Deeside (North Wales) thematic geological mapping

This study was commissioned by the Department of the Environment on behalf of the Welsh Office and was funded jointly by the Department of the Environment and the British Geological Survey. Its principal aim was to produce a synthesis of geological information relevant to the planning of land-use and development in the Deeside area of Clwyd (North Wales). The intention is that this report presents that information in a style comprehensible to those involved in planning and development and little geological knowledge is required to be able to use it. Much of the information is provided on a series of seven thematic maps, each of which concentrates on a specific aspect of the geology. In addition to the information contained in the report, sources of other more detailed data are indicated

High precision U-Pb zircon ages for Mesozoic igneous rocks from Hong Kong

Sixteen new high precision U–Pb zircon ages are reported from Jurassic and Early Cretaceous silicic volcanic and plutonic rocks of HongKong. When combined with the existing age dataset, the new ages constrain more tightly the timing of major periods of volcanism and plutonism at 162.6 ± 4.5 Ma, 146.7 ± 1.1 Ma, 143.0 ± 1.0 Ma and 140.8 ± 0.6 Ma. However, two ages of 151.9 ± 0.2 Ma and 148.1 ± 0.2 Ma, from eastern New Territories and southern HongKong indicate additional and therefore more continuous, albeit pulsed, magmatic activity than previously thought

3D attributed models for addressing environmental and engineering geoscience problems in areas of urban regeneration : a case study in Glasgow, UK

The City of Glasgow is situated on and around the lower floodplain and inner estuary of the River Clyde in the west of Scotland, UK. Glasgow’s urban hinterland once was one of Europe’s leading centres of heavy industry, and of ship building in particular. The industries were originally fed by locally mined coal and ironstone. In common with many European cities, the heavy industries declined and Glasgow was left with a legacy of industrial dereliction, widespread undermining, and extensive vacant and contaminated sites, some the infilled sites of clay pits and sand and gravel workings

The geoscience context for Europe's urban sustainability – lessons from Glasgow and beyond (CUSP): preface

In 2007, the proportion of the world’s population living in urban areas exceeded that in rural environments for the first time in history. The global urban population is expected to rise by 66 % by 2050 (UN 2014). This threatens the sustainability of cities, which face huge infrastructure and planning challenges to meet the growing demand for urban living and to provide equitable economic and social benefits as well as environmental protection across communities. The United Nations’ (UN) Sustainable Development Goals acknowledge this in the UN’s Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Of the 17 ‘Global Goals’, Goal 11 in particular focuses on sustainability (to achieve sustainable cities and communities by 2030), and other goals in the Agenda are also relevant to sustainable cities (e.g., Goal 6 addresses clean water and sanitation). Despite these goals, the potential importance, and contribution, of the subsurface to sustainable urban development (a combination of economic, social and environmental factors) is generally poorly appreciated. The importance of the subsurface in relation to sustainable development is exemplified by the general recognition in the construction industry across the UK, Europe and the wider world that insufficient understanding of subsurface ground conditions is a key factor in overspending, project delays, overly conservative design and a barrier to development (e.g., Clayton 2001; Parry 2009; Baynes 2010). To address this, in the city of Glasgow (UK), the British Geological Survey (BGS) has been working in partnership with Glasgow City Council and other organisations over a number of years. Under the Clyde-Urban Super-Project (CUSP), three-dimensional (3D) and four-dimensional (4D) subsurface models and other geoscience datasets (geochemistry, groundwater, engineering geology) have been developed specifically as an aid to planning and development. This Special Issue of the Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of The Royal Society of Edinburgh comprises a collection of papers presented at the Conference on ‘The Geoscience Context for Europe’s Urban Sustainability: Lessons from Glasgow and Beyond (CUSP)’, held in Glasgow, 29–30 May 2014. The Conference attracted delegates from 20 European countries and included over 40 oral and poster presentations, highlighting the challenges in understanding urban ground conditions to aid city regeneration and sustainable development. In addition to showcasing the work of the CUSP project in Glasgow, presentations included examples of urban subsurface characterisation from Germany, the Netherlands and Norway. Thirteen of the conference contributions are presented in this volume. These focus mainly on the CUSP project. CUSP has also been used as an exemplar for other cities in Europe and the wider world. Lessons learnt in Glasgow have been shared especially through the European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) Action (SUB-URBAN: TU1206). This has focused on sustainable urban subsurface use, and transforming relationships between those who develop urban subsurface knowledge and those who can benefit most from it – the planners and developers of the cities of tomorrow. Therefore, SUB-URBAN has mirrored the original intentions, and the achievements, of CUSP and developed them more widely

Urban futures: the sustainable management of the ground beneath cities

Over half of the world's population now live in cities. In 2011 it was estimated that the global population exceeded 7 billion. Pressures on the environment including land use are increasing. The ground beneath cities and the interaction between physical, biological and chemical processes provides natural capital on which society depends. These benefits and the ground properties and processes that support and deliver them can be considered ecosystem services. Characterizing the ground properties on which ecosystem services depend involves a qualitative assessment of positive and negative impacts of proposed urban sustainability solutions, including use of the ground. The sustainability of a proposed solution depends on how the future might unfold. Future scenario analysis allows consideration of the social, technological, economic, environmental and political changes that may determine the ability of a proposed solution to deliver its benefits now and in the future. Analysis of the positive and negative impacts of a proposed use of the ground on ecosystem function, measured against future scenarios of change, can be integrated to deliver strategies for the future management of the ground and the wider environment beneath cities

The ASK Network: developing a virtuous cycle of subsurface data and knowledge exchange

Knowledge of the subsurface is essential in delivering successful construction and regeneration projects. Inadequate understanding of subsurface ground conditions can constrain effective development of urban areas and is a key factor in project delay and overspending. Improving this situation demands much better use, and re-use, of subsurface data and knowledge. The establishment of ASK subsurface data and knowledge exchange network has led to substantial improvements in how urban subsurface data is reported and exchanged between the public and private sectors. Implementation of the GSPEC standardised digital data reporting format has improved the integrity and accessibility of data. ASK and GSPEC are enabling the expansion and exchange of high quality systematic subsurface datasets, improving development of robust 3D ground models which can be used to promote more cost effective and better informed ground engineering investigations, and monitoring and regulation of resources in the urban environment. The work underway in Glasgow is acting as a standard for change, both within the UK and Europe

UKGEOS: Glasgow Geothermal Energy Research Field Site (GGERFS): initial summary of the geological platform

The preferred second UKGEOS site is at Clyde Gateway, in the east end of Glasgow, Scotland. The focus of this, the Glasgow Geothermal Energy Research Field Site (GGERFS), is on characterising and monitoring the subsurface for minewater and hot sedimentary aquifer geothermal energy, and for cooling and heat storage. This report details BGS data and knowledge at late 2016, to define initial characterisation of the ‘geological platform’ relevant for the planning of a geothermal research facility and associated environmental baseline monitoring. The report covers knowledge of the bedrock and superficial deposits geology, abandoned coal mines, hydrogeology, geothermal datasets, geochemistry, remote sensed data, seismicity, stress fields, engineering geology and rock property datasets. BGS holds a great deal of legacy borehole, mining and geochemistry data and has updated existing bedrock and superficial deposits models of the area. However, deep borehole and seismic data are lacking to define the geology and structure of the area below a few hundred metres. Hydrogeological and temperature data are also lacking for the bedrock strata. Regional datasets and knowledge have (and can be further) used to reduce uncertainty and risk in these aspects of the geological characterisation

Creation and delivery of a complex 3D geological survey for the Glasgow area and its application to urban geology

The Glasgow area has a combination of highly variable superficial deposits and a legacy of heavy industry, quarrying and mining. These factors create complex foundation and hydrological conditions, influencing the movement of contaminants through the subsurface and giving rise locally to unstable ground conditions. Digital geological three-dimensional models developed by the British Geological Survey are helping to resolve the complex geology underlying Glasgow, providing a key tool for planning and environmental management. The models, covering an area of 3200km2 to a depth of 1.2km, include glacial and post-glacial deposits and the underlying, faulted Carboniferous igneous and sedimentary rocks. Control data, including 95,000 boreholes, digital mine plans and published geological maps, were used in model development. Digital outputs from the models include maps of depth to key horizons, such as rockhead or depth to mine workings. The models have formed the basis for the development of site-scale high-resolution geological models and provide input data for a wide range of other applications from groundwater modelling to stochastic lithological modelling

PropBase Scoping Study : Murchison House

This report is produced as part of a study (Shaw, 2006), to define the scope of, and assess the priorities for, the PropBase project. The PropBase project is intended to provide information on physical, mechanical, chemical and mineralogical properties of the UK’s rocks and soils, and their interrelationships to enable attribution of the 3D geological model and modelling of the properties themselves, and to obtain a better understanding of how these properties change as a result of geological processes. This reports describes a review, undertaken between March and July 2006, of BGS datasets held and maintained specifically within Murchison House, that may be of potential relevance to PropBase. The report also considers issues related to the potential integration of these datasets, future capture of data, particularly in accepted industry-wide electronic data recording and transfer formats (e.g. AGS and related formats), and the release of the data through PropBase to potential end-users, both internally and externally