Aberdeen Geological Society

Welcome to AGS

Welcome to and thank you for visiting our web-site.  Aberdeen Geological Society comprises a lively mix of professional geologists (both working and retired) as well as amateurs from different career backgrounds, all with a shared enthusiasm for things geological.  We aim to share knowledge, experience and keep interest alive by scheduling a programme of evening talks given by guest lecturers during the winter months and a series of guided field excursions from May through the summer months.

Forthcoming Events

Although our schedule of Field Excursion 2026 programme, finished with a long weekend to the Northern Cairngorms, covering 4 sites with particular glacial morphology, we have 2 further outdoor days in November when we hope to clean up a rock outcrop in the Donside Nature Reserve at the Brig o’Balgownie.

Our winter 2026/2027 programme of Thursday evening lectures starts this week and runs through to April 27. The next 10 events are listed in the ribbon below.

	                
Warming up Aberdeen to Geothermal
									
										Lecture Theatre 1 - Meston Building
										
											Meston Building, King\'s College, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, AB24 3UE
										
				
15oct6:30 pm8:00 pmWarming up Aberdeen to GeothermalTalk by Dr. David Cornwell, University of Aberdeen6:30 pm - 8:00 pm Lecture Theatre 1 - Meston Building

							
Event Details
How can Aberdeen heat homes and buildings more sustainably while supporting a fair and practical energy transition for its communities?

The Aberdeen Geothermal Feasibility Pilot (AGFP) is exploring whether geothermal heat

							
							

								
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How can Aberdeen heat homes and buildings more sustainably while supporting a fair and practical energy transition for its communities?
The Aberdeen Geothermal Feasibility Pilot (AGFP) is exploring whether geothermal heat could become part of the answer by gathering the first direct subsurface evidence needed to assess the city’s potential. A research project funded by UKRI-NERC and led by the University of Aberdeen, AGFP combines an instrumented on-campus research borehole with a dense passive seismic survey across the city to map the subsurface to depths of up to 5 km. Together, these data will improve understanding of temperature, geology, groundwater, fractures, and rock properties beneath Aberdeen, helping to reduce uncertainty and inform future geothermal decisions. The project also addresses the wider barriers to geothermal uptake in cities like Aberdeen, including investment risk, public awareness, skills transition, heat network readiness, and fuel poverty. By linking subsurface science with education, community engagement, and practical planning, AGFP is helping to make geothermal more visible, credible, and achievable. It aims to combine open-access data and local partnerships to advance geothermal from a promising idea into a realistic option for Aberdeen’s just energy transition.







Dr David Cornwell is a Senior Lecturer in Geophysics at the University of Aberdeen and an observational geophysicist and seismologist specialising in imaging and monitoring the Earth’s subsurface. He holds degrees in Geophysics, Exploration Geophysics and Seismology from Leicester and Leeds, and his research spans ambient seismic noise, geothermal exploration, tectonics, earthquake hazards, and subsurface imaging. He is Co-Lead of the Aberdeen Geothermal Feasibility Pilot, which is using research drilling, city-scale seismic imaging and fibre-optic monitoring to investigate Aberdeen’s geothermal potential.





								
							
						

						

							

							

								

									
									
							
										
Time
										
(Thursday) 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm
									
								
							

								

									
									
							
										
Location
Lecture Theatre 1 - Meston Building
Meston Building, King's College, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, AB24 3UE
									
								
							

							
						
						

							
							

								
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Aberdeen Minerals Exploration Update
									
										Lecture Theatre 1 - Meston Building
										
											Meston Building, King\'s College, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, AB24 3UE
										
				
29oct6:30 pm8:00 pmAberdeen Minerals Exploration UpdateBy Fraser Gardiner, Aberdeen Minerals6:30 pm - 8:00 pm Lecture Theatre 1 - Meston Building

							
Event Details
Following on from the visits to Aberdeen Minerals drilling sites in 2024 and 2025, Fraser Gardiner will share a progress update. Drilling, geophysics and geochemical exploration at and around

							
							

								
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Following on from the visits to Aberdeen Minerals drilling sites in 2024 and 2025, Fraser Gardiner will share a progress update. Drilling, geophysics and geochemical exploration at and around the Arthrath Project continue to reveal new and intriguing aspects of Aberdeenshire’s buried geology and associated nickel-copper sulphide mineralisation. The team’s latest findings, models and ideas will be presented, as well as an overview of a busy programme of field surveys and drilling works planned over winter 26/27.

Fraser is a geologist with a 29 year career in mineral exploration working on discovery, exploration and mine development projects for gold, copper, tungsten and nickel in Europe, North Africa, the Middle East and South East Asia. He joined Aberdeen Minerals as CEO in July 2022 and today leads a small, specialist team in the search for base metals within the prospective geology of North East Scotland.

								
							
						

						

							

							

								

									
									
							
										
Time
										
(Thursday) 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm
									
								
							

								

									
									
							
										
Location
Lecture Theatre 1 - Meston Building
Meston Building, King's College, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, AB24 3UE
									
								
							

							
						
						

							
							

								
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Restoration of an Unconformity at the Brig o'Balgownie
				
02nov10:00 am3:30 pmRestoration of an Unconformity at the Brig o'BalgownieLed by Aberdeen Countryside Ranger Service 10:00 am - 3:30 pm Donside Nature Reserve, Brig o'Balgownie

							
Event Details
This is a advance notice of a rather unique excursion, where we will be involved in cleaning up an outcrop of rock on the south bank of the River Don

							
							

								
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This is a advance notice of a rather unique excursion, where we will be involved in cleaning up an outcrop of rock on the south bank of the River Don close to the old Bridge of Balgownie.  We have been in communication with Aberdeen City Rangers Service for some time, who are very keen to participate in this project.
The project is described in a document within our Special Features Table.
Aberdeen Ranger Service are leading the project and their team of volunteers will be responsible for clearing the access path and stairs. However, AGS need to supply the team to work on the rock outcrop itself.  Volunteers will work around the time of low water because the beach area alongside the rock does get wet at high water times.
We hope that we can get perhaps 5 or 6 members to help – perhaps by staggering attendance times between 9:30 and 14:30.
The clean up should take no more than the 5 hours but we have allocated a second day as contingency and so that we can take photos and measurements.
The Rangers have asked that we create material for an public information board to replace one on the public path near the top of the steps leading down to the beach area and rock itself.
We see that this is a great opportunity to promote AGS and bring geology to a wider audience within Aberdeen.

								
							
						

						

							

							

								

									
									
							
										
Time
										
(Monday) 10:00 am - 3:30 pm
									
								
							

								

									
									
							
										
Location
Donside Nature Reserve, Brig o'Balgownie

									
								
							

							
						
						

							
							

								
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Recording of the Unconformity at the Brig o'Balgownie
				
03nov10:00 am3:30 pmRecording of the Unconformity at the Brig o'BalgownieLed by Aberdeen Countryside Ranger Service 10:00 am - 3:30 pm Donside Nature Reserve, Brig o'Balgownie

							
Event Details
This is a advance notice of a second day after cleaning an outcrop of rock on the south bank of the River Don close to the old Bridge of Balgownie.

The

							
							

								
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This is a advance notice of a second day after cleaning an outcrop of rock on the south bank of the River Don close to the old Bridge of Balgownie.
The project is described in a document within our Special Features Table.
Please see details on day 1 – 2nd November event.
We hope that the cleaning work will be finished but we may need a few hours for contingency.  WE would however like to use this period to properly photograph the rock, make sketches and measurements.
This will be useful material for an public information board to replace one on the public path near the top of the steps leading down to the beach area and rock itself.
We see that this is a great opportunity to promote AGS and bring geology to a wider audience within Aberdeen.

								
							
						

						

							

							

								

									
									
							
										
Time
										
(Tuesday) 10:00 am - 3:30 pm
									
								
							

								

									
									
							
										
Location
Donside Nature Reserve, Brig o'Balgownie

									
								
							

							
						
						

							
							

								
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Thomas F Jamieson - the Aberdeen-born Ice-Age Geologist
									
										Lecture Theatre 1 - Meston Building
										
											Meston Building, King\'s College, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, AB24 3UE
										
				
12nov6:30 pm8:00 pmThomas F Jamieson - the Aberdeen-born Ice-Age Geologistby Mike Shepherd6:30 pm - 8:00 pm Lecture Theatre 1 - Meston Building

							
Event Details
This is an evening talk by Mike Shepherd.

Thomas Francis Jamieson (1829-1913), born in Aberdeen, was an amateur geologist and the factor (estate manager) of the 11,000-acre Ellon Estate. A leading

							
							

								
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This is an evening talk by Mike Shepherd.
Thomas Francis Jamieson (1829-1913), born in Aberdeen, was an amateur geologist and the factor (estate manager) of the 11,000-acre Ellon Estate. A leading light of the 1860s glacial revival, he established several modern concepts in glacial geology, most notably the theory of glacial isostasy (that the weight of ice sheets depresses land masses).
When, in 1840, the Swiss geologist Louis Agassiz proposed Scotland had experienced the effects of the Ice Age, few British geologists took him seriously. But then, in 1862, Jamieson established from mapping glacial striae and the direction of travel of erratic boulders in the north of Scotland that thick ice sheets had spread out radially from the Scottish Highlands. A year earlier, Charles Darwin asked Jamieson to check the fieldwork forming the basis for Darwin’s 1838 paper on the parallel roads of Glen Roy. Darwin had suggested that the three terraces in the glen were beaches. Jamieson established evidence that they were the strandlines of an ice-dammed lake. Darwin agreed, writing to Jamieson that, ‘My paper is one long gigantic blunder,’ adding, ‘Did I not say that you would be able to settle the question?’

Biography: Born in Aberdeen when the Earth was young, Mike gained an honours degree in geology and mineralogy from the University of Aberdeen. Thereafter, he worked for oil companies in the North Sea, specializing in geological methods of locating the remaining oil in mature producing fields. This was the basis for his textbook, Oil Field Production Geology (AAPG 2009).He is retired and now writes local history books, such as how Bram Stoker came to write Dracula in Aberdeenshire. His research on Thomas Jamieson, near completion, will be used to write a book about this Ice-Age geologist.

								
							
						

						

							

							

								

									
									
							
										
Time
										
(Thursday) 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm
									
								
							

								

									
									
							
										
Location
Lecture Theatre 1 - Meston Building
Meston Building, King's College, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, AB24 3UE
									
								
							

							
						
						

							
							

								
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Portsoy Marble, Jacobites & Jewellery
									
										Lecture Theatre 1 - Meston Building
										
											Meston Building, King\'s College, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, AB24 3UE
										
				
26nov6:30 pm8:00 pmPortsoy Marble, Jacobites & JewelleryBy Prof. John Parnell of University of Aberdeen 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm Lecture Theatre 1 - Meston Building

							
Event Details
Jacobites and Jewellery: 4 centuries of artistry from Portsoy Marble

For over 350 years, from Jacobite times to the present day, the rock known as Portsoy Marble, has featured in international

							
							

								
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Jacobites and Jewellery: 4 centuries of artistry from Portsoy Marble
For over 350 years, from Jacobite times to the present day, the rock known as Portsoy Marble, has featured in international trade, high-quality masonry, tourist trinketry, and scientific research. It has been represented at national and international exhibitions and recorded in numerous tourist guides and textbooks. Most notably, it is reputed for incorporation in the Palace of Versailles by Louis XIV. The lecture brings together the evidence from trade with France, church monuments, local newspaper stories and advertisements, scientific presentations, and modern sculpture to show how the use of this local stone has evolved in a changing society.
Note that the title image of the “Turra Coo” is beautifully sculpted in Portsoy marble.

John Parnell is Professor of Geology and Petroleum Geology at the University of Aberdeen, where he arrived in 1999. He works on sedimentary geochemistry, including projects about Mars and the Moon, but lately he has also worked on topics involving local history. At Portsoy, he combines historical work with lunar analogue studies.

								
							
						

						

							

							

								

									
									
							
										
Time
										
(Thursday) 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm
									
								
							

								

									
									
							
										
Location
Lecture Theatre 1 - Meston Building
Meston Building, King's College, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, AB24 3UE
									
								
							

							
						
						

							
							

								
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Geology of the Scottish Landscape - Quiz night
				
21jan6:30 am7:30 pmGeology of the Scottish Landscape - Quiz nightQuestions & Slides by Don Stewart and Alan Holmes6:30 am - 7:30 pm Zoom Online Meeting

							
Event Details
This is a preliminary notice about a quiz associated with Scottish Landscapes . It will probably be done as a Virtual Meeting by Zoom rather than a physical meeting at

							
							

									
Event Details

									
This is a preliminary notice about a quiz associated with Scottish Landscapes . It will probably be done as a Virtual Meeting by Zoom rather than a physical meeting at Merston.

								
							
						

						

							

							

								

									
									
							
										
Time
										
(Thursday) 6:30 am - 7:30 pm
									
								
							

								

									
									
							
										
Location
Zoom Online Meeting

									
								
							

							
						
						

							
							

								
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Planetary Impacts / Terrestrial Craters
									
										Lecture Theatre 1 - Meston Building
										
											Meston Building, King\'s College, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, AB24 3UE
										
				
04feb6:30 pm8:00 pmPlanetary Impacts / Terrestrial Cratersby Dr. Uisgean Nicholson of Heriot Watt University6:30 pm - 8:00 pm Lecture Theatre 1 - Meston Building

							
Event Details
This is a preliminary notice of an evening lecture by Dr Uisgean Nicholson of Heriot Watt University. This talk is one of a series given in our winter 2026/2027 Lecture

							
							

									
Event Details

									
This is a preliminary notice of an evening lecture by Dr Uisgean Nicholson of Heriot Watt University. This talk is one of a series given in our winter 2026/2027 Lecture Programme.
Further details about the talk and a bio of the speaker will be provided in due course.

								
							
						

						

							

							

								

									
									
							
										
Time
										
(Thursday) 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm
									
								
							

								

									
									
							
										
Location
Lecture Theatre 1 - Meston Building
Meston Building, King's College, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, AB24 3UE
									
								
							

							
						
						

							
							

								
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The Energy Transition
									
										Lecture Theatre 1 - Meston Building
										
											Meston Building, King\'s College, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, AB24 3UE
										
				
18feb6:30 pm8:00 pmThe Energy Transitionby Prof. John Underhill, University of Aberdeen6:30 pm - 8:00 pm Lecture Theatre 1 - Meston Building

							
Event Details
This is a preliminary notice of a evening lecture in the 2026/27 winter lecture programme. More details about the talk and a bio of the speaker will be provided in

							
							

									
Event Details

									
This is a preliminary notice of a evening lecture in the 2026/27 winter lecture programme. More details about the talk and a bio of the speaker will be provided in due course.

								
							
						

						

							

							

								

									
									
							
										
Time
										
(Thursday) 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm
									
								
							

								

									
									
							
										
Location
Lecture Theatre 1 - Meston Building
Meston Building, King's College, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, AB24 3UE
									
								
							

							
						
						

							
							

								
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Shining New Light on an Old Basin
									
										Lecture Theatre 1 - Meston Building
										
											Meston Building, King\'s College, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, AB24 3UE
										
				
04mar6:30 pm8:00 pmShining New Light on an Old BasinBy Dr Ian Sharp, Equinor6:30 pm - 8:00 pm Lecture Theatre 1 - Meston Building

							
Event Details
This is a preliminary notice for an evening lecture in 2027. Further details will become available closer to the event. The talk will discuss how outcrop data and subsurface data

							
							

									
Event Details

									
This is a preliminary notice for an evening lecture in 2027. Further details will become available closer to the event. The talk will discuss how outcrop data and subsurface data has been used to revisit and revitalise the regional geology of the NCS and UKCS.

								
							
						

						

							

							

								

									
									
							
										
Time
										
(Thursday) 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm
									
								
							

								

									
									
							
										
Location
Lecture Theatre 1 - Meston Building
Meston Building, King's College, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, AB24 3UE
									
								
							

							
						
						

							
							

								
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The field excursions are a highly popular and enjoyable part of AGS’ activity, giving members the opportunity to explore local natural environments within North-East Scotland,  a region with a wealth of stunning geology.  Our ’27 programme will start around April. In the meantime, why not take a peek at some of the very interesting geological features from our past trips on our Gallery page.

Website Content – What’s New

October ’26:

The winter lecture programme has been listed in Events. Note that although all the dates and lecturers are set, some details of the talks and of our speakers are preliminary at this stage. They will be updated closer to the event itself.

We are working with Aberdeen Ranger Service to clean up a rock outcrop and make it a special feature in the Donside Nature Reserve. 2 events have been scheduled and 2 documents, which describe this unique special project, have been added to the Special Features table.

The Gallery now comprises 27 albums covering our past excursions and events.

With all the exitement around the Bayeaux Tapestry exhibition in London, we are very grateful to member, Craig Lindsay, who has discovered a missing panel of a similar tapestry – a photo is downloadable from our Special Features table.

All 20 volumes (1922 to 1988) of the Deeside Field are now available from our Archive,  A section at the foot of the Features /Deeside Field page lists articles that are appropriate to local geology and current AGS activities

We are pleased to welcome Justin Thomas as our new Treasurer. (See Membership/AGS Officials for details)