Oxford Earth Sciences at the Royal Society Summer Exhibition
A team from Earth Sciences are helping to put on an exhibit called 'Fast and Furious: Witnessing the Birth of Africa's New Ocean' up at the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition
This year marks the 350th anniversary of the Royal Society, and the occasion in being marked with a major science and arts festival at the Royal Festival Hall on the Southbank, London, from 25 June to 4 July. One of the highlights of the festival is the Summer Science Exhibition, which features 26 exhibits from around the country.
A team from Earth Sciences (including Professor David Pyle, DPhil student David Ferguson, and five undergraduate students) are helping to put on an exhibit called 'Fast and Furious: Witnessing the Birth of Africa's New Ocean' (http://bit.ly/cEKEFD). This exhibit will show how an international team of geologists are observing the creation of a new plate boundary, which is opening up along a 60 km long fracture in northern Ethiopia.
Visitors will be able to see a 3D interactive fly-through of the Afar region, examining how the geology changes when the land splits apart. They will be able to compare samples of freshly-erupted basalt and obsidian lava with samples dredged up from the modern Mid-Atlantic Ridge. They will also be able create a rift valley of their own in a sandbox; see for themselves how a modern seismometer can detect earth shaking, and watch the floor beneath their feet trace the formation of Africa's new ocean over the next 50 million years.
David Pyle, is one of the principal investigators on the project. 'One of our goals with this exhibit is to convey the excitement and speed of geology in action. This is one of the largest science exhibitions ever mounted in the UK, and a fantastic opportunity to connect with an audience of all ages'.
The Summer Science Exhibition opens from 6 - 8.30 pm on Friday 25th June, and then runs from 10 am to 8.30 pm every day until Sunday July 4th. Entry is free, and no booking is required, except for groups of 12 or more.
The 'Fast and Furious' exhibit is sponsored by:
Universities of Oxford, Leeds, Bristol, Cambridge and Edinburgh; Oxford's MPLS Division; The University of Addis Ababa; the British Geological Survey; the Curry Fund of the Geologists' Association; the Geological Society of London, the Mineralogical Society, the Volcanic and Magmatic Studies Group, the Royal Astronomical Society, the Natural Environment Research Council and the National Centre for Earth Observation. Sponsors 'in kind' include University of Rochester, University of Durham, GETECH, Imagir (PDF document), Seis UK and National Science Foundation.