Geologists' Association

23/09/2026

We celebrated another Curry Fund success story at the weekend with the unveiling of a commemorative plaque by Peaches Golding OBE, Lord Lieutenant of Bristol to acknowledge the discovery in 1834 of one of the first dinosaurs to be named: Thecodontosaurus. Professor Mike Benton OBE of Bristol University was also present to say a few words about this important geological discovery.

The Geologists' Association Curry Fund were pleased to enable this project, which was championed by Ashley Coates and supported by the Clifton & Hotwells Improvement Society.

A full account has been written by Ashley and is available to read online: https://naturalhistorymuseum.substack.com/p/paleo-exploits-a-plaque-for-the-bristol

23/09/2026

We are pleased to announce that Prof. Katherine Joy from the University of Manchester will deliver one of the headline talks at the Festival of Geology this year - Back to the Moon: how and why we explore our closest planetary neighbour?

The Moon has been the subject of great fascination for thousands of years, but it wasn't until the 1950s and 1960s, when we sent orbiting and landing spacecraft to explore its surface, that we made giant leaps forward to understand its origin and geological evolution. These early exploration endeavours laid the way for the series of six crewed Apollo and three robotic Luna missions, which returned ~382 kg of rocks and soils back to Earth. Our knowledge is still growing with state-of-the-art cameras capturing photographs of geological features down to only a few metres in size, and new robotic missions from China, India and commercial companies landing (with varying degrees of success!) on the lunar surface. We are about to send humans back to the Moon with the Artemis missions, and the next decade will be an incredibly exciting time in the history of exploration of our nearest planetary neighbour.

Katherine is a Professor of Lunar and Planetary Sciences at the University of Manchester, UK. She obtained her PhD in 2007 at UCL (UK), before having post-doc positions at Birkbeck College (UK) and LPI/NASA JSC (USA). She studies different types of lunar samples to understand how the Moon has geologically evolved through time and how it is a recorder of Solar System processes. She is a member of the NASA Artemis Geology Team, and is involved in science teams for the ESA PROSPECT and DIMPLE lunar experiments.

Plans for the full Festival programme are coming together nicely and will be available via our website in due course: https://geologistsassociation.org.uk/festival/

22/09/2026

Join us at The Geological Society Burlington House on Friday, 2nd October for our next free evening talk: Thirty years of discovery at the UK's largest dinosaur track site in North Oxfordshire by Professor Kirsty Edgar, University of Birmingham.

Non-members are welcome free of charge. The talk commences at 18.00 GMT and refreshments will be served beforehand in the Lower Library from 17.30 GMT and also afterwards.

The talk will also be broadcast simultaneously online via Zoom. To attend the meeting via Zoom, members and non-members should register in advance. Members will receive a link for registration by email. Non-members should telephone 020 7434 9298 or email the Secretary ([email protected]) for details.

09/09/2026

The deadline is fast approaching for booking your place at our annual conference, taking place in York from Friday 25th - Sunday 27th September 2026.

🚨Deadline for Ice-breaker, Conference and Conference Dinner is tomorrow (Thursday 10th September)
🚨Deadline for Field Trips - Friday 18th September

We're looking forward to a long weekend focusing on Yorkshire Geology and Landscape in conjunction with Yorkshire Geological Society and Yorkshire Philosophical Society.
⚒ Friday evening: Ice-breaker at the Yorkshire Museum*
⚒ Saturday morning/afternoon: Conference in the historic Tempest Anderson Hall
⚒ Saturday evening: Conference dinner, Novotel, York*
⚒ Sunday: Choice of 4 field trips, with duplicate sessions added due to demand!
Each element is bookable separately for full flexibility.

Book online via: https://geologistsassociation.org.uk/conferences/
Or email: [email protected]

07/09/2026

There's still time to register for our Annual Conference, taking place in York from Friday 25th - Sunday 27th September 2026.

We're looking forward to a long weekend focusing on Yorkshire Geology and Landscape in conjunction with Yorkshire Geological Society and Yorkshire Philosophical Society.

⚒ Friday evening: Ice-breaker at the Yorkshire Museum*
⚒ Saturday morning/afternoon: Conference in the historic Tempest Anderson Hall
⚒ Saturday evening: Conference dinner, Novotel, York*
⚒ Sunday: Choice of 4 field trips

Each element is bookable separately for full flexibility.

*The deadline for booking the Ice-breaker and Conference Dinner is this coming Thursday, 10th September*

Book online via: https://geologistsassociation.org.uk/conferences/
Or email: [email protected]

04/09/2026

The Geologists' Association currently has a vacancy for the voluntary role of Magazine Editor.

The GA Magazine is a quarterly, full colour publication available free to all members. It covers a range of reports, up-to-date news and comment of particular interest to our members.

If you would like to know more about the role or apply for the position please email [email protected]

04/09/2026

A balanced opinion from Phil Davidson at Charmouth Heritage Coast Centre

Letters: Museums have countless examples of the common fossils from these Lower Jurassic rocks, says the Charmouth Heritage Coast Centre’s Phil Davidson

01/09/2026

Welcome to September with a dramatic image from the 2026 Geologists' Association calendar of the view from the Jungfrau towards the Aletsch Glacier in Switzerland taken by Graham Hickman.

The Aletsch Glacier is the largest glacier in the Alps, but, like most other glaciers, it is retreating due to Global Warming. The photograph shows the medial moraines which form where lateral moraines meet at the confluence of two valley glaciers.

28/08/2026

More information, including access to the corresponding scientific paper, on the recent research by BGS into The Wash 'supervolcano'.

Evidence of ancient supervolcano changes our understanding of England’s geological past 🌋

The origin of the Kinnekulle tephra, a huge volcanic ash layer spread across Norway, Sweden, the Baltic region, Belarus and Poland, has long been a mystery but new evidence may have uncovered the source of the ash.

Scientists at BGS and the University of Oslo have studied tiny crystals, smaller than the diameter of a human hair, extracted from boreholes 65 km apart in Lincolnshire and Norfolk. The analysis uncovered evidence of a 454 million year old supervolcano, now concealed beneath The Wash on the east coast of England.

The near‑identical ages suggest that ash from the eruption plume in what is now eastern England was blown across the Tornquist Sea, which separated England and Scandinavia, and settled on the sea floor of ancient Scandinavia. Further support for this hypothesis is provided by chemical analysis of apatite crystals in both the proposed source and the tephra.

Find out more about this research and access the associated paper on our website 👇

https://www.bgs.ac.uk/news/secrets-of-an-ancient-supervolcano-uncovered-that-change-our-understanding-of-englands-geological-past/