An island apart

by Lindsey Atkinson

Having recently had the good fortune to visit Barbados and some of the Windward Islands in the Lesser Antilles I was struck by the difference between Barbados and the other islands and curious to find out why.  Now you’ll have to excuse me as I am not a geologist so I am wandering into new territory with this blog...

The Windward Islands are the more southerly islands of the Lesser Antilles, including  Martinique, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, and Grenada.  They lie near the eastern edge of the Caribbean tectonic plate and are part of the Lesser Antilles volcanic arc.  Being largely volcanic in origin the larger islands are mountainous with a rich volcanic soil and they still have active volcanoes.  Seismic activity in the area is monitored by the University of the West Indies Seismic Research Centre.  

Sulphur springs, La Soufrière, St Lucia

Sulphur springs in La Soufrière, give away St Lucia’s volcanic origins while its namesake, La Soufrière (1234m) on St Vincent, last erupted in 1979 replacing the lake that used to lie in the crater with a lava dome.



Inside the crater, La Soufrière, St Vincent

Barbados stands apart from the other islands being the most easterly of the Caribbean islands, 160km east of St Lucia.  It also differs in being a relatively low lying island, with the highest point at Mount Hillaby (340m), and it differs in origin from its nearest neighbours.


Former coral colonies, Little Bay



Sedimentary layers, Little Bay

Unlike the Windward Islands, Barbados was not formed by volcanic action and it lies at the very edge of the Caribbean tectonic plate.  As the South American plate was subducted under the Caribbean plate sediment was scraped off the South American plate, including deposits of pelagic organisms, forming an accretionary prism.  These layers were subsequently covered by a coral cap.  Both former coral colonies and sedimentary layers  can be seen exposed on the east coast, as here at Little Bay (left).

The movement of the plates resulted in uplifting of these deposits until eventually the island was exposed above sea level.  This happened in stages resulting in ridges which are visible across the island.

Harrison Caves

Little Bay

The island is therefore predominantly limestone, with little surface water as the water filters through the rock.  Beneath the surface are caves such as Harrison Caves with stalactites and stalagmites while on the surface there are dry gullies.  Some of these gullies may have formed when limestone cracked during uplifting or, as in the case of Welchman Hall Gully, where a cave roof has collapsed.  


Erosion has also done its work as the pounding Atlantic waves on the east coast have resulted in the dramatic cliffs of Little Bay and the limestone ‘mushroom’ rocks  of Cattlewash Beach. 

'Mushroom' rock on Cattlewash Beach

And of course erosion of the coral rocks has created the beautiful sandy beaches so beloved of tourists!

Crane Beach, South Coast



Bibliography:

Barbados National Trust   http://barbadosnationaltrust.org 

Donovan SK and Harper DAT (2005) The geology of Barbados: a field guide.

Caribbean Journal of Earth Science 38: 21-33.

Radtke U and Schellmann G (2006) Uplift History along the Clermont Nose Traverse on the West Coast of Barbados during the Last 500,000 Years - Implications for Paleo-Sea Level Reconstructions. Journal of Coastal Research 22: 350-356

Saunders et al. (1984) Stratigraphy of the Late Middle Eocene to Early Oligocene in the Bath Cliff Section, Barbados, West Indies.  Micropaleontology 30: 390-425

The Soufrière Foundation http://www.soufrierefoundation.org/about-soufriere/geology

University of the West Indies Seismic Research Centre http://www.uwiseismic.com/Default.aspx

WOW Week of Women in GEES: Lynne Frostick

by Rebecca Williams

Today, our WOW blog features Lynne Frostick, chartered geologist and Professor of Physical Geography here in GEES at Hull. Lynne first studied at the University of Leicester for a BSc Geology degree, before moving to the University of East Anglia to complete her PhD on “Sediment Studies in the Deben Estuary, Suffolk, England”. This began an esteemed career in Sedimentology which saw Lynne take a Senior Lecturer role at Royal Holloway, University of London and the University of Reading before joining the University of Hull in 1996.

Lynne’s research focuses on two of the major environmental problems faced today: water and waste. Sedimentology has been a core part of this research, particularly sediment and flow dynamics in rivers and estuaries. In this sense, Lynne is perfectly placed at Hull! Lynne also spent a considerable time in Africa investigating the relationship between river development and tectonics. Lynne has always combined field work and modelling, which culminated in the development of the unique Total Environment Simulator – a large physical modelling flume housed in The DEEP aquarium on the banks of the Humber Estuary. This world-class facility is a career highlight for Lynne. “The work I am most proud of is always the most recent. I am very proud of the Deep flume and leading work on ecohydraulics, particularly the Users Guide to Ecohydraulic Modelling and Experimentation”. Over the last few years, Lynne has also used her expertise to address issues surrounding waste, working in research fields as far reaching as biology, chemistry, microchip technology, regulation and policy.

Lynne and Stuart McLelland setting up an experiment at the TES, The Deep (Photo: http://discoverarmfield.com/en)

Lynne’s work has always had strong links with industry and policy. Whilst at Hull, she began a Centre for Waste and Pollution Research at the University which then evolved into the Environmental Technologies Centre for Industrial Collaboration. Lynne’s research is of particular importance to locations such as Hull, as it often strived to understand flooding and coastal management.  She was a leading member of the 2007 independent Hull Flood Review Group and was a member of the North East Regional Environmental Protection Advisory Committee. This has led to Lynne’s recent appointment (16th March 2015 for three years) to the Board of the Environment Agency as lead member for flood and coastal risk management.

This latest appointment is added to a long list of prestigious positions and awards which have honoured Lynne’s achievements. Lynne was the Pro Vice Chancellor for research at Hull (1999-2004), she followed in the footsteps of Darwin to hold the post of the Honorary Secretary to the Geological Society in 1988 (the first woman to hold this role) and then later in 2008 she became the society’s President. Lynne was the 2^nd woman to hold this role, and the last to date. At the same time, Lynne became the chair for the British Society for Geomorphology. In 2005, the Royal Geographical Society awarded her with the Cuthbert Peek Award “for advancing the application of physical modelling to environmental problems”. Most recently, in July 2014, Royal Holloway awarded Lynne with an Honorary Doctorate for services and leadership in British Geology.

Lynne’s biggest challenge in her career was “definitely juggling family and career. I had my kids very late- between ages 40 and 44- and having 3 boys under 4 years and a full time academic career was a real challenge! It is a good job I have a supportive husband”. A supportive husband and a good mentor it seems – her advice to (young) GEES women is to “have confidence in yourself and your abilities” but also to get a good mentor. “Mine was Janet Watson and she was terrific”. Lynne is also a leading voice for women in science careers. She is a member of the Government’s Science for Careers Group, was the chair for the Government’s Expert Group for Women in STEM, and has been a trustee of The Daphne Jackson Trust (a scheme to help STEM women who’ve taken a career break to raise a family). In 2009 she was a recipient of UKRC Outstanding Women of Achievement Award for SET Leadership and Inspiration to Others. Now Professor Emerita, Lynne continues to be an active board member and continuing to do research, and can often be found giving talks about why we need women scientists and engineers.

International Women's Day (8 March) is a global day celebrating the economic, political and social achievements of women past, present and future. International Women's Day celebrates women's success, and reminds of inequities still to be redressed. The origins of IWD can be traced to the struggle for women to gain the vote in European countries about a century ago. The first International Women's Day event was run in 1911

Colorado Rocks! Attending a research meeting on sedimentary systems

By Lucy Clarke (@DrLucyClarke)

  

Continuing the blog series looking at what we have been getting up to this summer...

Last week I was lucky enough to be in the US for a research conference and I'm sharing my experiences of this with you in this blog post. This was a specialist meeting, with about 50 people attending, focusing on the “Autogenic Dynamics of Sedimentary Systems” – so basically the importance of internal processes (i.e autogenic processes) in driving change in natural systems and how this is recorded in the 'rock record'.

You may be asking yourself... why is it important to understand what's recorded in the rock record? Well, geologists use this information to reconstruct long term environmental change. Layers of material are laid down through time and over lengthy time periods these form the rocks that we see all around us (i.e. a sedimentary system). By examining the grain size, composition and structures in these rocks it can tell us information about the type of processes that formed them and what the climate was like at the time using a technique called stratigraphy. So it's important to know not only how things like climate and tectonics can influence the sediment build up and preservation as it turns to rock, but also what effect other internal processes can have on this so that a correct interpretation can be made.

Stratigraphic profile from Colorado National Monument showing a fluvial section with thick layers of floodplain with thinner, coarser bands of channel material in between

The aim of the meeting was to bring together an interdisciplinary group of researchers from ecology, geochemistry, geography, geology, and palaeontology to look at the research advances that have been made in different sedimentary systems to evaluate what, if any, ‘autogenic’ signals can be determined. Presentations covered a range of topics and included field, numerical modelling and experimental approaches that were being used to try and tackle this problem.

I presented the research that I introduced in my blog on 28 August 2013: What drives change on alluvial fans? I talked about how my experiments showed that internal processes within these landforms caused observable changes in the flow patterns. 

The sessions were really interesting and thought provoking. It was designed to be a discussion rather than just a one-way presentation of information from the speakers, consequently we had lots of time for asking questions supplemented by break out groups to follow up on ideas and think about the 'bigger picture'. I found this particularly useful as it helped me to generate new ideas as to how to develop my own research, as well as starting to think about the wider implications of my research. Additionally having the opportunity to talk to people from other related, but slightly different disciplines, has certainly broadened my perspectives.

Looking over the Colorado River to the city of Grand Junction (to the left) and the Grand Junction Main Street (to the right)

The meeting was held in the city of Grand Junction - situated in central Colorado, the town sits on the Colorado River with lots of wineries and agricultural land surrounding it. Grand Junction is a small traditional mid-West town with a population of about 60,000 that boasts a university and a quaint main street that has a night market every Thursday evening during the summer. Temperatures were around 30°C every day and despite a couple of thunderstorms at the start of my trip the weather was great. Close to the town is the Colorado National Monument, this is a national park about 85 km² in size, containing stunning mesas and canyons. As part of the conference we were treated to a field day to experience the park's impressive geologic formations and see if we could explore, and apply, some of the conference themes in a field setting.

Colorado National Monument: looking over the national park (left) and geologists looking at a rock section showing preserved sand dunes (right)

I thoroughly enjoyed my week in Colorado. I got to explore a new area but most of all I made new connections for my research with the potential for new collaborations in the future. I learned about lots of current research from different, but related, areas that I hadn’t previously been aware of, which has rejuvenated my own research in this area - so all round it was a successful trip!

Enjoying the sunshine on the field day in Colorado National Monument

GEES flock to Leeds...

10^th International Conference on Fluvial Sedimentology

By Lucy Clarke (@DrLucyClarke)

One of the most important elements of academic work is actually telling others what you are doing and what you have found out, which is why we created this blog.  In addition we need to get our research out to the wider academic community in more conventional ways, either through the publication of articles or attendance at conferences. The latter are particularly useful as you can present complete pieces of work or work in progress that you want to discuss. Conferences are not a one way process in which you just tell others what you are doing, they allow you to sound board ideas, receive input from others in the same field and thus refine your ideas, as well have having the opportunity to find out what other researchers are up to.

I recently attended the 10^th International Conference on Fluvial Sedimentology (ICFS10), held at the University of Leeds in the UK from the 14-19^th July 2013. The conference attracts a wide range of delegates from across geography, geomorphology, geology and the petroleum industry and is interested in the processes and response of modern river systems as well as relict rivers that are preserved in the rock record. Session themes ranged from ancient fluvial systems, alluvial architecture and stratigraphy (how are river deposits preserved in the rock record), processes and challenges for resource extraction, to rivers in different environments (glacio-fluvial, fluvial-tidal and tropical and monsoonal systems), how we model river systems and flash flooding, sediment transport, and vegetation and eco-engineering on modern rivers - the last one being the session that I presented in. About 350 people attended over the 5 days, there were 140 oral presentations run over 2 parallel sessions and 127 posters summarising people’s research.  In addition, there were 5 keynote speakers; these are world leaders in their field that are invited by the conference organisers to come and present extended talks on what they see as key issues in their areas. 

Conference hall at the University of Leeds with delegates and poster displays over coffee break.    

My presentation at ICFS10 (photo courtesy of Leiping Ye)

The first keynote was Bill Deitrich from the University of California, Berkeley in the USA, an eminent geomorphologist and a personal academic hero of mine! Bill discussed the unknowns as he sees it in modern fluvial systems and the questions he feels that remain unanswered. I was thrilled to see that he highlighted alluvial fans as an important landform to be working on, as this is my specialism. These landforms are found on Mars! Therefore having a better understanding of the mechanisms that form these and knowing the amount of water needed to build fans on Earth can be used to approximate what’s happening on Mars.

Dave Moreton from Imperial Oil Resources in Canada launched the 2^nd day of the conference with his keynote. The petroleum industry rely on geologists to understand the way that rivers and other landforms are preserved in the rocks; cycles of erosion and deposition mean that landscapes from thousands to millions of years ago are buried in the land beneath us and it’s within these that oil deposits can be located. Focusing on the McMurray Formation in Canada he explained about how geologists have been using new technology to map these features to try and ensure that the oil deposits can be extracted with maximum efficiency and minimal costs.

River features preserved in the rock record at the McMurray Sands Formation in Canada. The left hand image shows preserved scrollbars – the migration of the river around a bend (taken from Fustic et al, 2008).

Martin Gibling from Dalhousie University in Canada took us back in time to the Paleozoic rivers formed 540 to 240 million years ago, before vegetation existed. The Paleozoic ‘greening’ of the Earth had a profound impact on the Earth’s environment and the way that rivers evolve. Vegetation and their root systems impact the stability of rivers and influence the channel form. Martin showed how the rise of vascular plants then shrubs and finally tall trees irreversibly changed the shape and form of the rivers from braided (multiple channels with lots of islands) to the development of meandering (a single sinuous river channel) systems.

Plants and fluvial systems in ancient and modern systems (taken from Gibling and Davies, 2012).

James Syvitski from the University of Colorado, Boulder in the USA creates numerical models that simulate climate, oceanic and hydrological responses both for present day situations and into the future. He discussed the new WBMsed model, which provides the flow and suspended sediment concentrations for rivers across the Earth. The take home message for me was the impact that human modification and especially dam building since the start of the twentieth century has had on the World’s rivers. The model includes the ability to remove ‘anthropogenic’ structures and see how rivers would behave in their natural state, and it showed have dramatically we have altered these systems.

The final keynote was delivered by Doug Jerolmack from the University of Pennsylvania in the USA. Doug reduced the scale of interest right down from landscapes to individual grains. He discussed the importance of understanding how single grains interact in river systems and how this in turn influences the way that sediment is transported and therefore the bedforms and character of the river itself.

Just from this taster you can see what a varied set of subjects were discussed. I think that the success of a conference can be measured on what you take away from it, so reflecting on my attendance at the ICFS10 conference what did I get from it?  I listened to lots of interesting talks in different areas of my discipline that have made me think about the wider context of what I am doing. I had the opportunity to present my current research and subsequently discuss it with the key people in my field  - which was invaluable! I have a potential new collaborator, as well as receiving a dataset to work on from a previous colleague after chatting to them over coffee break. I discovered a new link for my research and will be writing a joint paper on this next year, and on top of all that I really enjoyed my week at ICFS10 – so I would definitely say that my attendance at the conference was worthwhile!


Presentation references:
LE Clarke, SJ McLelland and T Coulthard. 2013. The impact of vegetation seeding on fan dynamics. Presentation at the 10th International Conference on Fluvial Sedimentology: University of Leeds, 14-19 July 2013.

WE Dietrich. 2013. Fans, meanders and floodplains: familiar features, still surprising unknowns. Keynote presentation at the 10th International Conference on Fluvial Sedimentology: University of Leeds, 14-19 July 2013.

MR Gibling and NS Davies. 2013. Evolving Paleozoic rivers: the co-evolution of landforms, plants and animals. Keynote presentation at the 10th International Conference on Fluvial Sedimentology: University of Leeds, 14-19 July 2013.

D Jerolmack. 2013. Granularity and noise in geomorphology. Keynote presentation at the 10th International Conference on Fluvial Sedimentology: University of Leeds, 14-19 July 2013.

D Moreton. 2013. Characterising alluvial architecture of the McMurray Formation, Alberta, Canada: challenges for bitumen recovery. Keynote presentation at the 10th International Conference on Fluvial Sedimentology: University of Leeds, 14-19 July 2013.

JPM Syvitski and S Cohen. 2013. Simulating the modern discharge of water and sediment: a global approach. Keynote presentation at the 10th International Conference on Fluvial Sedimentology: University of Leeds, 14-19 July 2013.

Blog references:

M Fustic, L Skulski, W Hanson, D Vanhooren, P Bessette, D Hinks, L Bellman and D Leckie. 2008. Geological mapping and reservoir characterization of oil sands reservoir by integrating 3D seismic, dipmeter, core descriptions and analogs in the McMurray formation, NE Alberta. AAPG Hedberg Conference, Heavy Oil and Bitumen in Forland Basins – From Processes to Products: Search and Dicovery Article 40281.

MR Gibling and NS Davies. 2012. Palaeozoic landscapes shaped by plant evolution. Nature Geoscience, 5, p 99-105.