28 January 2026 18:30 - 20:00 Conference Room, Redbourn Parish Centre, The Park, Redbourn, nr. St Albans, Hertfordshire, AL3 7LR and online
28 January 2026 | 18:30 - 20:00 | Conference Room, Redbourn Parish Centre, The Park, Redbourn, nr. St Albans, Hertfordshire, AL3 7LR and online
Event details
This free hybrid lecture is presented by the Home Counties North Regional Group of The Geological Society. You can attend in-person at the Conference Room, Redbourn Parish Centre, The Park, Redbourn, nr. St Albans, Hertfordshire, AL3 7LR or online via Zoom.
Please click on the Book Now button to reserve your place via email. Those attending online will be provided with the Zoom link once their place has been confirmed. Please provide your membership number when booking.
The evening commences at 18:30 with refreshments followed by the lecture at 19:00.
Event abstract
In May 2025, a catastrophic debris avalanche destroyed the village of Blatten in the Swiss Canton of Valais, providing a stark illustration of the increasingly dynamic and hazardous conditions emerging in the Alps. This talk examines the ongoing paraglacial adjustments in the Valais, driven by climate change, glacier retreat, and permafrost degradation. Particular emphasis will be on mass-movement processes linked to glacier de-buttressing and the thawing of formerly ice cemented slopes. These phenomena occur in complex alpine metamorphic terrains that exert strong controls on the exogenic processes across the region.
Drawing on two decades of field observations, measurements and sustained undergraduate field engagement, the presentation will address a wide range of mass-movement types: including rock falls, rockslides, rock avalanches (see Figure 1), glacier ice falls, debris flows, and moraine-slope instability (see Figure 2). Methods such as lichenometry and dendrochronology used for dating rock avalanches will be discussed, alongside research into glacial moraine stability informed by recent plant–clast interaction studies.
Dr Tim Sands
Principal Lecturer in geology, physical geography and environmental management within the Geography, Environment and Planning department at the University of Hertfordshire
He provides academic leadership as Programme Lead for the MSc Environmental Management programme; a major, internationally renowned postgraduate degree, distinguished by dual professional accreditation and offered in both full-time and part-time modes.
Dr Sands also serves as Chair of the Board of Examiners for the Initial Year Science programme and leads several advanced modules, including Natural Hazards and Disaster Reduction (Level 6), as well as Water Resources and Integrated Waste and Pollution Management (Level 7). Over the course of his time at the University, he has delivered specialist teaching in applied geology to students in the fields of civil engineering, geology, geography and environmental management. He is currently engaged in collaborative research, investigating the geomorphology and stability of bioengineered glacial moraines in Switzerland.
Dr Sands holds a BSc (Hons) in Engineering Geology & Geotechnics from Portsmouth. Early in his career, he served as a Research Assistant in the Engineering Geology Unit at the Institute of Geological Sciences in London. He subsequently went into industry with Wimpey Laboratories and later joined Wimpey Offshore Engineers & Constructors. His professional practice has taken him to major onshore and offshore projects across Qatar, Brazil, Norway, France, the UK and the North Sea. He completed his PhD at the University of Hertfordshire, researching into the interaction between model bored piles and swelling London Clay.