CSES/ARU Christmas Lecture : Ice Age Essex

Ian and Ros aim to help you dig into a story of time, climate, ice – and a movable river. They reveal a story of climate change across Essex by looking into landscapes in and around the county. We are in the middle of a long Ice Age, a sequence of many jumps in climate between warm and very cold. The greatest impact of rivers upon the landscape is during times of cold, when spring thaws create huge torrents of water. River-bed gravels have been deposited while the land has been rising constantly throughout this time: ‘staircases’ of gravel terraces are seen in the landscape. For a short interval, an ice sheet covered most of Essex and left a layer of ‘till’ across the county. Discover your own evidence in rocks and pebbles, in the land, at the seaside – and even in church walls. The landscape will change again many times as climate continues to oscillate: see the future of Essex.

Ian and Ros are retired geologists who can’t stop talking about landscapes and rocks. They both gained degrees in geology in the same year, at Birkbeck, University of London. Ian worked for the Geological Survey and Museum and then the Gemmological Association as Director of Education. Ros worked as a geophysicist and petroleum geologist, on seismic interpretation for North Sea oil, and later became a teacher of geology and physics. They have travelled around the UK and the world to catch sight of many geological wonders - from jade to gravel. They found plenty of gravel back home in Essex and now like to help people wonder why it’s here!

To reserve places for your students please send an email to contact@cses.org.uk stating which session(s) you prefer(AM, PM, EITHER OR BOTH), how many students you wish to bring, and their year groups.

We are also able to offer tours of the ARU facilities to a limited number of students with each session! This will mean that it becomes a full day event with the lecture in the morning and the tour in the afternoon, or vice-versa, with a lunch break between*. If you wish to take part in the tour please also indicate this on your email.

* Students will need to bring a packed lunch or purchase food from the ARU canteen.