To promote a wider interest in the science of geology through organised lectures, field excursions and social activities.
To provide a link between the amateur, the student, the teacher and the professional geologist.
To foster interest in geological sites within the area with a view to their study and wise conservation.
To establish and maintain good relations with organisations that have common interests.

 

 

 
 
 

 

The Earth - An Intimate History
Book review by GOC

Richard Fortey

ISBN 0-00-257011-4

 

 

If you are ever at a loss about where to go on your holidays, read this book. Richard Fortey discusses many places, and for the amateur geologist, informs you with what you are seeing, and tells you what it means, at levels varying from the trite to the profound.

He starts off with Vesuvius and the Bay of Naples, the scene of the first geological report - Pliny the Younger in 79 AD. And also Charles Lyell in 1830, who commented on the proof of variation in sea-level seen in the columns of a Roman temple.

This chapter is typical of the book. Some of it is a catalogue of what the geologist (and thinking tourist) should see in the area, but also a discussion of uniformitarianism, significant textbooks of geology, the immensity of geological time, and the northward movement of Africa. Plus a few other topics!

Other area which he visits are Hawai’i, where he discusses the ecology of remote islands, the volcanoes of the Big Island, the differing ages of the islands, the structure of the ocean floor, mantle plumes.

Mountain building is discussed in the Eastern Alps, Newfoundland, Scotland and Norway are the scene of discussions of continental collision and break-up. Faults are discussed in California, continental cover rocks in the Grand Canyon - one could go on and on. But in every case the discussion is anchored to actual places where you can put your hands on the rocks.

It is the ideal book for the armchair excursionist - and I suspect many of the dreams will turn into real excursions.

The great pity about the book is that it is shaped like a textbook. It should have been a huge coffee table book with lots of glossy pictures. As it is the pictures are good but they could have been so much better.

But the book is beautifully written, (mainly in Bristol, when he was visiting Professor) and should be the basis for a great lecture!