Issue 75 Contents List: published April 2017
FIELD TRIPS TO THE GREAT OUTDOORS
Check the Events Booklet enclosed with every issue of the magazine and register early using our new online event booking service for Rockwatch trips you want to go on. You then get the chance to collect your own fossils, rocks and minerals and can start your own fabulous collection!
WHAT’S IN A POT?
Geologist John Mather shares his knowledge of clays and minerals to explain the types of clays that go into pottery making and how the choice of minerals then adds colour and shine to the finished pot.
BASEBALL’S MAGIC MUD
How many of you have ever seen a link between geology and baseball? Well, baseball fan Peter Doyle shares this secret link with readers of this issue of our magazine!
CHILE’S LAYER CAKE
The Torres del Paine National Park is a fabulous geological area near the southern most point of South America says Susan Hancock after her recent wild and exciting visit there. She tells us about the origin of the amazing layer cake mountains in the park.
BIRTH AND DEATH ON EARTH
An edited version of Rockwatch member Laura Cooper’s winning Rock Writer entry tells of a visit she made to the Natural History Museum in London. Laura shares with us the extraordinary impact the fossil Ichthyosaur she came to see had on her during her visit.
TREASURED CHESTS
During the 16th and 17th centuries, ‘cabinets of curiosities’ were the way that those interested in natural history, and who were wealthy enough to travel, displayed their specimens collected during their travels. Peter Doyle explains how ‘cabinets’ were originally small rooms where these collectibles were displayed, but how, over time, special wooden cabinets were made to house collections.
THE OCEAN FLOOR – THE YOUNGEST ROCKS ON EARTH
Join Susanna van Rose on a journey to the ocean floor to read about the birth of Marine Geology. The ocean floor is where Planet Earth is active and events are measured on a human timescale. Susanna explains how this (relatively) recent subsection of geology was discovered and shares some of the exciting secrets of events on ocean floors.
ROLE MODELS
Raising Horizons is a travelling exhibition organised by TrowelBlazers, a group of women Earth Science researchers, to mark the roles of women in the Earth Sciences over the past two centuries. This fascinating photographic exhibition was recently on view at the Geological Society in London. Future showings can be checked at raisinghorizons.co.uk/visit
