Lecture: The Geology of Antarctica: A Personal Journey
Speaker:
Date and Time
19:30 -
Location
Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution, 16-18 Queen Square, Bath BA1 2HN
Lecture Description
This talk presents an overview of the geology of Antarctica based on James’ personal experiences and observations gained during thirty-eight visits to the continent as a geology guide on expedition cruise ships over a period of ten years. The talk will take you through the geological evolution of Antarctica, covering topics from vulcanology to palaeontology and describing sites from the Antarctic Peninsula to the less-visited Ross Sea. The talk is illustrated with many of James’ own photos and personal anecdotes from this exciting chapter of his life.
About the Speaker
James’s background is in geology and travel. Having gained a BSc degree in Geology from the University of Bristol, and an MSc in Oceanography from the University of Southampton, James worked as a television researcher, including work on the original BBC Blue Planet series. After this, he took the opportunity to join an expedition cruise ship to the Antarctic as a videographer. After a few voyages, he became the ship’s geologist, giving lectures to passengers on geology and guiding them on shore visits during the cruises. Over the next decade, James was fortunate enough to visit not only Antarctica another thirty plus times, but also worked on many expedition cruises to the Arctic, reaching the North Pole on no less than six separate occasions! Through personal travel and other expedition guiding work, he had managed to visit 100 different countries by the time he reached thirty. It was therefore a logical step to combine his passions for geology and travel – hence James created GeoWorld Travel. The vision was to offer multi-day trips to various destinations around the world to visit and enjoy the world’s best geological sites. The company has now been active for over ten years and it goes from strength to strength, offering tours in fifteen different countries and with the most popular tours booked up as much as eighteen months in advance. James researches and devises the itineraries, and guides the majority of trips himself. He lives in Gilwern, near Abergavenny.
James in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, in East Antarctica, with the Canada Glacier in the background