We have a very exciting programme for the autumn session. We begin on October 7th (this Thursday) with Dr. David Martill hunting for dinosaurs in North Africa. His team went into the northern Saharah to research the dinosaur-bearing strata of the Kem Kem. The snow was deep as they crossed the High Atlas and the rivers in the Sahara were swollen. A howling wind was blowing continually from the south and the team were chilled to the bone. Despite this, the expedition was an astounding success. They discovered remains of giant sauropods, theropods, crocodiles, and most excitingly, a new genus and species of toothless pterosaur.
 
On November 4th, Dr. Chris Wood will be talking about the fantastic Red Beds in Northern China. ‘Danxia Red Beds’ (pictured) is a term signifying rocks made up of red-coloured sediments laid down in a continental environment. These types of beds form such iconic places as Ayers Rock in Australia, Monument Valley in the USA, Meteora in Greece, and Petra in Jordan. The term ‘Danxia’ to describe red bed landscapes was first used by Chinese scholars more than 80 years ago. The spectacular Chinese red beds landscapes have remained unknown to world geoscientists until now.
To complete a fantastic series, on December 2nd Dr. Duncan Murdock will be talking about decoding the small shelly faunas and the origin of animal phyla. The so-called ‘Cambrian explosion’, typified by celebrated exceptionally preserved deposits such as the Burgess Shale, is widely regarded as capturing the rapid diversification of all the major groups of animals. However, the real Cambrian explosion plays out as a revolution in the fossil record following the origin of the animal skeleton, represented by the abundant ‘Small Shelly Fossils’ which arise some 30 million years before the Burgess Shale. By examining the fine internal structures of these fossils it is possible to piece together the origin of hard parts in animals, the relationships between some major animal groups and the causes of the Cambrian explosion itself.
 
Please do join us for some or all three of these lectures at BRLSI. We charge visitors £4.00 but, of course, if you join the Society, there is no charge. We will give you some free refreshments anyway! Please visit us on our website, too, at  www.bathgeolsoc.org.uk.