ZINCUM oxygenizatum, var. siliciferum. Silical Oxide of Zinc. From Sowerby, British Mineralogy

BGS image ID: P705088

ZINCUM oxygenizatum, var. siliciferum. Silical Oxide of Zinc. Plate no. 462. From: Sowerby, James. 1802-1817. British Mineralogy: Or Coloured figures intended to elucidate the mineralogy of Great Britain. Plate from vol: 5. page no.110. Location: Wanlockhead.

Bob McIntosh

Crushed samples of feldspar from Scotland

BGS image ID:  P527656

Crushed samples of feldspar from Scotland 

Potash feldspar was first in demand for the production of fertilizers, later during the Second World War deposits of potash feldspar were investigated for the production of ceramic ware. British Geological Survey Petrology Collection sample number MC 7436. To extract the potash numerous methods have been devised. They include 1. Simple wet grinding and electrolysis, this proved unsuccessful and only one-third of the alkali present could be extracted by this method. 2. Treatment with chemical solutions, either caustic alkalis or acids. 3. Volatization of potash-salts, this involved heating feldspar with gypsum and carbon with potassium sulphate being volatilized and then recovered. 4. A number of dry processes for the separation of potash existed e.g. separation of potash as hydroxide or carbonate; as sodium or potassium chlorides; extraction of sodium and potassium sulphate.

Bob McIntosh

British Association Section C. Dublin, 1908

Group photograph taken at the British Association for the Advancement of Science Meeting in Dublin, 1908. Gertrude Elles in centre, front row. Includes Tempest Anderson whose centenary it is this year.

Photograph from the Geologist Association Carreck Archive on deposit at the British Geological Survey.

Inscribed copy of Apollo 15 Preliminary Science Report

BGS image ID: P858063

The inscription on this copy of the Apollo 15 Preliminary Science Report reads "To Prof. Dunham. Best wishes from the crew of Apollo 15" followed by the signatures of the three crew members Dave Scott, Al Worden and Jim Irwin.

The Professor Dunham referred to is Kingsley Charles Dunham (1910-2001) who was the Professor of Geology at the University of Durham, 1950-1967 and Director of the Institute of Geological Sciences (now the British Geological Survey), 1967-1975.

Apollo 15 was launched on 26 July 1971, landed on the Moon on 30 July and splashed down back on Earth on 7 August. (Information from NASA mission pages). The report can be viewed here.

The British Geological Survey uses remote sensing techniques to study planetary geoscience. More can be read about that here.

Andrew L Morrison

Ben Peach field notebook sketch

BGS image: P612917

 Landscape sketch by Ben Peach, Victorian geologist. 

Can anyone say where in Scotland this is?

Full two page picture:

Bob McIntosh

Quarrying Caithness Flagstones, Stonegunn Quarry, c. 1910

BGS Image ID: P000022

Stonegunn Quarry, 4.8 km. south-east of Thurso. Caithness. Method of levering the flagstones. The horizontal bed of rock is first split using chisels hammered in with a sledgehammer. It is then levered off the bedding plane with a crowbar. A quarryman in dress of the time (c.1910) is clearly seen. The rock is Devonian (Old Red Sandstone) Caithness Flagstones. After splitting each flag is taken away by means of crane and is subjected to preliminary squaring.

Bob McIntosh

Cardioceras densiplicatum Boden. A fossil ammonite.

BGS image ID: P521013

A fossil specimen of Cardioceras densiplicatum Boden. A fossil ammonite. (Mollusca, Cephalopoda, Ammonoidea.) 300 yards due south of Clyneleish House, Clyneleish, Brora, Sutherland, Scotland.

The genus Cardioceras belongs to the Subfamily Cardioceratinae. This specimen is from Brora, an important and well known Jurassic outcrop in East Sutherland. It is Callovian in age, which is the lowest division of the Upper Jurassic, a period marked by a marine transgression. British Geological Survey Biostratigraphy Collection number GSE 10338. Green Spot. Cardioceras is an ammonite with a moderately compressed shell, with a large outer whorl that becomes smooth. It has a strong keel and well differentiated ribs. The Cardioceratinae comprises four important genera, Quenstedtoceras, Goliathiceras, Cardioceras and Amoeboceras, they succeed each other stratigraphically with little overlap. Figd. W.J. Arkell, Mon. Pal. Soc. Vol. XCVI, 1943, pt VIII, pl LIII, fig 7; Figd. N.W. Hylland, Regional Handbook, pl XII, fig. 8.

The 'GB3D Type Fossils Online project' website has been launched today. Large numbers of fossil images are available including 3D images!

Bob McIntosh

Trilobite. Acernaspis woodbarnensis Clarkson, Eldridge and Henry.

BGS image ID: P521140

A fossil specimen of Acernaspis woodbarnensis Clarkson, Eldridge and Henry. A fossil trilobite. (Arthropoda, Trilobita.) Near head of Bargany Burn, flowing west of house, 4 miles north-north-west of Barr, Ayrshire, Scotland. British Geological Survey Biostratigraphy Collection number GSE 5780. Paratype.

The exoskeleton of Acernaspis can clearly be seen. It has a central axis and two side regions called pleurae. It is separated from anterior to posterior into a cephalon or head-shield, a thorax and a pygidium or tail-shield. The central region of the cephalon is called the glabella. Note the compound convex eye (like a fly's) made up of a number of separate lenses. This would give them a wide field of view forwards, backwards, sideways and upwards. The trilobites are the earliest of the arthropods. First found in rocks of Lower Cambrian age, they died out in the Permian. Throughout their 350 million year history they maintained a remarkable constancy of form, though with many varieties. All trilobites were marine. Figd. Clarkson, Elderidge, & Henry, pal. 20,plate 19, figs. 12,13.

BGS are involved in the 'GB3D Type Fossils Online project' where a large number of fossil images will be made available on the web including 3D images!

Bob McIntosh

Sandstone from Ladycross Quarry, Slaley, Northumberland

BGS image ID: P524065

Rock specimen of sandstone from Ladycross Quarry, Slaley, Northumberland, England.

The sandstone is fine-grained with a speckled appearance due to the presence of abundant small dark grains of iron oxide. This specimen is of Carboniferous age. British Geological Survey Petrology Collection sample number MC6198. It contains parallel bedding laminae defined by thin dark surfaces of mica and iron oxide, and distinctive red-brown banding which represents iron oxidation fronts where iron oxides in the sandstone have undergone alteration and oxidation to form vivid colours. These fronts are generally parallel to bedding, but in some places they cut across it. Such thinly-bedded sandstones were historically used for paving, they could be easily split into regular thin sizes. Quarries such as Hailes in Edinburgh provided much paving in the past for that city. Nowadays with the old quarries now infilled, stones like this from Slaley are available for repair and restoration work. Size of specimen: 10x10x7 cm. Munsell colour code and colour N8 to 10YR7/2, variable from very light grey to pale orange.

BGS have over 4300 images from the National Building Stone Collection online in the Geoscenic image resource. They can be browsed either by rock type/place or place/rock type.

Geological Survey Department of Northern Rhodesia, c.1960

 

BGS image ID: P856634


This photograph of the staff of the Geological Survey Department of Northern Rhodesia was taken outside their headquarters in Lusaka in around 1960. Sitting in the middle of the front row is William Henry Reeve from whose collection this picture comes. Reeve (1906-?) was Mineral exploration geologist in Northern and Southern Rhodesia for the Anglo-American Corporation of South Africa (1930-1933), Assistant field geologist, Tanganyika (1935-1939), Assistant field geologist, Nyasaland (1943), Engineer-Geologist, Kenya (1943-1951), Chief Geologist, Northern Rhodesia (1951-1952) and Director of the Geological Survey Department, Northern Rhodesia (1952-1961).

A newspaper article which covered the opening of the HQ in 1956 reported that "Mr W H Reeve, Director of the Geological Survey, said the department now had, for the first time, many facilities of educational value, including an ore museum, a scientific and technical reference library, new laboratories and a drawing office."

Andrew L Morrison