Professor William R. Church
Professor Emeritus
of Geotectonics
in the Department of Earth Sciences. Retired June 30th, 2002. Born
and bred in the the coal mining community (Coedely
colliery) of
Tonyrefail at
the head of the Ely Valley in South Wales. (View
of the Vale of Glamorgan and the Bristol Channel from the Garth Mountain, the
location of the long time (c. 1830) Watkins' family home of Warren House
in Pentyrch, north of Cardiff;
a Child's Xmas in Wales - Cwmlai elementary School,
site of my first school examination!; Tonyrefail
Grammar School where the chemistry teacher Mr Gran Lloyd persuaded me
that my future was in Chemistry; Ballyshannon
in Donegal, Eire, polyphase deformed psammites and eclogites,
subject of my Ph.D. thesis).
Came
to Canada in 1963 via Columbia University, New York - 'Yn
iach i ti Gymru, Ffarwel i'th fynyddoedd'. 
A
francophile (married to Monique Coutant, a retired French Immersion
school teacher,
animal trainer (Cwmparc/Treorchy in the distance), and occasional employee in Stanton,
Arizona (just kidding!). Also, a
semi-ardent year-round cyclist, who very much enjoys Saturday pick-up soccer (shirts v skins),
the internet, helping out in the garden, and sub-standard bricolage. May on occasion be tempted (less and less
likely!) to trip
the light fantastic. Ambition: to play on the recorder with some measure
of competence all the tunes in the Caneuon Cenedlaethol Cymru.
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
ARCGIS 9.x
COURSES (AVAILABLE AS A RESOURCE)
ESOTERICA
FAVOURITES
FIELD EXCURSIONS
GLOBAL WARMING (FOR AND AGAINST)
Learn about....
- Logan, Smith...
GOOGLE EARTH KMZ
FILES
MEMORY LANE
PARTICULAR RESEARCH INTERESTS
PROFESSIONAL INTERESTS
SEG LECTURES
SIR WILLIAM
LOGAN
WHAT WAS
SAID..... Anglesey-Avalonian, Appalachians, Eclogites, Egypt,
Huronian-Southern Province-Sudbury, Morocco, Ophiolites ( Betts Cove - Cyprus),
Saudi Arabia
***********************************************************
Office: Room
30, B&G Building;
Phone 432-8750;
E-mail
- wrchurchabcd@uwoabcd.ca
(remove both abcd strings); WEB
-
http://publish.uwo.ca/~wrchurch/
ESOTERICA
The oldest geological map in the world
- geological map of an old gold mine exploited
in Pharaonic times during the reign of King Seti I; Nineteenth Dynasty,
1350-1205 B.C. The map is known as the Turin Papyrus and shows
the
stone quarries and gold mines in Wadi Hammamat near Naqada (Nubt = gold town).
Jabal Zebara
-- my favourite
wilderness area.
Ciorneva - in the
French/Italian Alps (1974; also very quiet!).
Montmatre - rue de Mont-Cenis
- Utrillo.
Relics from the First World War - and the
words from father to father.
Xmas at
the Western Front somewhere in France - waifs and war, dolls and little
mothers....
The history of Thomastown
- a coal mining community in the Ely Valley of South
Wales.
The view
towards Llantrisant viewed from the
west slope of the Glyn mountain The distant dot
is the "Billy Wynt" marking the high point of the
southern scarp of the South Wales coal field (north-dipping Carboniferous
Pennant Sandstone limb of the Hercynian South Wales syncline) . The "Billy Wynt"
is the remains of a 13th Century windmill destroyed during a battle in the
Middle Ages, but still shown as the site of a windmill on Bowen's 1729 map of
South Wales. The nearby Llantrisant castle, also built in the 13th Century, was
held for Edward I by the Norman de Clare family. The
adjacent common land at Llantrisant, consisting of some 298 acres, was granted
along with charter status to the Freemen of Llantrisant, supposedly in
recognition of the participation of Llantrisant longbowmen in the Battle of
Crecy in 1346 (not something I mention in the presence of my wife!
- at the battle of
Agincourt the French threatened to remove the 2 string
fingers of all Welsh archers who were captured.)
The Ely valley as seen from Llantrisant
- the triangular 'tip' (mine waste dump) in the far left distance was fed by the
coal mine in Coedely.
The
only decent way to travel -
day trip by train to the seaside at
Porthcawl.
Rhondda Grey
- a poem by Max Boyce.
The
Glyncorrwg yewtree - according to Lewis' Topographical Dictionary of Wales,
1833, it was 'thirty feet four inches in girth' even at this time.
Galena-bearing Triassic sandstone
- unconformable on Carboniferous Limestone, near Creigiau - my first
home-made 'cat's whiskers' radio was operated with galena (a natural
transistor) from these rocks.
("Some (me) couldn't afford commercially available crystal
detectors and made their own with a chunk of galena crystal and a cat's whisker.
Galena is the name for lead sulfide which is the principal ore of lead. The
cat's whisker was actually a very fine wire. The procedure was to made a good
connection to the galena for one terminal and to probe around with the cat's
whisker for a 'sweet spot' for the other terminal" -
http://www.jmargolin.com/history/trans.htm )
Welsh diamonds - concretionary ironstones
in the Welsh Coal Measures commonly contain geodes in which grow euhedral quartz
grains and acicular sprays of millerite (NiS).
South Wales as a wine producer? (My grandmother Margaret Jones was
born here at Tynant, Groes-faen, and her parents Sam and Ann are buried here in
the village.)
Field location in
wildest Newfoundland from where I proposed to my wife
- she says that I was probably thinking that
marriage
couldn't possibly be any worse!
Rock carving, Fleur de Lys, Newfoundland -
image of an old (how old?) schooner carved in soapstone, Fleur de Lys,
Burlington Peninsula, Newfoundland.
The flower of Fleur de Lys - small
aboriginal soapstone quarry at Fleur de Lys.
The heyday of Newfoundland cod fishing.
Detrital chromite - the discovery of grains of detrital chromite
in Ordovician-age sandstones was one of the primary observations leading to the
interpretation of Appalachian ultramafic-mafic sequences as 'oceanic' crust.
The last of
the summer wine! - From Tonyrefail to South Australia, 1950's to 2008
Cycling adventures:
Cycling
in France and Spain, plus some sites on the Geology of the Catalan/Pyrenean
region of Spain.
Are
you young, fit, and enthusiastic? Could you cycle1200
km in 89 hours - read Harriet Fells account of her participation in the
Paris - Brest - Paris ride.
Tour de France 2004 - Lance Armstrong with the yellow jersey.
PROFESSIONAL
EXPERIENCE
Geology of Europe, South and North America, India, Morocco,
Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and Russia, and the evolution of
Paleozoic and Pre-Cambrian ocean basins.
Currently interested in: 1) Geographic
Information Systems from the point of view of "Earth Systems Science"; 2) all
things geological, geochemical, and geophysical; 3) the introduction of GIS
concepts into undergraduate field mapping courses, and the development of
undergraduate/graduate geology excursion web sites, e.g. http://instruct.uwo.ca/earth-sci/fieldlog/cargo/indexcargo.htm
In particular, the geology of the Sudbury region, the Highland
Border Series of Scotland, the geology of Cuba; dynamic topography during the Archean;
the chemistry of sea water; a better level of competency
in Spanish in order to take another student field trip to Cuba and/or Mexico.
Related web links:
Plate
Tectonics
Ophiolites
Geology
of the Canadian Cordillera - southern
Geology
of the Canadian Cordillera - northern
Geology
of the Southern Province
FIELD EXCURSIONS
The old geology 410Y 4th year field
trip - The Great Field Trip (under construction)
********************************************************************************
SEG Geology of the Adirondacks,
New York State, Oct. 2004
The
Meso-Protoerozoic Grenvillian geologic history of the Adirondacks region of New
York State
*******************************************************************************
SEG Geology
of the Southern Appalachians
Mineral deposits in the
context of the accretionary history of Virginia, Tenessee, North Carolina, South
Carolina, and Maryland.
***************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
SEG Geology/Geography Field Trip to SE California,
February, 2004
Complete guide to Extensional Tectonics and Gold
Mineralization in the SW USA
A Google Earth .kml file for the trip is
available as USA SW.kmz from the UWO FTP site:
http://instruct.uwo.ca/earth-sci/fieldlog/Google_Earth/
*********************************************************************************************************************************************
Excursion to SE California, Nevada, and Arizona,
February 2008
Meriem, Norm, Ruikin, Jeremy, Sonya, Brad, Christine, Alaina
(Click to enlarge)
Oatman Mine
M&S
Camping
M&R
Amargosa Chaos Spring Flowers Briggs Gold
Mine
Powerpoint
version
February 2011
***************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
SEG Fall Field trip to the Marquette region of Northern
Michigan, October 2008
The Lower Proterozoic Animikie Iron formations of northern
Michangan, and the Keweenawan Cu mining district
of the Keweenaw Peninsula
L to R: Norm, Nathalie, Megan, Danny, Elaina,
Jim, Brad
A Google Earth .kml file for the trip is
available as USA_Animikie.kmz from the UWO FTP site:
http://instruct.uwo.ca/earth-sci/fieldlog/Google_Earth/
The .kml file includes a link to the most
recent geological map of the Marquette Mineral District
************************************************************************************************************************************************************
SEG Field Trip to Cuba, 1998
GEOLOGICAL MAP OF CUBA.
References, notes, and map legend concerning the GEOLOGY OF CUBA.
Travel to Cuba advice
Been to CUBA with the SEG? Want to continue learning Spanish? Try:
LearnSpanish or
BBC Spanish
or
Learn Spanish (see also
Spanish Resources )
*************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
NOTE: With the advent of GOOGLE EARTH a set of .kmz files with placemarks for locations relevant to some
of the above excursions has been created. These .kmz files (e.g. USA SW.kmz for the SW USA) can be
downloaded from "
http://instruct.uwo.ca/earth-sci/fieldlog/Google_Earth/
"
The Southern
Province
Sudbury 350y, 2006
Sudbury 350y, 2004
Sudbury 350y, 2005
Sudbury 350y, 2003
Sudbury 350Y, 2002
Wet
feet Mike???
Rob,
that channel ahead of you is 6 feet deep!!
Maybe
we should build a bridge this time?
MEMORY
LANE
ALUMNI
REUNIONS
2007 - THE CLASS OF '
57
- 50th Anniversary
Sat. September 29th 2007
Click
-
http://instruct.uwo.ca:80/earth-sci/350y-001/alumni/alumni_es.htm
2001 - THE CLASS
OF '76 - 25th Anniversary
Sat. September 29th 2001
To
see what they look like twenty-five years later, click here!!!
To
view the following photographs, double-click the image; use the 'Back'
button to return to this page
PEOPLE I HAVE KNOWN
1954
Our first foreign field trip - the Wye
Valley, England; Chepstow (Brian 'Lanky' Lewis, Deputy Minister of Education, NWT Government; Prof.
Bill Church;
John Hunt, chief investment counsellor for the Welsh Teachers
Union; Ken Francis, former principal bass with the Sadlers Wells Opera Company)
Tintern Abbey, Symmonds
Yat Rock;
1954 The fruit of six years of learning French with Madame Henry -
the Brioverian of Brittany,
France Le Faou;
1955
Trip down the Rhine Graben to the Black Forest graben
shoulder, camping at the Belgian/Dutch border,
the Eiffel Tower (Brian Hawkins, left; Billy Bridges
right)
1956 Scandinavia, oil shales, the
Cambro-Orodovician transition; pyrite, uranium and Wolfrum mines;
summer employment on the the M/S 'Fjelheim' coastal
carrier out of Trondheim, arrival in
Happaranda-Tornio+antlers
1957
Ben Nevis, Scotland, Norwegian
anorthosites (Prof. Michot, University of Liege, Belgium)
1959 Grad students, Cardiff - Tony
Bazley (later to become Director Geological Survey of Northern Ireland), and
Terry Smith ( Senior Professor of Geology
at Windsor University).
1959
Ireland -
Ballyshannon, Loch Derg psammites;
Donegal Bay;
Unconformity, Carboniferous overlying Lough Derg psammites, Beleek road near
Ballyshannon.
1963 On campus - Frank Anglin, UWO geophysics
graduate and member of the Seismology Division of the Geological Survey of
Canada.
1963 Sept 21 Rare
group photograph showing the Department Faculty at that time of the 'Great
Expansion', including Jackie Ainge, Harold and Ruby Reavely,
Gordon Suffel, Alex and Anita Dreimanis, Gordon and Jean Winder; and the most
recent additions Gant Young, Alan and Shirley Edgar, and
myself and Monique, the couple whose marriage was being celebrated. Best men
were Frank Anglin of the Geophysics Department,
and Sean Ward of the English Department.
1964-5?
Annual shoot the Profs day - Garth Platt, Chris Gunn, Fergus Graham, ?, ?
1964-5?
A friendly game of football - Bill Church, Hugh Rance, George Pinder, Fergus Graham, Chris Gunn, Jesse Kraft.
1966 California ,
Franciscan eclogites -
Prof. Grant Young; Bill Church
1967
Gander Conference - George Cockburn
(2nd from the right kneeling; Bob Stevens (above and to the left of George
Cockburn); Marshall Kay (3rd from right;
Bill Church (2nd form left first row
standing)); also Bill Poole, Brad Hall, Rodney Gayer, Don Bowes, Jim Skehan,
Jack Bird, John Rogers.
1968 Mexico -
Prof. Grant Young ( Lower Cretaceous carbonates, south of
Cuernavaca);
Eocene continental conglomerates of the Morelos basin)
1969
Newfoundland - Bob Stevens,
flat lying Ordovician carbonates, west coast of the Great Northern Peninusula;
coast of Labrador lie in the far distance
across the Straits of Belle Isle; year
of the discovery of the significance of the Betts Cove sheeted diabase to the
interpretation of the western Newfoundland
ophiolites as 'oceanic' crust.
1969
Graduate students c. 1969 (courtesy of Kam Chaing via Charlie Blackburn);
Names
Grandfather Charlie Blackburn
1971
Newfoundland - Luca Riccio standing below 'Sheeted diabase' at Mine Brook, Blow Me Down, Bay of Islands
Newfoundland.
1971
Newfoundland - Luca Riccio and Darrel Long
looking at rippled Kings Point sandstones, Newfoundland.
1972
Newfoundland - Professor Giovanni Piccardo (University of Genoa), anorthosite/dunite layers in ultramafic cumulates of the
Bay of Islands ophiolite.
IGCP 1972 - International Geological Congress
field excursion to the Huronian, 1972, led by Bill Church and Grant Young
(squatting, long hair);
Professor
Gilbert Choubert in foreground;
1 billion year old Keweenawan ropy lava, Mamainse Point
1974 Morocco -
Desert friends;
Tree climbing
1975 410y 3RD-YEAR
FIELD TRIP, QUEBEC (lifted from the CLASS of '76 site, now defunct;
many thanks to the contributors.)
THE
BUS GETS STUCK (Disraeli, Eastern Townships of
Quebec - not Timmins!)
DIGGING
THE BUS OUT - ALL THAT LONG HAIR!
COMPETITOR # 1
COMPETITOR
# 2
HE
WAS KNOWN AS CASTRO!
1976 APRIL
1ST - The
good old days!! (Notice the Commodore
PET, middle left!)
1977 410y 3rd-year
field trip, Quebec, -
Geology in the snow; More
geology in the snow; Geology discussion group;
Larry Heaman and Marion Pierce;
Neil MacCrae;
Goofing off after a hard day's work in the snow;
1978 410y 3RD-YEAR FIELD TRIP, QUEBEC, -
Tim Latour, Jose Muhna
1979-1989
Egypt - Hitchhikers!
Professor Maher Takla (right) and Dr Fawzi Basta (left);
ancient rock grinding implement, Atud gold mine;
an abandoned sarcophagus;
heiroglyphics and Alexandrian Greek script found on the
ancient road (now paved) linking Quseir on the Red Sea to the Nile Valley (near
Qena)
1982
Saudi Arabia - The sad end of the
Ottoman Hejaz express (Mada'in Saleh), courtesy of Lawrence of Arabia and the
Wahabi bedouin. (photograph
taken before the recent renovation of the
station - see:
http://www.galenfrysinger.com/hejaz_railroad.htm )
The Nabitean civilization in Saudi Arabia - the
first Middle East conflict over oil; see:
http://www.datadubai.com/oil3.htm , "the
politics of oil in the
ancient Middle East sealed the fate of Antony and
Cleopatra."
1983
- 410Y 1983, on top of Mount Orford, Quebec.
1991
-
410y 3RD-YEAR FIELD TRIP, QUEBEC -
Mike Collison,
Allan Pratt, Peter Stewart, Phil Vickers, Terry Hay and Bob Dufton
(a great year!).
WHAT WAS SAID...........
Evolution versus creationism; Islam and
Evolution - Preston Cloud
The eclogitic rocks of Western Ireland and
Newfoundland The serendipitous relationship between eclogite and
ophiolite in Newfoundland
Historiography: Low Ti basalts – Boninites – Cyprus – Betts Cove
The Caledonian - Appalachian system of
Scotland/Ireland, Newfoundland
Burlington
Peninsula,
Western Newfoundland,
Southern Quebec, and
Eastern New
England - Maritimes - Avalonia - Anglesey
Anglesey
The Early
Proterozoic Southern Structural Province of Ontario
The Late Proterozoic Nubian Shield of Egypt
The Late Proterozoic Nubian Shield of Saudi Arabia - contains an important
link to the most recent geological map of Saudi Arabia
The Late Proterozoic continental margin of the Moroccan Anti-Atlas
KML/KMZ FILES - go to
http://instruct.uwo.ca/earth-sci/fieldlog/Google_Earth/ for a complete
listing of available .kmz files.
http://instruct.uwo.ca/earth-sci/fieldlog/Google_Earth/Geology_WRChurch.kmz
- all data
http://instruct.uwo.ca/earth-sci/fieldlog/Google_Earth/Anglesey.kml -
Anglesey only
http://instruct.uwo.ca/earth-sci/fieldlog/Google_Earth/Avalon_Nashoba.kmz- the
Avalon_Nashoba terranes of southeast New England, including links to
field stops of the 2007 NEGSA field trip: Hon, R. , Hepburn, J.C. & Lair, Jo.
2007. Siluro-Devonian igneous rocks of the easternmost three terranes in
southeastern New England: examples from NE Massachusetts and SE New
Hampshire. Guidbook to field trips in New Hampshire, adjacent Maine and
Massachusetts, 42nd Ann Meet. NEGSA, March 11 2007, p. 23-43 (20).
http://instruct.uwo.ca/earth-sci/fieldlog/cal_napp/napp/new_eng_maritimes/Nashoba_Avalon/NEGSAFT_F4.pdf
http://instruct.uwo.ca/earth-sci/fieldlog/Google_Earth/Grenville.kmz - the
Grenville Front in the Sudbury region of Ontario
SHORT
COURSE DEALING WITH THE INTEGRATION OF GPS, EXPERTGPS, EXCEL AND ARCGIS9.1
|
 |
Earth Science 200A
PLATE TECTONICS
- this course is now being taught by Dr Lewinscky and these notes no longer
apply.
Movie: Subduction model of Gurnis
http://www.gps.caltech.edu/~gurnis/Movies/movies-more.html, 1.7 Mb; needs
Quicktime)
Movie:
Raft Tectonics of the Kwanza Basin, Angola: Resoration of a Seismic Section, by
G. Guglielmo (www.utexas.edu/research/beg/giovanni/
3.7 Mb) |
|
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Earth Science 300B -
GEOLOGY OF NORTH AMERICA
- this course is now discontinued!!! |
|
|
Earth Science 350Y
3RD-YEAR GEOLOGY FIELD COURSE
Field camp, CLASS OF 99
350Y Field Camp, CLASS OF 00
350Y Field Camp, CLASS OF 01
350Y Field
Camp, CLASS OF 02
350y Field
Camp CLASS OF 03 |
|
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Earth Science 505A/B
GIS IN GEOLOGY AND GEOPHYSICS
GSMCAD, USGS mapping freeware |
|
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Earth Science Geochemistry (currently not offered)
INTRODUCTORY GEOCHEMISTRY/THERMODYNAMICS
Notes: Mixing Calculations.
Notes: thermodynamics I
Notes: thermodynamics
II |
|
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1st year course: THE SEA
Notes - Plate Tectonics: from Mantle to Crust
Notes - Plate Tectonics: from Crust to Ocean
Reading Material
Some 'EARTH SYSTEM' numbers!
Some stuff off the internet. |
|
|
LEARN ALL ABOUT:
Sir William Logan
- link to much information about the life of Sir
William Logan
Logan and Geology
- Sir William Logan and the Taconic Problem by Bob Stevens, 1964
William Smith - the father of modern geology
The Map
that changed the World: William Smith and the Birth of Modern Geology by Simon
Winchester, Harper Collins, 336pp, $37.95.
Reviewed in the Globe and
Mail, Sat. Aug 11th 2001, by John Wilson;
CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE TAYLOR LIBRARY- EARTH SCIENCE
Some useful call numbers:
AAPG TN860.A3;
Am. Geo. Un Geodyn. Ser QD901.A2; AJS Q1A5;
Am. Min
QE351.A7;
Ann. Rev. E. Plan QE1.A674; Aust. JES QE1.A1E6;
BGSA QE1.G2; BGS Abst.
QE1.G19; BGS France QE1.S6312;
Bull. Volc.
QE521.5.B8; CJES QE1.C35; Can. Min. QE351.C35;
Chem. Geol.
QE515.C34; CIMBull.
TN1.C18; CRAS Paris Q46.A23;
Cont. Min.
Pet. QE351.B45; EPSL QE1.E12;
E. Sci. Rev. QE1.E14;
Econ. Geol.
QE1.E15;
EOS P1.A1E6;
EOS Trans QE 500.A6;
Episodes
QE1.I.762 O; GAC Abst QE1.G222 O;
GAC Field
Guid QE188.G254 O; Geochim. Cosmo. Acta. QE351.G34;
Geol.J.
QE1.G14; Geol. J. Japan QE1.G35; Geol. Mag. QE1.G15;
Geol. Soc.
Am. Memoirs QE1.G21 Geology of North America QE71.G48
Geol. Soc.
Am Spec Papers QE1.G222 O; Geol. Mijn. QE1.G76;
Geol. Rund
QE1.G8;
Geology QE1.G528; Geotectonics QE500.G46;
Geotimes
QE1.G86;
Indian JES QE1.I535; Int. Geol. Rev. QE1.I7;
JGS QE1.G4; JGS Aust. QE1.G226; JGS India QE1.G34;
J. Geol.
QE1.J8;
J. Geoph. Res. QC811.J8; J. Pet. QE420.J7;
J. Str.
Geol. QE601.J38; Lithos QE39.M37; Min. Mag. QE351.T8;
Nature Q1.N2;
Nor. Geol. Tids. QE1.N67; Ph. Tr. RS London Q41.L79;
Phys. E.
Plan Int. QE509.P58; Prec. Res. QE655.P74;
Pr. Lun
Plan Sc Conf. QB592.L85 (Med);
Pr. Roy. Soc. Lond. Q41.G7;
Sch. Min
Pet. Mit. QE351.S34; Science Q1.S35; Sci. Terre QE1.S218;
Scot. JG
QE1.S26;
Tectonics QE500.T428; Tectonophysics
QE500.T43;
Tr. GS S.Africa
QE1.G48; Tr.
RS Edin. Q41.E2; Min.Pet. QE351.T8;
Volc. J.
QD901.Z5;
SEG LECTURES
The Student Chapter, University of
Western Ontario, Society of Economic
Geologists (SEG) held a highly successful one-day Short Course entitled "Geology and
Metallogeny of the Grenville Province" on March
4, 2005.
Details of the Short Course, including Speakers, Schedule of Talks,
Registration and Accommodation can be found at the following website:
http://seg.earthsciences.ca
If you need
further information contact Dr. Norm Duke,
nduke@uwo.ca ,
Duncan Bain,
dbain3@uwo.ca ,
or Jeff Cormier,
jcormie@uwo.ca
SOCIETY
OF ECONOMIC GEOLOGISTS, UWO STUDENT CHAPTER SHORT
COURSE ON THE GEOLOGY
AND MINERAL DEPOSITS OF NUNAVUT TERRITORY, FEBRUARY 2000
AN
OVERVIEW OF THE GEOLOGY OF NUNAVUT BY DAVID SCOTT
A
BRIEF SNAPSHOT OF THE WESTERN CHURCHILL AND NORTHERN SLAVE PROVINCES BY
CAROLYN RELF
KIMBERLITE
FIELDS OF NUNAVUT BY JOHN ARMSTRONG
DOWBANK GOLD DEPOSITS, NUNAVUT BY BRIAN ALEXANDER
GLOBAL WARMING, KYOTO, etc - who to believe?
The position of the Geological Association of Canada (GAC) versus that of the
Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists (CSPG).
GAC - (i) that
climate changes, naturally;
CSPG - Global
climate change is a natural and continual process on Earth. Climate
changes similar to and much more severe than those happening today have occurred
repeatedly throughout historic and geologic time, as the result of many natural
factors.
CSPG - 1. Global
climate change has been a constant throughout the history of the Earth, driven
by a variety of global and astronomical natural factors. The variability
of and interactions among these factors are the subjects of active research, but
are still very poorly understood by climate scientists. Observations of
past climatic variations show much better correlation with astronomical
variables such as solar activity and orbital changes than they do with
atmospheric CO2 levels.
GAC - (ii) that
greenhouse gas emissions have made a positive contribution to warming of the
size of current increases, but the buffering mechanisms need to be better
understood before we can tell just how strong an effect the emissions have;
CSPG - Climate
science is only beginning to understand these factors and their interactions.
There is no significant evidence, and certainly no "scientific
consensus", that greenhouse gases produced by humans are driving any unusual
climate changes.
CSPG - 2. Since
the beginning of the 20th century, atmospheric CO2 has risen with accelerated
production of CO2 by human activities. However, using the best attempts to
remove biases from temperature data, there is not a good correlation between
atmospheric CO2 and global temperatures.
GAC - (iii) that,
while we get a better grip on such climate modelling, a cautionary approach
should be taken, including effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions;
CSPG - Mankind's
greatest efforts to reduce production of carbon dioxide, a natural component of
the atmosphere essential to all life, will not significantly affect future
climate change. The climate will change naturally, and mankind must adapt,
as all life has done throughout the Earth's history. We should not be distracted
from the worthwhile goals of using all resources wisely, and of reducing our
production of polluting chemicals that are truly harmful to life on Earth. (see
Quirks and Quarks below)
CSPG - 3. Global
circulation models attempt to represent climatic influences with numerical
equations, and are used to predict future climate variations. However,
they are hampered by our poor understanding of the relationships and feedback
loops among many of the key variables. GCM predictions of warming trends
through the 21st century have decreased systematically as the models have become
more sophisticated.
CSPG - 4. These
observations suggest that global climate change is a natural and fundamental
part of earth history, and that the effects of human activities on global
climate are no more than a poorly-understood fourth-order factor.
GAC - (iv) that
geoscience has lots to offer in predicting the impact of global warming;
CSPG - ?
GAC - (v) that
smart geoscience has many applications in our adaptation to current warming and
its consequences.
CSPG - ?
Recent 2005 EPICA core data
discussion
Everybody wins, everybody
loses!! Antarctic core data shows that periods of CO2 increase (to c. 290
ppm/v) and consequent global warming are kick-started with the termination of
the orbital cooling cycle when CO2 values have decreased to values of c. 190 ppm/v.
The current CO2 values of 380 ppm/v are therefore well above the normal CO2
concentration at the present stage of the orbital cycle.
During the cooling part of the cycle CO2 is progressivly dissolved in ocean
water; the relatively rapid release of CO2 once the asymmetric warming part of
the cycle commences is perhaps related to loss of solubility of the CO2 and the
physical displacement of CO2 rich deep ocean waters towards the surface.
Acknowledgment:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Carbon_Dioxide_400kyr.png ;
http://www.realclimate.org/ - Index -> Arctic and Antarctic Climate:
-> 650,000 years of greenhouse gas concentrations
LINKS TO GLOBAL WARMING WEB SITES
PRO
http://www.realclimate.org/
Climatic Research Unit - University of East
Anglia
CONTRE
Still Waiting for Greenhouse - John L. Daly's
lukewarm website
CSPG POSITION ON GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE - WEBSITE
CSPG_Climate_Change_Backgrounder by D.L. Barss, A. Patterson, and A.F. Jacobs
(PDF File).
deFreitus, C. 2002, Are Observed Changes in the Concentration of Carbon Dioxide
in the
Atmosphere Really Dangerous? Bulletin of Canadian Petroleum Geology, 50, 2, p.
297-327 (PDF File).
http://www.climateaudit.org
http://www.friendsofscience.org/index.php?ide=4
MEDIA
Geological Society of London Meeting, March 25-27 2003 -
Coping with Climate Change
Quirks and Quarks - CBC Radio
Scientific American
DATA
US Environmental Protection Agency
US Historical Climatology Network Data Set
World Temperature Data Repository
RECORD ICE LOSS IN THE ARCTIC
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/2558319.stm
Welcome to
climate change in Canada -
http://adaptation.nrcan.gc.ca/posters/cc_en.asp
"A natural system
known as the "greenhouse effect" regulates the temperature on earth. Human
activities have the potential to disrupt the balance of this system. As human
societies adopt increasingly sophisticated and mechanized lifestyles, the
amounts of heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere have been increased. By
increasing the amount of these gases, humankind has enhanced the
warming capability of the natural greenhouse effect. It is the human-induced
enhanced greenhouse effect that causes environmental concern. It has the
potential to warm the planet at a rate that has never been experienced in
human history."
" The
increase in temperature was not constant, but rather consisted of warming and
cooling cycles at intervals of several decades."
*************************************************************************************************************
Broecker, W.S.
2001. Glaciers That Speak in Tongues and other tales of global warming.
Natural History 110 (8): 60-69.
A Conservative commentary from the Center for the Study of Carbon Dioxide and
Global Change:
The
Little Ice Age, a period (Broecker) refers to as "a cold episode that ran
from about 1300 to 1860."
.....roughly half the overall warming since 1860 occurred before carbon dioxide
(CO2) emissions from human activities had reached significant levels.
......The most recent of such (warm) episodes, of course, would be the Medieval
Warm Period (another climatic phenomenon the climate alarmists are wroth to
recognize) and before that the Roman Warm Period.
..... the
concluding words of Broecker, "we can state with some confidence that natural
Holocene temperature fluctuations have been on the same scale as the
human-caused effects estimated to result from greenhouse gases." Hence, as
he continues, "we cannot assume that in the absence of human intervention,
earth's temperatures would have remained stable." Yes, there is absolutely no
way for proponents of CO2 emission regulations to prove their case,
especially when all indications suggest that nothing climatically out of the
ordinary is even on the verge of happening, or, as climate alarmists are
irrationally wont to claim, has already happened. But "does this mean we
can all sit back, do nothing, and wait for the results to roll in?"
Broecker answers his rhetorical question with a Certainly not. We,
however, say Yes, especially with respect to committing the nations of the
earth to mandatory CO2 emissions reductions.
With respect to this difference of opinions, it is important to note that they
are just that, opinions. Broecker bases his on a belief in the adequacy of
current climate models. We base ours on a belief in their inadequacy, as
well as the weight of evidence discussed above, plus the likelihood we will need
all the atmospheric CO2 we can muster in the years ahead to prevent the
catastrophic shortages of food and water that will otherwise likely materialize
(see our Editorials of 1 October 1999, 1 February 2000, 15 November 2000, 21
February 2001, 2 May 2001, 13 June 2001).
Although we thus disagree with Broecker on what he thinks we should be doing
about the ongoing rise in the air's CO2 content, we have not the slightest doubt
about the sincerity of his expressed belief. And we have nothing but the
greatest admiration for his scientific insight and integrity. If everyone
on both sides of the issue were as forthcoming as he is with respect to these
matters, it would be a far, far better world.
*********************************************************************************************
Other "Global Warming" data sources
*********************************************************************************************
July 2003
Shaviv, N.J.
and Weizer, J., 2003. GSA Today, Celestial driver of Pherozoic climate?, 13, 7.
p. 4-10. Phanerozoic
climatic indicators and reconstructed pCO2 levels, Figure 1.
Abstract: "...analyze the reconstructed seawater paleotemperature record for the
Phanerozoic ... , and compare it with the variable cosmic ray flux (CRF)
reaching Earth and with the reconstructed partial pressure of atmospheric CO2
(pCO2). ....at least 66% of the variance in the paleotemperature trend
could be attributed to CRF variations likely due to solar system passages
through the spiral arms of the galaxy. ...We propose a tentative upper limit to
the long-term "equilibrium" warming effect of CO2, one which is
potentialy lower than that based on general circulation models."
"the global climate possesses a stabilizing negative feedback. A likely
condidate for such a feedback is cloud cover (Lindzen, 1997; Ou, 2001). If so,
it would imply that the water cycle is the thermostat of climate dynamics,
acting both as a positive (water vapor) and negative (clouds) feedback, with the
carbon cycle "piggybacking" on, and being modified by the water cycle (Neumani
et al, 2002; Lovett, 3002; Lee and Veizer, 2003)."
But.....
*********************************************************************************************
The other concern - Pollution and Health:
November 23, 2002
on Quirks & Quarks: When Smoke Ran Like Water:
Over the past few
decades, you could say that we've made enormous gains in linking environmental
pollution to human health problems. We've taken the lead out of gasoline and
paint; we've restricted or banned smoking in airplanes and most
public buildings; we've put catalytic converters on cars; we've taken asbestos
out of our walls. But according to Dr. Devra Davis, governments and
industry have consistently ignored or even discredited the link between
pollution and
health. In her new book, she documents a long
history of "death by contaminants", and calls for a new war against
environmental deception. |
RETURN TO TOP
Last
revised: 09/04/25
16 December 2005 at 6:17 PM
Re #116:
"as the graphs of Jouzel are too coarse, I have put the Vostok trends of the Eocene period on the net here, and added a (rough) trend for the temperature based on the delta-D correction. The corrected temperature trend indeed stays a longer time at higher levels, but goes faster down and still is near its minimum, before CO2 starts to decrease. While the overall correlation temperature - CO2 is higher with this correction, the correlation temperature - CH4 gets much worse…"