D of E bronze expedition : 'reading' the landscape

The D of E bronze practice expedition has seen me out in the hills north of Dunkeld over the last couple of days. Apart from the anticyclonic weather which you can read about on 'Geography: My Place and Yours', I had lots of time to observe the landscape and 'do' geography. Reading any landscape and trying to explain how features were formed is not a precise science -you have to look for clues and draw on your knowledge of geomorphology to interpret those clues.

Having almost completed the Higher course, you should all be able to look at the loch called Children's Loch above and make some suggestions about how it might have been formed. Here is what it looks like on the 1:25000 map...

Image reproduced with kind persission of the Ordnance Survey
It is likely that the neighbouring Dubh Loch was created in the same way. Clue.. glaciation, retreating ice....

Just to the south are three other small lochs - Dowally Loch, Rotmell Loch and Mill Dam...

Image reproduced with kind permission of the Ordnance Survey

I don't think their origin is the same as Children's Loch. If you look at the map, you can see that they lie in a very straight line. That's quite unusual and I reckon it has something to do with the structural geology of the area. There is a broad broad fracture zone in this area associated with the Highland Boundary Fault and so I think these lochs could be occupying a fault-guided valley. Glaciation, however, could also have fashioned the valley . As you can see below, the south eastern end of Rotmell has a strange shoreline...

A ramp of smooth rock rises gently from the water's edge before dropping away in a steep, craggy slope in the downvalley direction..

There has almost certainly been abrasion and plucking going on here - abrasion as the ice came down the valley, digging out the hollow later to be occupied by the loch and then grinding its way up an outcrop of hard rock lying in the valley before plucking away at the down-ice side as the pressure was released. Hopefully this is ringing some bells?!!

Closed due to earthquake!

Closed due to EARTHQUAKE

If you have been listening to the news today, you should be able to work out where this photo was taken. (Incidentally, there is no truth in the rumour that the gentleman in the photo fell out of bed at 08.19!)

And in case you are wondering what possible connection this might have to Higher Geography, read this and go back to this posting on the blog.

Malaria Awareness Day 2007

I heard quite by chance on the radio this morning that today is malaria awareness day. It seems that George Bush is making a lot of mileage out of his support for worldwide campaigns to eradicate the disease. You know that Google is American when you put 'malaria awareness day' into their search and the first few hits are all about George Bush!!

However.... if you scroll down beyond the White House propaganda, you will find some very good links to information about malaria. Try it and see!

Top of the list, after the White House, is the No More Malaria campaign.. (click on the banner above to link). On this website, you can access some good educational resources about malaria, and in particular, methods of controlling the disease. Some other 'celebrities have also been getting in on the act..

Click on the image to hear what David Beckham has to say about the campaign.


Roll Back Malaria, the WHO campaign to control and eradicate malaria has also dedicated website coverage to malaria awareness day.. (again, click to link)In their words..."Africa Malaria Day is every year commemorated on 25 April. This day has been set aside by African governments committed to rolling back malaria and meeting the United Nations malaria-related Millennium Development Goals. It is, therefore, an opportunity for the RBM Partnership to show solidarity with African countries battling against this scourge by supporting several events and activities around the world."

And, if you really want to read about what the White House has to say on the subject, you can read about it here!

Another perspective on the Chinese one child policy...

Here is a good ten minute video clip (Higher cost of a lower population) which looks at the history and the legacy of the one child policy in China...


Another consequence of the policy - the gender imbalance - is also explored in this video clip.

Japan's Ageing Population

Here are a couple of resources which appeared in yesterday's 'Guardian Unlimited' on-line...

If you click on the image above, you will link to an audio slideshow which examines some of the problems facing the world's greyest population. And on the same page, you can read an article called "Japan's age-old problem." I'm sure I don't need to tell you how relevant these resources might be!

Da Vinci's code!

"We know more about the celestial bodies than the soil underfoot"

Hopefully, as we continue our work on soils, you can say 'speak for yourself' to da Vinci! Here are some extra resources to help you get to grips with that stuff beneath your feet.

Firstly, you might like to revisit the Macaulay Institute website which I flagged up last term in this posting ..
It is now time to follow up the links to Podsols, Brown Earths and Gleys and to download the materials which are available there.

This second resource also has a wealth of soils-related information and activities....
If you click on the image above, you will link to the secondary pages where there is a list of relevant topics in the left hand side bar.

Finally, here is a school website which I haven't told you about yet..
It is probably one of the best Geography Department websites around with vast quantities of information relating to all the courses they run. You should be aware that although the structure of the curriculum differs in England, most of the topics taught in Geography departments are the same as north of the border. So, if you browse the Wycombe High website(click banner above to link) you will find much which is familiar. You might like to start with their comprehensive list of soils animations . (1-7 and 10 are most relevant)

I started this posting with a quote about soils so here's a few more with which to conclude...
"There can be no life without soil and no soil without life" Charles Kellogg (of Corn Flakes fame)
"The nation that destroys its soil destroys itself" Franklin Roosevelt (US President in the wake of the Dust Bowl events)
"Dirt's a lot more fun when you add water" Dennis the Menace (Dundonian juvenile delinquent )

'G' day minus 43

The holiday is very nearly over and it is now time to turn our minds to the approaching exams. The Higher Geography exam is six weeks tomorrow or just 43 days away. But don't panic - there is a lot you can do in 43 days!

You might like to start be having a look at this 'Atmosphere Unit in a Nutshell' presentation which Ollie Bray, Depute Head at Musselburgh Grammar School has kindly produced....


It is a long presentation so I suggest you perhaps divide it up into sections and use them to help as you revise the main topics within the Atmosphere Unit.

The Alps from the air...and from the ground

As promised in my posting from Valmorel last week, here are some of the photos which I took while skiing in the Alps last week. As you can see, the persistent high pressure brought day after day of blue skies and stunning views...

Valmorel is in the Tarentaise valley, lying just to the west of the Three Valleys skiing area and the more well known resorts of Val Thorens, Meribel and Courchevel. From the Col du Mottet above Valmorel you can look south east along the whole chain of the Haute Tarentaise..

And if you have a mind to, you can see some pretty good glacial and periglacial features. You shouldn't have too much difficulty in spotting the glacial trough, truncated spurs, hanging valleys and frost shattered peaks in the panorama above.
Turn around and look in the other direction and here's what you can see.....a corrie (or cirque as they would call it in that part of the world) with the lip clearly visible and aretes flanking the sides.

Valmorel's location means that when you get high enough, you look north east towards Mont Blanc..Sometimes, believe it or not, I just take photos because I like the view! So, no famous peaks or prominent glacial features in the next two...

Some nice interlocking spurs here on the left mindyou!

And finally, just to prove that I did get up in that microlight (see last posting), here are a few of the images I managed to snap .....

The last time I'd seen that building on the right, my feet had been on the ground and there had been huskies

'parked' outside it!

Enjoy the remainder of your holiday. I hope that you are managing to get some revision done and also enjoy the fine weather. The blog will get back to more serious matters next week!

Greetings from Valmorel

As promised, here is a postcard from my holiday! I trust those of you back in Scotland are doing a bit of revision but having some down time as well. We have a few weeks of hard work ahead of us in the run-up to the exams so a bit of r and r is needed now.

Here in the French Alps the weather, the scenery and the skiing are simply stunning...... and have I ever seen some scenery today!! It was such a fabulous day I went for a flight in a microlight - just me, a pilot, a pair of flimsy wings and a lawnmower motor! I soared like a bird at 3000m above the Alps over corries, aretes, pyramid peaks and U shaped valleys. It was an experience of a lifetime. In between hyperventilating (I am not a good flier tho' after today, I may be cured!)I hope to have some good pics for you which I will add to the blog next week.

Enjoy the rest of your holiday.