Geology of London,UK

The population of London is around 7 million. The infrastructure to support this makes London one of the most intensively investigated areas of upper crust. However construction work in London continues to reveal the presence of unexpected ground conditions. These have been discovered in isolation and often recorded with no further work to explain them. There is a scientific, industrial and commercial need to refine the geological framework for London and its surrounding area. This paper reviews the geological setting of London as it is understood at present, and outlines the issues that current research is attempting to resolve.     

Editorial

To mark the agreement between the Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers) and Blackwell Publishing, Area now awards an annual prize (worth £500) for the best single-authored article published in the journal by a 'new researcher'. The eligibility criteria can be found on the Area website ( http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journals/area/ ). In 2002, five papers were considered for the Area Prize. All the papers were read by the editors of Area, The Geographical Journal and Transactions, and by the Chair of the Research Committee. The adjudication resulted in a clear shortlist of two and a narrow winner. The results are presented below.     

Distribution of the geochemical signature caused by the 2011 Tohoku-oki tsunami in Misawa harbor,northern Japan

Natural Hazards - The 2011 Tohoku-oki tsunami left a characteristic geochemical signature in the sediments of the Misawa harbor on the Aomori coastline (northern Japan), not only in vertical...     

Policy-relevant Surfaced Data on Population Distribution and Characteristics

Surface modelling has great potential as a means of reducing the perennial constraints on data availability for policy-relevant analyses of population distribution and characteristics. The challenge is that the key criteria routinely used to distinguish which datasets are suitable for policy analyses in Britain are rooted in the Government Statistical Service's adherence to classical statistical practices. In this paper, the strengths and weaknesses of surfaced data are examined against these criteria, and the potential for overcoming the likely resistance to adopting surfaced data is suggested to lie in customisation of the analyses to meet specific policy concerns. To illustrate this approach, and assess its potential value for policy analyses, two datasets produced by different forms of surfacing are described.