Geology
New u3a members are welcome to join the group at any time.
Tuesdays, fortnightly 1:45-4pm, Glencruitten Church Centre, usually in the Ambo Room.
In April we have our final two meetings before the summer break, except that we hope to be able to arrange a local field excursion as we (hopefully) find ourselves in warmer weather.
Tuesday 16 April; Introduction to Geology series: The Evolution of Our Atmosphere.
As yet, we know of no other planet with an atmosphere so rich in oxygen. Other planets in the Solar System have very different atmospheres or none at all. Clearly life has something to do with our atmosphere, but just how did Earth manage to acquire this apparently unique mixture of gases.
Tuesday 30 April: Life Story series: The Ups and Downs of
Life in the Lower Palaeozoic.
After the exciting times of the Ediacaran and Cambrian periods when life experimented wildly, it might be expected life would settle down to enjoy a quiet period after such evolutionary success. But the world is not like that, never was either, and sure enough the Earth’s environment changed several times, battering
life with more extreme conditions. But as ever, life responded to the survival challenge by adapting to changing conditions – what we call evolution. And at some
point, we get the first glimpse of greenery on land.
Recently, Glasgow Geological Society put on an extra talk by Zoom, and those of you with a continuing interest in the theme may be interested in watching the recording ( https://youtu.be/GOZRw2DQdDU ) Wait for the Tyrannosaur to emerge!
"Finding dinosaurs in the Judith River Formation, Late Cretaceous, Montana".
Dr Fowler, the Curator of Dickinson Museum Center, North Dakota, takes us through his ongoing work and research of the Judith River Formation, in Montana. This formation dating from the late Cretaceous period between 79 and 75.3 million years ago has yielded a wide range of fossils from fish, amphibians, crocodilians, lizards, turtles and of course dinosaurs and was explored as early as 1876; the same year as Custer’s ill fated last stand at the Little Big Horn, also in Montana; by early American palaeontologists.
Denver’s interest in palaeontology has a strong emphasis on fieldwork and he has extensive experience from working in the UK, Mongolia, China, Canada and the US. In the Judith River Formation his finds have included rare ceratopsians, a new ankylosaur, the oldest most complete hedgehog teeth and the smallest known T.rex “Chopper”. His research concentrates on how dinosaurs lived and their evolution. In his own words “there are lots of cool fossils in there”.
Born in the north of England, a lifelong interest in palaeontology was prompted by family holidays to the Jurassic Coast and the Isle of Wight (Britain's "Dinosaur Island"). Here, Denver collected Cretaceous and Tertiary fossils, including many dinosaur bones, and later worked at 'Dinosaur Farm', a hands-on museum where visitors watch and interact with volunteers preparing the latest dinosaur finds.
Since 1996, Denver has worked in a number of palaeontology museums and university departments, and also in science media; as a dig site leader for the BBC's "Live from Dinosaur Island" (2001), a specialist researcher (2005-6) for Impossible Pictures (London), and scientific consultant for many other television, film, exhibition, and media projects.
Denver currently conducts fieldwork in Late Cretaceous rocks of the northern US, focusing on rare species, growth stages, or direct evidence of dinosaur behaviour.
Contact Alastair and Zoe Fleming
We will continue to send out meeting reminders the weekend before (if someone reminds us to do so!).
Meetings take place in Glencruitten Church centre, which is situated behind the Lorn Medical Centre, opposite the Lidl supermarket on Soroba Road. Having parked walk through the Medical Centre car park at a diagonal to the far left corner, where a gap in the wall leads to a path up the side of the Church of Scotland Centre. The front door is immediately right at the end of the path on the pavement of Glencruitten Road. We hope that a £1.50/head/session contribution will cover all expenses, including room hire.