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Fellows’ Night 2024

On 11^th December 2024, the Edinburgh Geological Society held its 191^st Fellows’ Night at the Grant Institute, University of Edinburgh. This meeting takes place each year, close to the anniversary of the foundation of the Society (on 6^th December).

The Cockburn Museum, and close by lecture rooms provided the backdrop for a fun and lively event comprising a series of short talks which were given by members, and with time in between to enjoy some nibbles and refreshments.

Our host for this in-person event was Angus Miller (our Promotion Coordinator).  Three speakers were lined up for this event with varied topics from Geopoetry, the history of Oil Exploration in Scotland and the Brora Sandstone/Scottish land mass evolution.

Our first speaker was Patrick Corbett (Emeritus Prof of Petroleum Geology at Heriot Watt University).  He explained what the term Geopoetry was and its origins, and updated us on the sad passing away of its founder Kenneth White from Fairlie in 2023.  He explained how a conference had been held in Burlington House (HQ of the Geological Society of London) – a first for the esteemed organisation.  A proceeding of this event is due to be published in the new year.  Patrick also read a poem about Isle of Luing, written on piece of slate from the island in the Firth of Lorn.

Second up was Simeon Brown (a former oil industry geologist who has work in both Africa and in various European countries), and who had kindly offered to talk through the development of the oil industry in Scotland since 1850.  From the first observed seeps at St Katherine’s “Balm” Well, in Liberton through to the extensive extraction of oil shales near Livingstone (and their legacy waste piles of the Bings).  He then covered the onshore “nodding donkeys” wells and more recently the Coal Bed Methane pilot site near Airth between 2008-15. A fascinating picture was outlined and set against a consideration of climate change through the same period – alongside recent volcanic eruptions which may also have played a part (and which has been captured by Turner’s paintings and Icelandic proverb which he shared).

Thirdly, Mark Williamson (EGS President and Professor of GeoEnergy at the University of Edinburgh) described his regular geological visits with undergraduate students to the Jurassic age Brora Sandstone Formation outcrops around Helmsdale, Northeast Scotland. These sequences are model for the North Sea and with the dynamic coastal processes regularly providing new things to see.  One such find was of a series of pebbles in the sandstone and their origin has lead Mark on an investigation of possible sources for this fluvial derived material.  He hypothesised that its origin may be from the outcrops on the South side of Moray Firth, meaning that in order for this to be emplaced, then the land mass to the south must have been shedding material all across the area which is now the Moray Firth marine environment.  Hence, the shoreline of Nor Scotland may not have been quite so static as others, including Prof John Judd FGS might have thought.

In conclusion, Angus said that as with all good Fellows’ Nights we had ranged extensively across the various topics but that all had strange inter-linkages reflecting how geology informs all aspects of our lives.  We finished off the evening with a vote of thanks to the speakers and also, to Bob Gatliff (former EGS President) who had so kindly done the food and drink shopping for another year.

We look forward to many more Fellows’ Nights like this in the future.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Tony being presented with Clough Medal 2023-24

Our annual Clough Medal lecture took place on 28th February at the Grant Institute, Kings Buildings Campus, University of Edinburgh and also broadcast online. The audience for this years’ lecture was well over 100 (50+ in person and 54 on line).  Whether the fact that the lecture was preceded by a “pizza and pop” event, kindly supported by a donation from an EGS Fellow, or whether it was cohort of Tony Prave’s supporters from the University of St Andrews, it did make for a great atmosphere on the evening.

Graham Leslie, Chair of the Clough Committee had the honours of explaining that the Clough Medal was established in 1935 and is given each year to a person who has contributed to a geologist whose original work has materially increased the knowledge of the geology of Scotland and/or the north of England, or one working in Scotland or the north of England who has significantly advanced the knowledge of any aspect of geology.

The medallist for 2023/24 was Professor Antony (Tony) Prave (School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of St Andrews) who gave a lecture entitled “There is nothing left to learn about this scrap of NW Europe”.  He was presented with his medal by Mark Wilkinson, President of Edinburgh Geological Society.

Tony Prave started his academic career at The City University of New York in USA, before coming to the University of St Andrews in 1996 as a Senior Lecturer.  For the subsequent 27 years, he has carried a wide range of research; with two programmes having had particular scientific impact: that concerned with the Neoproterozoic, and that with the Palaeoproterozoic. In each case the modus operandi has been the same: (1) meticulous and painstaking fieldwork conducted from a base of deep theoretical knowledge and an open mind; (2) careful screening of samples through petrography and geochemistry; (3) advanced isotope geochemical analyses; and (4) imaginative interpretation of the data within the geological and field context. The impact of his published oeuvre has been substantial and paradigm changing.

Tony has brought new ideas, fresh thinking and novel approaches to study of the Dalradian sequences in both Scotland and Ireland. The complex geological – and especially metamorphic – history and the paucity of robust geochronology resulted in a wealth of opinion and speculation, sometimes dressed up as coherent theory. One grizzled veteran is known to have grouched about Prave’s “Olympian disregard of 40 years of research on the Dalradian”, but as his lecture demonstrated, it was merely that he pointed out that the evidence-base for previous thinking was weak.  Instead, Tony conceived fresh ideas from carefully selected samples of carbonate that might be suitable for carbon isotope chemostratigraphy – pace the adherents of metamorphic overprint – and in this he was spectacularly vindicated (Prave et al. 2009 J.Geol.Soc.Lond.). He has also had significant projects in Namibia and Death Valley, and was a central player with Simone Kasemann and others in applying novel isotopic approaches (including boron, calcium and magnesium isotope ratios) to some classic “Snowball Earth” sections in Namibia.

For the Palaeoproterozoic and the consequences of the Great Oxidation Event (oxygenation of the Earth’s surface) around 2.4Ga, Tony thorough work originated at the Loch Maree Group, became a key player in the multinational Fennoscandia Arctic Russia – Drilling Early Earth Project (FAR-DEEP). He was closely involved in successful funding initiatives to ICDP and NERC and was co-editor on three substantial volumes (each exceeding 500 pages) published by Springer in 2012/13. He followed this success with a similar-scale international drilling project on equivalent age sequences in Gabon.

The vote of thanks was given by Prof Tony Fallick FRSE, FRSA, FMinSoc (Clough Medal, 2013/14). He paid tribute to Tony’s perseverance in proving the doubters wrong on so many occasions and to ensuring that it’s the rocks that cannot lie.  It had been Tony’s ideas and drive that had brought success to the excellent teams both at University of St Andrews and also further afield, and in so doing he is a truly worthy recipient of the Clough Medal.  He asked for thank you from the audience present and online for the speaker and this was duly done by all.

If Fellows weren’t able to attend physically or virtually, a recording of the lecture is available here.