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The Geological Society offers grades of membership for every stage of your career, from student to retirement. Find out about the benefits of membership, and how we can help you achieve and maintain Chartered status.
Information about the Geological Society’s internationally acclaimed books and journals for authors, editors, librarians and readers. Order publications, find out about the Lyell Collection and read guidelines for preparing a paper or submitting a book proposal.
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Updates on outreach activities, information about how the geosciences interact with society, details of policy related meetings, consultation responses, and policy briefing notes.
Geoscientist is the Fellowship magazine of the Geological Society: with news about science, people, the Society, features, reviews, opinion, letters and forthcoming events. All this, and more, can be found at our dedicated website Geoscientist Online
Information on our Specialist and Regional groups, Joint Associations and Networks. Keep up to date with activities, news and events and find out how Fellows can get involved.
The Geological Society of London is the UK's national society for geoscience, providing support to over 12,000 members in the UK and overseas. Founded in 1807, we are the oldest geological society in the world.
A volcano is a rupture in the Earth’s crust which allows magma/ash/gases to escape from beneath the surface. When magma reaches the surface of the Earth, it is called lava.
Most volcanoes occur along or near the margins of tectonic plates, where plates move away from each other or collide. We have a number of resources relating to volcanoes, available from the links below and to the right. Find out about the worldwide distribution of volcanoes; historic volcanic events; and the products, prediction and hazards associated with volcanoes.
Volcanoes presentation
Build a volcano
Lava flow activity
Plate tectonics passport
Plate tectonics poster
Geothermal gradient
Download an article published in School Science Review (December 2012) by Pete Loader to find out more.
Volcanism, impacts and mass extinctions (Geoscientist, Nov 2012)
Eyjafjallajökull and Climate Change (Geoscientist, April 2011)
Earth's hottest place (Geoscientist, Feb 2010)
Volcanoes, dust, and storms (Geoscientist, June 2010)
Of all places, why here? (Geoscientist, March 2009)
Dangerous Neighbours (Jenni Barclay)
Why Earth developed into the crucible of life, and Venus into a hostile wasteland (Sami Mikhail, November 2017)
Waking the Giant: how a changing climate triggers earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanoes (Bill McGuire, December 2016)
A Little Goes a Long Way: Researching Ash Clouds and Abrupt Climate Change (Siwan Davies, September, 2016)
Deadly volcanic flows: understanding pyroclastic density currents (Rebecca Williams, March 2016)
Volcanic activity and the local environment (Hazel Rymer, December 2015)
Earth scientists talk about volcanoes:
LUSI: a Java mud volcano | Life at deep sea hydrothermal vents | Volcanism, impacts & mass extinctions
Find out about geological hazards in the UK and worldwide, and the importance of communicating the uncertainties involved, in our resource aimed at policy and decision-makers as well as the wider public.
Teaching resources on volcanoes and a live map of US Volcanoes from the US Geological Survey.
Key Stages, GCSEs and A Levels refer to the National Curriculum taught in England, Wales & Northern Ireland; Levels, Standards and Highers refer to the Scottish Curriculum for Excellence.
We have produced A1 sized educational posters on plate tectonics for KS2-3 and KS4-5.