Galway Geological Assoc (GGA)

Sections of the Castlecomer coal-field by GH Kinahan (GSI, 1859)

Detail from Sections of the Castlecomer coal-field by GH Kinahan (GSI, 1859) and rock specimen exhibiting a geological fault (lent by James Mitchell Museum, University of Galway)

Illustrations of Carboniferous limestone fossils, Aran Islands by Conor MacDermot (GSI; ca. late 1970s)

Folding in migmatite rock (lent by James Mitchell Museum, University of Galway

Arts & Science meet at www.galwayartscentre.ie/whats-on/cur... in #GalwayArtsCentre. Fine exhibits on display lent by #IMMA, @geolsurvie.bsky.social, & #HeritageCollections & #MitchellMuseum @uniofgalway.bsky.social. Iconic names (#geologists) incl. GH Kinahan, GF Mitchell, C MacDermot, T Robinson

#FossilFriday February 26, 1779, birthday of German-British naturalist Johann Samuel Müller, also known as John Samuel Miller.
In 1801 he emigrated to the U.K., becoming an accountant in Bristol. There he started collecting fossils, self-publishing a monumental work on sea lilies (crinoids)
...

New Tellus map covering the region about the river Shannon Estuary, Western Ireland. Kindly provided by Victoria Kavanagh (on behalf of Tellus, Geological Survey of Ireland) [February 2026]

#GGA (Galway Geological Association) Zoom lecture: Advances on geochemical data collection - Tellus programme, on Tuesday, 10 Feb, 2026 at 7 pm.
Speaker: Victoria Kavanagh (on behalf of Tellus, GSI).
Map kindly provided by VK @geolsurvie.bsky.social
For link email: galwaygeology@gmail.com

Portrait of Mary Anning wearing a green cloak and straw bonnet, holding a hammer and with a basket over her arm.

Extract from a newspaper: 'Mary Anning, a female in humble lite, residing at Lyme Regis having by great industry and perseverance attained considerable proficiency in the science of Geology, was lately, by the sudden death of a gentleman to whom she had entrusted, without receiving any acknowedgement, a small property of about £200, the fruits of her savings, to invest for her in the most advantageous manner reduced to straitened circumstances, while her health was impaired from the hardship to which she had exposed herself, and the distress of mind consequent on her loss. A number of the most distinguished members of the Geological Society, Messrs. Lyell, Murchison, Drs. Buckland and Bostock, Colonel Sykes &c., interested themselves very much for this meritorious individual, and represented her case to Lord Melbourne with a view to obtain a small pension for her. His Lordship found, on inspecting the pension list, that it was full; and considering that Mary Anning is one of those individuals on whom it was intended that the public bounty should be bestowed, he ordered £300 to be granted to Trustees to be disposed of in the manner which they might conceive best adapted for securing to her some provision for her declining years'

February 1836: newspapers across the country report that #MaryAnning, defrauded of her savings, had been awarded £300 from the government after her friends at the Geological Society lobbied the Prime Minister. With a further £200 they had collected in Dublin in 1835, this gave her an annuity of £25.

Booleying in Ireland. A study of an ancient farming tradition in Achill, County Mayo BY Theresa McDonald Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2025 ISBN 1036447448, 9781036447441 331 pp; 10 Chapters + bibliography & index No. of illustrations: 116 – line drawings, photos incl. ‘old photographs’ cf. Lawrence Collection, archaeological drawings, graphs. Recent colour photographs No. of tables: 6 Front cover illustration: 'A Home in Achill’ 1905. Francis Sylvester Walker’s late nineteenth century watercolour of a booley house somewhere on Achill Island (© National Library of Ireland, 62911)

Dr Theresa McDonald (author of: Booleying in Ireland. A study of an ancient farming tradition in Achill, County Mayo) Dr Kieran O’Conor (PhD supervisor; Archaeology, University of Galway) Professor Jim McAdam (editor of the volume; emeritus Queen’s University Belfast) Professor Michael O’Connell (launched the volume; emeritus University of Galway) Location: National Museum of Ireland, Country Life at Turlough, Castlebar, Co. Mayo

Pleased to do honours at launch of ‘Booleying in Ireland’ by Theresa McDonald. Anything you will ever wish to know re. #booleying #transhumance in Achill & beyond is here. Fruits of years of interdisciplinary research @universityofgalway.bsky.social @globalgalway.bsky.social @nmireland.bsky.social

Great looking forward to #GGA lecture by Bernd Zolischka on Thursday 7pm. The Eifel volcanic field is spectacular; easily reached but also easily missed (nr Andernach on Rhine). Ash (#tephra) deposits from Laachersee eruption ca. 12900 y ago spread far & wide; local deposits an impressive sight

Lake coring can be fun especially in fine weather but, as photo 2 shows, it can also require grit and brawn. Photos kindly provided by Professor Berndt Zolischka, University of Bremen

#GGA Z Lecture, Thursday, 22 January at 19.00 h
‘The Eifel volcanic field, Germany: type-location of "maars”, archives of exceptional palaeo records’
BY Prof. Dr. Bernd Zolitschka, Institute of Geography, @unibremen.bsky.social. For link email: galwaygeology@gmail.com. @quaternaryirl.bsky.social

Happy New Year! At midnight on Hogmanay, the Watch Stone will move from its position guarding the approach to the Ness of Brodgar to take a drink from Stenness loch. (Or so it is said!) Wishing you all a wonderful 2026, filled with folklore, fun and many a hike to an ancient site 💚🪨🎉

An aerial view of the round tower and remains of the early monastery on Devenish Island, I loved visiting there this year

The twelve itineraries we made this year, they are: the Ring of Kerry, Inis Oírr, Lough Gur, Howth Peninsula, Galway City, Leitrim, South Mayo, Roscommon, Fermanagh Lakelands, the Liberator Trail that follows in the footsteps of Daniel O'Connell, and the Ards Peninsula

It’s been so great to see the Tuatha community grow over the past year!

Here's a short thread of some of what we've been up to:

This year has seen the production of twelve brand new itineraries, helping you to explore landscapes like the Ards Peninsula, Galway, the Fermanagh Lakelands, and more.

It is indeed a fascinating account. Well worth a close read

Spectacular folding in Carboniferous limestone & shale strata in beautiful Loughshinny. Photos by Emer, December 31, 2025

Aithbhliain for shéan is fé mhaise daoibh uile. Happy New Year
Earlier today in Loughshinny, nr. Skerries, Co. Dublin

The vibrant magnificence of #Earth: 22 breathtaking images from the 2025 #Landscape #Photographer of the Year awards.
#landscapephotography #photography

Be sure to take a look at all the amazing #photos by following this link: www.popsci.com/environment/...

Merry Christmas / Nollaig shona / & Happy New Year / Aithbhliain faoi shéan is faoi mhaise díobh uile

Scan of front cover, CGA geology calendar 2026 showing participants on Carboniferous rock platform on western shore, near Poll na bPéist, Inis Mór, 28 May, 2025

Scan of back cover, CGA geology calendar 2026 showing participants climbing towards Dún Aonghasa (large Bronze Age fort) on cliff location, Inis Mór; in background Galway Bay and Connemara. 28 May, 2025

2026 calendar by @corkgeological.bsky.social. Spendid photographs of geological structures, fossils, etc. from #Ireland & further afield. Several photos featuring memorable CGA/GGA trip to #Árainn (#InisMór), #AranIslands, led by @johnjfwalsh.bsky.social. @geolsurvie.bsky.social

A promotional image for our Inis Oírr Itinerary featuring two of the featured sites and part of the illustrated map

The past is always present on the beautiful island of Inis Oírr. This is just one of the wonderful wealth of monuments that are featured on our itinerary, available now for Tuatha Members.

Not a member yet? Start your Irish archaeological adventure today!
www.tuatha.ie/join/

November 22, 1842, contemporary sources describe clouds of ash "rolling up in great masses, wreathing as smoke from a pipe does, but on an enormous scale" over Washington and Oregon - one of the early documented eruptive episodes of St. Helens (who repeated this spectacle 138 years later)🌋

You responsible for wielding the sledgehammer, @nigelmonaghan-nh.bsky.social?

Nice to see Emain Macha / Loughnashade highlighted. A fine place to visit at any time of year. Photos taken on a fine June day 2015 during a visit to the Centre & this impresssive site. All the more memorable on account of the expert guidance by Prof Jim Mallory of @qubelfastofficial.bsky.social

#GGA lecture this evening at 7 pm: The Ethics of Mineral Extraction by Dr Nick O'Neill. The subject matter has seldom been more topical 😳

The entrance hall of this building is decorated with a series of numbered panels displaying marbles and decorative stones quarried in Ireland.

The entrance hall of this building is decorated with a series of numbered panels displaying marbles and decorative stones quarried in Ireland.

An example of a black ‘marble’ from Galway figured with a white fossil coral

A panel of green Connemara marble.

Panels of Irish ‘Marble’ in the foyer of what is now the Department of Justice in Dublin. Stunning example of #urbangeology

Gases emerging inside Vesuvius crater

Complex stratigraphy inside Vesuvius crater

Volcanic ash & large boulder beside path to crater

Bay of Naples from near top of Vesuvius

Climbed to the crater of #Vesuvius yesterday. Amazing to see gases emerging & smell S. Unfortunately, no explanations of the complex stratigraphy. Vegetation struggling to gain a foothold on the Volcanic deposits. Panoramic views of the Bay of Naples

Farming side by side with nature in an upland region of Teneriffe, although this type of farming is clearly on the decline.
Curaíocht traidisiúnta i sléibhte Teneriffe. Cuireann sé i gcuimhne dhom sléibhte Conamara beagán, tá fiú raithneach ag fás sna áiteanna nach bhfuil curtha níos mó...

Photo by NASA/Bill Anders - http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/alsj/a410/AS8-14-2383HR.jpg, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=306267

Tuesday, 11 Nov, 19:00 h, #GGA Zoom lecture: The Ethics of Mineral Extraction by Dr Nick O'Neill, #TCD. Earthrise (Dec 24 1968), by Bill Anders (NASA, Apollo 8), shows earth as a fragile blue marble in blackness of space. It inspired the 1st Earth Day 1970 & this lecture. www.galwaygeology.net

Two stone idols, both depicting a bearded man, set in a cemetery on Boa Island in County Fermanagh.

In today's edition of our free #MonumentMonday newsletter, we take a trip to Boa Island on Lough Erne to visit two of the most enigmatic characters in Irish archaeology.

Although I can't be at today's @geolassoc.bsky.social event, my biography of Mary Anning, 'The Fossil Woman A Life of Mary Anning' which was published by The Dovecote Press five years ago today, will be there, available from the @hoggroup.bsky.social stand.

Not to be missed: public lecture on lives of the last Neanderthals by Prof Clive Finlayson, internationally renowed expert on Neanderthals & their role in human evolution - THIS EVENING 18:00h @uniofgalway.bsky.social

The tall round tower of Glendalough surrounded by autumn foliage

There are few places to match Glendalough in October 🍂

What a beautiful day at one of my favourite places!

A welcome reprieve from politics and sleep deprivation.

Screenshot of part of a scanned page from a 19th century scientific journal. Text reads: "Now it appears that, in the present order of things, certain changes do go on, both in the position of portions of the earth, and in the forms of certain organised beings. The volcano and the earthquake are seldom long idle; the ocean is an unremitting assailant of the solid earth; the countless host of streams and showers second his attack, on the other side, by efforts formidable from their multitude and perseverance. The coast yields; the crest of the mountain descends; large tracts of the earth tremble and change their elevation: the volcanic island lifts its head above the waves. Here, at least, are some elements of mutations in the form of the earth and of the bed of the sea. The more we examine such causes, the more constant the more extensive, the more powerful, does their operation appear. In the course of progressive ages, what effects may they not produce? And what limit are were to place to the time during which their work has proceeded? We know that this past period must be long; we know not how long. Who shall prove to use that the forces which we ourselves witness are too weak, or unfit, to produce all the facts of position which the earth's crust exhibits? Such is the reasoning of the advocate of the geological adequacy of the existing dynamical laws of the world."

Reading William Whewell's 1832 review of Lyell's Principles of Geology, Vol 2, in which he coined "uniformitarianism", and I just love this passage summarizing what in many modern geological textbooks would describe as the principle of uniformitarianism.

babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hv...

BGS' GeoIndex viewer has been given a major upgrade and is available as a beta release.

It includes core geological data layers, such as 625K- and 50K-scale digital geological mapping and borehole datasets, to allow for focused user testing.

Visit the app: geoindex.bgs.ac.uk?_ga=2.224738...