- Cave and Karst Studies, Karst Geomorphology, Anthropocene, Quaternary Geology, Evaporites, Gypsum caves, and 28 moreHistory of salt, Archaeology of salt, Salt Tectonics, Natural Building Stone, Medieval Archaeology Gypsum, Sedimentology, Hydrogeology, Tufa, Travertines, Karst Sediments, Environmental Engineering, Gypsum, Gypsum Mortars, Subsidence, Filled (man-Made) Ground, Material flows, Late Ordovician glaciation, Ordovician Stratigraphy, Gypsum Karst, Salt Karst, Hydrochemistry, Hydrogeolology, Environmental Geology, Hydrogeology, Hydrochemistry, Hydrochemistry, Anthropocene studies, Geohazards, Karst hydrogeology, Prehistoric salt production, and Geotechnical Problems in Limestone Terrain with Emphasis on Cavities Sinkholes(History of salt, Archaeology of salt, Salt Tectonics, Natural Building Stone, Medieval Archaeology Gypsum, Sedimentology, Hydrogeology, Tufa, Travertines, Karst Sediments, Environmental Engineering, Gypsum, Gypsum Mortars, Subsidence, Filled (man-Made) Ground, Material flows, Late Ordovician glaciation, Ordovician Stratigraphy, Gypsum Karst, Salt Karst, Hydrochemistry, Hydrogeolology, Environmental Geology, Hydrogeology, Hydrochemistry, Hydrochemistry, Anthropocene studies, Geohazards, Karst hydrogeology, Prehistoric salt production, and Geotechnical Problems in Limestone Terrain with Emphasis on Cavities Sinkholes)edit
- Most of my current work is on gypsum and salt karst, especially the geohazards associated with them. I am also workin... moreMost of my current work is on gypsum and salt karst, especially the geohazards associated with them. I am also working on anthropocene material flows plus Yorkshire glacial geology and Permian (Zechstein Group) stratigraphy. My previous work for my PhD was on Ordovician and Silurian (plus a bit of Devonian) stratigraphy in Portugal. Later work for the BGS has been on the stratigraphy, sedimentology and structure of the early Ordovician Skiddaw Group in the English Lake District.(Most of my current work is on gypsum and salt karst, especially the geohazards associated with them. I am also working on anthropocene material flows plus Yorkshire glacial geology and Permian (Zechstein Group) stratigraphy. My previous work for my PhD was on Ordovician and Silurian (plus a bit of Devonian) stratigraphy in Portugal. Later work for the BGS has been on the stratigraphy, sedimentology and structure of the early Ordovician Skiddaw Group in the English Lake District.)edit
Research Interests:
Salt mining along with natural and human-induced salt dissolution affects the ground over Permian and Triassic strata in the UK. In England, subsidence caused by salt mining, brine extraction and natural dissolution is known to have... more
Salt mining along with natural and human-induced salt dissolution affects the ground over Permian and Triassic strata in the UK. In England, subsidence caused by salt mining, brine extraction and natural dissolution is known to have occurred in parts of Cheshire (including Northwich, Nantwich, Middlewich), Stafford, Blackpool, Preesall, Droitwich and Teeside/Middlesbrough; it also occurs around Carrickfergus in Northern Ireland. Subsidence ranges from rapid and catastrophic failure to gentle sagging of the ground, both forms being problematical for development, drainage and the installation of assets and infrastructure such as ground source heat pumps. This paper reviews the areas affected by salt subsidence and details the mitigation measures that have been used; the implications for planning in such areas are also considered.
Research Interests:
A brief synopsis of a paper published in Transactions of the Thoroton Society of Nottinghamshire, describing the evidence for building materials found during test pit excavations in Bingham, Nottinghamshire
Abstract: This guide is for a one-day field excursion to examine gypsum dissolution geohazards at Ripon in North Yorkshire. Gypsum is a highly soluble rock and under suitable groundwater flow conditions it can dissolve forming caves and... more
Abstract: This guide is for a one-day field excursion to examine gypsum dissolution geohazards at Ripon in North Yorkshire. Gypsum is a highly soluble rock and under suitable groundwater flow conditions it can dissolve forming caves and karstic features including collapse and suffosion dolines. These have the capability of causing subsidence damage of the type that affects much of the Ripon area. The guide details the processes involved, the localities visited and some of the remedial measures undertaken. Résumé: Ce guide concerne l'excursion d'une journée ayant pour but d'étudier les géo-aléas liés à la dissolution du gypse à Ripon dans la région du North Yorkshire. Le gypse est une roche hautement soluble et, dans des conditions adéquates d'écoulement de l'eau souterraine, pouvant se dissoudre et engendrer des grottes et formes karstiques telles qu'effondrements et dolines de suffosion. Celles-ci peuvent causer des dégâts de subsidence du type de ceux...
Research Interests:
This paper was presented at the PLACE (People, Landscape & Cultural Environment Education and Research Centre) conference 3rd October 2015. It describes some of the major contributions made to the understanding of Yorkshire geology by... more
This paper was presented at the PLACE (People, Landscape & Cultural Environment Education and Research Centre) conference 3rd October 2015. It describes some of the major contributions made to the understanding of Yorkshire geology by geologists of the British Geological Survey from the early directors through to the end of the 20th Century. It briefly describes the founding work of William Smith in Yorkshire and the early years of the Geological Survey under Sir Henry De La Beche then Sir Roderick Impey Murchison. The outstanding work of Murchison's Yorkshire "boys" is noted including details of the contributions made by A H Green, J R Dakyns, R H Tiddeman, J C Ward, C E Fox-Strangways and G. Barrow. These outstanding geologists laid the foundations for our understanding of the Yorkshire coalfield, the Pennine sedimentary blocks and basins, the structures and hydrogeology of the Carboniferous rocks, the Yorkshire Jurassic and glacial deposits. The years of the 2nd Wor...
Research Interests:
Significance Gypsum alabaster in medieval artwork equaled or even surpassed the importance of marble for religious sculptures and effigies. Based on isotope fingerprints, a large corpus of European alabaster sculptures are linked to... more
Significance Gypsum alabaster in medieval artwork equaled or even surpassed the importance of marble for religious sculptures and effigies. Based on isotope fingerprints, a large corpus of European alabaster sculptures are linked to historical quarries and trade in the Middle Ages and Renaissance period. We demonstrate that English alabaster export was competed on the continent by the Spanish and by a particularly long-lived (>500 y) French Alpine trade. Our study reveals historical trade routes and transport, the diversity of supply of medieval artists and workshops, as well as the presence and provenance of restoration materials.
Research Interests:
The transformation of the Earth’s land surface by mineral extraction and construction is on a scale greater than natural erosive terrestrial geological processes. Mineral extraction statistics can be used as a proxy to measure the size of... more
The transformation of the Earth’s land surface by mineral extraction and construction is on a scale greater than natural erosive terrestrial geological processes. Mineral extraction statistics can be used as a proxy to measure the size of the total anthropogenic global sediment flux related to mineral extraction and construction. It is demonstrated that the annual direct anthropogenic contribution to the global production of sediment in 2015 was conservatively some 316 Gt (150 km3), a figure more than 24 times greater than the sediment supplied annually by the world’s major rivers to the oceans. The major long-term acceleration in anthropogenic sediment flux started just after the Second World War and anthropogenic sediment flux overtook natural fluvial sediment flux in the mid-1950s. Humans are now the major global geomorphological driving force and an important component of Earth System processes in landscape evolution. The changing magnitude of anthropogenic sediments and landfor...
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Detailed mapping, section logging, sampling and petrological description of a tufa deposit in the Via Gellia, Cromford, Derbyshire UK has enabled interpretation of the depositional and post-depositional history of the deposit. This has... more
Detailed mapping, section logging, sampling and petrological description of a tufa deposit in the Via Gellia, Cromford, Derbyshire UK has enabled interpretation of the depositional and post-depositional history of the deposit. This has been interpreted in the context of the geomorphology and hydrogeology of the area
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Abstract The Crummock Water aureole, an ENE-trending elongate zone of bleached and recrystallized Skiddaw Group rocks, 24 km in length and up to 3 km wide, is a zone in which pervasive metasomatism has modified the composition of the... more
Abstract The Crummock Water aureole, an ENE-trending elongate zone of bleached and recrystallized Skiddaw Group rocks, 24 km in length and up to 3 km wide, is a zone in which pervasive metasomatism has modified the composition of the dominantly siltstone and mudstone lithologies. The bleached rocks show a substantial net gain of As, B, K and Rb and loss of Cl, Ni, S, Zn, H 2 O and C. Carbon loss is responsible for the bleaching. There are smaller and more localized net losses of Cu, Fe, Li and Mn, and gains of Ca, F and Si, ...
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
A new lithostratigraphy is presented for the Skiddaw Group (lower Ordovician) of the English Lake District. Two stratigraphical belts are described. Five formations are defined in the Northern Fells Belt, ranging in age from Tremadoc to... more
A new lithostratigraphy is presented for the Skiddaw Group (lower Ordovician) of the English Lake District. Two stratigraphical belts are described. Five formations are defined in the Northern Fells Belt, ranging in age from Tremadoc to early Llanvirn. They are all mudstone or sandstone dominated, of turbidite origin; in ascending order they are named the Bitter Beck, Watch Hill, Hope Beck, Loweswater and Kirk Stile formations. Two formations are defined in the Central Fells Belt, ranging in age from late Arenig to Llanvirn. These are the Buttermere Formation – a major olistostrome deposit – overlain by the Tarn Moor Formation, consisting of turbidite mudstones with volcaniclastic turbidite sandstone beds. A revised graptolite and new acritarch biostratigraphy for the Skiddaw Group is presented with eight graptolite biozones and thirteen acritarch assemblages and sub-assemblages. The provenance of the group is assessed from detailed petrographical and geochemical work. This suggests...
Research Interests:
Research Interests: Archaeology, Geology, Geochemistry, Art History, Art, and 15 moreMedieval History, Forensic Science, Stable Isotope Analysis, Medieval Church History, Medieval Archaeology, Stable Isotope Forensics, Stable Isotope Geochemistry, Archaeometry, Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry, Medieval Art, Gypsum, Art Forgery, Continuous Flow, Alabaster Sculpture, and English Alabasters(Medieval History, Forensic Science, Stable Isotope Analysis, Medieval Church History, Medieval Archaeology, Stable Isotope Forensics, Stable Isotope Geochemistry, Archaeometry, Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry, Medieval Art, Gypsum, Art Forgery, Continuous Flow, Alabaster Sculpture, and English Alabasters)
(Medieval History, Forensic Science, Stable Isotope Analysis, Medieval Church History, Medieval Archaeology, Stable Isotope Forensics, Stable Isotope Geochemistry, Archaeometry, Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry, Medieval Art, Gypsum, Art Forgery, Continuous Flow, Alabaster Sculpture, and English Alabasters)
Research Interests: Geology, Paleontology, Sedimentology, Stratigraphy, Structural Geology, and 15 moreTrilobita, Trilobites, Sedimentary geology and stratigraphy, Palaeontology，Sedimentology，stratigraphy, Trace Fossils, Devonian, Graptolites, Ordovician, Trilobite, Cambrian-Silurian brachiopods, Ordovician Trace Fossile, Fossil Brachiopods, Trace Fossil, Ordovician Stratigraphy, and Basin Analysis Ordovician Stratigraphy(Trilobita, Trilobites, Sedimentary geology and stratigraphy, Palaeontology，Sedimentology，stratigraphy, Trace Fossils, Devonian, Graptolites, Ordovician, Trilobite, Cambrian-Silurian brachiopods, Ordovician Trace Fossile, Fossil Brachiopods, Trace Fossil, Ordovician Stratigraphy, and Basin Analysis Ordovician Stratigraphy)
(Trilobita, Trilobites, Sedimentary geology and stratigraphy, Palaeontology，Sedimentology，stratigraphy, Trace Fossils, Devonian, Graptolites, Ordovician, Trilobite, Cambrian-Silurian brachiopods, Ordovician Trace Fossile, Fossil Brachiopods, Trace Fossil, Ordovician Stratigraphy, and Basin Analysis Ordovician Stratigraphy)
Research Interests:
The Yorkshire Dales and Craven Lowlands have a diverse landscape that reflects the underlying geology and its history. The auditing and protection of this geodiversity is important to help preserve the landscape and the underlying... more
The Yorkshire Dales and Craven Lowlands have a diverse landscape that reflects the underlying geology and its history. The auditing and protection of this geodiversity is important to help preserve the landscape and the underlying geology. It is also important to help integrate the needs of the local population, education, recreation and science with quarrying and the National need for aggregate. This draft Action Plan sets out a framework of actions for auditing, recording and monitoring the geodiversity of the Dales and Craven lowlands. As its title indicates, it is a draft and subject to change as comments are made and incorporated. The implementation of the Action Plan is also dependent on funding becoming available. For this draft, the North Yorkshire Geodiversity Partnership is particularly thankful for the support of the Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund from the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, administered by English Nature, and the Landscape, Acces...
Research Interests:
Research Interests: Civil Engineering, Earth Sciences, Geology, Geomorphology, Subsidence, and 13 moreEnvironmental GIS, Remote sensing and GIS applications in Landscape Research, Landslides, Engineering Geology, Karst Geomorphology, Geological Engineering, Landslide Hazard mapping, Slope Stability and Landslides, Mining Subsidence, Land Subsidence, Mass Movement, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), and Geographic Information System(Environmental GIS, Remote sensing and GIS applications in Landscape Research, Landslides, Engineering Geology, Karst Geomorphology, Geological Engineering, Landslide Hazard mapping, Slope Stability and Landslides, Mining Subsidence, Land Subsidence, Mass Movement, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), and Geographic Information System)
(Environmental GIS, Remote sensing and GIS applications in Landscape Research, Landslides, Engineering Geology, Karst Geomorphology, Geological Engineering, Landslide Hazard mapping, Slope Stability and Landslides, Mining Subsidence, Land Subsidence, Mass Movement, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), and Geographic Information System)
Research Interests: Civil Engineering, Geology, Geomorphology, Environmental GIS, Remote sensing and GIS applications in Landscape Research, and 15 moreKarst hydrogeology, Engineering Geology, Karst Geomorphology, Engineering Geology and Geotechnical Problems, Geological Hazards, Cave and Karst Studies, Gypsum caves, Karst, Environmental and Engineering Geology, Karst and Caves, Geology and Engineering geology, Engineering Geology and Geotechnic, Geotechnical Problems in Limestone Terrain with Emphasis on Cavities Sinkholes, Land Subsidence, and Geologic hazards(Karst hydrogeology, Engineering Geology, Karst Geomorphology, Engineering Geology and Geotechnical Problems, Geological Hazards, Cave and Karst Studies, Gypsum caves, Karst, Environmental and Engineering Geology, Karst and Caves, Geology and Engineering geology, Engineering Geology and Geotechnic, Geotechnical Problems in Limestone Terrain with Emphasis on Cavities Sinkholes, Land Subsidence, and Geologic hazards)
(Karst hydrogeology, Engineering Geology, Karst Geomorphology, Engineering Geology and Geotechnical Problems, Geological Hazards, Cave and Karst Studies, Gypsum caves, Karst, Environmental and Engineering Geology, Karst and Caves, Geology and Engineering geology, Engineering Geology and Geotechnic, Geotechnical Problems in Limestone Terrain with Emphasis on Cavities Sinkholes, Land Subsidence, and Geologic hazards)
Since the first prehistoric people started to dig for stone to make implements, rather than pick up loose material, humans have modified the landscape through excavation of rock and soil, generation of waste and creation of artificial... more
Since the first prehistoric people started to dig for stone to make implements, rather than pick up loose material, humans have modified the landscape through excavation of rock and soil, generation of waste and creation of artificial ground. In Great Britain over the past 200 years, people have excavated, moved and built up the equivalent of at least six times the volume of Ben Nevis. It is estimated that the worldwide deliberate annual shift of sediment by human activity is 57 000 Mt (million tonnes) and exceeds that of transport by rivers to the oceans (22 000 Mt) almost by a factor of three. Humans sculpt and transform the landscape through the physical modification of the shape and properties of the ground. As such, humans are geological and geomorphological agents and the dominant factor in landscape evolution through settlement and widespread industrialization and urbanization. The most significant impact of this has been since the onset of the Industrial Revolution in the ei...
Research Interests: Mining Engineering, Geography, Geomorphology, Biology, Archaeological GIS, and 15 moreEngineering Geology, Medicine, Anthropocene studies, Engineering Geology and Geotechnical Problems, Landscape Evolution, Geological Hazards, Anthropocene, Industrial Revolution, Great Britain, Greenhouse gases, Material flows, Anthropocene Age and Environment Security, Land Subsidence, Human Activity, and Artificial Ground Water Recharge(Engineering Geology, Medicine, Anthropocene studies, Engineering Geology and Geotechnical Problems, Landscape Evolution, Geological Hazards, Anthropocene, Industrial Revolution, Great Britain, Greenhouse gases, Material flows, Anthropocene Age and Environment Security, Land Subsidence, Human Activity, and Artificial Ground Water Recharge)
(Engineering Geology, Medicine, Anthropocene studies, Engineering Geology and Geotechnical Problems, Landscape Evolution, Geological Hazards, Anthropocene, Industrial Revolution, Great Britain, Greenhouse gases, Material flows, Anthropocene Age and Environment Security, Land Subsidence, Human Activity, and Artificial Ground Water Recharge)
Research Interests: Geology, Geomorphology, Engineering Geology, Construction Industry, Engineering Geology and Geotechnical Problems, and 15 moreDigital mapping, Geological Hazards, Cave and Karst Studies, Karst, Ground source heat pumps, Geological Engineering, Karst and Caves, Great Britain, Geology and Engineering geology, HAZARD, Drainage, Ground Source Heat Pump, GIS, Environmental Regulation, and Gypsum Karst
The deliberate anthropogenic movement of reworked natural and novel manufactured materials represents a novel sedimentary environment associated with mining, waste disposal, construction and urbanization. Anthropogenic deposits display... more
The deliberate anthropogenic movement of reworked natural and novel manufactured materials represents a novel sedimentary environment associated with mining, waste disposal, construction and urbanization. Anthropogenic deposits display distinctive engineering and environmental properties, and can be of archaeological importance. This paper shows that temporal changes in the scale and lithological character of anthropogenic deposits may be indicative of the Anthropocene. However, the stratigraphy of such deposits is not readily described by existing classification schemes, which do not differentiate separate phases or lithologically distinct deposits beyond a local scale. Lithostratigraphy is a scalable, hierarchical classification used to distinguish successive and lithologically distinct natural deposits. Many natural and anthropogenic deposits exhibit common characteristics; they typically conform to the Law (or Principle) of Superposition and exhibit lithological distinction. The...
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
The Skiddaw Group comprises a marine sedimentary sequence deposited on the northern margin of eastern Avalonia in Tremadoc to Llanvirn times. It is unconformably overlain by subduction-related volcanic rocks (the Eycott and Borrowdale... more
The Skiddaw Group comprises a marine sedimentary sequence deposited on the northern margin of eastern Avalonia in Tremadoc to Llanvirn times. It is unconformably overlain by subduction-related volcanic rocks (the Eycott and Borrowdale Volcanic groups) of mid-Ordovician age, and foreland basin marine strata of late Ordovician and Silurian age. The Skiddaw Group has a complex deformation history. Syn-depositional deformation produced soft sediment folds and an olistostrome. Volcanism was preceded (in late Llanvirn to Llandeilo times) by regional uplift and tilting of the Skiddaw Group, probably caused by the generation of melts through subduction-related processes. The Acadian (late Caledonian) deformation event produced a northeast- to east-trending regional cleavage, axial planar to large scale folds, and a later set of southward-directed thrusts with associated minor folds and crenulation cleavages. This event affected the northern Lake District probably in the late Silurian and ea...
Research Interests:
The Lake District and smaller Craven inliers of northwest England contain a Lower Palaeozoic sequence deposited on the Gondwanan side of the Iapetus Ocean, close to the junction with the Tornquist Sea. The Tremadoc to Llanvirn Skiddaw and... more
The Lake District and smaller Craven inliers of northwest England contain a Lower Palaeozoic sequence deposited on the Gondwanan side of the Iapetus Ocean, close to the junction with the Tornquist Sea. The Tremadoc to Llanvirn Skiddaw and Ingleton groups are deep water assemblages of turbidite, olistostrome and slump deposits, formed at a continental margin. They experienced uplift and erosion as a precursor to the eruption of two largely subaerial Llandeilo-Caradoc volcanic sequences: the tholeiitic Eycott Volcanic Group in the north and the calc–alkaline Borrowdale Volcanic Group in the central Lake District. The volcanic episodes are the earliest part of a major episode of magmatism, extending through to the early Devonian and responsible for a major batholith underpinning the Lake District. Subsidence in an intra-arc rift zone preserved the subaerial volcanic sequences. A marine transgression marks the base of the Windermere Group, which comprises a mixed carbonate–clastic shelf...
Research Interests:
Research Interests: Civil Engineering, Earth Sciences, Geology, Hydrogeology, Environmental Geology, and 15 moreHydrochemistry, Karst hydrogeology, Environmental hydrogeology, Hydrogeology and Engineering geology, Geological Hazards, Gypsum caves, Karst Hydrology, Dissolved organic matter, Gypsum, Karst and Caves, Hydrogeology and Environmental Geology, Groundwater flow, Land Subsidence, Interdisciplinary Engineering, and Gypsum Karst(Hydrochemistry, Karst hydrogeology, Environmental hydrogeology, Hydrogeology and Engineering geology, Geological Hazards, Gypsum caves, Karst Hydrology, Dissolved organic matter, Gypsum, Karst and Caves, Hydrogeology and Environmental Geology, Groundwater flow, Land Subsidence, Interdisciplinary Engineering, and Gypsum Karst)
(Hydrochemistry, Karst hydrogeology, Environmental hydrogeology, Hydrogeology and Engineering geology, Geological Hazards, Gypsum caves, Karst Hydrology, Dissolved organic matter, Gypsum, Karst and Caves, Hydrogeology and Environmental Geology, Groundwater flow, Land Subsidence, Interdisciplinary Engineering, and Gypsum Karst)
Research Interests: Civil Engineering, Geology, Environmental Geology, Environmental GIS, Engineering Geology, and 15 moreEngineering Geology and Geotechnical Problems, Evaporites, Digital mapping, Geological Hazards, Cave and Karst Studies, Gypsum caves, Gypsum, Great Britain, Geology and Engineering geology, Hazard Assessment, Evaporite sediments, Groundwater flow, Evaporite, GIS, and Evaporite Geology
Research Interests: Civil Engineering, Earth Sciences, Geomorphology, Environmental Geology, Geotechnical Engineering, and 15 moreEngineering Geology, Earth and Environmental Sciences, Genetic Diversity, Aerial Photography, Evaporites, Field Survey, Geological Hazards, Cave and Karst Studies, Dating, Caves, Dissolution, Digital Elevation Model, Evaporite, Condition Factor, and Boreholes
Research Interests: Civil Engineering, Cartography, Archaeology, Earth Sciences, Geology, and 15 moreGeotechnical Engineering, Mining, Engineering Geology, Soil Pollution, Field Survey, Classification, Ground Water, Land Reclamation, Anthropocene, Geological Engineering, Boundary Condition, Elsevier, Geological and Geotechnical Engineering, Classification scheme, and remote sensing data
Research Interests:
Conclusions The enhanced classification of artificial ground provides a framework to characterise anthropogenic impacts on the environment and the variability in the sub-surface that results from it. Importantly, it also forms the basis... more
Conclusions The enhanced classification of artificial ground provides a framework to characterise anthropogenic impacts on the environment and the variability in the sub-surface that results from it. Importantly, it also forms the basis for the quantification and modelling of landscape evolution as a result of human processes in response to settlement, urbanisation and use of the land and its resources.
Research Interests:
This report and accompanying 3D geological model were produced for the Environment Agency. The report describes the Quaternary geology of the study area, from Hull in the south to Flamborough Head in the north (Figure 1), and supersedes a... more
This report and accompanying 3D geological model were produced for the Environment Agency. The report describes the Quaternary geology of the study area, from Hull in the south to Flamborough Head in the north (Figure 1), and supersedes a previous study carried out in 2008 for the Hull area. The description and spatial distribution of each geological unit is based on interpretations from a 3D geological model, which was constructed using digital geological map data and 1398 boreholes taken from the BGS Borehole Geology database ...
Research Interests:
ABSTRACT Karst regions, especially gypsum ones, are prone to subsidence; this can cause severe problems in urban areas. However, this subsidence may have causes other than active karstification. A decision-logic framework designed to... more
ABSTRACT Karst regions, especially gypsum ones, are prone to subsidence; this can cause severe problems in urban areas. However, this subsidence may have causes other than active karstification. A decision-logic framework designed to tackle this issue is presented. It comprises subsidence description; identification of causal mechanisms; construction and evaluation of conceptual models; evaluation and parameterization of fundamental processes and development of a management strategy. This framework: is applied to an area of active subsidence in the UK underlain by gypsiferous rocks. In this example, particular attention is paid to the evaluation of gyspum dissolution using four criteria: presence of evaporite; presence of undersaturated water; energy to drive water through the system, and an outlet for the water. Gypsum palaeokarst was identified from borehole evidence and contemporary karstification is indicated by groundwaters containing up to 1800 mg/l of dissolved sulphate. Strontium-sulphate ratios enabled the discrimination of gypsum and non-gypsum derived sulphate ions and correlation with the hydrostratigraphy. Continuous measurement of groundwater levels showed differential potentiometric surfaces between stratigraphical horizons and indicated a complex pattern of groundwater movement. Integration of these data in a physically- and chemically-based groundwater model, incorporating a void evolution capability, is suggested.
The Leeds district area ranges from the gritstone moors in the north-west through the rolling farmland of the Carboniferous and Permian rocks down to the flat glacial lake of the Vale of York. Leeds city in the south west of the district... more
The Leeds district area ranges from the gritstone moors in the north-west through the rolling farmland of the Carboniferous and Permian rocks down to the flat glacial lake of the Vale of York. Leeds city in the south west of the district was the focus for industry fueled by local coal mining and encouraged by transport along the waterways of the Aire Valley. The bedrock of the district divides into three belts. The western belt comprises Carboniferous rocks, the central belt is Permian and the eastern belt is Triassic with the addition of thick glacial ...
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
The BGS has a 175-year history of mapping and recording geology including unstable land. However, public awareness of such potential problems was not awakened until the Aberfan disaster, 44 years ago, when a school was buried by a... more
The BGS has a 175-year history of mapping and recording geology including unstable land. However, public awareness of such potential problems was not awakened until the Aberfan disaster, 44 years ago, when a school was buried by a landslide from a coal spoil tip killing 144 people, including 116 children. Since that event BGS research into landslides and unstable land has increased and new techniques have been developed to measure, monitor and model them.
Research Interests:
Abstract The aim of the British Geological Survey (BGS)'sSlope Dynamics' project is to provide observational data to slope stability modelling and zoning based on factors of safety obtained from a... more
Abstract The aim of the British Geological Survey (BGS)'sSlope Dynamics' project is to provide observational data to slope stability modelling and zoning based on factors of safety obtained from a combination of geotechnical, geomorphological and oceanographic models. The project has been monitoring since 2001 the progress of terrestrial and coastal landslides within'soft rock'formations in the UK. Recently, field observatories have been set up to allow a variety of methods, some traditional and others novel, to be applied to ...