The 11th Glossop Lecture presented by Professor Rory N. Mortimore takes a journey exploring the development of ideas that have led to the remapping of the English Chalk, recognition of an applied lithostratigraphy and fracture stratigraphy, greater understanding of material behaviour and enhanced conceptual models on which numerical models can build.
Advances in technology, particularly borehole geophysics, are considered in the context of acquiring more reliable information on the description and classification of chalk. Key questions the talk will address include ‘What can stop a tunnelling machine in the Chalk?’ and ‘How can the new geology be applied from a borehole to a whole catchment or scheme?’ These ideas are developed in the context of major engineering schemes including
- A27 Brighton Bypass;
- CTRL;
- A303 Stonehenge Tunnel;
- Crossrail;
- Thames Tideway and Lee Tunnels.
Rory Mortimore is Emeritus Professor of Engineering Geology at the University of Brighton, Visiting Professor of Engineering Geology at the University of Leeds and Director of ChalkRock Ltd., a registered company specialising in research, development and applied geology of the Chalk in Europe. He was responsible for teaching geology to civil engineers from 1976-2004, and started the postgraduate and undergraduate degrees in Geology in 1997 at the University of Brighton. Alongside the academic work, which includes over 70 refereed papers, he has 35 years consultancy experience, including contributing to the CTRL, Crossrail and Thames Tideway schemes. This close co-operation with industry led to major U.K. and European funded applied research projects investigating Chalk engineering in road construction, tunnelling, coastal slope instability and groundwater flooding. Rory was the organising Secretary for the 1989 International Chalk Symposium held at Brighton (Chalk, 1990), that brought together the civil engineering, water and petroleum industries and laid the foundations for the CIRIA publication ‘Engineering in chalk’ (2002) of which he is co-author. Making Chalk geology more widely accessible has been a particular concern and led to the jointly authored JNCC publication ‘British Upper Cretaceous Stratigraphy’ (2001).
The 11th Glossop Lecture is preceded by the 2010 Glossop Award presentation by Dougal Mason (Opus International Consultants Ltd.) on ‘Engineering geology for Project Wind Wind, New Zealand.’
A flyer with more information can be downloaded via the link below. Please contact the convenor for more details.
There is no registration or charge to attend the Glossop Lecture. Registration is required for the Glossop Dinner, which includes a three course sit-down meal and wine (additional bottles will be available for purchase). For those who wish to attend the Dinner, please register below or complete the registration form to guarantee a place.
The Glossop Lecture is kindly sponsored by Arup, Atkins, Bachy Soletanche, Mott MacDonald and Whittles Publishing. Please contact the convenor if you are interested in sponsorship opportunities.
