Thursday 5th February 2026
Jack Saxon's fossil fish

Join us for is bound to be a fascinating talk with an extra-terrestrial focus. Divya’s research work focuses on looking at the high titanium and low titanium basalts from the Moon that were brought back from the Apollo 17 and Apollo 15 missions of NASA respectively. She has undertaken analogous field work in Flagstaff, Arizona as part of her research to develop sample collection mechanisms for astronauts on the lunar surface and what possible areas to explore further.

Divya is UK Research and Innovation - Science and Technology Facilities Council Ph.D. fellow in planetary sciences based at the Isotope Geochemistry and Cosmochemistry Group in the Earth and Environmental Sciences department at the University of Manchester. Her doctoral work was aimed to understand lunar volcanism by combining petrographical, computational, and experimental studies of the lunar mare basalts returned from the Apollo 17 mission of NASA. Divya has a research career aiming to expand the understanding of lunar volcanism which could significantly benefit future lunar missions such as the most recent ARTEMIS mission of NASA within a broad interest in geological sciences and the Moon.

Outside her research, she is also keen on science communication and facilitating science and its application outside laboratories to the public, achieved through teaching and outreach activities.

Image copyright: Kurt Hollecher, Union College, EarthMagazine

Despite his passing almost twenty years ago Jack Saxon is a name familiar to many locally, both in terms of his wonderful water colours and his contributions to the fossil fish records of Caithness and Orkney. His outstanding collection of fossil fish has been donated to Castlehill Heritage Centre where a selection of specimens are now on display to the public. Gary will describe some of these fossil fish specimens and reveal their context and meaning to the geology and past environments that underlay most of Caithness, Orkney and beyond some 382-393 million years ago.

Gary will be well known to many of you, as he was a member of the NWGA for many years and a very successful organiser of our meetings. Since moving to Caithness, which is closer to his childhood home, Gary has been able to focus more intensively on the local geology and fossils. Gary is also a regular prizewinning photographer, and recently took third place in the 2025 Geologists' Association Geology Photograhic Competition. He has presented to us before on his palaeontological specialisms, and we are pleased to welcome him back to Conwy.

Image copyright: Richard Cloutier, ResearchGate

In this personal talk Keith will draw together some disparate branches from his current workload, and from his 40 years’ experience. He will outline some of the key risk elements associated with the broadly classified concept of landslide related fatalities in the UK, and offer up for thought, some ideas which outline the the primary risks to the public which might arise in the future.

Keith has some 40 years experience in the broad fields of engineering geology and geotechnical engineering. Much of this work involved slope stability, retaining wall design / remedial work and landslide recovery. Prior to founding his own specialist consultancy (Geotech Nicholls Ltd) in 2024 he worked for (amongst others) Network Rail, Opus International, Hollandsche Beton en Waterbouw, Wardell Armstrong and the Hong Kong Government. Keith is a Chartered Engineer, Fellow of the IM3, Member of the ICE, and of the IQ and a Registered Geotechnical Advisor under the ROGEP scheme.

Image copyright: British Geological Survey

Please join us for a sociable and interesting evening at Pensychnant. There will be short talks and time for socialising. Please feel free to bring something edible to share e.g. savoury nibbles, mince pies (and please mark if it include nuts, wheat etc. if possible).

Contributions
Jonathan: A year in the Field
Plus TBA

Please bring along anything that you would like to discuss or identify.

Diolch!
We Look forward to seeing you there.

Image copyright: Rein Wellhead Equipment

We are delighted to welcome Peter to deliver a talk to the Association. Peter is Professor of Computational Geoscience, Department of Earth, Ocean and Ecological Sciences, University of Liverpool. He has a diverse research interest in sedimentology, sequence and seismic stratigraphy, basin analysis, sea-level change, geological data science, and numerical forward modelling, all using a quantitative approach.

Peter has experience in both academia and industry and is currently an associate-editor for the Journal of Sedimentary Geology, Basin Research and Sedimentologik

Image copyright: Jonathan Wilkins, 2023

Preparing a bid was an exacting process, and if successful, requires that the inscribed area be appropriately managed.

The inscription of The Slate Landscape of Northwest Wales as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2021 was the culmination of a twelve-year project to acknowledge the global significance of the quarries and mines where slate was extracted within the region, as well as the houses of the workers with their families and the slate-carrying transport systems.

This talk explores both the 'before' and 'after' of inscription.

Dr David Gwyn is a Bangor-born archaeologist and historian with a long-standing interest in the Industrial and Modern period. He was advisor to Gwynedd Council on their bid for UNESCO World Heritage status for The Slate Landscape of Northwest Wales. He has a number of publications including "Welsh Slate – Archaeology and History of an Industry" and "Gwynedd, Inheriting a Revolution: The Archaeology of Industralisation In North West Wales".

To help us plan, please let us know if you intend to come with a brief email.
For those attending who are not members of Cymdeithas Daeareg Gogledd Cymru / North Wales Geology Association we ask for a donation of £2 towards venue cost. It will be possible to join on the evening. If you would like the membership form and information on how to pay by BACS, please use the above email link. In association with GeoMôn and University of Bangor GeoSoc.

Image copyright: Jonathan Wilkins, 2024.