational Trust. The 

aims of the Trust are primarily for education and conservation 

of heritage, so the Trust will make the centre 

available for educational activities, including the revival 

of EHFSA courses. 

So what did those courses entail? The A level activities 

evolved from earlier two-day MIMCU courses, eventually 

refined into an intensive one-day (10am-4pm) 

course, normally with two tutors and a maximum of 30 

students with their teachers. A typical day would start 

with a briefing on the background to mining at Ecton. 

The party then set off up Ecton Hill, past the old powder 

hut, to the top of the Deep Ecton shaft and the original 

Boulton and Watt engine house, and the hole where the 

main Ecton ore-body originally outcropped at surface. A 

walk over the hill led to Waterbank Mine, where the old 

mine dumps offer a rewarding opportunity to collect 

mineral specimens. These were analysed, in a session in 

the outdoor laboratory, by wet chemical qualitative 

analysis techniques to identify the compounds in them. 

A further practical session introduced some mineral separation 

techniques and the science behind these, and, as 

a climax to the day, an unforgettable underground tour 

into Salt’s Level in Ecton Mine. 

EHFSA will again operate the courses for schools. 

The revival of these courses will take some time. It is 

hoped improvements can be made to the centre itself, 

and perhaps a wider range of courses offered. The first 

development in preparing for re-opening has been the 

updating of the one-day A level Geology course programme 

covering minerals, mineralization and mining, 

and associated structural geology, with accompanying 

teaching and learning materials. Peter Kennett is 

presently editing these materials, and we are grateful for 

a Curry Fund grant which has enabled this updating 

process. Essentially a package of mainly practical activi- 


24


ties is being created, covering a wide range of topics 

including: 

● the geological setting of Ecton Hill 

● modelling primary mineralization 

● investigating secondary mineralization 

● AS/A2 investigations involving (i) structural geology 

in the field (ii) engineering geology 

● limestone weathering underground 

● mining in a National Park – environmental issues. 

Teachers of visiting groups will be given a choice from 

the final menu to suit their needs and interests. 

We are also being encouraged to consider industrial 

archaeology courses for A level Archaeology, and the 

revival of Geophysics days. CPD courses for teachers 

are being planned, backed by the Royal Society of 

Chemistry and perhaps other institutions. A tutor 

workshop took place in September to update the A level 

Chemistry course programme. 

The operation of courses will remain on a voluntary 

basis, with a band of enthusiasts as the tutorial team. 

Experienced tutors are eager to get going again, and a 

group of new tutors is in training. We are hoping to run 

the booking arrangements with the help of the Institute 

of Materials, Minerals and Mining (usually known as 

IOM3!), who have been active in promoting this 

revival. If progress can be maintained, the first courses 

should be run in 2007, with a full programme from 

2008. 

If you are interested in being kept in touch with 

progress, please contact us (see below). It would help 

our planning to have expressions of interest in these 

courses from schools, colleges, universities and adult 

educational groups, indicating the type of course or 

other activity that would be of particular interest. 

So we are waiting to hear from you! In the first 

instance, please email a message to Alastair Fleming at 

fleming.a.z@btinternet.com, or to Eileen Barrett at 

Eileen1Barrett@aol.com 

Acknowlegement: 

Peter Kennett for the photographs. 

Figure 3 (top) 

Geophysics day courses were provided by Imperial College staff. Here a sixth-form group 

record a seismic event! 

Figure 4 (middle) 

Modelling mineral separation by jigging – and it really works! 

Figure 5 (bottom) 

Discussing the structural geology seen in 3-D in Salt’s Level, inside Ecton Hill. 

25 www.esta-uk.org


Inspiring the New Generation to Opt for 

A level Geology* 

PAUL DOUGLAS, KARL GRAY, CHRIS KING AND OTHER MEMBERS OF THE ‘SELLING GEOLOGY’ WORKING GROUP 

‘How could you best inspire pupils lower down your school to think about taking Geology at 

A level?’ This is the question that was asked at the workshop for A level geology teachers held in 

Keele in May 2006. Here are some of our suggestions. 

Figure 1 

Annual Geology 

prize winner 

A display 

A great way of attracting students to geology is through 

display work. An interesting visual display immediately 

outside the geology department or teaching room will 

stimulate interest and set the right tone for exciting 

lessons. This can run in parallel with geological displays 

around the school to familiarise pupils with the subject. 

Displays can take a variety of formats including examples 

of pupil work, photographs, PowerPoint presentations, 

videos, rock, mineral and fossil collections and so on. 

Specimens, for example, dinosaur bones, exotic minerals, 

could be borrowed from a central lending source to 

display at special events for a short time period. 

Open Days 

Open Days for new prospective Year 7 pupils, for those 

considering options at Year 9 or those choosing A levels 

at Year 11, can provide a wonderful opportunity for 

highlighting the ‘delights’ of geology not only to the 

students and their families but also to existing students, 

members of staff and the school hierarchy. All sorts of 

imaginative approaches are possible involving displays, 

activities and ICT. 

PowerPoint shows are very effective and will attract 

more attention than a ‘handout’. A good piece of video 

footage either from past fieldwork expeditions or perhaps 

from a recent television programme/news article 

can add a great deal to any open evening display. For the 

more adventurous, and especially if you have willing 

sixth form students to assist, you could turn part of your 

classroom into a geological environment, for example, 

a mine – pupils could work their way through the mine 

(wearing the obligatory hard hat of course!) and identify 

items of geological interest along the way. Why not 

try Pete Loader’s approach of dinosaur footprints in the 

school grounds (Loader, 2006), or use a range of interactive 

activities that students (and their parents) can try 

for themselves. 

Assemblies 

An entire year group, and even a whole school, can be 

reached effectively through a good assembly. Year 9 

pupils on the verge of choosing their option subjects 

could be targeted with an assembly outlining what geology 

has to offer as this would be a new subject to them 

at GCSE. Likewise, if geology is first offered at AS level 

within a school this would be a good opportunity to 

inform students about this new subject. Some teachers 

are required to take at least one assembly each year and 

just recently one of us took the opportunity to deliver an 

assembly on geology. Not only did it give an opportunity 

to show off the Grand Canyon photographs from his 

recent visit, but he could also sow the seeds for potential 

AS Geology students amongst the current Year 11 students. 

The main emphasis of an assembly/talk will focus 

on an explanation of what geology entails and this will 

then hopefully change in the minds of many pupils from 

the misconception that geology is simply about ‘rocks’ 

and nothing else! 

In Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE, or 

PSE) lessons, career advice plays an important role and 

this could be an opportunity to involve an outside 

speaker, either from an established industry with geological 

connections or perhaps from a local university. 

A geology prize 

Offer a prize that will be presented in front of the whole 

school. 

Highlight geology in the curriculum 

Although all pupils are taught geology through the science 

curriculum and through the geography curriculum, 

since the teachers usually don’t highlight it as 

‘geology’ the pupils often don’t know what geology 

means or what studying geology at A level entails. So a 

good idea is to provide details of where geology is found 

in science and geography, through posters, PowerPoints 

or leaflets. Alternatively list some of the main topics of 

the A level specification and highlight where they might 

have been met down the school. 

© PETE LOADER 


26


De-emphasise rocks 

Mention to most pupils about geology and the general 

response is either, ‘What is geology?’ or ‘Do you mean 

rocks?’. To many pupils (and some teachers), rocks are 

boring specimens that gather dust in drawers and on 

shelves. Whilst we may see rocks as bundles of evidence 

of how the Earth used to be, to many children, they are 

things to be thrown into a pond or at a bus shelter! 

Clearly rocks play a major role in the subject, but perhaps 

they need to be de-emphasised in order to broaden 

the pupils’ view of the subject. Focus instead on the 

dynamic processes of the Earth, how they can affect our 

lives and how evidence for them is preserved in the 

rock record. 

Cover lessons 

If you are asked to cover a lesson of an absent colleague 

and no work has been set – why not try using this as a 

recruitment opportunity? Try using the ‘Walking with 

dinosaur’ activity from the ESEU website (www.earthscienceeducation.com/workshops/worksheets/earth_an 

d_atmosphere.PDF ) pages 30 - 31. This can not only be 

fitted into a 35 minute lesson, but involves pupils in scientific 

investigation and lateral thinking as well 

‘dinosaurs’ and ‘geology’. Use your own favourite exercises, 

bits of practical work or best specimens to engage 

the pupils and help to ‘turn them on’ to geology. 

Field trips 

Field trips can be a very effective recruiter – especially if 

you deliberately set out to use them as a recruitment 

tool. You can do this through a focus on fieldwork in 

displays, assemblies, open evenings, etc. But you can 

also make sure you leave school when everyone is there 

to see. Get your students to come in field clothing - so 

they stand out, particularly when they have helmets and 

other field gear. Take photos – and use them as widely 

as possible. Put together a fieldwork display too and 

write something for the school magazine. 

might it capture the interest of your young audience, 

but it may help the teachers there to bring more Earth 

science into their teaching and help them to know who 

to ask for advice when it is needed. 

Working with secondary school clusters 

Many students at KS3 and 4 do not have a true picture 

of geology. If you are in a post-16 college, to maintain 

numbers of A level geologists, try marketing to your 

feeder schools. Offer to go into these schools to give a 

presentation about geology using a generic ESTA PowerPoint 

(under preparation) or one you have devised 

yourself. You could also offer to go into feeder schools 

to teach an aspect of geology to students at KS3 or KS4 

since if the Earth science in science is poorly-taught, 

this gives the wrong messages about geology. Once prepared, 

this session could be adapted for future years so 

the rewards of time spent in preparation now can be 

reaped in the future. 

Develop a central bank of resources across 

several schools 

For schools which are new to teaching Geology at 

A level, resourcing the subject can prove to be laborious 

and expensive. With the onset of Specialist Science 

schools and Leading Edge schools think of developing a 

central bank of resources that all local centres can share, 

where specimens and equipment are held centrally and 

loaned to nearby schools. 

Bring in a real geologist 

The SETNET ambassador scheme has a network of 

ambassadors across the country willing and able to visit 

schools to give presentations on science and technology. 

They are, ‘enthusiastic, dynamic individuals of all ages 

and backgrounds’ to quote the SETNET website. 

Many of them work in industry and include professional 

geologists across the country. You can contact 

your local SETNET ambassadors through your local 

SETPOINT which can be found using the SET- 

POINT locator map on the SETNET website, by 

phoning SETNET on 0207 636 7705, or by e-mailing 

SETNET from the website. 

You can also contact local professional geologists 

through the Regional Group network of the Geological 

Society by contacting the Geological Society Education 

Officer, Judi Lakin at (judi.lakin@geolsoc.org.uk). 

Figure 2 

‘Earth Week’ 

activity, teaching 

plate movements 

to primary 

children 

Outreach to primary schools 

If your school offers sample lessons to primary feeder 

schools, why not offer a geology lesson? Not only 


Geology in the news 

Students do not necessarily associate geology with 

news-worthy articles either in the TV, newspaper or on 

the web. Why not have a noticeboard in the Geology 

Department that emphasises this. Cut out relevant articles 

and add a brief resume of the relevance of geology. 

These could be updated regularly, either by yourself or 

even better by the students themselves. How about 

prizes for the most original article? Winners could be 

included on the school website or newsletter 

27 www.esta-uk.org



Figure 3 

A rocky ramble in 

the Peak District, a 

sinking feeling on 

Mam Tor 

Figure 5 

Dinosaurs on 

display at an Open 

Day at Truro 

School 

Geology on the TV or in films 

Highlight relevant TV programmes 

and their presenters, 

such as ‘Earth Story’ (Aubrey 

Manning), ‘Journeys from the 

Centre of the Earth’ (Iain Stewart), 

‘Planet Earth’ (David Attenborough), 

‘The British Isles: A Natural 

History’ (Alan Titchmarsh) 

and ‘Coast’. The new series on the 

BBC ‘Climate Chaos’ should also 

be advertised. 

Programmes like these all help to 

promote the wider nature of the 

subject and demonstrate to pupils 

that the subject is real and features 

widely in their everyday lives. Focus on how geology 

overlaps with other sciences and geography, which 

makes the subject more appealing, especially to pupils 

who already enjoy these disciplines and would like to 

continue with them to a higher level, but with a new 

added dimension. Likewise, for pupils who want to try 

something new at A level, the subject can have an 

immediate attraction. The fact that geology is a practical 

and interactive subject has great appeal to the modern-day 

pupil and is definitely worth pressing home. 

Meanwhile, Ros from ‘Friends’ can be used to get 

away from the typical image of a geologist! 

Geology in Hollywood can also be used to promote 

the subject, e.g. ‘Krakatoa – the last days’ whilst ‘Dante’s 

Peak’ (despite it’s inaccuracies) could also be debated. 

Use video conferencing to have an intensive lab 

session across a group of schools. 

Through video conferencing, geology teaching can be 

shared amongst teachers with specialist knowledge in 

certain areas. This can assist with difficult areas of the 

specification, especially for new geology teachers, and 

would allow for the sharing of knowledge and experience. 

Links could be set up between the school and 

industries willing to give an insight into their practices. 

This saves time in visiting places that may not be 

within easy reach, whilst some industries may be 

abroad or inaccessible, for example, a geologist working 

on an oil rig. 

Video conferencing may also assist with fieldwork in 

a similar way, to supplement that carried out by the students 

themselves. A school may link up with a school in 

another country, for example, in Arizona, USA, comparing 

the geological landscapes of the two areas. 

Video conferencing has many other possibilities, for 

example, ‘Ask a Geologist’, whereby students can ask 

questions/chat to geologists around the world. Links 

could also be made with universities and their specialist 

lectures/professors. 

Other IT-related possibilities include ‘virtual tours’. 

These can be taken around a variety of places, including 

mines, quarries, other fieldwork sites and museums. 

And some extra ideas from Ian Kenyon – wacky 

or not? 

Re-name the Geology rooms – at Truro School, we 

have The James Hutton Room (formerly Room 8) and 

The Mary Anning Room (formerly Room 7). Each 

room has an aluminium plaque with the name on – 

supplied by the CDT dept. at just a cost of £5 each. It 

has raised the profile of Geology and really annoyed the 

Science department for some reason! 

Figure 4 

Name-a-room at Truro School 

Display-wise, collect weird and interesting photos 

from magazines/internet – then add mad geological 

related captions e.g. Naked surfer doing a headstand on 

a surfboard – ‘Geology Staff can’t resist showing off 

when out on fieldwork!’ Firefighters tackling forest 

fires with beaters – ‘The annual graptolite cull began in 

Penryn last week’ etc. 

Put mad signs on or around the geology room door, 

e.g. directly above the bottom of the door ‘Benthonic 

Access Only’, above the door ‘Sorry No Giraffes’, and 

others like ‘Geology Rocks’, ‘Geologists Do It on the 

Rocks’ etc. 

Open Day – give away pet rocks with a sheet of 

instructions on how to look after them. Make dot to dot 

dinosaur pictures available. Offer origami things like 

build a volcano, trilobite etc. Borrow materials from 

GeoEd to enhance Open Day – I borrowed £4,000 

worth of dinosaur stuff last October (free of charge) 

and it made a huge impact. 

Write up fieldtrips for the School/College magazine 

– send photos to the press officer that might end up in 

© IAN KENYON 

© IAN KENYON 


28


the local paper or institution newsletter. 

Have a ‘specimen of the week’ box – a wooden/glass 

case made by CDT dept at a cost of £19.00 with a quality 

specimen of my own inside with an A4 laminated 

sheet to give details/info. I change it every Monday 

morning – students are eager to see the new S.O.T.W. 

every Monday! 

Visit the local University Department for Open Day 

– I use Camborne School of Mines – take lots of photos. 

We do an underground mine visit and test blasting! 

Goes down a storm. 

Find Geo/Dino Cartoons – enlarge to A4, laminate 

on coloured card and put up outside the Geology 

Room. 

undergraduate departments and in all the industries 

that employ geologists. 

We don’t need to write any more here about all the 

wonderful things the geology can offer to students – 

but you need to say more to your potential students of 

the future if geology is to remain a key A level subject. 

Paul Douglas 

Head of Geography 

Crompton House School 

Rochdale Road 

Shaw, Oldham OL2 7HS 

pdouglas@crompton-house.oldham.sch.uk 

Karl Gray 

Abbey Gate College 

Saighton Grange 

Saighton 

Chester CH3 6EG 

karlandlouise@hotmail.com 

Chris King 

chris@cjhking.plus.com 

Figure 6 

A dino-board display at Truro School 

A rationale 

Why should we want to encourage A level students to 

study geology? This is not just because we want to 

increase the numbers of A level geology students 

(which have been declining recently). It is because 

geology not only provides an effective education into 

the natural processes of the world in which we live 

and offers a major contribution to all the environmental 

debates currently taking place, but geology also 

provides broad transferable (key) skills that are of real 

value in whatever walk of life our students take. Moreover, 

the country needs more geologists, both in 

© IAN KENYON 

Ian Kenyon 

igk1527@aol.com 

Pete Loader 

peteloader@yahoo.com 

and other members of the ‘Selling geology’ working group 

Thanks to Pete Loader and Ian Kenyon 

for extra photos and ideas 

*Although for ease of writing, these notes relate to A level 

Geology, very similar tactics can be used to promote 

GCSE Geology in England and Wales and Higher 

Geology in Scotland. 

References 

ESEU website: www.earthscienceeducation.com 

Loader, P. (2006) Jurassic Lawn? Teaching Earth Sciences, 

31.2, 12-13. 

SETNET website: www.setnet.org.uk 

29 www.esta-uk.org



UKRIGS Education Project Update – Earth 

Science On-Site 

Work on the Project continues, with the 

help of ESTA members and local RIGS 

Groups. Teaching materials for Tedbury 

Camp and Vallis Vale (Somerset) were 

used at the ESTA Conference fieldwork 

session on September 17th and Barrow 

Hill (Dudley) for the UKRIGS 

Conference on 23rd September. A CD 

with all materials produced to date was 

distributed at both Conferences and 

copies are still available. Please pass on 

details to non-specialist colleagues! 

Susan and David Beale hosted a useful 

visit to Mungrisdale (Cumbria) in July, 

where, apart from the Carrock Fell 

Gabbro and Skiddaw Formation, we 

came across useful glacial material 

exposed as a result of aggregate working. 

We anticipate visiting our last site, 

Meldon in Devon, early in November 

and hope for comment from two longstanding 

ESTA members who use the 

site for fieldwork. 

The Earth Science On-Site materials 

have now been separated from the main 

UKRIGS website so that usage can be 

accurately logged. They are still available 

by clicking ‘Education’ on 

www.ukrigs.org.uk. Have a close look and 

please give us feedback: Many thanks to 

all concerned. 

The UKRIGS Education Project is 

funded by Defra’s Aggregates Levy 

Sustainability Fund, administered by 

English Nature. 

John R. Reynolds & Rick Ramsdale 

Email: jr.reynolds@virgin.net 

From collapsing volcanoes to 

climate change 

Professor Bill McGuire will be giving a presentation at a Royal Institution meeting at 

University College, London on Friday 3 November 2006 (7.30pm-8.30pm ). 

How can collapsing volcanoes and a changing climate possibly be linked? In order 

to answer this question, we first need to understand a little about volcanoes. Nearly 

two thirds of volcanoes formed in the last 10,000 years are islands, with most of the 

rest lying within 250 km of the coast. Over time, major changes in the earth’s climate 

– such as glacial periods and interglacial periods – have resulted in global sea levels 

fluctuating by up to 130m. Extensive periods of volcanic activity were associated with 

these changes, and this may be because the varying water pressure causes stress 

changes around these island and coastal location. Fast forward several thousand years, 

and we are faced with the melting of the Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets on 

an unprecedented scale. Could the predicted 10m rise in sea level that this causes 

trigger another period of extensive volcanic activity? It may be that we are in for a 

fiery future as well as a hot one. See www.rigb.org for tickets 

The GEES Subject Centre Jiscmail list is a moderated news and 

information service for everyone involved in learning and teaching in the 

GEES subjects in higher education. To view the archives, join or leave this 

list, or change your details, please go to: www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/GEES.html 

Science in School 

The second issue of Science in School is 

now available to read and download at 

www.scienceinschool.org for free. 

A new European journal to promote 

inspiring science teaching, it covers 

not only biology, physics and 

chemistry, but also maths and Earth 

sciences, highlighting the best in 

teaching and cutting-edge research, 

and focusing on interdisciplinary 

work. The contents include teaching 

materials; recent discoveries in 

science; education projects; interviews 

with young scientists and inspiring 

teachers; education research; book 

reviews; and European events for 

teachers. 

The issue has contributions from 

ten countries covering topics as varied 

as astronomy, environmental 

chemistry and insect biology. Exciting 

European projects include a floating 

exhibition in Germany, an Italian 

university-school laboratory and 

a UK scheme to bring young 

scientists into the classroom. 

Two articles address the ‘theory and 

practice’ of chocolate. A full table of 

contents is available at 

www.scienceinschool.org/2006/issue2. 

Dr. Eleanor Hayes 

Editor: Science in School 

European Molecular 

Biology Laboratory 

Meyerhofstrasse 1 

69117 Heidelberg 

Germany 

Email: hayes@embl.de 

www.scienceinschool.org 


30


ESTA Diary 

NOVEMBER 

November until 15th April 2007 

Dino jaws 

Natural History Museum, London 

Contact: www.nhm.ac.uk 

4th November 

Rockwatch event: ‘Festival of Geology’ 

University College, 

Gower Street, 

London WC1E 6BT 

Contact: Tel: 0207 734 5398 

5th November 

Geologists’ Association Lecture by Dr Lesley 

Cherns. ‘What was inside an Ammonite Shell? 

Geological Society, 

Piccadilly, 

London 

11th November 

Sussex Mineral Show. 

Clair Hall, 

Perrymount Road, 

Haywards Heath, Sussex. 

Contact: Tel:01444 233958 

12th November 

Warrington Gem, Mineral and Craft Fair 

The Grappenhall Youth & Comminity Centre, 

Bellhouse Lane, 

Grappenhall, 

Warrington. 

Contact: Tel:01282 614615 

18th - 19th November 

Rock’n’Gem Show 

Cheltenham Racecourse, 

Prestbury Park, 

Cheltenham, 

Gloucester 

Contact: www.rockngem.co.uk 

24th November 

School event (KS3 & 4): 

Earth Lab workshop 


Booking required 


Tel: 020 7942 5555 

25th November 

Sidcup Lapidary and Mineral Show 

Emmanuel Church Hall, 

Hadlow Road, Sidcup, Kent. 

Contact: Tel:020 8303 9610 


Rock’n’Gem Show 

Brighton Racecourse, 

Freshfield Road, 

Brighton. 

Contact: www.rockngem.co.uk 


Course for teachers of A level Geology 

‘Teaching Practical Geology’ 

University of Liverpool 

Contact: E-mail: bamberi@liv.ac.uk 

DECEMBER 

4th - 15th December 

School event (KS3 & 4): 

Earth Lab workshop 


Booking required 


Tel: 020 7942 5555 

JANUARY 

4th - 6th January 

ASE Annual Conference 

University of Birmingham 

Contact: www.ase.org.uk 

Appeal for Photographs: ESTA/GSL Website “The Rock Cycle” 

A group of ESTA secondary teachers, 

together with Prof David Sanderson at 

the Geological Society, are in the final 

stages of writing draft materials for what 

promises to be an exciting new resource 

for secondary science students, namely a 

website that tackles all aspects of the 

Rock Cycle and its associated processes 

and products. Some who attended the 

ESTA Conference in Bristol had a 

chance to look at the draft materials 

displayed on computer at the GSL stand, 

and commented very positively on them 

– for which, our thanks! 

The Rock Cycle resource will 

hopefully be launched in May 2007 as 

part of a complete re-vamp of GSL’s 

website, which is to incorporate an 

increased emphasis on the Society’s 

educational role. GSL hopes that it will 

be the first stage of a resource 

programme that will eventually cover the 

subject to VIth-form level and beyond. 

As teachers involved in writing this 

resource, we are very keen to make it 

stimulating, informative, geologically 

correct (!) and, as far as possible (within 

the confines of what the GSL Server can 

deliver) interactive. This means that we 

intend to incorporate many images, 

animations and video clips, and 

interactive, games & quizzes. 

In the writing process, we have all 

made extensive use of images 

downloaded from the Internet, but wish 

to replace as many as possible with 

copyright-free photos using (wherever 

possible) UK examples. As part of this 

emphasis, the site will include a section 

called “Rocks around Britain”, where a 

series of photographs accompanied by 

explanatory notes on rocks, processes and 

scenery will be linked from a map of 

Britain. This aspect of the site will 

hopefully also attract geography students. 

Dave Turner and I are currently 

compiling a “wish list” of geological 

photos - they need to be of high quality 

and taken in good conditions - which 

some ESTA members may be able to 

help with. If you would like to help, 

please get in touch to ask for a copy of 

the list, or feel free to send in a few 

images that you think may be useful – 

examples that we perhaps haven’t 

thought of or have never come across. 

Broadly speaking, we are looking for 

images of: 

● Rocks (Ig/Sed/Met) and their associated 

scenery in the field, and 

● active geologicical processes in UK 

(e.g. examples of weathering, erosion, 

transport, deposition). 

Your help will be much appreciated, 

although, I’m afraid, there’s no money in it! 

Mick de Pomerai 

Email: depomerai@btinternet.com 

31 www.esta-uk.org



OIKOS 

The First OIKOS newsletter has been 

published. It aims include: Originating, 

Innovative elaborate, develop and test 

new methods to learn and teach 

Knowledge in the training methods and 

new resources in the field of Earth and 

natural sciences in general and Original 

and combined specifically in Earth 

sciences. 

The project consortium consists of 15 

partners from all over Europe including: 

DIDACTICS OF SCIENCES: 

University of Cyprus 

University of Crete 

Polytechnic of Leira 

University Babe-Bolyai 

University of Saragozza 

University of Bayreuth 

University UMEA (Sweden) 

PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS: 

National Association of Teaching of 

Natural Sciences (ANISN) 

Association for Science Education (ASE) 

NATURAL AND EARTH 

SCIENCES: 

University of Sannio 

University of Barcelona 

see www.e-oikos.net 

Permo-Triassic 

crater explains 

extinctions? 

Researchers believe they have 

identified a crater using gravity 

images. The impact crater, beneath 

the East Antarctic, is 483km wide and 

could be 250 million years old, and 

may be linked to the Permo-Triassic 

extinctions which killed about 85% of 

the life on Earth. 

Von Frese et al., presented at American 

Geophysical Union 2006 Joint Assembly, 

May 26, 2006 and printed in Geotimes 

‘News in Brief ’ August 2006. 

Geological conservation: a guide to good 

practice – free downloads 

English Nature has published this 145- 

page colour document which draws on 

the practical experience of English 

Nature’s partners in the voluntary 

geological conservation sector, geological 

societies and local authorities as well as 

their own experience managing their 

network of nationally important 

geological Sites of Special Scientific 

Interest (SSSI). 

It is clear and concise, well written 

and has some fabulous photographs and 

can be downloaded from www.englishnature.org.uk/pubs/publication/PDF/ 

GeologyhandbookPart1.pdf and from 

www.english-nature.org.uk/pubs/ 

publication/PDF/Geologyhandbook 

Part2.pdf 

From an article by Colin Prosser 

(Head of Geology, English Nature) 

New RIGS leaflet from Welsh RIGS groups 

The Association of Welsh RIGS Groups, comprising North East Wales RIGS 

(NEWRIGS), Gwynedd and Mon RIGS Group and Central Wales RIGS Group, 

has produced a new general leaflet about Regionally Important Geodiversity Sites 

(RIGS) and RIGS groups in Wales. 

Aimed at landowners and the public, the leaflet describes what ‘geodiversity’ and 

‘geoconservation’ are, what RIGS are and how they are chosen and what RIGS 

groups do and how to get involved in their activities. 

From an article by Stewart Campbell (Countryside Council for Wales) 

in Earth Heritage, issue 27, Summer 2006 

‘Stonehenge’ found in the Amazon 

Geologists and archaeologists recently discovered an observatory about 30m in 

diameter filled with 127 blocks of rock up to 3 metres tall. The observatory is at the 

top of a hill in northern Brazil and aligns with the winter solstice. 

From an article in Associated Press, June 27, 2006-10-02 

Earth Heritage 

Earth Heritage is a twice-yearly 

magazine produced by the Joint Nature 

Conservation Committee, English 

Nature, Scottish Natural Heritage and 

the Countryside Council for Wales. A 

database listing all of the articles carried 

up to issue 17 is available on CD. Key 

articles from all issues of Earth Heritage 

item, can be found on: 

www.seaburysalmon.com/earth.html. 

Earth Heritage is FREE to anyone 

interested in the subject. To be placed on 

the mailing list, forward your name and 

full postal address by emailing 

eheritage@seaburysalmon.com 

The National Coal 

Mining Museum 

In May the National Coal Mining 

Museum for England in Wakefield 

launched a new interactive CD-ROM 

resource for primary teachers. ‘Materials’ 

and ‘Rocks’ are included in the seven 

topics of the resource. A virtual tour of 

the Museum’s Hope Pit adds to the 

curriculum-based worksheets etc. 

Further information from the Museum 

Tel: 01924 848806 


32


Does gender matter in science? 

An article by Ben A Barres in inSECT, the 

newletter from the Wales’ Resource 

Centre for Women in Science, 

Engineering and Technology, notes that 

some Professors have suggested that 

women are not progressing in science 

because of an innate inability rather than 

discrimination. In his book Manliness, 

Harvey Mansfield, a Harvard Professor, 

states that women don’t like to compete, 

are risk adverse, less abstract and too 

emotional. Barres argues that available 

scientific data do not provide credible 

Rolls-Royce Science Prize 

support for these suggestions – but 

instead support the hypothesis that 

women are not advancing because of 

discrimination. In her book Why so slow? 

Virginia Valian highlights many studies 

demonstrating a substantial degree of bias 

against women. She says “Simply raising 

expectations for women in science may be 

the single most important factor in 

helping them make it to the top”. 

Further information about inSECT 

and to receive a copy of the newsletter 

Tel: 029 2049 3351 

Just think of any science teaching project idea that meets a need in your school or 

college and send it in online. Register on the website and receive monthly newsletters 

and guidance on how to put together an entry. Deadline for entries 28 February 

2007. Register now on www.rolls-royce.com/scienceprize 

1,000 candidates sit GCSE Astronomy 

For the first time since the introduction of the GCSE in the late 1980s, over one 

thousand candidates sat the GCSE examination in Astronomy. This summer’s largest 

ever cohort maintained the high standards shown in previous years, with 75% of 

students gaining an A* - C grade. There has also been a shift in the composition of 

students. Although originally a qualification taken mostly by adults and sixth form 

students (years 12 and 13) the past few years have seen a steady rise in the number of 

secondary schools beginning to run the course as a GCSE option for Key Stage 4 

students (years 10 and 11) or even as an ‘early start’ GCSE course for year 9 students. 

For many schools this provides a popular component within a Science Specialist 

School or Gifted and Talented provision. 

From an article by Julien King (Principal Moderator for GCSE Astronomy 

Edexcel Examinations) in Gnomon, the Newsletter of the Association of 

Astronomy Education, Vol. 26, No. 1, Autumn 2006. 

A new science resource website from the ASE 

From January 2007 www.schoolscience.co.uk (sponsored by industrial partners and 

providing free on-line resources) will merge with the Association for Science 

Education’s (ASE’s) www.scienceonestop.com (the information resources 

directory) to provide an enhanced resources site simply called 

www.schoolscience.co.uk and managed and administered by the ASE. 

The site will be free for all users and aims to provide a comprehensive directory of 

resources, information and contacts for teachers and learners of science everywhere. 

Further details contact Rebecca Dixon-Watmough on 

Tel: 01254 247764 or Rebecca@ase.org.uk 

Giving scientists 

some good press 

New York University’s film school is 

one of six schools across the US 

where students are eligible to receive 

award money from the Alfred P Loan 

Foundation for incorporating science 

into their films. Winning films are 

then featured on the Sloan Science 

Cinematheque Web site. Creators of 

Sloan Science Cinematheque cite 

Apollo 13 starring Tom Hanks, as a 

prime example of a film that brings 

science to broad audience with good 

excitement and drama. 

From an article in Kathryn Hansen 

in Geotimes July 2006, pp 46-47. 

Wow and Vow 

In an article about the experiences of 

primary science teachers and when they 

were exposed to a new and innovative 

teaching strategy for the first time, 

Nelofer Halal noted that one teacher 

went through at least three stages that 

were termed: 

● Wow and vow 

● Muddling through 

● Second thoughts stage 

The challenge for teacher educators is to 

design and implement teaching strategies 

where the teachers can undergo 203 

cycles of the ‘muddling through’ stage 

and to finally integrate these new ideas 

into their pre-workshop repertoire of 

teaching tools. 

Science Education International, 

Vol. 17, No. 2, June 2006, pp 123-132. 

33 www.esta-uk.org


Reviews 

Groundwater in the Environment. Paul L Younger 

Blackwell Publishing, ISBN 1-4051-2143-2 paperback. £27.99. 318 pp. 

This book achieves its stated aim of 

introducing the reader to the 

concepts of hydrogeology, the study of 

underground water, without resort to 

mathematics. Indeed, the author prides 

himself in the fact that not one letter of 

the Greek alphabet is present in the text. 

Surprisingly, the principles of both 

conceptual and numerical groundwater 

modelling are dealt with at length – 

again without quoting any formulae. 

The author has drawn heavily from 

his own teaching experience and 

accumulated notes from his extensive 

career at Newcastle University. Teaching, 

supervising a post-graduate research 

team and maintaining an extensive 

consultancy portfolio has kept the author 

at the front of his science, both at home 

and overseas. This is reflected in the 

book which includes many facets of 

hydrogeological science which are only 

now becoming topical. There is, for 

example, a whole chapter devoted to 

groundwater and wetlands including the 

ecological aspects of wetlands, another to 

groundwater as a hazard and another on 

groundwater degradation. Even climate 

change gets a mention. 

The book is targeted at “junior level 

bachelor’s degree programme students”. 

It is also of significant value to 

practitioners at the edge of hydrogeology 

who are working in the environment 

sector, as well as an introductory text to 

higher education students of any level. 

Although there are a flush of 

introductory groundwater texts available 

at the moment, with more on the way, 

the Younger text is refreshing in its 

approach to the subject, is written in an 

infectious style that attracts the reader to 

the page, uses clear and interesting 

graphics and directs the reader to an 

abundant resource of follow-up reading 

in specific areas. In addition, teachers can 

obtain digital copies of the artwork from 

the publisher for use in class. 

The author makes no bones about 

occasional political comments. On the 

traditional divide between hydrogeology 

and the study of hydrology, Younger 

reports: “It is high time we did away 

with maintaining a discipline boundary 

between groundwaters and surface 

waters. ...that, with very few exceptions, 

it is not possible to disturb a 

groundwater system without also 

affecting a surface water system...”. 

However, the greater political influence 

of Brussels on its member states is 

nowhere mentioned and the reader does 

not hear about the Water Framework 

Directive, although there is mention of 

the recent South African Water Act. One 

small niggle is the use of the American 

none-SI notation ‘L’ for litre, rather than 

the accepted ‘l’ which will only 

encourage students to use this sloppy 

notation. 

This is a valuable text book which is 

clearly laid out, indexed and easy to read 

and use. It will find its niche in the 

undergraduate lecture theatres, but will 

also provide a valuable introductory text 

for other levels. 

Nicholas Robins 

British Geological Survey 

Maclean Building 

Wallingford 

Oxfordshire OX10 8BB 

Soils in the Welsh Landscape (A field-based approach to the study of soil in the landscapes of North Wales) J.S. Conway 

ISBN 0-9546966-1-1 Published by Seabury Salmon & Associates SY8 1PP 

It is notoriously difficult to present the 

study of soils to a general audience, but 

John Conway has made an excellent 

attempt here. He concentrates on the 

field aspects, and has come up with a 

colourful and useful guide to the British 

soil classification, and an extremely 

useful resource for teachers and students 

wishing to see and interpret soils in 

north Wales. This brief survey fills a 

niche, as there has been an unfortunate 

dearth of good photographic material to 

illustrate the soils themselves, and their 

relationships with landscape. Soil profiles 

are surprisingly colourful, and the old 

cliché about pictures and words is well 

supported by this publication. 

It is clear from the format and 

content that the author was restricted in 

how much material he could present, 

but the bilingual nature of the book is 

admirable, and it may introduce the 

rather arcane concepts of soil 

classification to a wider audience than 

has been possible in the past. 

There is a brief, accurate and useful 

introduction covering the definition of 

soil and the ways in which it varies 

across our amazingly diverse 

countryside. This is followed by a 

summary of soil horizons and their 

designations. The main section then 

illustrates some of the ten Major 

Groups of the British (England and 

Wales) soil classification, which is now 

used for authoritative mapping in the 

country. Unfortunately, 

such mapping is no longer 

carried out on a routine 

basis, so perhaps it is 

especially important to enthuse students 

to learn how to do it. This material is 

brief, but admirably accurate, and 

explained in largely non-technical 

terms. A few pages at the end are 

devoted to “soil landscapes”. Excellent 

landscape photographs are annotated 

with inset soil profiles, referring back to 

the classification section: a particularly 

useful feature of the book, which does, 

in colour, what the far more 

comprehensive and technical Soils and 

their Use in Wales does rather less 

Cont. on page 35 


34


successfully in black and white. 

There are, of course, a few quibbles 

with the details: surface-water gley soils 

are not “usually clay soils”, in fact clay is 

decidedly rare in north Wales. Conway 

does not point out that most of the thin 

soils over limestone are leached of their 

surface carbonates, and therefore mapped 

by the Soil Survey (now the National 

Soil Resource Centre) as Brown rankers 

rather than Brown rendzinas, although 

the rendzinas certainly occur in the unit: 

the soil described as “Marcham series” 

should more properly be Elmton series 

as Marcham is sandy loam. This 

publication would have been a good 

opportunity to cement the standard 

Welsh translations of soil taxa used in the 

National Atlas of Wales. Unfortunately this 

has not been done consistently. These are 

minor gripes, however, and the author 

and sponsors are to be applauded for 

producing a pioneering publication 

which should help bring the study of 

soils to its rightful place in the forefront 

of landscape and land-use research. 

References 

Board of Celtic Studies, 1983 National 

Atlas of Wales University of Wales Press. 

Rudeforth C.C., et al., 1984 Soils and their 

Use in Wales Harpenden. 

Richard Hartnup 

11 Maesceiro, Bow Street, Ceredigion 

AQA Science for GCSE-GCSE Science texts published by Heinemann in 2006 – reviewed for their Earth Science content only. 

AQA Science for GCSE: Higher. Series Editor Keith Hurst, 

ISBN 0 435 586009, paperback, £15.99, 246pp. 

AQA Science for GCSE: Foundation. Series Editor Keith Hurst, 

ISBN 0 435 58601 7, paperback, £15.99, 246pp. 

Imade such a nuisance of myself in and volcanoes. The origin of the 

chatting up the representatives at the atmosphere is covered in the usual way, 

Heinemann stand, next to the ESTA and treatment of carbon dioxide levels 

display, at a recent conference, that they leads into a debate about global climate 

gave me a couple of books to go away! change, which is continued in the 

I have been seeking to check the Earth biology section. The biology section also 

science content of some of the newly deals with evolution and includes a 

published textbooks for the new GCSEs generalised mention of fossils. 

and this is the second of such reviews. The chemistry section contains the 

At this rate, the GCSE will have changed usual list of useful materials from the 

again before I have finished! 

Earth, and in spite of the subtitle 

In common with most other texts, “Chemistry to the rescue”, the origins of 

two versions are issued – Foundation a range of metals and building materials 

Level with fewer words per page to are outlined, as are the environmental 

encourage the weak readers and Higher problems associated with their extraction. 

Level for everybody else. These books The physics section contains no Earth 

are published to support the specification science, now that AQA has seen fit to 

of the AQA, since there is now 

remove seismic waves from its syllabus. 

considerable disparity between the The only exception is “Energy from the 

various Awarding Bodies. 

Earth”, which describes geothermal 

The Earth science sections in the two energy from volcanic sources, but misses 

books are closely parallel and many of the opportunity to show that energy 

the same graphics are also used in each from ground-based heat exchangers is 

version. 

now rapidly being developed in the U.K. 

The main Earth science chapter, 

My overall impression of the Earth 

headed Earth and Atmosphere, is found science coverage is that the publisher has 

in the chemistry section and comprises tried hard to meet the requirements of 

14 pages of text and pictures plus 

AQA’s specification, which I personally 

question pages. It starts with Wegener find a little dull and disjointed. The 

and leads into plate tectonics, then the layout and presentation are quite 

internal structure of the Earth. “Our attractive, with the text being broken up 

restless planet” deals with geohazards into boxes all over the place. Most of the 

such as the Indian Ocean tsunami and material is reasonably accurate, although 

the difficulty of predicting earthquakes I felt that students would not be 

challenged to think for themselves as 

much as in some other texts. Thus, many 

“facts” are listed, with very little evidence 

being presented in enough detail to 

arouse curiosity. There are, however, 

several areas where students are 

encouraged to seek patterns in data, such 

as the relationship between water levels 

in wells and the onset of an earthquake. 

The usual niggles persist, such as 

plates being referred to as consisting of 

crust only and the avoidance of the 

concept of the lithosphere. The Mid 

Atlantic Ridge is referred to as the Mid 

Atlantic Rift and the only diagram to 

show a subduction zone is pretty awful. 

The publishers claim that, “This 

book has been designed to cover the 

new AQA GCSE Science curriculum in 

an exciting and engaging manner...” 

This may be true for some of the other 

science topics, but I felt that although 

the Earth science was adequate, it was 

rather bland and would not switch on 

students (nor perhaps their teachers 

either!), unless they already had an 

interest in the subject. 

Peter Kennett 

142, Knowle Lane 

Sheffield S11 9SJ 

35 www.esta-uk.org


Reviews 

Inventing the Earth: ideas on Landscape Development Since 1740. by Barbara A.Kennedy. 

Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Oxford, 2006. 160pp. ISBN-13: 978-1-4051-0187-5 (Hardback), 

ISBN-10: 1-4051-0188-1(Paperback) 

In her Preface the author stresses that 

this is not a text-book on the History 

of Earth Science, but rather forms a 

series of essays giving a personal 

impression of the importance of key 

episodes in the development of 

geomorphology within an Anglo- 

American perspective. Much of the 

material is drawn from lectures, 

seminars and tutorials given in the 

Universities of Manchester and Oxford 

towards the end of the twentieth century. 

Nearly one third of the 126 pages of 

text is devoted to examination of the 

precepts by which scientific paradigms 

are tested, exploring the impacts of the 

Ruling Hypothesis and the Method of 

Multiple Working Hypotheses. She 

identifies four key constraints under 

which the emerging eighteenth century 

geomorphologists were forced to work. 

First that the Bible contained Divine 

Authority, second that the time 

framework since creation as calculated 

by Ussher was very limited, third that 

the only major change to the Earth’s 

surface since creation was due to the 

divinely inspired Noachian flood of 

2348BC, and fourth that the Almighty 

followed the laws of Newtonian 

mechanics. 

After Buffon (1749) was heavily 

criticized by theologians for stating that 

there was a need for an increased 

timescale to permit landscape 

development, it was not until the work 

of Hutton (1785) and later Playfair 

(1805) who demanded indefinite time 

scale to permit lithification, erosion and 

later tilting before further burial by 

sediments to allow for the development 

of unconformities. Although initially 

disputed by Cuvier and Lyell,the latter 

came to recognise to need for vast 

periods of time to allow many observed 

phenomena to develop. Interestingly 

Darwin (1859) entered the fray, 

estimating the need for the passage of 

300Ma for formation of the topography 

of the Weald. Later Holmes (1913) 

estimated the need for 2000Ma and the 

latest figure of 4550Ma is from Patterson 

(1953). 

The third chapter is devoted to the 

influence of Lyell on developing 

acceptable ‘modern’ scientific methods 

of assessing the main elements of 

geology in the nineteenth century. 

To the British geologist/ 

geopmorphologist the in-depth 

assessment of the contributions of 

French, German, Italian and Swiss 

workers gives a welcome historical 

context, for any advances in the science 

must be seen within the framework of 

knowledge of the time. Conflicting 

views of the presence of polymict gravels 

between lava flows and their relationship 

to the biblical deluge or repeated 

catastrophic events are presented with 

valuable comments. The need for 

mechanisms to produce landforms and 

their distributions is introduced with 

questions such as ‘Are the highest 

mountains the oldest or the youngest?’ 

Kennedy points out development of 

concepts through the eleven editions of 

Lyell’s Principles of Geology which provide 

insights into active processes. Although 

essentially uniformitarian at heart, Lyell 

collected evidence of earthquake impacts 

and sea-level changes as at Serapis. It is 

instructive to learn that Lyell not only 

identified that climate change in one area 

was accompanied by climate change 

elsewhere, but also believed that the 

distribution of mountain ranges also 

exerted some controls on climate. 

The fourth chapter opens with a list 

of factors by which Huttonian concepts 

failed to satisfy conditions in many 

upland areas. In the Alps both 

Charpentier and Saussure had identified 

such problems before Agassiz provided 

his comprehensive analysis of glacial 

phenomena, suggesting interpretations 

which Lyell initially found difficult to 

accept, but later espoused. 

The fifth chapter addresses advances 

resulting from the increasing possibility 

of scientists taking part in the major 

exploratory expeditions, of which 

Darwin on the Beagle is perhaps the 

most familiar example. Although armed 

with a copy of Lyell, Darwin made his 

own observations of geomorphological 

processes and products in many areas. 

His original contributions in the study of 

coral reefs, volcanic islands, and 

extensive geological observations along 

the coasts of south America have been 

highly praised. His genius would have 

been recognised for those works alone 

irrespective of his evolutionary concepts. 

It took over 180 years of investigation 

before it was accepted that rain and 

rivers are important in earth sculpture, 

with wind, ice and the sea playing minor 

or local supporting roles on landscape 

development. Outside Europe, until the 

end of the American Civil War, virtually 

only the landscapes of the north and 

north-east of America had been 

examined. From his observations on the 

U.S. Government Expedition of 1838-43 

Dana believed that all major river 

systems were post-Tertiary in origin, 

largely on the basis of rapid fluvial 

incision into Pacific volcanic islands. 

In terms of landscape development 

Kennedy identifies the problem facing 

these geomorphologists, namely how a 

narrow gorge or steep-sided valley could 

open up to a shallow cross-section with 

gently inclined slopes. It was the 

pioneering work of Powell in the Grand 

Canyon which showed the connection 

between vertical and horizontal 

denudation. His inspirational 

recognition of the base level concept 

linked uplift to valley development and 

the role of tectonism in stimulating 

subaerial denudation. Elevation above 

base level, induration of the rocks, and 

the amount of rainfall were identified as 

principal factors, with vegetation cover a 

further contributor. Like Gilbert, later, 


36


Powell was promoted to an 

administrative position, which effectively 

curtailed his scientific contributions. 

Gilbert, the precursor of physical 

reductionism, applied Newtonian 

principles in his monumental works on 

the Henry Mountains and Lake 

Bonneville. He linked stream gradient 

and the loads carried, recognising that 

equilibrium conditions could be reached, 

noting that steeper slopes erode more 

rapidly than gentle ones, divides 

migrating towards the flatter stream. 

Three channel forms were identified, 

alluvial, rock-walled, and rock bound, to 

which Kennedy adds rock-floored. An 

advocate of the multiple hypothesis 

method, Gilbert was fully prepared to 

discard ideas shown to be untenable, a 

striking contrast to the approach of many 

later workers. 

The genius of W.M. Davis is explored 

in Chapter seven. A great traveller he was 

a prolific writer, but unlike Gilbert, he 

sharply opposed any critical analysis of 

his ideas. Kennedy draws attention to the 

dynasty of several generations of 

researchers who derived early stimulus 

from Davis, his students or their 

students. While others were cataloging 

landform types and processes, Davis 

provided the concept of progressive 

change, from youthful through maturity 

to old age conditions for landscapes 

formed under differing conditions. His 

syntheses gave frameworks into which 

the work of others could be fitted. 

However forward-looking, his 

imaginative denudation chronology 

scheme is almost impossible to test. 

While Davisian theory was largely 

developed for river systems dominated 

by vertical erosion following uplift, 

alternative views were developed by 

workers operating in other climatic or 

structural situations, notably in Africa. 

Penck believed that tectonic influences 

were of over-riding importance, and King, 

who demonstrated landscapes based on 

the retreat of escarpments in southern and 

eastern Africa, rejected Davisian concepts 

as ‘cerebral analysis rather than from 

observation’. Kennedy sees the Davis 

approach as an ‘episode’ which attracted 

many early supporters, but is now seen to 

have had many failures. 

Chapters eight and nine are devoted 

to the post-1945 period during which 

the advent of plate tectonics, climate 

change and absolute age dating have all 

shed previously unsuspected light, 

requiring re-evaluation of many earlier 

geomorphological concepts. The 

quantitative revolution introduced by 

Horton, and an ever-increasing leaning 

towards hydraulic analysis of river flow 

and sediment transport opened fresh 

directions for geomorphological 

investigators. While Horton achieved 

whole landscape evolution analysis by 

numbering streams according to their 

relative size and location, modification 

by Strahler was provided by Strahler. 

The combination of statistical and 

mathematical analysis stressed by 

Strahler was followed through by 

Morisawa, while another of his students, 

Schumm devoted his attention to the 

relative importance of runoff and 

infiltration in the dissection process. 

The more Newtonian directions were 

followed by Leopold, who stressed the 

importance of using engineering 

approaches to discriminate between 

processes leading to braiding or 

meandering reaches of rivers, albeit, 

primarily in the south-west of the 

United States. Although the Leopold 

methods of analysis are currently most 

widely in use today, he rates only 33 

lines of text compared with more then 

three pages devoted to Strahler and his 

immediate students. Beyond the 

attempts to establish methods of 

predicting return periods of storm and 

flooding events many of the more recent 

advances are dismissed as reductionist 

attempts to simplify processes into a 

series of regression equations. 

In the final chapter Barbara Kennedy 

allows herself a little flexibility to point 

out that strictly uniformitarian principles 

operate on geological rather than human 

time scales, so that significant natural 

catastrophes are, by definition, rare 

events. Having referred to Krakatoa, San 

Francisco, Pinatubo, Kobe, Bangladeshi 

floods and Mt St Helens she returns to 

the concept that the most impactful 

events on landscape development are 

probably those recurring at two to three 

year intervals. After a brief reference to 

the possibilities opened up by analysis 

using fractal based, scale-free analysis the 

text is concluded with the statement that 

perhaps the earth responds to a different 

suite of largely mechanical endogenetic 

and exogenetic forces than those we have 

hitherto assumed as dominant. After a 

brief epilogue the text closes with 

thumb-nail sketches of the many 

prominent geomorphologists referred to, 

with a valuable glossary and a useful list 

of mainly accessible references. 

The author is to be congratulated on 

packing so much thoughtful detail into 

such a brief account. The text is not 

merely an extended 

geomorphologistology, but plots the 

sequences of advances of thought, taking 

into account what had preceded the 

development of the ideas. The closely 

written text is extremely informative and 

bears all the hallmarks of a thoroughly 

researched piece of work. I would have 

no hesitation in recommending it to 

students intending to follow 

geomorphology within degree level 

studies, but would be cautious of letting 

junior students loose on it until they had 

already acquired some background within 

geomorphology, whether from 

geographical or geological backgrounds. 

The work is well illustrated with 

relatively few wood-cuts, but the author 

must be disappointed with the quality of 

Blackwell’s reproduction of the 

photographs seen in the soft-back edition. 

This is the only unfavourable comment 

which I would make on what was a very 

good and thought-provoking read. 

John McManus 

University of St Andrews 

37 www.esta-uk.org

ADVERTISING IN “TEACHING EARTH SCIENCES” 

THE MAGAZINE OF THE EARTH SCIENCE TEACHERS’ ASSOCIATION 

The readership consists of dedicated Earth science 

teachers in:- 

● Primary schools 

● Secondary schools 

● Departments of Earth sciences, geography and 

geology in colleges and universities. 


EARTH 

SCIENCES 

Teaching Earth Sciences is the only UK magazine that 

specialises in the teaching of Earth sciences. It is 

published quarterly. Advertising in the magazine is 

offered at competitive rates as follows: 




1. PAGE ADVERTISING 

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The price to include type setting if necessary. 

2. INSERTS 

These are charged at £100 per issue for sheets up to A4 size. For inserts larger than 

A4 please contact Jane Ladson (see p3 for details). Upon confirmation, please send 

inserts to: 

FAO: Mike Greene, ABC Printers, Lugg View Industrial Estate, 

Moreton-on-Lugg, Herefordshire HR4 8DP. 

REQUESTS TO ADVERTISE OR PLACE INSERTS 

Your request should be sent to Jane Ladson at the address on p3. Your request should 

indicate the issues in which you wish to advertise. The next available issue is TES 

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38

● Science Activities and Work Sheets .pages 7 - 16 

● Literacy Activities and Work Sheets . . . . . . . . .pages 17 - 26 

Teaching Resources 

There are a number of web-based resources for the teaching and learning of Geology aimed at 

all levels of the National Curriculum. The major sources are listed below and they can all be 

accessed from the ESTA website www.esta-uk.org 

Resource Level/Age Link Description 

GEOTREX 

ESEU 

JESEI 

NATURE FOR 

SCHOOLS 

AS & A2 

(16+ yrs) 

KS3 & KS4 

(11-16 yrs) 

KS3 & KS4 

(11-16 yrs) 

KS2 & KS3 

(7 -14 yrs) 

Geology Teacher’s Resource Exchange (GEOTREX) aims to facilitate 

networking and the sharing of resources and ideas, making teaching and 

learning more effective for everyone. 

The Earth Science Education Unit (ESEU), based at Keele University, provides a 

programme of in-service training for KS3 and KS4 in England and Wales that is 

designed to raise staff confidence and enthusiasm in teaching about the Earth. 

KS3 topics focus on the QCA Scheme of work, whilst the KS4 topics focus on 

the GCSE Science syllabus. In Scotland, the programme focuses on primary 

and lower secondary teachers via the 5-14 Guidelines for Science and Materials. 

The Joint Earth Science Education Initiative (JESEI) was developed specifically 

to help chemistry, biology and physics specialists with their teaching of Earth 

science. It includes more than 40 activity-based topics that highlight the 

relevance and interest of Earth science to KS3 and KS4 pupils. Some of the 

resources are also useful for both younger and older audiences. 

English Nature has developed more than 100 lesson plans that provide activities 

and information to help pupils better understand nature and the natural 

environment. There are also suggestions for outdoor activities appropriate for 

almost all schools to use in their own locality. The resource pages support the 

National Curriculum at KS2 and KS3, with some material for KS1 (5-7yrs). 

Primary Level 

Working with Soils: This pack includes a booklet, Waldorf the Worm, relating the story 

of a family of worms, together with supporting activities and worksheets £6.00 + p&p 

Working 

With 

Soil 

Working with Rocks: This pack contains Christina’s Story, which tells the tale 

of a marble gravestone, together with supporting activities and worksheets. 

Sixteen full colour postcards depicting common building and ornamental 

stones are also included £6.00 + p&p 

Contents 

● The Map . .inside cover 

● Information . . . . . . . . . . . . .pages 1 - 3 

● How to Use the Work Sheets . . . . . . . . . . . . . .page 4 - 6 

● Numeracy Activities and Work Sheets . . . . . . .pages 27 - 30 

Authors 

This pack was wri ten and developed by members of the ESTA Primary Commi tee. 

Wall Maps 

United Kingdom Geology Wall Map (1:1 million, flat or folded) £4.00 + p&p 

Geological Map of the World (1:30 million, flat or folded) £6.50 + p&p 

Waldorf the Worm 

Practical Kits 

Fossils: Twelve 

representative 

replica fossils 

and data sheet 

in a boxed set 

£17.00 + p&p 

Rocks: Reference set 

comprising 15 large samples, 

with worksheets and notes 

£20.00 + p&p (c.£8) 

Rocks: Class Kit with 6 sets of 

15 medium-size samples, 

worksheets and notes 

£60.00 + p&p (c.£11) 

Enquiries and orders to earthscience@macunlimited.net

www.esta.uk.org 

Earth Science Teachers’ 

Association Course & Conference 

Belfast 

14-16 September 

2007 

Workshops for Primary 

and Secondary Teachers 

Keynote lectures 

by leading earth scientists 

Field excursions to the Giants Causeway, 

North Antrim and East Antrim coast. 

For more information, please contact 

Karen Parks, Methodist College, 1 Malone Road, 

Belfast, BT9 6BY 

Email: kpmax80@hotmail.com

teaching - Earth Science Teachers' Association

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