Tuesday 26 January 2016

4th February - Bath GS - Cotham Marble

4th February - Bath Geological Society.
The replacement talk is 'Cotham Marble'
by Dr. Sarah Greene, NERC Independent Research Fellow,
School of Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol
The Cotham Marble is an uppermost Triassic carbonate microbialite (a rock built by the actions of microscopic life) from the southwestern UK, long prized by collectors for its beauty. Sometimes called the Landscape Marble because its internal structures resemble hills, trees, and skies, the Cotham Marble has been the subject of fascination, scientific investigation, and speculation about its formation for at least 250 years. Only in the past few years, however, have we come to recognize that microbialites like the Cotham Marble can yield truly exceptional archives of past climates. In this lecture, Dr. Greene will recount the history of study of the Cotham Marble and describe some new theories about how and why it formed. She will also describe what brand new geochemical studies of the Cotham Marble are teaching us about the Triassic-Jurassic climate in the UK and the end-Triassic global mass extinction event.
7.00 p.m. AGM followed by this talk
BRLSI, 16 Queen Square Bath
Everyone welcome, £4 for visitors, free refreshments

No comments: