SHERLOCK HOLMES INVESTIGATES

Geology of Connemara and Joyce Country

WHAT DO GEOLOGISTS DO?

FIELD GEOLOGISTS FUNCTION AS DETECTIVES AND COLLECT MINERALS, ROCKS, FOSSILS AND NOTE THE STRUCTURES AND ANY OTHER INTERESTING FACTS.
THEY MAP WHAT THEY SEE

THEY RETURN TO THE LAB FOR A MORE INTENSIVE ANALYSIS OF THE CLUES THEY HAVE FOUND, THEY HUNT FOR MEANING IN WHAT THEY SEE AND HAVE FOUND

HOW DO GEOLOGISTS THINK? THEY OBSERVE CURRENT EARTH EVENTS AND RECONSTRUCT PAST EVENTS ON THE BASIS OF THE OBSERVATIONS THEY HAVE MADE RULE 1 THEY DRAW THE LEAST ASTONISHING CONCLUSIONS FROM THE INFORMATION THEY HAVE GATHERED SHERLOCK HOLMES USED THIS METHODOLOGY TO SOLVE HIS CRIME SCENES!

RULE 2 GEOLOGICAL TIME IS VERY DIFFERENT TO THE AVERAGE PERSONS VIEW OF TIME THIS WAS ONE OF THE FIRST GEOLOGIC PUZZLES THAT HAD TO BE SOLVED.
HOW OLD IS GEOLOGY AS A SCIENCE? HOW OLD IS THE EARTH?

JAMES USSHER ARCHBISHOP OF DUBLIN.

PUBLISHED THE ANNALS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT 1650.

HE WORKED FOR 20 YEARS TO ESTABLISH THAT THE EARTH DATED BACK TO 4004 BC. HE PRIMARILY BASED HIS FINDINGS ON EVIDENCE FROM THE BIBLE BUT CONSULTED OVER 10,000 VOLUMES. HIS THEORY SUPPORTED CREATIONISTS BELIEF

CARBONIFEROUS

GEOLOGICAL TIME

GEOLOGY IS AN HISTORICAL SCIENCE ANCIENT GREECE ARISTOTLE OBSERVED FOSSILS CHINA 1180 SHEN KUA OBSERVED WHAT HE THOUGHT WAS BAMBOO MADE OF STONE. HE COMPARED GROWING BAMBOO AND CONCLUDED THAT THEY WERE VERY SIMILAR. HE FURTHERED OBSERVED THAT BAMBOO DID NOT GROW WHERE HE HAD FOUND THE STONE BAMBOO. WHAT DID HE CONCLUDE FROM THIS? 1638 1687 NICOLAUS STENO, TUSCANY DANISH ANATOMIST WAS GIVEN THE HEAD OF A GREAT WHITE SHARK TO DISSECT. HE NOTED THAT THE SHARKS TEETH WERE VERY SIMILAR TO STONE OBJECTS HE HAD FOUND IN OTHER PLACES

THE FOUNDER OF GEOLOGY AS A SCIENCE JAMES HUTTON PUBLISHED THEORY OF THE EARTH IN 1785 THEORY OF UNIFORMITY - ANY GEOLOGIC PROCESS HAPPENING TODAY MUST HAPPENED IN THE PAST E.G. GRANITE WAS ORIGINALLY THOUGHT TO BE A SEDIMENT. HE DEVELOPED THE THEORY THAT IT WAS VOLCANIC AND THAT IT WAS FLUID WHEN IT WAS INTRUDED INTO OTHER ROCKS

HE WAS ALSO RESPONSIBLE FOR THEORISING THAT GEOLOGICIC TIME WAS VAST

GEOLOGIC TIME

RESPONSIBLE FOR THEORY OF UNIFORMITY AND THE VASTNESS OF GEOLOGIC TIME

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF ESTABLISHING GEOLOGIC TIME WAS VITALLY SIGNIFICANT FOR SO MANY SCIENTISTS PARTICULARLY CHARLES DARWIN AS SPECIES EVOLUTION COULD ONLY OCCUR OVER A LONG PERIOD OF TIME. HOW EVER WHEN HUTTON PUBLISHED HIS BOOK THE DRAWINGS THAT WERE TO ILLUSTRATE IT WERE MISPLACED. THEY WERE FOUND IN 1968 ALMOST 200 YEARS LATER. IT LED TO A REASSEMENT OF HUTTONS WORK AND CONFIRMED HIM AS THE FATHER OF GEOLOGY

JAMES HUTTON FATHER OF GEOLOGY

CHARLES LYELL WAS ENTHRALLED BY HUTTONS THEORY OF UNIFORMITY PRINCIPLES OF GEOLOGY PUBLISHED IN THREE VOLUMES BETWEEN 1830 AND 1833 MAIN OBSERVATION - RISING SEA LEVELS AND RISING LAND LEVELS AT DIFFERENT TIMES IN THE EARTHS HISTORY

THESE MEN BEGAN TO PROPOSE MODELS OF HOW THE EARTH FORMED

ONCE WE KNOW WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR, WE HAVE A GREATER CHANCE OF RECOGNISING IT WHEN WE SEE IT FOR THE FIRST TIME HARRINGTON 1983

CHARLES DARWIN 1802 - 1882

HE BROUGHT WITH HIM ON THE VOYAGE OF HMS BEAGLE THE FIRST VOLUME OF CHARLES LYELLS PRINCIPLES OF GEOLOGY PUBLISHED IN 1830. HE HAD THE SECOND VOLUME SENT TO HIM IN MONTIVIDEO IN 1832 HE SAILED FOR 5 YEARS IN HMS BEAGLE WITHOUT PAY.
THE FACT THAT HUTTON AND LYELL HAD PROPOSED THAT GEOLOGIC TIME WAS VAST ALLOWED HIM TO CONTINUE WITH HIS RESEARCH THAT LED TO THE PUBLICATION OF ON THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES IN 1859

ALFRED WEGENER 1880 1930 PROPOSED THE THEORY OF CONTINENTAL DRIFT IN 1915 AND BEGAN THE SEARCH FOR EVIDENCE OF THIS. HE FOUND SOME EVIDENCE, MOSTLY SIMILAR ROCK TYPES AND FOSSILS ON THE EDGES OF THE CONTINENTS HE PROPOSED HAD ONCE BEEN JOINED TOGETHER. HOWEVER HE COULD NOT COME UP WITH EVIDENCE OF HOW THE CONTINENTS MOVED. HE DID HOWEVER SUGGEST SEA FLOOR SPREADING. WHEN HIS THEORIES WERE PUBLISHED IN 1925 IN THE US A CONFERENCE WAS HELD TO RIDICULE HIS IDEAS

PANGAEA (ALL LANDS/ALL EARTH)

MID ATLANTIC RIDGE

WHAT IS OCCURING IN ICELAND TODAY HAS OCCURRED IN THE PAST

LOUIS AGASSIZ 1807 - 1873

PUBLISHED ETUDES SUR LES GLACIER 1840

HOW DO ALL THESE DISCOVERIES AND THEORIES RELATE TO THE GEOLOGY OF CONNEMARA AND JOYCE COUNTRY

CONNEMARA MOUNTAINS THE MAMTURKS AND THE TWELVE BENS

THESE MOUNTAINS FORMED WITH CLOSING OF THE IAPETUS OCEAN AND EXHIBIT FOLDED STRUCTURES AND METAMORPHOSED ROCKS SUCH AS QUARTZITES, SHISTS, AND MARBLE THESE MOUNTAINS WERE PROBABLY AS HIGH AS THE HIMALAYAS AND HAVE BEEN ERODED DOWN TO THEIR CURRENT HEIGHT OVER 600 MILLION YEARS

LOUGH NAFOOEY IN ORDOVICIAN TIMES 500 MYA

EVIDENCE AT LOUGH NAFOOEY LAVA BOMB

TUFF BANDS VOLCANIC DUST

PILLOW LAVAS

SILURIAN PERIOD IN JOYCE COUNTRY 440 MYA

CARBONIFEROUS PERIOD 350 MYA AT CLONBUR AND CONG

FEATURES OF GLACIATION

TRILOBITE FOSSIL

JOYCE COUNTRY GEOFEST BANK HOLIDAY WEEKEND OCTOBER 2012

SOURCE FOR THIS LECTURE DANCE OF THE CONTINENTS JOHN W. HARRINGTON 1983 trishwalsh@eircom.net www.petersburg.ie

What is the relationship between rocks and minerals

A mineral (over 4000 types)is a naturally occurring crystalline substance with well defined chemical composition found in small concentrations A rock is usually composed of a number of different minerals found in large concentrations for example granite which is composed of feldspar, mica and quartz

HOW TO RECOGNISE ROCKS

Try to find a piece of rock that is not weathered Note the colour Are there any notable features are there layers (beds) Obvious minerals How does the rock break

OTHER THINGS TO OBSERVE Other things to consider are the hardness or softness of rocks e.g. MOHS SCALE 1-10 Special properties e.g. flint and chert The lustre They way mineral reflects light e.g. diamond The texture rough, smooth or silky Structure Hints as to the geological environment

Recognising rocks
Are the rocks? Sedimentary Are fossils present Fossil life or fossil environments Bedding Grain size Grain shape Acid test Igneous Glassy appearance Gas bubbles Flow structure Crystals

Recognising rocks
Metamorphic Features of deformation Flattening Folding Foliation Aligned minerals Garnet (s) present

Recognising Rocks
Density how heavy or light a rock feels Geological association e.g. chert with limestone and flint with chalk Rocks weather and erode at different rates Consider limestone v sandstone