Lecture: Making and Breaking Mountains

Speaker: Dr. Tom Argles, Open University

Entry Fee

Members: Free

Visitors: £5.00

Date and Time

19:30 -

Location

Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution, 16-18 Queen Square, Bath BA1 2HN


Lecture Description

What do you need to make a mountain? Come to that, what exactly is a mountain? How do we define some lumps in the landscape as hills, and others as mountains? How long do they last? Answers to the questions above, some of them potentially correct, will be peppered through this richly illustrated talk. Starting from a very general, possibly even philosophical perspective of mountains, we will wend our way through the foothills of understanding how and why different mountains form, looking at some critical clues in the rocks. Trekking on into high Himalayan valleys, we’ll look at the role of rivers and glaciers in crafting mountain landscapes, before ascending into the rarefied air and turbulent weather of the high peaks. Having reached that vantage point, we can gaze down with a different perspective on how mountains might be broken down. Along the way, I’ll be enlisting the help of (among others) Douglas Adams, Hugh Grant, and Sir Francis Younghusband to help enlighten (or just lighten) the discussion.

Dr Tom Argles is a lecturer at the Open University, who has worked on various mountain belts in the last two decades: southern Spain, California, South Australia, the European Alps and the Himalaya. Currently enjoying a break in research funding, he is trying to make sense of all the data he collected during field seasons in Pakistan, India, Bhutan and Tibet.


Attending via Zoom

This is a hybrid meeting: you can attend in person or join online via Zoom.

Bath Geological Society Members: Free of charge. Joining instructions and the Zoom link are sent to members by email prior to the lecture.

Visitors & Non-Members: (including members of the Geologists' Association and affiliated societies) Please book via Eventbrite to receive Zoom access (see the Entry Fee details above).

How to join: Click the Zoom link provided in your email or Eventbrite confirmation. You can join using the Zoom desktop or mobile app, or directly via your web browser without installing any software. The virtual waiting room opens approximately 15 minutes before the scheduled start time, and attendees will be admitted before the talk commences.

For any queries about joining online, please contact [email protected].



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