The Fred Broadhurst Plesiosaur Appeal

Geologists' Association Consultation

• take up a role in the management and planning of Earth Heritage;
• have representation on the Earth Heritage Editorial Board;
• contribute to the content of the magazine, either through provision of agreed articles or through an allocation of page space;
• be able to distribute the pdf versions free-of-charge to all Geologists' Association members;
• receive electronic versions of all back-issues of Earth Heritage
• have the right to print and sell printed versions of Earth Heritage to generate income for the Geologists' Association.

1. Would you be interested in receiving free pdf versions of Earth Heritage?
2. Would you be prepared to pay a small charge (~£5.00-10.00 per issue) to receive printed copies of Earth Heritage?
3. Would you support future GA involvement in the production of Earth Heritage?

Trilobite Poem

Agnostus' Tale by A O'B

I'll tell you a tale of Agnostus,
A trilobite skinny and small,
Who spent all his life bumpin' into things,
Cause he hadnt got no eyes at all!

Now, Agnostus he were a little chap,
5mm from his head to his toe,
And in Iapetus he burrowed around,
Not seeing where he should go.

It were Cambrian time period in Britain,
An' folks were few, far and between.
Brachiopods, corals, some sponges
Were mainly all to be seen.

In those days the UK were divided,
The North and South split, it were clear;
The North had all the swinging, young rockers
Whilst the South just had flat, lousy beer.

Now feelin' alone and dejected
Agnostus decided a quest -
To search out a loving companion
And together set up a love nest.

He'd heard of Paradoxides,
A lady with long pleural spines,
And was determined that he should meet her,
With seismic ideas on his mind.

But Paradoxides lived up in North Scotland
And from the South that's an ocean away;
Two thousand miles were between them
(and without the M1 motorway).

So leaving the Irish Sea Platform,
From Eurasia Agnostus set forth,
To dig the first channel tunnel,
Avoiding the Midlands of course.

Propelled by turbidity currents
Agnostus was borne on his way.
Off t'shelf, down the rise, and, despite lack of eyes,
He reached t'abyssal plain by midday

He journeyed past seamounts and guyots,
Though these were last on his mind,
With no worry of nodules and oozes,
As he missed 'em because he were blind.

By 530 Ma he reached t'other side,
After scaling the Mid Ocean Ridge.
It were mad to burrow through hard basalt rock.
Why hadn't he thought of a bridge?

Upon reaching t'shores of North Scotland,
Agnostus began t'search for his mate.
But, alas, he just couldn't find her.
Trust a woman to be late for a date!

He sought her here, he sought her there,
He sought Paradoxides everywhere.
Was she in Devon? Or up Scafell?
That darned elusive tinkerbell.
(Well you try rhyming something with Scafell!!)

At last after two months of searching,
He reached Paradoxides lair,
And entered in anticipation
But, paradoxically, found she weren't there.

Ordovician superseded the Cambrian,
And time for Agnostus was short.
Paradoxides died out in mid-epoch.
Would he be the next to be caught?

The journey back home it went smoothly.
Yes, surely at last he were home.
But he spoke much too fast and was gone in a flash,
Shot straight down a subduction zone.

The moral of this tale, it is simple.
After studying Geology for nigh on two years,
We still don't know much about fossils and rocks...
But you can't tell us 'owt about beers!

Using the Moine Excursion Guide

Cardiff Senedd

America beckons