BGS Information & Knowledge Exchange
Lead Research Organisation:
British Geological Survey
Department Name: UNLISTED
Abstract
Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.
Organisations
People |
ORCID iD |
| Neil McCarthy (Principal Investigator) |
Publications
Appleton J
(2013)
Lead bioaccessibility in topsoils from lead mineralisation and urban domains, UK
in Environmental Pollution
Appleton J
(2013)
Geogenic signatures detectable in topsoils of urban and rural domains in the London region, UK, using parent material classified data
in Applied Geochemistry
Appleton J
(2012)
Geogenic control on soil chemistry in urban areas: A novel method for urban geochemical mapping using parent material classified data
in Applied Geochemistry
Appleton JD
(2012)
Anthropogenic and geogenic impacts on arsenic bioaccessibility in UK topsoils.
in The Science of the total environment
Appleton JD
(2011)
Comparison of Northern Ireland radon maps based on indoor radon measurements and geology with maps derived by predictive modelling of airborne radiometric and ground permeability data.
in The Science of the total environment
Beamish D
(2013)
Airborne geophysics: a novel approach to assist hydrogeological investigations at groundwater-dependent wetlands
in Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology
Dearden R
(2013)
Development of a suitability map for infiltration sustainable drainage systems (SuDS)
in Environmental Earth Sciences
Grebby S
(2010)
Lithological mapping of the Troodos ophiolite, Cyprus, using airborne LiDAR topographic data
in Remote Sensing of Environment
| Description | This JISC funded collaborative project between BGS, National Museum Cardiff, Sedgwick Museum, Cambridge, Oxford University Natural History Museum and the Geological Curators Group (representing museums around the country) is truly innovative. The partners' type fossil databases are being combined into a single web portal, together with new high resolution images, anaglyph stereo pairs and representative 3D digital models, obtained from laser scanning selected fossils. The resulting web portal will speed up and improve the quality of research, and will improve techniques for digitising fossils. No digitisation of type fossils has been attempted on this scale before. |
| Sector | Cultural |
| Description | Advising Government through Natural Hazards Partnership |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Participation in a guidance/advisory committee |
| Impact | The Natural Hazards Partnership (NHP), supported by Cabinet Office, brings together expertise within a consortium of public bodies (e.g. government departments and agencies, trading funds and public sector research establishments) in order to deliver more coordinated and coherent scientific advice about natural hazards for UK governments and its resilience community. BGS Co-Chairs one of the four NHP themes, the Hazard-Impact Model (HIM), and leads the work package focussing on landslides within the HIM. The HIM work package builds on partners' existing natural hazard science, expertise and services to deliver fully coordinated impact-based natural hazard advice to Category 1 and 2 responders. The HIM provides the responder community with more targeted information about the likely impact of natural hazard events on society (e.g. people, towns, and infrastructure) which is then used to assist in civil contingency planning and response efforts. The HIM has initially focused on hazards such as surface water flooding, wind and landslides, against information on population and other receptors held by the Health and Safety Laboratory (HSL). Impacts of this work include: • Provision of a consistent source of advice to government (e.g. The Cabinet Office's Scientific Advice Group for Emergencies (SAGE) and Board Room (COBR)) on the likely impacts of natural hazards across the UK. • Cross agency collaboration enabling better quantification of the impacts of multiple natural hazards on society and the environment • Development of strong scientific and technical collaboration with NHP partners. • Delivery of a source of coordinated information on the location and severity of natural hazards and their likely impact on vulnerable populations and assets to category 1 and category 2 responders |
| Description | INSPIRE Involvement |
| Geographic Reach | Asia |
| Policy Influence Type | Participation in a guidance/advisory committee |
| Impact | The Director of Informatics, Matt Harrison, was facilitator for a working group of European Geological Specialist, who worked over many months on the development and delivery of the Natural Risk Zones element to the INSPIRE 34th Thematic Data Specification Document. The draft was published and circulated for consultation around national contact points, before becoming part of INSPIRE law in January 2014. Other members of the Informatics team were involved in the Geology and Minerals chapters of this document. Informatics team member, Tim Duffy acted as the UK representative to INSPIRE Initial Operating Capacity Task Force (IOCTF) Services Team. This placed BGS in influential position regarding the writing of technical guidance for EU INSPIRE for metadata, discovery, view and download services (the future web services for all EU environmental datasets) EU requirements - European Union |
| Description | Improved assessment of groundwater vulnerability using BGS 3D geological models, derived hydro domain maps and BGS technology. |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
| Impact | Three-dimensional geological models have been commissioned by the Environment Agency for several years to assist in the assessment and modelling of groundwater resources. Recently, one of these models has led to a step change in how the Environment Agency investigate aquifer vulnerability, aquifer recharge potential and the interaction between ground and surface waters. Previously the Groundwater Team relied on traditional 2D aquifer vulnerability maps to respond to incidents and build conceptual understanding of the subsurface. However, the use of these maps has now been replaced by the 3D model and derived 2D products created therefrom. The 3D model provides much richer information about the structure of the subsurface in three-dimensions and allows significantly improved conceptualisation of groundwater flow processes. The BGS model is delivered via the LithoFrame Viewer, which is a BGS visualisation and analysis software package. It enables the team to view the models via 2D sections and maps and three-dimensional visualisations. It is used daily for incidence response and provides an essential knowledge base for the Environment Agency Team. It has had major impact on front-line decision making and work continues to deploy the methodology and software at other EA offices. Melissa Swartz (EA Groundwater Technical Specialist) writes: "We commissioned BGS to build two drift geological hydro-domain models for principal aquifers in the North East one as a 2D hydrodomain layer, and the other as a 3D model. Both have improved our conceptual understanding of the aquifers and have provided the best data we have to spatially assess recharge, the pollution risk to groundwater, GW/SW interaction and GW flooding. We have used visual outputs from these layers and models to highlight the risks to groundwater to both internal and external partners. These layers/models help support our regulation of permitted industries, management of groundwater resources, regulation of landfills and assessment of planning applications. We also use this information to help us prioritise our workload." |
| Description | Modelling of soil erosion and sediment transport in the Ganges Basin |
| Geographic Reach | Europe |
| Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
| Impact | The CLiDE landscape evolution and sediment transport model, developed by the BGS Process Modelling team and the Climate Change Directorate, is being used by the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur to simulate erosion and sediment transport processes in the Ganges basin. The Process Modelling team has provided IIT with the software and have been supporting them to apply the models to simulate erosion rates in the Upper Ganges. The model will be used to assess the impact of changing landuse/landcover and climate on catchment erosion and morphology. |
| Description | Modelling to provide advice to Government in response to winter 2013/14 flooding |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Contribution to a national consultation/review |
| Impact | In response to requests for information on flooding from the Government's national emergencies committee (COBRA), received via BGS Groundwater Science Director, the Process Modelling team ran additional simulations of the models that underpin the monthly Hydrological Outlook. These simulations were used to explore two scenarios of potential future changes in groundwater levels between mid-February and the end of April 2014. The models were used to project how groundwater levels across the UK would change given (i) average rainfall conditions and, (ii) the highest rainfall observed in the historic record. The projections were provided to COBRA by the BGS Director of Groundwater Science, Dr Rob Ward. |
| Description | Use of processed resistivity borehole imaging to assess the insoluble content of the massively bedded Preesall Halite, NW England. |
| Geographic Reach | Local/Municipal/Regional |
| Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
| Impact | As natural gas from the North Sea is depleted and imports grow, the lack of storage capacity is endangering the UK's energy security. Elsewhere in the world subsurface gas storage caverns created by solution mining of massive salt deposits have been crucial to solving this. The UK has a number of thick salt deposits which are potentially suitable for such storage, including Cheshire (notably around Wilmslow), the Fylde peninsula near Blackpool, and North Yorkshire / Cleveland. Fresh water is injected under controlled conditions down boreholes drilled into the salt; this is dissolved into brines which are pumped away, creating caverns deep underground which can be used for gas storage. Unfortunately, any insoluble material cannot be pumped out and falls to the base of the cavern reducing the storage volume available. The percentage of insoluble material within the halite is thus a key economic constraint. Until now, conventional downhole sensors (geophysical logs) have been used to identify the insoluble volume, but traditional tools are low (10 cm vertical scale) and resolution and results are inaccurate. BGS and the Halite Energy group have been involved in using newer high-resolution borehole imaging tools in the Triassic Preesall Saltfield of NW England. Using innovative data filtering, new techniques have been developed which allow for more accurate high (mm vertical scale) resolution quantification of the insoluble content. This will limit the need for extensive and expensive coring and thus aid the economics of this industry. |
| Description | Using BGS models and technology to facilitate tunnel construction: an example from Farringdon, Crossrail. |
| Geographic Reach | Local/Municipal/Regional |
| Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
| Impact | GSI3D is a geological modelling software package and methodology, developed by BGS in collaboration with INSIGHT GmbH. A detailed geological model was constructed using this software for the Farringdon area of London (Aldiss et al 2012 http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/20346/). The software and geological model is being used by consultants (the Dr Sauer Group) who are excavating the tunnels which will form Farringdon Crossrail Station. The modelling methodology allows Dr Sauer to update the geological model in real-time as new information and data about the subsurface is obtained from the excavation. This helps the geologists working at Farringdon Station to plan and monitor the excavation process. The main purpose of the modelling is to anticipate faults and sand lenses which might be saturated with water causing a potential hazard to the machines and staff. BGS geologists have been consulted during excavation work to provide expert input to the modelling and conceptualisation of the geology. This is the first time a BGS geological model has been used and iterated directly during a construction project. Reports from Dr Sauer suggest that it has the potential to significantly reduce risks and cost and is likely to have high impact in the industry. Angelos Gakis (Chief Geotechnical Engineer for Dr Sauer Group) has documented the use of the model and methodology (Gakis et al 2014 (in press) Geotechnical Risk Management for Sprayed Concrete Lining Tunnels in Farringdon Crossrail Station, In: Proceedings of the World Tunnel Congress 2014 : Tunnels for a better Life. Foz do Iguazu, Brazil) and the following is a summary written by Mr Gakis: "The main purpose of the 3D model is to give an improved spatial understanding of the expected ground conditions concurrently with the construction progress, which in case of Farringdon Station is quite complex. Data from the face mapping has been progressively integrated into the model on a daily basis, thus providing a visual geological database for predictions of constantly increasing accuracy for future tunnels. After the excavation of each tunnel section the data from the face mapping was integrated in the 3D model. Thus, the risk was reduced as the level of knowledge and confidence was constantly increasing. At the same time in-tunnel probing provided additional data, validating at the same time the prediction from the 3D geological model" |
| Title | iGeology 3D App |
| Description | The BGS iGeology 3D app is available for the android mobile phone and tablet community has been downloaded by over 5000 users. The application built upon the BGS's web services and presented geological map data to mobile users allowing them to drape the geology over the landscape in front of the mobile phone (augmented reality). This modern delivery mechanism allows the delivery of geological data and linkage to more traditional geology data summaries and products to mobile users and more diverse user communities. Types of beneficiary include: Industrial/Commercial;General Public |
| Type Of Technology | Software |
| Year Produced | 2012 |
| Open Source License? | Yes |
| Impact | Downloaded by over 5000 users. Allows the delivery of geological data and linkage to more traditional geology data summaries and products to mobile users and more diverse user communities. |
| URL | http://www.bgs.ac.uk/igeology/ |
| Title | mySoil app for smartphones |
| Description | mySoil is a new free smartphone app from the BGS and the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology. mySoil lets users take a soil properties map of Britain with them wherever they go, helping them learn about the soil beneath their feet. mySoil is for anyone with an interest in the soil of Britain; including gardeners and vegetable growers, allotment owners, farmers and agricultural specialists, school and college students environmentalists and land-use planners. The app also enables the general public to upload information about the soil where they live, helping to improve BGS's knowledge about the properties of soils and the vegetation habitats that they provide. http://www.bgs.ac.uk/mysoil/home.html Types of beneficiary include: Industrial/Commercial;Local and regional Government;General Public |
| Type Of Technology | Software |
| Year Produced | 2013 |
| Open Source License? | Yes |
| Impact | Enables the general public to upload information about the soil where they live, helping to improve BGS's knowledge about the properties of soils and the vegetation habitats that they provide. |
| URL | http://www.bgs.ac.uk/mysoil/home.html |