"you just look at rocks, and have beards" Perceptions of geology from the UK: a qualitative analysis from an online survey.

In the last few decades, Geology courses, particularly in the Global North, have seen a decline in student enrolment. Geologists have linked this downturn to a lack of exposure to the subject at school and college level. This work seeks to understand the public's relationship with Geology and draws on over 5000 open-ended question responses to a survey disseminated in 2021. The survey asked both those who had, and had not, studied geology as a subject a series of questions in order to explore their perceptions of the discipline. Our findings indicate that individuals 'outside' of geology see the subject as old fashioned, boring, and environmentally damaging; simply the study of rock samples with nothing new to be discovered from; and with poor job prospects outside of the oil and gas industry. Geologists who responded to the survey paint a picture of a broad, interdisciplinary subject, with vibrant employability opportunities yet struggle to coherently and collectively describe this when asked, 'what is geology?'. In addition to the identified perception of geology as boring, and notions of poor employability being a barrier to prospective students, diversity and inclusivity issues are highlighted as significant barriers by those who study geology. Our findings indicate that both geologists and the geology curriculum need to coherently describe what geology is more effectively. We need to develop and better communicate the subject's interdisciplinary nature and links to critical societal issues, such as the role of responsible mineral extraction in the energy transition and the importance of geology in vital areas such as climate change science, water resource management, environmental conservation, and sustainable urban/built development. Finding new ways to show that, far from being boring, geology is a subject that can fundamentally change the way you see and interact with the world around you is of central importance to achieving this. Efforts to make the subject more equitable are also highlighted as being critical in creating a more inclusive and accessible discipline

Temperature gradients across the Pacific Ocean during the middle Miocene

Abstract: Sea surface temperatures (SSTs) of the tropical Pacific Ocean exert powerful controls on regional and global climates. Previous studies have suggested that during warm climate phases, the east‐west temperature gradient collapsed. To date, there has been no high‐resolution reconstruction of sea surface conditions in both the east and west Pacific Ocean during the Miocene Climate Optimum (MCO) and across the middle Miocene climate transition (MMCT); therefore, our understanding of the mean oceanographic state during this major global climatic shift is limited. Here, we present new SST reconstructions for the eastern Pacific Ocean (15.5–13.3 Ma) which show a clear east‐west temperature gradient of ∼4°C during the warmest interval of the Neogene, implying that the oceanographic processes that produce the modern gradient were present and active. There is no shift in the east‐west gradient across the MMCT indicating that the gradient was not impacted by global cooling and ice growth. We find a 2°C sea surface cooling in the eastern equatorial Pacific, that lags the benthic foraminiferal δ18O positive shift by 150 kyr, indicating that tropical temperature did not decrease synchronously with the expansion of the Antarctic ice sheet. Reconstructed variations in the δ18O composition of seawater, determined by combining our Mg/Ca and δ18O records, reveal a freshening in the eastern Pacific Ocean after 13.8 Ma, suggesting changes in the hydrological cycle and in tropical fronts in response to the new icehouse regime

“you just look at rocks, and have beards” Perceptions of Geology From the United Kingdom: A Qualitative Analysis From an Online Survey

In the last few decades, Geology courses, particularly in the Global North, have seen a decline in student enrolment. Geologists have linked this downturn to a lack of exposure to the subject at school and college level. This work seeks to understand the public’s relationship with Geology and draws on over 5,000 open-ended question responses to a survey disseminated in 2021. The survey asked both those who had, and had not, studied geology as a subject a series of questions in order to explore their perceptions of the discipline. Our findings indicate that individuals “outside” of geology see the subject as old fashioned, boring, and environmentally damaging; simply the study of rock samples with nothing new to be discovered from; and with poor job prospects outside of the oil and gas industry. Geologists who responded to the survey paint a picture of a broad, interdisciplinary subject, with vibrant employability opportunities—yet struggle to coherently and collectively describe this when asked, “what is geology?”. In addition to the identified perception of geology as boring, and notions of poor employability being a barrier to prospective students, diversity and inclusivity issues are highlighted as significant barriers by those who study geology. Our findings indicate that both geologists and the geology curriculum need to coherently describe what geology is more effectively. We need to develop and better communicate the subject’s interdisciplinary nature and links to critical societal issues, such as the role of responsible mineral extraction in the energy transition and the importance of geology in vital areas such as climate change science, water resource management, environmental conservation, and sustainable urban/built development. Finding new ways to show that, far from being boring, geology is a subject that can fundamentally change the way you see and interact with the world around you is of central importance to achieving this. Efforts to make the subject more equitable are also highlighted as being critical in creating a more inclusive and accessible discipline

Equity at sea: Gender and inclusivity in UK sea-going science

Today, we can celebrate a strong representation of women in sea-going science in the United Kingdom, providing positive role models for early-career female marine scientists. However, women continue to face challenges to their progression in their marine science careers, especially those who are also members of other under-represented groups. In this article we consider gender equity and equality in participation and leadership in sea-going marine science in the UK, discussing successes and lessons learned for the future. After a brief history of UK women in ocean science, and a summary of some recent advances in gender equality, we look at further areas in need of improvement, and ask whether successes in improved gender equality can be transferred to tackling other forms of under-representation in sea-going science

Geochemical signals in fossil planktonic foraminifera

The stable isotope and trace element geochemistry of planktonic foraminifera is commonly used to reconstruct palaeoclimatic and palaeoceanographic parameters across recent and deeper timescales. However, aspects of their ecology, such as photosymbiont presence, ontogenetic growth and depth habitats, are suggested to alter these proxy signatures. Ecologies are additionally thought to change through time, creating further complications. Therefore, constraining foraminiferal palaeoecology, particularly during epochs which aid us in understanding future climate, is vital, to validate any proxy signals obtained. Two such epochs are the Eocene and Miocene, characterised by temperatures and CO2 levels comparable to a future warmer world. Many species within these periods have unresolved palaeoecologies. This thesis investigates the palaeoecology of multiple Eocene and Miocene planktonic foraminiferal species (from sites with well-preserved specimens) with unresolved palaeoecologies, using δ 13C, δ 18O, Mg/Ca, Sr/Ca and B/Ca. Whole and intra–shell geochemistry is investigated, using a combination of isotope ratio mass spectrometry and high resolution analytical techniques (laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry, electron microprobe analysis). It is shown for the first time that intra-chamber and size-segregated trace element/Ca data do not vary between Eocene foraminiferal species with differing ecologies (except Globigerina cf. bulloides and Pseudohastigerina wilcoxensis). Eocene and Miocene species EMPA data exhibit intra-shell Mg heterogeneity between species with varying depth habitats and photosymbiotic partnerships. Combining EMPA data with size-segregated δ 13C data is shown to be beneficial in distinguishing photosymbiotic species. Lastly, size-segregated δ 13C data from the species Globigerinatheka index indicate that it is possible for planktonic foraminifera to facultatively host photosymbionts in response to unfavourable environmental conditions. Having constrained the ecologies of various Eocene species, discrepancies between their inorganic proxy data are revealed and discussed. Overall, this thesis amplifies the importance of disentangling foraminiferal palaeoecology before constructing long-term downcore records, to mitigate the issues which vital effects can create

Surface ocean cooling in the Eocene North Atlantic coincides with declining atmospheric CO2

The Eocene (56–34 million years ago) is characterised by declining sea surface temperatures (SSTs) in the low latitudes (~4°C) and high southern latitudes (~8-11°C), in accord with decreasing CO2 estimates. However, in the mid-to-high northern latitudes there is no evidence for surface water cooling, suggesting thermal decoupling between northern and southern hemispheres and additional non-CO2 controls. To explore this further, we present a multi-proxy (Mg/Ca, δ18O, TEX86) SST record from Bass River in the western North Atlantic. Our compiled multi-proxy SST record confirms a net decline in SSTs (~4°C) between the early Eocene Climatic Optimum (53.3-49.1 Ma) and mid-Eocene (~44-41 Ma), supporting declining atmospheric CO2 as the primary mechanism of Eocene cooling. However, from the mid-Eocene onwards, east-west North Atlantic temperature gradients exhibit different trends, which we attribute to incursion of warmer waters into the eastern North Atlantic and inception of Northern Component Water across the early-middle Eocene transition