Geology
Eltham College has had an intake of students into sixth form Geology classes for the last 28 years. The subject started as an 'O' level, offered in General Studies lessons, and in 1985, the first cohort of A-level Geology students took their examinations.
The department is self-contained and has a very impressive and in depth collection of rocks, minerals and fossils which consistently captivate visitors on school open days.
Lessons take place in a bright, modern, specialised laboratory which is fully equipped to meet all the needs of the student body. Students taking Geology at A level have been extremely successful in examinations and a good number develop such a passion for the subject that they go on to study it or its closely allied sciences at university.
What is Geology?
People's perception of the subject varies immensely, with most focussing on volcanoes, earthquakes and dinosaurs, on one hand, or plain ol' rocks, on the other. In reality, Geology (or 'Earth Science' as some people prefer to call it) is the greatest unifying science of all. Let me elaborate! Rocks may be 'stones' but they all have stories to tell. Clues can be found in rocks that indicate the ancient environments in which they form and rock sequences often display evidence of climate change; that sounds like Geography to me. Some rocks contain fossils, evidence of past life and its evolution and extinction; obvious links with Biology are made. Rocks are coherent mixtures of minerals, and minerals are chemicals. Because different types of rocks form under different physical conditions, rocks can provide a means of studying a wide range of the principles of Chemistry.
Why did the dinosaurs become extinct? Was it because of an asteroid impact? Geologists and astronomers can get together on this one. How do we know that Great Britain has drifted through the latitudes throughout geologic time? Palaeomagnetic evidence, with Physics providing the theoretical basis for the argument, provides the answer.
And many a geological investigation, in the laboratory or in the field, needs to be tested for validity using mathematical principles. In addition, the whole of civilisation's infrastructure is reliant on what our planet can provide, whether it is rocks for building stones, bricks and mortar, oil, natural gas and coal as fossil fuels, or metallic mineral exploitation to furnish us with strategic metals such as iron, aluminium and copper, to name just a few. The responsibility for the exploration of new reserves of these important earth materials is the domain of the geologist, the geochemist, and the geophysicist.
More and more, through the tragic news of large scale natural disasters, do engineers liaise with geologists concerning natural geological hazards and the impact they may have on building designs aimed at the maximum protection from future catastrophic events. So Geology is really a much bigger picture than just a pile of old rocks!
