Events & Courses

Themed years are at the heart of the Society’s science strategy, and throughout 2016 we explored a wide range of water-related geoscience through research conferences, lectures, our education programme and other activities.  

An understanding of groundwater and hydrogeology is crucial to addressing a wide range of societal challenges, from securing fresh water supplies and mitigating flood risk to extracting shale gas and other hydrocarbons and safely disposing of our nuclear waste.  But water also plays an important role in fundamental geological processes, many of which are the subject of continuing research.

• Dewatering is key to the formation of sedimentary rocks. Studying the isotopic signatures of ancient waters and the organisms that were formed in them can help us characterise and understand past environments.
• Water affects deep mantle processes, and fuels volcanic eruptions, determining explosivity and propelling eruption columns into the atmosphere. 
• Water is also at the heart of our efforts to look for life on Mars and elsewhere.

The Year of Water provided an opportunity to share and debate emerging research, and to communicate to policy-makers and the wider public the vital role of water in how our planet works and how we can live sustainably on it.

Events