Annotated record of the detailed examination of Mn deposits from the R/V Rig Seismic Cruise 11 (BMR 66) in 1986 over the Great Australian Bight Basin area

Late Cretaceous and younger sediments dredged from the upper continental slope and canyon walls in the Great Australian Bight Basin between 126° and 136°E broadly confirm the stratigraphy which had been established previously from scattered exploration wells. Late Cretaceous to Early Eocene marine and marginal marine terrigenous sediments are overlain by Middle Eocene and younger pelagic carbonate (fine limestone and calcareous ooze). The samples provide the first evidence of truly marine Maastrichtian sedimentation, with abundant calcareous nannoplankton, on the southern margin of the continent. Other samples of interest include Precambrian sheared granodiorite on the upper slope south of Eyre Terrace, Paleocene phosphatic sediment in 'Eucla' Canyon at 128° 30'E, and terrigenous Early Miocene mudstone at 133° 20' and 134° 50'E. The mudstone is of note as an exception to the uniform pelagic carbonate wackestone and ooze which characterise Middle Eocene and younger sedimentation at all other sites. Fragments of alkali basalt lava of unknown age were recovered in 'Eucla' Canyon. Cores are mostly pelagic calcareous ooze, but those from submarine canyons include terrigenous turbidites.

Upper-Pleistocene terrace deposits in Mediterranean climate: geomorphological and source-rock control on mineral and geochemical signatures (Betic Cordillera, SE Spain)

Mineral and chemical composition of alluvial Upper-Pleistocene deposits from the Alto Guadalquivir Basin (SE Spain) were studied as a tool to identify sedimentary and geomorphological processes controlling its formation. Sediments located upstream, in the north-eastern sector of the basin, are rich in dolomite, illite, MgO and KB2BO. Downstream, sediments at the sequence base are enriched in calcite, smectite and CaO, whereas the upper sediments have similar features to those from upstream. Elevated rare-earth elements (REE) values can be related to low carbonate content in the sediments and the increase of silicate material produced and concentrated during soil formation processes in the neighbouring source areas. Two mineralogical and geochemical signatures related to different sediment source areas were identified. Basal levels were deposited during a predominantly erosive initial stage, and are mainly composed of calcite and smectite materials enriched in REE coming from Neogene marls and limestones. Then the deposition of the upper levels of the alluvial sequences, made of dolomite and illitic materials depleted in REE coming from the surrounding Sierra de Cazorla area took place during a less erosive later stage of the fluvial system. Such modification was responsible of the change in the mineralogical and geochemical composition of the alluvial sediments.

Session organiser/chair: The architecture of coal and other energies

Coal ignited the industrial revolution. An organic sedimentary rock that energized the globe, transforming cities, landscapes and societies for generations, the importance of ‘King Coal’ to the development and consolidation of modernity has been well-recognised. And yet, as a critical factor in the production of modern architecture, coal—as well as other forms of energy—has been mostly overlooked.

From Appalachia to Lanarkshire, from the pits of northern France, Belgium and the Ruhr valley, to the monumental opencast excavations of Russia, China, Africa and Australia, mining operations have altered the immediate social and physical landscapes of coal-rich areas. But in contrast to its own underground conditions of production, the winning of coal, especially in the twentieth-century, has produced conspicuously enlightened and humane approaches to architecture and urbanism. In the twentieth century, educational buildings, holiday camps, hospitals, swimming pools, convalescent homes and housing prevailed alongside model collieries in mining settlements and areas connected to them. In 1930s Britain, pit head baths—funded by a levy on each ton produced—were often built in the International Style. Many won praise for architectural merit, appearing in Nicholas Pevsner’s guides to the buildings of England alongside cathedrals, village manors and Masonic halls as testimonies to the public good.

The deep relationships between coal and modernity, and the expressions of architecture it has articulated, in the collieries from which it was hewn, the landscape and towns it shaped, and the power stations and other infrastructure where it was used, offer innumerable opportunities to explore how coal produced architectures which embodied and expressed both social and technological conditions. While proposals on coal are preferred, we also welcome papers that interrogate the complexity, heterogeneity and hybridity of other forms of energy production and how these have also interceded into architectural form at a range of scales.