Please note the new date for this event.
WHEN
Wednesday, 13 January, 2027 starts at 19:30
WHERE
DETAILS
Dr. Andrew J. Miles (University of Leicester) will give a talk on Shap Granite
Shap Granite: Rethinking How Granites Form
Shap granite is one of Britain’s most recognisable igneous rocks, famous for its distinctive pink feldspar crystals and its use as an ornamental building stone. Yet this relatively small granite intrusion, exposed on the eastern edge of the Lake District, has a surprisingly complex history. Using the Shap granite as a window into the deeper Earth, this talk will explore how its magmas formed deep within the continental crust, evolved over millions of years and eventually made their way towards to shallower crustal levels around 404 million years ago, during the final stages of the Caledonian mountain building event. I will look at how its famous pink feldspar crystals provide clues to this prolonged history, and how combining different dating techniques has helped unravel the sequence of events. The story also challenges some long-held ideas about how granites form. Rather than simply accumulating in enormous underground chambers of molten rock, granites are increasingly understood to develop through repeated injections of magma, the gradual assembly of crystal-rich bodies and the movement of melt through networks of crystals. Together, these processes challenge traditional views of how large magmatic systems develop, evolve and ultimately solidify.Â
Location: This will be a Zoom meeting, link details TBC