Destroyed 2004.

In preparation for the Kiewa Hydro-Electric Scheme of the 1930s, this hut was built for the SEC in the summer of 1932-3 to accommodate the snow research program manager, the resident engineer for the scheme{ Lawrence: 25,32 states 1933-4 and 1932-3 as const. date?}. The cottage was sited next to a hydro-meteorological station, set on stilts above the snow in the same year{ Carlyon}. This was not a refuge hut but a permanent residence for all of the year. The hut was designed by WE Gower (later SEC Chief Architect) and built by Joe Holston and C Jassund{ Carlyon, other sources say builder was Bill Spargo and designer, GT Dyson}. The materials for the hut were carted on a sled or pack horse by High Plains cattleman, Wally Ryder, and his brother-in-law, George Hobbs, along what is now the Alpine Walking Track from Mt Hotham{ ibid.; Holth & Holth: 110; VOM: 25; Carlyon says only Hobbs}. They had successfully tendered for the job in 1932{ VOM}. The frame was of Oregon, the weatherboards stained, the roof clad with bituminous felt layers placed over timber T&G decking, the interior lined with `Caniete' or a similar composite board, and the timber casement windows were double-glazed{ ibid.}. A photograph by Weston taken in December 1932 shows the hut in construction with the stud frame visible, the chimney built and the felt going in over the roof with purlins placed on top appearing ready to receive corrugated iron{ copy held at hut; compare with above roof cladding description}. A large shed with a thatch and canvas roof was built about 20m from the hut, housing wood, stores and an earth-drying stove (reputedly done during the Trimble occupation, c1942-6){ ibid.}. The work was sanctioned in 1932 after pioneering SEC weatherman, Joe Holston, had been operating from Wallace's Hut and later, the Pretty Valley Hut, from c1928{ Napier: 36}. Federal money and Bureau of Meteorology assistance was won and these two early huts were a base for construction of this building. Snow pole lines were established from Pretty Valley to Mt Cope and from Wallace's down Fall's Creek to allow weather station construction. The work carried out there included operation of a meteorological station at the cottage, measuring the snow depth and density along two pole lines, and operating stream gauging stations in the area{ Lawrence: 33}. The engineers included TO Olsen (1933-4), a Swiss engineer Adrian Rufenacht (1934-6), a Norwegian Martin Romuld (1936-42) and Stan Trimble until the program ceased in 1946{ ibid.; Napier: 37}. Olsen was reputedly a `brilliant engineer', the co-builder of this hut and the instigator of the research programme{ see Napier: 37}. He was credited as being the one of the masterminds behind the Snowy Mountains hydro-electricity scheme{ Holth & Holth: 110-}. Romuld, on the other hand, was a champion skier, constructing a ski-jump and a grass tennis court near the hut during his residency{ ibid.; Carlyon states that the court is still apparent by the collapsed wire mesh and posts}. The tennis court was reputedly the venue for a tournament which attracted some 39 entrants, drawn from the SEC camps in the area{ Lawrence: 33}. SEC worker, Warrand Begg, described life at the weather station under Olsen in the 1930s, himself resident at Cope Hut: `A very comfortable, if somewhat compact house has been built in which lived the engineer, Mr Olsen, Mrs Olsen and their son, Lasse{ Napier: 38}…I had to ski to work each morning (1 mile). The scope of the work carried out at the station is very wide; in addition to standard meteorological work… it also covers a detailed study of the behaviour of the water (including snow) both on and in the ground and to take samples of the soil every foot. These samples were taken to the station where the moisture content was determined..'{ ibid.}. Begg would go with Olsen or alone to inspect the weather stations on the pole line, going down to Roper's Hut or Pretty Valley{ ibid.}. The pioneering alpine ecological research done by Maisie Fawcett was undertaken from this (staying with the Trimbles) and the Rover Scout hut in the early 1940s{ Gillbank: 224}. Special radio broadcasts (both in English and coded) from 3UZ to the battery powered wireless at the cottage were a feature of each night 6.45-7.00 pm{ Carlyon}. During Trimble's occupation, in 1946, the hut was covered by a snow drift and the family trapped. Only the chimney tops of the hut were visible but the arrival of Rover Scouts meant the family's rescue although it took some 5 days to dig them out, with cracked rafters and a leaning hut as one result{ Holth, COTHC: 116}. The drift was thought to be caused by the lack of trees on the hill near the hut, allowing drifts to build up{ Carlyon}. The store which had been erected at the Cottage, reputedly during Trimble's time, was to become a storeroom for the Rover Scouts{ ibid.}. Access to stores for the building's occupiers was made a little easier when the Fitzgeralds cut a pack track for the SEC from Shannonvale{ Carlyon}. In the Trimble era, the porch was removed and in its place a bunk room was built, with a long entry passage: this was connected via a covered way to the shed{ Carlyon}. Regarded as luxurious by the local cattlemen, the hut had an attic level and had hot and cold running water{ ibid.}. Nevertheless it was pictured in `The Alps at the Crossroads' as a typical gabled weatherboarded hut form (now clad with metal sheet), albeit with an attic window, and a skillion entry annexe in the place of the typical verandah. The corrugated iron cladding of the skillion vestibule has however remained. Two metal chimneys were visible; the one at the south end since replaced by the kitchen alcove{ Johnson: 118}. The south kitchen window shown has also been replaced. The hut was sold in 1948 to the Victorian Ski Club and renamed Wilkinson Lodge, Wilkinson Robert Wood Wilkinson, best known as 'Wilkie, was indisputably the 'Father figure' of Victorian skiing. He first visited the snow at Mount Buffalo in 1909, at the age of thirty-five years, and was fifty when he joined the Ski Club of Victoria as one of its earliest members, in 1924. He had an immense influence on the Club in its formative years and played a prominent part in some of the earliest trips of exploration "Robert Wood Wilkinson was born at Talbot (Victoria) in 1874, and was at the age of sixteen apprenticed to his father, who was at that time a chemist at Maryborough. Mr Wilkinson led the first party across the Bogong High Plains in the winter of 1926, pioneering Mt Nelse on the same trip. In 1927, with Jack Docherty, he was the first to climb Mt Fainter on ski. Again, in 1929, Mr Wilkinson, with a party from the Club, were the first to climb Mt McKay on ski. As a photographer, he was known far and wide. Cope Hut, on the Bogong High Plains, as well as the lines of snow poles were the outcome of his untiring efforts. As long as people ski in Victoria the name of Robert Wilkinson should be remembered, because of his devotion to the sport, and his untiring efforts to assist the Ski Club of Victoria in its growth and activities." Robert Wood Wilkinson died on May 22, 1939. The hut was resold some 12 years later to the Melbourne Bushwalkers club{ Lawrence: 25 says 1948; Lloyd: 294 says 1949 but shows cheque dated 1948}. Johnson, in `The Alps at the Crossroads' gives the purchase date as 1959, noting that club member Darrel Sullivan (and later Doug Pocock) organised and `..carried out extensive renovations' to the hut{ Johnson: 118}. Sullivan and Art Terry led club work parties who maintained the Long Hill-Crinoline and Gillio's Tracks{ ibid.}. In 1983, the National Parks Service described the building as an old SEC hut which had been purchased and, afterwards, maintained and occupied solely by the Melbourne Bushwalking Club (locked). It was in good condition but offered no public refuge: they recommended that some space in the hut be provided for refuge after negotiations with the club{ NPS (1983): 47}. ....'

Bituminous coal from the Cretaceous of Utah, USA.

Coal is a carbon-rich, biogenic sedimentary rock. It forms by the burial and alteration of organic matter from fossil land plants that lived in ancient swamps. Coal starts out as peat. With increasing burial and diagenetic alteration, peat becomes lignite coal, sub-bituminous coal, and then bituminous coal. Bituminous coals tend to break and weather in a blocky fashion, are relatively sooty to the touch, and are harder and heavier than lignite coal (but still relatively soft and lightweight). Discernible plant fossil fragments may be present on bituminous coal bedding planes - sometimes in abundance. Bituminous coals commonly have irregular patches of shiny, glassy-textured organic matter (vitrain).

----------------------------------

Info. from public signage at Wittenberg University's Geology Department (Springfield, Ohio, USA):

Origin of Coal

Coal is formed from accumulated vegetation that grew in peat-forming swamps on broad lowlands that were near sea level. Cyclothems indicate that the land must have been at a "critical level" since the change from marine to non-marine sediments shows that the seas periodically encroached upon the land.

Formation of Coal

The change from plant debris to coal involves biochemical action producing partial decay, preserval of this material from further decay, and later dynamochemical processes. The biochemical changes involve attack by bacteria which liberate volatile constituents, and the preserval of the residual waxes and resins in the bottom of the swamps where the water is too toxic for the decay-promoting bacteria to live. The accumulated material forms "peat bogs". The dynamochemical process involves further chemical reactions produced by the increased pressure and temperature brought about by the weight of sediment that is deposited on top of it. These reactions are also ones in which the volatile constituents are driven off.

Rank of Coal

The different types of coal are commonly referred to in terms of rank. From lowest upward, they are peat (actually not a coal), lignite, bituminous, and anthracite. The rank of the coal is the result of the different amounts of pressure and time involved in producing the coal.

Bituminous

Bituminous coal is a dense, dark, brittle, banded coal that is well jointed and breaks into cubical or prismatic blocks and does not disintegrate upon exposure to air. Dull and bright bands and smooth and hackly layers are evident. It ignites easily, burns with a smoky yellow flame, has low moisture contnet, medium volatile content, and fixed carbon and heating content is high. It is the most used and most desired coal in the world for industrial uses.

In the United States, the Northern Appalachian fields lead in production, followed by the interior fields of the Midwest.

----------------------------------

This sample comes from Utah's Bronco Mine, which reportedly started in the 1880s. The coal ranks as high-volatile C bituminous coal, which means it gives off less heat than high-volatile A or B bituminous coals. The former gives off about 11,500 British thermal units (Btu) of heat per pound of coal. The latter two give off about 14,000 and 13,000 Btu per pound, respectively.

Stratigraphy: coal horizon in the Ferron Sandstone Member, Mancos Shale, Upper Cretaceous

Locality: Bronco Mine (= Emery Deep Mine), Emery County, central Utah, USA

Characteristics:

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1, The main frame and the base are completely soft-linked rather than rigid-contacted.

It avoids the vibration from the chamber transferring to the main frame and the classifier,which improving the precision of the classifier.

2, The base are made of anti-crack nodular cast iron which boasts the strength of cast steel,the anti-vibration of cast iron and good impact resistance.

3, It adopts the reducer that simulates German Flender.

Technological advantage of professional reducer manufacturers are made full use of to improve machine stability.Reducer and motor are connected by V-belt which is conducive to overload protection.

4, The main frame and reducer are connected by pin coupling with elastic sleeve to ward off the breaking of nylon pin ,which improves the reliability of the whole equippment.

5, The classifier adopts high density impeller which can improve the fineness and capacity. Practice shows that in the case of constant speed, increasing the density of leaves can increase the fineness of the finished product.In other words,in the condition of same fineness, the high-density impeller rotates slower than the low-density one,which reduces the air resistance and increases production meanwhile.

6, The classifier adopts frequency control of motor speed with the characteristics of energy-saving, precison, good process control mobility and high degree of automation.

7, Bypass powder collector with a dust isolation chamber make more dust go into the bottom of cyclone by the bypass system to avoid the dust escaping from air vents. Compared with general powder collector,it has the character of low pressure loss and high efficiency, particularly being conducive to collect the powder particles which is difficult to collect.

8, Same resistance arrangement avoids difference in power from two powder collector, which increases the efficiency,capacity and decreases internal circulation.

9, The discharges of the collector and dust remover are in the same line which is convenient for powder collecting and packing and reduces the amount of work.

10, The maintenance platform makes maintenance work safer and more convenient.

Function:

The machine is mainly used in processing powder of mineral materials of metallurgy, building materials, chemical industry, mining, etc. It can grind non-flammable and non-explosive materials with moisture less than 6% such as Feldspar, calcite, talc, barite, fluorite, rare earth, marble, ceramics, bauxite, manganese ore, iron ore, copper ore, phosphate rock, iron oxide red, slag, slag, activated carbon, dolomite, granite, iron oxide yellow, bean cake, chemical fertilizer, compound fertilizer, fly ash, bituminous coal, coke, lignite, Ling U.S. sand, gold, red mud, clay, Kaolin, coke, coal gangue, porcelain clay, kyanite, fluorspar, bentonite, muddy green rock, leaf wax rock, shale, purple rock, Diego rock, basalt, gypsum, graphite, insulation material, etc.

Charcoal debris horizon in bituminous coal from the Pennsylvanian of Ohio, USA.

This fossiliferous coal sample is from the Pottsville Group of eastern Ohio. The Pottsville Group is a Pennsylvanian-aged cyclothemic succession containing nonmarine shales, marine shales, siltstones, sandstones, coals, marine limestones, and chert ("flint"). The lower Pottsville dates to the late Early Pennsylvanian. The upper part dates to the early Middle Pennsylvanian. The Lower-Middle Pennsylvanian boundary is apparently somewhere near the Boggs Limestone horizon (?).

This is a sample of weathered bituminous coal with abundant pieces of compressed fossil charcoal (= blackish-colored chunks). The Pennsylvanian was a time of relatively high atmospheric oxygen (O2) levels, and forest fires were relatively common events. Charcoalized fossil wood can be found in some abundance in Pennsylvanian sedimentary successions. The original wood microstructure is usually well preserved, but the charcoal fragments themselves are quite delicate. A gentle rub with a finger turns these fragments into black powder.

Stratigraphy: float apparently derived from the Lower Mercer Coal (= Number 3 Coal), just below the Boggs Limestone, middle Pottsville Group, lower Atokan Stage, lower Middle Pennsylvanian

Locality: loose piece near the base of Mt. Pleasant North Outcrop - roadcut on the eastern side of Rt. 93, just north of the town of Mt. Pleasant, southern Washington Township, southern Hocking County, southeastern Ohio, USA (39° 23' 51.35" North latitude, 82° 27' 14.15" West)

Crews worked on SR 9 for three days from July 23 through July 25, 2018 applying a oil and gravel surface - bituminous surface treatment - to a 10 mile stretch between the south end of Big Lake and Sedro-Woolley. Following application of the gravel, equipment rolled the area with large rubber tires and sweeping happened overnight to pick up loose material.

Asphaltic concrete road in Thailand

Charcoal debris horizon in bituminous coal from the Pennsylvanian of Ohio, USA.

This fossiliferous coal sample is from the Pottsville Group of eastern Ohio. The Pottsville Group is a Pennsylvanian-aged cyclothemic succession containing nonmarine shales, marine shales, siltstones, sandstones, coals, marine limestones, and chert ("flint"). The lower Pottsville dates to the late Early Pennsylvanian. The upper part dates to the early Middle Pennsylvanian. The Lower-Middle Pennsylvanian boundary is apparently somewhere near the Boggs Limestone horizon (?).

This is a sample of weathered bituminous coal with abundant pieces of compressed fossil charcoal (= blackish-colored chunks). The Pennsylvanian was a time of relatively high atmospheric oxygen (O2) levels, and forest fires were relatively common events. Charcoalized fossil wood can be found in some abundance in Pennsylvanian sedimentary successions. The original wood microstructure is usually well preserved, but the charcoal fragments themselves are quite delicate. A gentle rub with a finger turns these fragments into black powder.

Stratigraphy: float apparently derived from the Lower Mercer Coal (= Number 3 Coal), just below the Boggs Limestone, middle Pottsville Group, lower Atokan Stage, lower Middle Pennsylvanian

Locality: loose piece near the base of Mt. Pleasant North Outcrop - roadcut on the eastern side of Rt. 93, just north of the town of Mt. Pleasant, southern Washington Township, southern Hocking County, southeastern Ohio, USA (39° 23' 51.35" North latitude, 82° 27' 14.15" West)

Welcome to the tar-like black & sticky heart of gooey downtown Rock Island, Illinois, where your every footstep feels like a big bite of bitumen. I've heard people talk about insurance cos. as being scammy to their very cores!, as having scams for souls, but maybe Bituminous Ins is different from the others.

The thirteen stars of the almost-circle appear to represent an abstraction of a profile of a human head ingesting bituminous, but I do not understand the meaning of the partial eclipse of the light-blue rectangle to its left.

-----------------------

In downtown Rock Island, Illinois, on April 12th, 2010, on the east side of 17th Street, north of 4th Avenue.

The company changed its name to BITCO Insurance Companies in 2014, and moved its headquarters from Rock Island to Davenport in 2016.

-----------------------

Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names terms:

• Rock Island (7014353)

• Rock Island (county) (2000528)

Art & Architecture Thesaurus terms:

• beds (site elements) (300239937)

• bituminous coal (300015143)

• central business districts (300000868)

• circular (shape) (300263827)

• corporate headquarters (built works) (300132690)

• freestanding walls (300078898)

• insurance (300055719)

• logotypes (300224774)

• parking lots (300007826)

• shop signs (300211862)

• stars (motifs) (300009811)

• telecommunications towers (300164023)

Wikidata items:

• 12 April 2010 (Q22664008)

• April 12 (Q2499)

• April 2010 (Q242919)

• Davenport-Moline-Rock Island, IA-IL Metropolitan Statistical Area (Q7268261)

• insurance company (Q2143354)

• Quad Cities (Q1660598)

• Treaty of St. Louis (1804) (Q28433157)

• Treaty of St. Louis (1816) (Q28433158)

Library of Congress Subject Headings:

• Business names (sh85018315)

Fossil charcoal in bituminous coal from the Pennsylvanian of Kentucky, USA. (bedding plane view; ~11.7 cm across at its widest)

This is a sample of bituminous coal from a large roadcut north of the town of Jackson, Kentucky. The outcrop has Pennsylvanian-aged cyclothemic sedimentary rocks of the Breathitt Group (formerly the Breathitt Formation). The succession is dominated by interbedded sandstones and shales, with some coal horizons. The latter include bituminous coal and cannel coal (see elsewhere in this photo album).

The striated, shiny silvery pieces seen on this coal bedding plane are fossil charcoal (= burned wood fragments). The Pennsylvanian was a time of low carbon dioxide (CO2) and high oxygen (O2) levels in Earth's atmosphere; forest fires were relatively common events. The source of oxygen was abundant photosynthesizing trees in widespread forests. Earth's first global forestation event occurred during the Pennsylvanian. (See: www.jsjgeology.net/Berner-talk.htm). Charcoalized fossil wood can be found in some abundance in Pennsylvanian sedimentary successions. The original wood microstructure is usually well preserved, but the charcoal fragments themselves are quite delicate. A gentle rub with a finger turns these fragments into black powder. At some localities & in some horizons, the fossil charcoal is partially pyritized.

Stratigraphy: float from the Pikeville Formation, Breathitt Group, lower Middle Pennsylvanian

Locality: Jackson North outcrop - loose piece from coal bed exposed in the wall above the 1st bench on the southern side of a large roadcut on the eastern side of new Rt. 15, just south of the southbound old Rt. 15-new Rt. 15 split, north of the town of Jackson, north-central Breathitt County, eastern Kentucky, USA (~37° 34’ 51” North latitude, ~83° 23’ 09” West longitude)

36.494458,-84.651091

The Meigs Creek Coal (a.k.a. Sewickley Coal) is a horizontally bedded bituminous coal horizon in the Upper Pennsylvanian Monongahela Group of eastern Ohio, USA.

Immediately underlying the coal bed is an "underclay", a silty shale that's been subjected to sulfuric acid alteration by the oxidation of pyrite in the coal bed and downward percolation of rainwater and groundwater.

Locality: Narrows Run North outcrop - roadcut on the western side of Rt. 7, just north of Narrows Run (an east-flowing tributary of the Ohio River), northeastern York Township, southeastern Belmont County, Ohio, USA

Sandstone-coal-tonsteins in the Cretaceous of Wyoming, USA.

The outcrop shown above consists of Upper Cretaceous sedimentary rocks near the town of Superior, Wyoming. The unit at top is a quartzose sandstone of the basal Ericson Sandstone. Below the Ericson Sandstone is the uppermost Rock Springs Formation. The black layers are coals (hand samples indicate that these are apparently sub-bituminous coals) - this is the Rock Springs No. 5 Coal Bed. The thin, whitish-colored beds in the coal interval are soft claystones that were originally volcanic ash beds. They have been chemically altered as a result of deposition and burial in the acidic, reducing conditions of a coal swamp environment. Such altered volcanic ash beds are called tonsteins.

Stratigraphy: lower Ericson Sandstone over upper Rock Springs Formation, Upper Cretaceous

Locality: hairpin curve roadcut along Superior Cutoff Road, northeastern side of Horse Thief Canyon, east of the town of Superior, central Sweetwater County, southwestern Wyoming, USA (41° 45' 58.04" North latitude, 108° 56' 22.36" West longitude)

Bituminous coal from the Cretaceous of Utah, USA.

Coal is a carbon-rich, biogenic sedimentary rock. It forms by the burial and alteration of organic matter from fossil land plants that lived in ancient swamps. Coal starts out as peat. With increasing burial and diagenetic alteration, peat becomes lignite coal, sub-bituminous coal, and then bituminous coal. Bituminous coals tend to break and weather in a blocky fashion, are relatively sooty to the touch, and are harder and heavier than lignite coal (but still relatively soft and lightweight). Discernible plant fossil fragments may be present on bituminous coal bedding planes - sometimes in abundance. Bituminous coals commonly have irregular patches of shiny, glassy-textured organic matter (vitrain).

----------------------------------

Info. from public signage at Wittenberg University's Geology Department (Springfield, Ohio, USA):

Origin of Coal

Coal is formed from accumulated vegetation that grew in peat-forming swamps on broad lowlands that were near sea level. Cyclothems indicate that the land must have been at a "critical level" since the change from marine to non-marine sediments shows that the seas periodically encroached upon the land.

Formation of Coal

The change from plant debris to coal involves biochemical action producing partial decay, preserval of this material from further decay, and later dynamochemical processes. The biochemical changes involve attack by bacteria which liberate volatile constituents, and the preserval of the residual waxes and resins in the bottom of the swamps where the water is too toxic for the decay-promoting bacteria to live. The accumulated material forms "peat bogs". The dynamochemical process involves further chemical reactions produced by the increased pressure and temperature brought about by the weight of sediment that is deposited on top of it. These reactions are also ones in which the volatile constituents are driven off.

Rank of Coal

The different types of coal are commonly referred to in terms of rank. From lowest upward, they are peat (actually not a coal), lignite, bituminous, and anthracite. The rank of the coal is the result of the different amounts of pressure and time involved in producing the coal.

Bituminous

Bituminous coal is a dense, dark, brittle, banded coal that is well jointed and breaks into cubical or prismatic blocks and does not disintegrate upon exposure to air. Dull and bright bands and smooth and hackly layers are evident. It ignites easily, burns with a smoky yellow flame, has low moisture contnet, medium volatile content, and fixed carbon and heating content is high. It is the most used and most desired coal in the world for industrial uses.

In the United States, the Northern Appalachian fields lead in production, followed by the interior fields of the Midwest.

----------------------------------

This sample comes from Utah's Bronco Mine, which reportedly started in the 1880s. The coal ranks as high-volatile C bituminous coal, which means it gives off less heat than high-volatile A or B bituminous coals. The former gives off about 11,500 British thermal units (Btu) of heat per pound of coal. The latter two give off about 14,000 and 13,000 Btu per pound, respectively.

Stratigraphy: coal horizon in the Ferron Sandstone Member, Mancos Shale, Upper Cretaceous

Locality: Bronco Mine (= Emery Deep Mine), Emery County, central Utah, USA

Original Caption: "Local UMWA Union Meeting Is Held on Sunday Morning in Schoolhouse. Inland Steel Company, Wheelwright #1 & 2 Mines, Wheelwright, Floyd County, Kentucky."

U.S. National Archives’ Local Identifier: NWDNS-245-MS-3073L

From: Series: Photographs of the Medical Survey of the Bituminous Coal Industry (Record Group 245)

Created by: Department of the Interior. Solid Fuels Administration For War, (04/19/1943 - 06/30/1947 )

Production Date: 9/22/1946

Photographer: Lee, Russell, 1903-1986

Subjects:

Coal mines and mining

Mines and mineral resources

Persistent URL: catalog.archives.gov/id/541440

Repository: Still Picture Records Section, Special Media Archives Services Division (NWCS-S), National Archives at College Park, 8601 Adelphi Road, College Park, MD, 20740-6001.

For information about ordering reproductions of photographs held by the Still Picture Unit, visit: www.archives.gov/research/order/still-pictures.html

Reproductions may be ordered via an independent vendor. NARA maintains a list of vendors at www.archives.gov/research/order/vendors-photos-maps-dc.html

Access Restrictions: Unrestricted

Use Restrictions: Unrestricted

Asphaltic concrete road in Thailand

FISSILE CORE STORAGE –

The fissile cores were stored in small buildings arranged around the large non-nuclear component stores. In total there are 57 of these buildings, which are divided into 48 Type 'A' and 9 Type 'B' stores. The fissile core stores are organised in four uneven groups around the non-nuclear stores. The two southerly groups of stores are arranged symmetrically to the south of the large non-nuclear stores, each group having sixteen small store buildings. The north-eastern group contains eleven stores and the north-west group fourteen. All but the south-east group contained a mixture of Type 'A' and Type 'B' stores.

The store buildings are linked together by pedestrian width walkways, fenced by tubular steel pipes 37in tall with strands of white between the horizontal members. The area was lit by pre-cast concrete lamp-posts, each of which had a red panic button at chest height. The Type 'A' storage buildings 1-48 are small kiosk-like structures. In plan they measure 8ft 4in by 7ft 10in and stand 9ft above ground level. The foundations of the building are constructed of 3ft thick mass concrete. The walls are of cavity wall construction and are formed of solid concrete blocks, while the roof is a flat over-hanging reinforced concrete slab with a drip mould, and is covered with bituminous felt. The design drawing (Drg. No. 3563B/52) shows a variety of irregular roof plans designed to disguise the structures from the air. These were never built, all the roofs being rectangular in plan.

Fittings on the walls indicate that they were all originally protected by copper earthing straps. On the front of many of the stores a stencilled notice records ''Date of last lightning conductor test April - 63''. Internally the walls are finished in unpainted, smooth gritless plaster. The side and rear walls are ventilated by four small controllable ventilators, two at the base of the wall and two at the top. In the floor of each of the Type 'A' stores is a single keyhole shaped cavity. Each hole is 1ft 5in in diameter and 1ft 9in deep. The shaft of the hole measures 10in wide and is 8in long and is shallower than the main hole at 3½in. A scar around the hole suggests it originally contained a vessel with the asphalt brought up around its lip. This is confirmed by the survival of the surrounding lip in similar stores at RAF Faldingworth, Lincolnshire, and by the rare survival of a number of stainless steel vessels at the bomb store at RAF Gaydon, Warwickshire.

The electrical system of each store was contained within small bore metal pipes; circular junction boxes led to other electrical fittings, which have in most cases been removed. In a number of the stores 'Walsall' Type 1174X flameproof switch boxes remained. On their covers is cast ''5 Amp 250 Volt Flameproof switchbox type Walsall 1174BX Group 2 FLP 302 Group 3 Test P60 Isolate supply elsewhere before removing this cover''. A small formica sign confirmed that ''The electrical installation in this building is standard 'A' in accordance with AP 2608A''. All the stores originally had external fuse boxes to the left of their doors.

The doors are wooden and open outwards, their outer faces being protected by a steel sheet. They are secured by a combination lock and internal vertical locking bar operated by an external handle. A metal fitting in the path allowed the door to be secured half ajar. Above the door, and attached to its frame, is a spring-loaded electrical contact, which probably recorded on the control board in building 63 whether or not the door was open or closed. Externally and internally the doors are painted light blue. On the door of building No. 1 is a 1ft diameter radiation symbol in yellow and out-lined in black, below it is a 11½in yellow square with a black star at its centre.

The Type 'B' store buildings 49-57 are slightly larger than the Type 'A' measuring 9ft 7in by 7ft 10n. Otherwise the details of the stores are identical to the smaller stores. The principle difference between the two types of structures is that the Type 'B ' had two storage holes in their floors. Each of these buildings was also equipped with a small wooden counter adjacent to the doors; the counters measure 2ft 6in by 1ft 6in and standing 4ft tall. They have been removed from stores 53 and 55. At some point during the operational life of the station the holes in the floors of all the Type 'B' stores were filled and covered by gritless asphalt. The asphalt surfaces in the stores are continuous, often with a slight depression marking the position of the holes, which implies that the original floor was lifted and new floors laid. The holes in store 52 have been reopened, as indicated by fragments of the asphalt surface thrown back into the holes. This is in contrast to RAF Faldingworth where the holes have been left open.

In total there were enough holes to store 66 fissile cores. One source states that the single hole stores contained plutonium cores, while the double-hole stores were, used for cobalt cores. Currently available documentation does not reveal if one fissile core may be equated with one bomb, or if a bomb contained more than one fissile core. Recent research has shown that Britain probably produced no more than twenty Blue Danube warheads, with this number on the active stockpile between 1957 and 1961. It is therefore likely that no more than a handful of weapons were stored at RAF Barnham at anyone time.

The significance of the filling of the holes in the Type 'B' stores is also unclear. It may coincide with the withdrawal of the first generation nuclear weapon, ''Blue Danube'', and the deployment second generation atomic bomb, ''Red Beard'' (from 1961), or it may be related to the introduction of first British hydrogen bomb, ''Yellow Sun'' (from 1958). Given the number of available nuclear warheads in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s, it is unlikely that the RAF Barnham store was ever full. Part of RAF Barnham's function, along with other bomb stores, was to convince the Soviet Union that Britain had more nuclear weapons at her disposal than was in fact the case.

Information sourced from English Heritage.

FISSILE CORE STORAGE –

The fissile cores were stored in small buildings arranged around the large non-nuclear component stores. In total there are 57 of these buildings, which are divided into 48 Type 'A' and 9 Type 'B' stores. The fissile core stores are organised in four uneven groups around the non-nuclear stores. The two southerly groups of stores are arranged symmetrically to the south of the large non-nuclear stores, each group having sixteen small store buildings. The north-eastern group contains eleven stores and the north-west group fourteen. All but the south-east group contained a mixture of Type 'A' and Type 'B' stores.

The store buildings are linked together by pedestrian width walkways, fenced by tubular steel pipes 37in tall with strands of white between the horizontal members. The area was lit by pre-cast concrete lamp-posts, each of which had a red panic button at chest height. The Type 'A' storage buildings 1-48 are small kiosk-like structures. In plan they measure 8ft 4in by 7ft 10in and stand 9ft above ground level. The foundations of the building are constructed of 3ft thick mass concrete. The walls are of cavity wall construction and are formed of solid concrete blocks, while the roof is a flat over-hanging reinforced concrete slab with a drip mould, and is covered with bituminous felt. The design drawing (Drg. No. 3563B/52) shows a variety of irregular roof plans designed to disguise the structures from the air. These were never built, all the roofs being rectangular in plan.

Fittings on the walls indicate that they were all originally protected by copper earthing straps. On the front of many of the stores a stencilled notice records ''Date of last lightning conductor test April - 63''. Internally the walls are finished in unpainted, smooth gritless plaster. The side and rear walls are ventilated by four small controllable ventilators, two at the base of the wall and two at the top. In the floor of each of the Type 'A' stores is a single keyhole shaped cavity. Each hole is 1ft 5in in diameter and 1ft 9in deep. The shaft of the hole measures 10in wide and is 8in long and is shallower than the main hole at 3½in. A scar around the hole suggests it originally contained a vessel with the asphalt brought up around its lip. This is confirmed by the survival of the surrounding lip in similar stores at RAF Faldingworth, Lincolnshire, and by the rare survival of a number of stainless steel vessels at the bomb store at RAF Gaydon, Warwickshire.

The electrical system of each store was contained within small bore metal pipes; circular junction boxes led to other electrical fittings, which have in most cases been removed. In a number of the stores 'Walsall' Type 1174X flameproof switch boxes remained. On their covers is cast ''5 Amp 250 Volt Flameproof switchbox type Walsall 1174BX Group 2 FLP 302 Group 3 Test P60 Isolate supply elsewhere before removing this cover''. A small formica sign confirmed that ''The electrical installation in this building is standard 'A' in accordance with AP 2608A''. All the stores originally had external fuse boxes to the left of their doors.

The doors are wooden and open outwards, their outer faces being protected by a steel sheet. They are secured by a combination lock and internal vertical locking bar operated by an external handle. A metal fitting in the path allowed the door to be secured half ajar. Above the door, and attached to its frame, is a spring-loaded electrical contact, which probably recorded on the control board in building 63 whether or not the door was open or closed. Externally and internally the doors are painted light blue. On the door of building No. 1 is a 1ft diameter radiation symbol in yellow and out-lined in black, below it is a 11½in yellow square with a black star at its centre.

The Type 'B' store buildings 49-57 are slightly larger than the Type 'A' measuring 9ft 7in by 7ft 10n. Otherwise the details of the stores are identical to the smaller stores. The principle difference between the two types of structures is that the Type 'B ' had two storage holes in their floors. Each of these buildings was also equipped with a small wooden counter adjacent to the doors; the counters measure 2ft 6in by 1ft 6in and standing 4ft tall. They have been removed from stores 53 and 55. At some point during the operational life of the station the holes in the floors of all the Type 'B' stores were filled and covered by gritless asphalt. The asphalt surfaces in the stores are continuous, often with a slight depression marking the position of the holes, which implies that the original floor was lifted and new floors laid. The holes in store 52 have been reopened, as indicated by fragments of the asphalt surface thrown back into the holes. This is in contrast to RAF Faldingworth where the holes have been left open.

In total there were enough holes to store 66 fissile cores. One source states that the single hole stores contained plutonium cores, while the double-hole stores were, used for cobalt cores. Currently available documentation does not reveal if one fissile core may be equated with one bomb, or if a bomb contained more than one fissile core. Recent research has shown that Britain probably produced no more than twenty Blue Danube warheads, with this number on the active stockpile between 1957 and 1961. It is therefore likely that no more than a handful of weapons were stored at RAF Barnham at anyone time.

The significance of the filling of the holes in the Type 'B' stores is also unclear. It may coincide with the withdrawal of the first generation nuclear weapon, ''Blue Danube'', and the deployment second generation atomic bomb, ''Red Beard'' (from 1961), or it may be related to the introduction of first British hydrogen bomb, ''Yellow Sun'' (from 1958). Given the number of available nuclear warheads in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s, it is unlikely that the RAF Barnham store was ever full. Part of RAF Barnham's function, along with other bomb stores, was to convince the Soviet Union that Britain had more nuclear weapons at her disposal than was in fact the case.

Information sourced from English Heritage.

The evening setting sun slants across the Jurassic Coast and the low tide gives a good view of the make up of this part of the Dorset Coast which is a long line of dolomite and bituminous shale ledges stretching out to sea and known as the Kimmeridge Ledges. This was taken from Clavell's Hard and the nearer headland is Rope lake Head, followed by Houns Tout, Emmett's Hill and the distant headland is St Aldhelm's Head. You might argue that I have included too much foreground in this but I love the winter grass with the coast path running through it, especially when it is picked out by the low evening sun against the blue sea.

There is another picture below - this was taken slightly further back along the path.

Better on black.

Suggestions for the collection, examination and

photography of rock dwelling Patella species.

Ian F. Smith, April 2020

Casual photographs of the shell exterior of Patella species are unreliable evidence for differentiation and are likely to be declined as records by verifiers on iRecord, especially when they would alter the established distribution patterns. In north-west Europe, if a lateral view shows that a shell has a height 50%, or more, of its length, it can usually be accepted as Patella vulgata (but it often has a lower shell). Otherwise, the interior of a fresh shell may suffice but, often, a view of the foot and peripheral pallial tentacles is needed. This requires removal, without damage, of a live limpet from the substrate.

Collecting equipment

Dining knife with a strong, broadly rounded tip (sharp point risks damage).

Plastic box, lined with polythene, part-filled with seawater.

Collecting method

Please be sparing in how many you take, especially if limpets are not locally common.

Carefully approach a limpet in a pool or on damp rock; its shell will probably not be applied with full force to the substrate. Sudden movement or shadow may cause it to clamp down. When close enough, quickly force the knife, angled into the rock under the shell and foot. A horizontal thrust risks lethal damage. If the rock is soft, try to push the knife tip into its surface. Complete the removal by striking the handle of the knife with your free hand, as if hitting a chisel. If your first thrust fails to go under the limpet, abandon the effort as it will have clamped down and be impossible to move without damage. Try another one.

Place the removed limpet, sole down, in the lined box in water sufficiently deep to cover the shell; there should be air left in the box. Leave the box undisturbed for the limpet to settle and grip the polythene before transporting it. Upturned limpets are likely to die, so check as soon as home is reached that it is still upright. If collecting more than one, place each in a separate box as if one dies it will foul the water and kill its companions. If processing is delayed, keep in a refrigerator at about 7°C.

If you decide to examine/photograph the limpet on the beach you can dispense with the box. If replacing a limpet, it should be at the spot where found.

Examination equipment.

1. Container about 4 cm deep with base painted with black bituminous paint (or clear base on top of black polythene).

2. Piece of glass that will fit inside container.

3. Four identical flat supports about 15 mm thick (e.g. dissection blocks).

4. Sea water.

5. Spirit-levelled work surface. e.g. an aquarium stand with top of toughened glass such as door off old audio system cabinet. On the shore do your best to level the container.

Examination method.

Take the polythene with limpet out of its box and slide the limpet off it onto the glass.

Place the glass on the supports in the container with seawater deep enough to just cover the glass.

When limpet has gripped the glass, turn glass over and replace on supports. If the limpet moves to the edge you can usually slide it to the centre without it detaching.

The expanded foot will now be visible. When the limpet has settled down it will likely extend its head and you may see the mouth open, and the radula make feeding strokes. Eventually, the mantle will expand to the shell’s rim, and the peripheral pallial tentacles will extend and be visible against the black base of the container.

Compare what you see with images in the accounts at flic.kr/s/aHskokisge and flic.kr/s/aHskqnXPqt ; both contain comparative images of P. vulgata. Magnification and good lighting will help.

Photography

If the shell height is 50%, or more, of the shell length, an untilted side-image showing its profile is usually sufficient evidence for P. vulgata in north-west Europe. Otherwise, a clear photograph of the vacant shell interior may be enough. If foot and pallial tentacles are used for positive identification, a clear record photograph is needed for acceptance as personal judgement about what is opaque white or translucent is subjective, especially until the different species have been experienced. (From this cause I initially made mistaken records which had to be removed from NBN maps.)

Cameras vary widely in what they can do. A digital SLR with manual focus, rack and pinion tripod and two side flashes, as in the image above, is ideal but expensive. A separate sheet is available for Nikon 300s which may be of use with other DSLRs. This article is to guide you to general principles that I hope you will find useful with automatic compact cameras, mobile phone cameras etc, as well as DSLRs.

If about to buy a compact camera, one that is put to very good use by many is the Olympus Tough TG series shop.olympus.eu/en_GB/cameras/tough/tg-6 . It can withstand being dropped and can even be used submerged in a pool. It can be used by divers to moderate depths, but may have a short life if used without a camera housing. It has a 12 megapixel image sensor. Cameras with fewer pixels will take poorer images, those with more should do better.

Camera Handbook

It is essential to read the handbook to learn how to use different features on your camera. Keep a note of what you find useful. Use the camera for general photography before attempting close ups.

Focusing

For zoomed-in close ups the depth of field of focus is tiny. If the subject and lens surface are not parallel, one part may be in focus and the rest blurred.

1) Avoid tilting the camera or the subject/base of container (unless both tilted at same angle) if possible. The most reliable method is with camera facing vertically down mounted on a rack and pinion tripod with both work surface and back of camera levelled horizontal with a spirit level.

2) Avoid the slightest movement of the camera as the automatic focus is unlikely to adjust quickly enough to minor movement. Use tripod as in 1; otherwise use whatever is available to steady the camera with lens surface parallel to subject/container base. One impromptu shore technique used by A. Rowat when photographing with an Olympus TG, is to hold it in two hands and project his little fingers to rest against the substrate. If the telescopic legs are withdrawn to their minimum, a tripod is very stable and can be stood on a table with the subject raised for closer focusing on a rigid box on the table.

3) Zoom in (closeness possible varies with camera) to fill as much of the frame as is possible with the subject so the automatic focus adjusts to the subject rather than a larger expanse of background.

4) Keep the subject as close as possible to the background which is likely to be what it focuses on when it is not possible to fill the frame with the subject. Holding the subject in one hand and the camera in the other while standing on the shore is likely to give a focused image of the shore and a blurred image of the subject and hand, added to by unavoidable small movement.

5) Use flash, as with it the lens aperture will close to the minimum for the bright light it provides. Small apertures give sharper images than large ones. Images taken in weak light will cause the aperture to open wide and the result is likely to be blurred, or very dark if it doesn’t open.

Glare and reflection

In the open, a horizontal water surface reflects the sky, including clouds. This hinders what can be seen in the water and gives photos a milky appearance. Ask a companion to block the sky by holding a black umbrella, or similar, high above the container or pool containing the subject.

Indoors, a flash located on the top of a camera pointing vertically down emits light at 90° to the water surface, and the light reflects directly back on the same track into the lens causing glare. If the camera can be operated with flash units off the camera, two should be placed, one at either side, at c. 45° tilt to the surface. Flash units can be free standing or mounted on a lens bracket protruding right and left. The light then is reflected away at 45° in the opposite direction, not into the camera. If a single side flash is used, one side will be brilliant and the other in black shadow. To avoid this if only one is available, put a reflector of crumpled aluminium foil close to the subject on the side away from the flash. But many cameras only have the option of single top-mounted flash. In this case, deviate slightly from focusing item ‘1’ (above) by tilting the camera and flash up a little. Experiment to find the minimum tilt that will get rid of reflection; you may find that when zoomed in very close that the small distance between lens and flash is sufficient for the reflection to miss the lens, even when the camera is untilted.

Damp/wet shells have a curved surface that reflects at an infinite number of different angles. However you position the camera or light source, some light will enter the lens and cause glare. To avoid this, either dry the shell or submerge it completely and photograph it as above. If part protrudes from the water, the curved meniscus at point of emergence will cause glare.

Exposure

The automatic exposure of a camera sets itself according to brightness of what it senses in the frame. If a small dark subject is surrounded by a large white background the aperture reduces to avoid what it senses, mainly the white background, from being too bright. This results in a correctly exposed background and an underexposed dull dark image of the subject. To avoid this, try photographing with a black smooth background, such as a base painted with black bituminous paint or a clear base resting on black polythene. Avoid textured surfaces as they catch and reflect light. Different camera models vary, so you may need to experiment.

Editing

An editing suite can vastly improve images. Photoshop is the best known, but is expensive and complicated to use. A simpler, cheaper one may be easier to master.

There may already be some editing facilities on your pc; it is worth having a look. I use PhotoStudio 6, but it is no longer available for official sale. Features I find most useful are crop, rotate, auto enhance, sharpen, brightness, saturation, contrast, fill, clone, brush, text, and stitch. Practice is required to get the best from editing.

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With a plentiful and gracious heads up from my inside source, I was alerted to this coming through on the H-TEAAMY 1-18A. As stated to me “a “weird looking color schemed engine” departing Teague third in consist at 16:00 which would put it through Flynn at approximately 17:15.

Now, it’s been blisteringly hot and dry here for the last 2½ months, so no railfanning for me. Of course this comes through and we’ve got a major thunderstorm line bearing down from the west. Trust me, we need the rain desperately, but the timing?

What was going to get here first: the locomotive or the storm line? Well, the locomotive made it by about 5 minutes before the rain. No sooner does the EOT pass me does the first line of downpours hit.

I was fortunate enough to catch the logo.

Cerrajón

carbón para el mundo

Progreso para Columbia.

Which translates to”

Coal for the world,

Progress for Columbia

Cerrajón Mining located in La Guajira, Columbia is an open pit low sulfur low ash bituminous coal mine.

Photos on the internet show Cerrajón had a fleet of GE B36-7 units and is in the progress of upgrading to ES44ACs.

BNSF

Red River Division

Houston Subdivision

MP168.46 – FM 977gc

Flynn, Texas, USA

18 August 2020 – 17:22 CDT

BNSF H-TEAAMY 1-18A (sb manifest, Teague, TX to PTRA American Yard; Houston, TX)

BNSF 5497 [GE C44-9W]

BNSF 6701 [GE ES44C4]

Cerrajon 1026 [GE ES44AC]

all images: © 2022 ~ Phantastic Pherroequinology / Philip M. Goldstein

FISSILE CORE STORAGE –

The fissile cores were stored in small buildings arranged around the large non-nuclear component stores. In total there are 57 of these buildings, which are divided into 48 Type 'A' and 9 Type 'B' stores. The fissile core stores are organised in four uneven groups around the non-nuclear stores. The two southerly groups of stores are arranged symmetrically to the south of the large non-nuclear stores, each group having sixteen small store buildings. The north-eastern group contains eleven stores and the north-west group fourteen. All but the south-east group contained a mixture of Type 'A' and Type 'B' stores.

The store buildings are linked together by pedestrian width walkways, fenced by tubular steel pipes 37in tall with strands of white between the horizontal members. The area was lit by pre-cast concrete lamp-posts, each of which had a red panic button at chest height. The Type 'A' storage buildings 1-48 are small kiosk-like structures. In plan they measure 8ft 4in by 7ft 10in and stand 9ft above ground level. The foundations of the building are constructed of 3ft thick mass concrete. The walls are of cavity wall construction and are formed of solid concrete blocks, while the roof is a flat over-hanging reinforced concrete slab with a drip mould, and is covered with bituminous felt. The design drawing (Drg. No. 3563B/52) shows a variety of irregular roof plans designed to disguise the structures from the air. These were never built, all the roofs being rectangular in plan.

Fittings on the walls indicate that they were all originally protected by copper earthing straps. On the front of many of the stores a stencilled notice records ''Date of last lightning conductor test April - 63''. Internally the walls are finished in unpainted, smooth gritless plaster. The side and rear walls are ventilated by four small controllable ventilators, two at the base of the wall and two at the top. In the floor of each of the Type 'A' stores is a single keyhole shaped cavity. Each hole is 1ft 5in in diameter and 1ft 9in deep. The shaft of the hole measures 10in wide and is 8in long and is shallower than the main hole at 3½in. A scar around the hole suggests it originally contained a vessel with the asphalt brought up around its lip. This is confirmed by the survival of the surrounding lip in similar stores at RAF Faldingworth, Lincolnshire, and by the rare survival of a number of stainless steel vessels at the bomb store at RAF Gaydon, Warwickshire.

The electrical system of each store was contained within small bore metal pipes; circular junction boxes led to other electrical fittings, which have in most cases been removed. In a number of the stores 'Walsall' Type 1174X flameproof switch boxes remained. On their covers is cast ''5 Amp 250 Volt Flameproof switchbox type Walsall 1174BX Group 2 FLP 302 Group 3 Test P60 Isolate supply elsewhere before removing this cover''. A small formica sign confirmed that ''The electrical installation in this building is standard 'A' in accordance with AP 2608A''. All the stores originally had external fuse boxes to the left of their doors.

The doors are wooden and open outwards, their outer faces being protected by a steel sheet. They are secured by a combination lock and internal vertical locking bar operated by an external handle. A metal fitting in the path allowed the door to be secured half ajar. Above the door, and attached to its frame, is a spring-loaded electrical contact, which probably recorded on the control board in building 63 whether or not the door was open or closed. Externally and internally the doors are painted light blue. On the door of building No. 1 is a 1ft diameter radiation symbol in yellow and out-lined in black, below it is a 11½in yellow square with a black star at its centre.

The Type 'B' store buildings 49-57 are slightly larger than the Type 'A' measuring 9ft 7in by 7ft 10n. Otherwise the details of the stores are identical to the smaller stores. The principle difference between the two types of structures is that the Type 'B ' had two storage holes in their floors. Each of these buildings was also equipped with a small wooden counter adjacent to the doors; the counters measure 2ft 6in by 1ft 6in and standing 4ft tall. They have been removed from stores 53 and 55. At some point during the operational life of the station the holes in the floors of all the Type 'B' stores were filled and covered by gritless asphalt. The asphalt surfaces in the stores are continuous, often with a slight depression marking the position of the holes, which implies that the original floor was lifted and new floors laid. The holes in store 52 have been reopened, as indicated by fragments of the asphalt surface thrown back into the holes. This is in contrast to RAF Faldingworth where the holes have been left open.

In total there were enough holes to store 66 fissile cores. One source states that the single hole stores contained plutonium cores, while the double-hole stores were, used for cobalt cores. Currently available documentation does not reveal if one fissile core may be equated with one bomb, or if a bomb contained more than one fissile core. Recent research has shown that Britain probably produced no more than twenty Blue Danube warheads, with this number on the active stockpile between 1957 and 1961. It is therefore likely that no more than a handful of weapons were stored at RAF Barnham at anyone time.

The significance of the filling of the holes in the Type 'B' stores is also unclear. It may coincide with the withdrawal of the first generation nuclear weapon, ''Blue Danube'', and the deployment second generation atomic bomb, ''Red Beard'' (from 1961), or it may be related to the introduction of first British hydrogen bomb, ''Yellow Sun'' (from 1958). Given the number of available nuclear warheads in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s, it is unlikely that the RAF Barnham store was ever full. Part of RAF Barnham's function, along with other bomb stores, was to convince the Soviet Union that Britain had more nuclear weapons at her disposal than was in fact the case.

Information sourced from English Heritage.

Semi-cannel coal from the Pennsylvanian of Ohio, USA.

The Pottsville Group is a Pennsylvanian-aged cyclothemic succession containing nonmarine shales, marine shales, siltstones, sandstones, coals, marine limestones, and chert ("flint"). The lower Pottsville dates to the late Early Pennsylvanian. The upper part dates to the early Middle Pennsylvanian. The Lower-Middle Pennsylvanian boundary is apparently somewhere near the Boggs Limestone horizon (?).

This sample is from the Middle Mercer Coal. Stratigraphically, the coal horizon occurs immediately below the Lower Mercer Limestone, a widespread marine fossiliferous limestone unit. The Middle Mercer Coal usually consists of bituminous coal, but in places it is semi-cannel coal, cannel coal, or carbonaceous shale.

Stratigraphy: Middle Mercer Coal, Pottsville Group, lower Atokan Stage, lower Middle Pennsylvanian

Locality: Rock Cut railroad cut - outcrop along the southern side of Ohio Central Railroad tracks (west of milepost 134), ~southwest of Copeland Island & south-southeast of the town of Dresden, northern Muskingum County, eastern Ohio, USA (~vicinity of 40° 04’ 24.41” North latitude, ~81° 59’ 11.25” West longitude)

BNSF unit coal trains go back and forth between coal mines in the Power River Basin of Wyoming and Montana and the utilities that use coal in the midwest, near Thedford in the Nebraska Sandhills region, USA [No property release; available for editorial licensing only]

Danny Walker who works in Bituminous Operations receives an award for winning the tandem axle dump truck category from Division 7 Safety Officer Marcus Scott at the 2012 Equipment Roadeo in Haw River.

Limestone over coal in the Pennsylvanian of Ohio, USA.

This eastern Ohio exposure is in the Pottsville Group, a Pennsylvanian-aged cyclothemic succession containing nonmarine shales, marine shales, siltstones, sandstones, coals, marine limestones, and chert ("flint"). The lower Pottsville dates to the late Early Pennsylvanian. The upper part dates to the early Middle Pennsylvanian. The Lower-Middle Pennsylvanian boundary is apparently somewhere near the Boggs Member (?).

The Upper Mercer Limestone is a moderately laterally persistent chertified limestone horizon in the Pottsville Group. It is often composed of black-colored chert/flint but can be dark bluish to bluish-black colored as well (the latter colors are referred to as "Nellie Blue Flint"). Upper Mercer Flint has whitish-colored fossils and fossil fragments that include fusulinid foraminifera, crinoid ossicles, and other Late Paleozoic normal marine fossils. Apparent phylloidal algae can also be present as squiggly lines.

Non-chertified limestone is frequently present in the Upper Mercer horizon, although minor in volume. Limestone usually occurs along the outside portions of chert masses, but also in relatively small patches within the chert.

In places, the Upper Mercer Flint/Limestone horizon is missing, usually removed by paleoerosion.

American Indians sometimes used Upper Mercer Flint to make arrowheads and spear points and knife blades. "Flint Ridge Flint" (= Vanport Flint) was the most desirable source rock for these objects, but other chert horizons also attracted attention.

At this outcrop, limestone makes up most of the Upper Mercer, which is unusual. Black, irregularly-shaped flint nodules are present in the limestone.

The upper ledge is the Upper Mercer Limestone. Below it is the Bedford Coal, which at this site is composed of bituminous coal and cannel coal. Below the coal is an "underclay", which is composed of shale that has been subjected to chemical weathering from minor sulfuric acid percolating downward from the coal. The sulfuric acid was generated by oxidation of pyrite (in the presence of water) in the coal. Pyrite in the Bedford Coal occurs as small nodules, disseminated tiny crystals, and is in partially pyritized fossil charcoal.

Stratigraphy: Upper Mercer Limestone over Bedford Coal, upper Pottsville Group, Atokan Stage, lower Middle Pennsylvanian

Locality: Tunnel Hill North Portal Outcrop (= Noland Tunnel's northern portal), ~1.75 air miles north-northeast of the town of Tunnel Hill, western Coshocton County, eastern Ohio, USA (~40° 16’ 33.27” North latitude, ~82° 01’ 53.04” West longitude)

In all shafts and slopes where persons, coal and other materials are housed by machinery the following code of signals shall be used:

1 Ring -- Stop cage when in motion

2 Rings -- To lower cage

3 Rings -- To hoist persons

The operator shall signal back when ready, after which the person shall get on the cage and then three rings shall be given to hoist.

Bituminous coal from the Cretaceous of Utah, USA.

Coal is a carbon-rich, biogenic sedimentary rock. It forms by the burial and alteration of organic matter from fossil land plants that lived in ancient swamps. Coal starts out as peat. With increasing burial and diagenetic alteration, peat becomes lignite coal, sub-bituminous coal, and then bituminous coal. Bituminous coals tend to break and weather in a blocky fashion, are relatively sooty to the touch, and are harder and heavier than lignite coal (but still relatively soft and lightweight). Discernible plant fossil fragments may be present on bituminous coal bedding planes - sometimes in abundance. Bituminous coals commonly have irregular patches of shiny, glassy-textured organic matter (vitrain).

----------------------------------

Info. from public signage at Wittenberg University's Geology Department (Springfield, Ohio, USA):

Origin of Coal

Coal is formed from accumulated vegetation that grew in peat-forming swamps on broad lowlands that were near sea level. Cyclothems indicate that the land must have been at a "critical level" since the change from marine to non-marine sediments shows that the seas periodically encroached upon the land.

Formation of Coal

The change from plant debris to coal involves biochemical action producing partial decay, preserval of this material from further decay, and later dynamochemical processes. The biochemical changes involve attack by bacteria which liberate volatile constituents, and the preserval of the residual waxes and resins in the bottom of the swamps where the water is too toxic for the decay-promoting bacteria to live. The accumulated material forms "peat bogs". The dynamochemical process involves further chemical reactions produced by the increased pressure and temperature brought about by the weight of sediment that is deposited on top of it. These reactions are also ones in which the volatile constituents are driven off.

Rank of Coal

The different types of coal are commonly referred to in terms of rank. From lowest upward, they are peat (actually not a coal), lignite, bituminous, and anthracite. The rank of the coal is the result of the different amounts of pressure and time involved in producing the coal.

Bituminous

Bituminous coal is a dense, dark, brittle, banded coal that is well jointed and breaks into cubical or prismatic blocks and does not disintegrate upon exposure to air. Dull and bright bands and smooth and hackly layers are evident. It ignites easily, burns with a smoky yellow flame, has low moisture contnet, medium volatile content, and fixed carbon and heating content is high. It is the most used and most desired coal in the world for industrial uses.

In the United States, the Northern Appalachian fields lead in production, followed by the interior fields of the Midwest.

----------------------------------

This sample comes from Utah's Bronco Mine, which reportedly started in the 1880s. The coal ranks as high-volatile C bituminous coal, which means it gives off less heat than high-volatile A or B bituminous coals. The former gives off about 11,500 British thermal units (Btu) of heat per pound of coal. The latter two give off about 14,000 and 13,000 Btu per pound, respectively.

Stratigraphy: coal horizon in the Ferron Sandstone Member, Mancos Shale, Upper Cretaceous

Locality: Bronco Mine (= Emery Deep Mine), Emery County, central Utah, USA

I have an unhappy history of kicking milk containers washed up on the "Jurassic Coast" shore. This one remained un-kicked, but it was empty anyway.

Typical view at Rainbow Mountain Preserve in Madison, Alabama. The park is quite rocky in areas, comprised of a formation called the Hartselle Sandstone, the formation being made up of sandstone, limestone, and shale laid down in the Mississippian and Pennsylvanian periods of the Paleozoic Era (570-225 million years ago). These sediments accumulated in depositional settings ranging from shallow shelf to back-barrier lagoons and tidal flats, all areas relating to shallow seas. Trace fossils and to a lesser extent body fossils can be abundant in the formation, particularly worms, bivalves, bryozoans, asteroids (starfish), and ophiuroids (brittle stars). Brachiopods are in my experience the most common fossil, though crinoid fragments can be common.

The formation has been quarried in several locations for sandstone for use in building, landscaping and civil engineering and ground into sand for casting. In some areas, such as near Littleville in Colbert County the sandstone is impregnated with bituminous alphaltum, leading some to explore the possibility that the bed harbors oil reserves, perhaps extending below the Warrior coal fields of Northwest Alabama.

www.bhamwiki.com/w/Hartselle_sandstone

www.envs.emory.edu/faculty/MARTIN/ichnology/IN-Hartselle-...

www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h-1152

Limestone over coal in the Pennsylvanian of Ohio, USA.

This eastern Ohio exposure is in the Pottsville Group, a Pennsylvanian-aged cyclothemic succession containing nonmarine shales, marine shales, siltstones, sandstones, coals, marine limestones, and chert ("flint"). The lower Pottsville dates to the late Early Pennsylvanian. The upper part dates to the early Middle Pennsylvanian. The Lower-Middle Pennsylvanian boundary is apparently somewhere near the Boggs Member (?).

The Upper Mercer Limestone is a moderately laterally persistent chertified limestone horizon in the Pottsville Group. It is often composed of black-colored chert/flint but can be dark bluish to bluish-black colored as well (the latter colors are referred to as "Nellie Blue Flint"). Upper Mercer Flint has whitish-colored fossils and fossil fragments that include fusulinid foraminifera, crinoid ossicles, and other Late Paleozoic normal marine fossils. Apparent phylloidal algae can also be present as squiggly lines.

Non-chertified limestone is frequently present in the Upper Mercer horizon, although minor in volume. Limestone usually occurs along the outside portions of chert masses, but also in relatively small patches within the chert.

In places, the Upper Mercer Flint/Limestone horizon is missing, usually removed by paleoerosion.

American Indians sometimes used Upper Mercer Flint to make arrowheads and spear points and knife blades. "Flint Ridge Flint" (= Vanport Flint) was the most desirable source rock for these objects, but other chert horizons also attracted attention.

At this outcrop, limestone makes up most of the Upper Mercer, which is unusual. Black, irregularly-shaped flint nodules are present in the limestone.

The upper ledge is the Upper Mercer Limestone. Below it is the Bedford Coal, which at this site is composed of bituminous coal and cannel coal. Below the coal is an "underclay", which is composed of shale that has been subjected to chemical weathering from minor sulfuric acid percolating downward from the coal. The sulfuric acid was generated by oxidation of pyrite (in the presence of water) in the coal. Pyrite in the Bedford Coal occurs as small nodules, disseminated tiny crystals, and is in partially pyritized fossil charcoal.

Stratigraphy: Upper Mercer Limestone over Bedford Coal, upper Pottsville Group, Atokan Stage, lower Middle Pennsylvanian

Locality: Tunnel Hill North Portal Outcrop (= Noland Tunnel's northern portal), ~1.75 air miles north-northeast of the town of Tunnel Hill, western Coshocton County, eastern Ohio, USA (~40° 16’ 33.27” North latitude, ~82° 01’ 53.04” West longitude)

Coal is a carbon-rich, biogenic sedimentary rock. Many coal ranks exist, such as lignite coal, sub-bituminous coal, and bituminous coal. Other varieties include cannel coal, canneloid coal, bone coal, and stone coal. Seen here is anthracite coal, which is a metamorphic variety, the result of very low grade metamorphism ("anchimetamorphism") of ordinary coal. The iridescent coating makes the coal quite colorful, resulting in the term "peacock coal". I have yet to see specific, convincing information about the identity of iridescent coatings on peacock coal, but I strongly suspect it's turgite (= hydrous iron oxide).

Provenance: unrecorded/undisclosed (purchased from a gift shop at the Pioneer Tunnel Coal Mine in Ashland, Pennsylvania, USA)

Award: Clay Brick - Commercial/Municipal - More than 15,000 sf

Project Location: Owensboro, Kentucky

Square Feet of Project: 150,000

Contractor: Decorative Paving

Main Product Manufacturer: The Belden Brick Company

Project Designer: EDSA, Landscape Architect

The creation of a people and festival street for the City of Owensboro was a key component of the Smother’s Park project which encompasses 150,000 square feet and five blocks on the Ohio River.

Besides creating safe place for pedestrians, the landscape architect designed and detailed the street to carry busy vehicular traffic while complementing the newly created Smother’s Park. Clay brick pavers by The Belden Brick Company were selected early in the design process to fit the character of the downtown as well as stand the test of time.

One of the design challenges was creating a flood-resistant pavement. The bricks were detailed with a concrete base and sand bedding while others were bituminous set.

Asphaltic concrete road in Thailand

The man who did more to save the whales than any person in history. By inventing kerosene, he ended the world's dependance on whale oil for lantern fuel.

Grave of Abraham Gesner geologist, author, chemist, inventor (b near Cornwallis, NS 2 May 1797; d at Halifax 29 Apr 1864). Gesner invented kerosene oil and, because of his patents for distilling bituminous material, was a founder of the modern petroleum industry. He studied, described and mapped the distribution of rock formations in NS, NB and PEI. His father, Col Henry Gesner, was exiled from a large farm in NY state and moved to the Annapolis Valley.

After elementary schooling in NS, Abraham enrolled as a medical student in London, Eng, in 1825, and graduated as a physician and surgeon. He returned to Parrsboro, NS, and began a medical practice and also continued to explore NS by boat, on horseback and on foot. He moved to Saint John, NB, 1838, and his 5 annual reports on the geology of NB (1839-43) established him as the first government geologist in a British colony. During this time he rediscovered the veins of solid bitumen in Albert County, which he used in experiments in distillation. He used his field collections to start the first natural history museum in Canada at the Mechanics' Institute, Saint John, NB, 1842, before returning to NS in 1843.

Beginning about 1846 he developed experiments for distilling "coal oil" from solid hydrocarbons and coined the name "kerosene" for the lamp oil that he had perfected by 1853. He obtained patents in 1854 and a factory was set up under his guidance on Long Island, NY, to manufacture kerosene, which became standard lighting fuel in homes. In 1863 he sold his patents and returned to Halifax where he was appointed professor at Dalhousie.

Kerosene provided, for the first time, an inexpensive and abundant supply of a safe fuel that could make good lighting available to the general public. Gesner wrote numerous scientific papers and reports and several books, the most important of which was A Practical Treatise on Coal, Petroleum and Other Distilled Oils (1861). His other inventions include one of the first effective wood preservatives, a process of asphalt paving for highways, briquettes made from compressed coal dust, and a machine for insulating electric wire. Imperial Oil has provided a tribute at his grave in Halifax for he did "give the world a better light."

By inventing Kerosene, Gesner did more to save the whales than any other person. Until then lamps were fueled by whale oil.

Bituminous coal from the Pennsylvanian of Ohio, USA.

The Pottsville Group is a Pennsylvanian-aged cyclothemic succession containing nonmarine shales, marine shales, siltstones, sandstones, coals, marine limestones, and chert ("flint"). The lower Pottsville dates to the late Early Pennsylvanian. The upper part dates to the early Middle Pennsylvanian. The Lower-Middle Pennsylvanian boundary is apparently somewhere near the Boggs Limestone horizon (?).

This sample is from the Middle Mercer Coal. Stratigraphically, the coal horizon occurs immediately below the Lower Mercer Limestone, a widespread marine fossiliferous limestone unit. The Middle Mercer Coal usually consists of bituminous coal, but in places it is a cannel coal.

The slight rainbow coloration is turgite, which is an iron oxide material formed by alteration and oxidation of pyrite ("fool's gold", FeS2) (see: www.flickr.com/photos/jsjgeology/albums/72157661979539290). Disseminated pyrite often occurs in bituminous coal beds.

Stratigraphy: Middle Mercer Coal, Pottsville Group, lower Atokan Stage, lower Middle Pennsylvanian

Locality: roadcut along the northern side Rt. 16, southern margin of Irish Ridge, west of the Rt. 16-Rt. 60 intersection, northwest of the town of Trinway, northwestern Muskingum County, eastern Ohio, USA (40° 09’ 12.95” North latitude, 82° 02’ 43.27” West longitude)

Pyritized charcoal in weathered coal from the Pennsylvanian of Ohio, USA. (~10.9 cm across at its widest)

This rock is from the Pottsville Group, a Pennsylvanian-aged cyclothemic succession containing nonmarine shales, marine shales, siltstones, sandstones, coals, marine limestones, and chert ("flint"). The lower Pottsville dates to the late Early Pennsylvanian. The upper part dates to the early Middle Pennsylvanian. The Lower-Middle Pennsylvanian boundary is apparently somewhere near the Boggs Member (?).

The sample is derived from the Bedford Coal, a horizon that occurs just below the Upper Mercer Limestone (or Upper Mercer Flint). Lithologically, the Bedford ranges from carbonaceous shale to argillaceous coal to bituminous coal to cannel coal. The cannel coal in the Bedford was targeted for mining in the 1800s as a source of fuel. It was particularly useful in the manufacture of kerosene, an illuminating fuel. After the petroleum industry started in the 1860s, production of kerosene from cannel coal essentially ceased.

At this locality, the Bedford Coal consists of cannel coal and bituminous coal. This specimen is weathered bituminous coal with pieces of compressed fossil charcoal (= striated structures - click on the above photo to zoom in and look around). The dull brassy gold-colored piece of charcoal to the left-of-center is pyritized. The lustrous black area above it is non-pyritized charcoal. The Pennsylvanian was a time of relatively high atmospheric oxygen (O2) levels, and forest fires were relatively common events. Charcoalized fossil wood can be found in some abundance in Pennsylvanian sedimentary successions. The original wood microstructure is usually well preserved, but the charcoal fragments themselves are quite delicate. A gentle rub with a finger turns these fragments into black powder. Sometimes, the fossil charcoal is partially pyritized.

Stratigraphy: Bedford Coal, upper Pottsville Group, Atokan Stage, lower Middle Pennsylvanian

Locality: Tunnel Hill North Portal Outcrop (= Noland Tunnel's northern portal), ~1.75 air miles north-northeast of the town of Tunnel Hill, western Coshocton County, eastern Ohio, USA (~40° 16’ 33.27” North latitude, ~82° 01’ 53.04” West longitude)

We were hanging out in Bonny Doon near Santa Cruz, CA and took a bit of a Christmas Day hike. It was a beautiful sunny afternoon in the low 60's. This old road is one of the oldest in Santa Cruz Co, made from tar quarried not far away.

Note the intricate flow structures in the asphalt: this is

one of the oldest paved roads in Santa Cruz County, utilizing locally quarried bituminous sandstone.

Majors Creek. The black-colored cliffs, are composed of bitumen-saturated sandstone that was injected into the overlying Santa Cruz Mudstone in a liquid state. Numerous sandstone dikes and sills, most of which contain some bituminous material, are exposed in the modern seacliff between Wilder Creek and Greyhound Rock. The Santa Margarita Sandstone, the source of these intrusions, contains varying amounts of bitumen throughout its outcrop area, from Santa Cruz to the vicinity of Big Basin State Park. The hydrocarbons are believed to have migrated into the Santa Margarita Sandstone from the underlying Monterey Formation.

The bituminous sandstones in this area have been mined since the late 1880’s for paving material. The asphaltic content of the sand ranges from about 4 percent to as much as 18 percent by weight. These oil-impregnated layers vary from 1 to 40 feet in thickness and range in character from dry and brittle to soft and gummy. In some outcrops, tar will drip or flow out of the bituminous sands when sufficiently warmed by the sun. San Francisco streets were reportedly paved in the 1890’s with bituminous sandstone mined near Majors Creek and transported to San Francisco by boat. An estimated 614,000 tons of asphaltic paving material, worth approximately $2,360,000, was produced from this area between 1888 and 1914 (Page and Holmes, 1945). Production was intermittent after the 1920’s, with the last of the quarries (Calrock Quarry) ceasing operations in the 1940’s. Page and Holmes (1945) estimated reserves of approximately 9.8 million cubic yards of asphaltic sand in the area west of Santa Cruz. This sand contains approximately 10 million barrels of asphalt. In oilfield terms, this is about 24 gallons of bitumen per ton, or equivalent to a tar sand with 38 percent porosity, 53 percent oil saturation, and a recovery factor of 1,562 barrels of oil per acre-foot.

Nimrud, ASSYRIA

NW palace of Ashurnasirpal II

885BC-856BC

bituminous limestone

California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San francisco

DSCN4873

Coal is a carbon-rich, biogenic sedimentary rock. Many coal ranks exist, such as lignite coal, sub-bituminous coal, and bituminous coal. Other varieties include cannel coal, canneloid coal, bone coal, and stone coal. Seen here is anthracite coal, which is a metamorphic variety, the result of very low grade metamorphism ("anchimetamorphism") of ordinary coal. The iridescent coating makes the coal quite colorful, resulting in the term "peacock coal". I have yet to see specific, convincing information about the identity of iridescent coatings on peacock coal, but I strongly suspect it's turgite (= hydrous iron oxide).

Provenance: unrecorded/undisclosed (purchased from a gift shop at the Pioneer Tunnel Coal Mine in Ashland, Pennsylvania, USA)

A National Historic Landmark

Huntingdon County, PA

Listed in NR: 10/15/1966

Designated an NHL: 01/28/1964

One of the oldest narrow gauge lines in America, this railroad was established in 1871 and operated for more than 80 years as a coal-carrying line in the heart of Pennsylvania’s bituminous coal mining region. In addition to carrying coal, the 33-mile line transported timber, sand, rock, general freight, and passengers. The railroad ceased operations in 1956, but much of the track and several engines have been preserved. Steam engines now provide nostalgic excursions on a restored portion of this rare vestige of a once common type of railroad.

National Register of Historic Places

National Historic Landmarks

FISSILE CORE STORAGE –

The fissile cores were stored in small buildings arranged around the large non-nuclear component stores. In total there are 57 of these buildings, which are divided into 48 Type 'A' and 9 Type 'B' stores. The fissile core stores are organised in four uneven groups around the non-nuclear stores. The two southerly groups of stores are arranged symmetrically to the south of the large non-nuclear stores, each group having sixteen small store buildings. The north-eastern group contains eleven stores and the north-west group fourteen. All but the south-east group contained a mixture of Type 'A' and Type 'B' stores.

The store buildings are linked together by pedestrian width walkways, fenced by tubular steel pipes 37in tall with strands of white between the horizontal members. The area was lit by pre-cast concrete lamp-posts, each of which had a red panic button at chest height. The Type 'A' storage buildings 1-48 are small kiosk-like structures. In plan they measure 8ft 4in by 7ft 10in and stand 9ft above ground level. The foundations of the building are constructed of 3ft thick mass concrete. The walls are of cavity wall construction and are formed of solid concrete blocks, while the roof is a flat over-hanging reinforced concrete slab with a drip mould, and is covered with bituminous felt. The design drawing (Drg. No. 3563B/52) shows a variety of irregular roof plans designed to disguise the structures from the air. These were never built, all the roofs being rectangular in plan.

Fittings on the walls indicate that they were all originally protected by copper earthing straps. On the front of many of the stores a stencilled notice records ''Date of last lightning conductor test April - 63''. Internally the walls are finished in unpainted, smooth gritless plaster. The side and rear walls are ventilated by four small controllable ventilators, two at the base of the wall and two at the top. In the floor of each of the Type 'A' stores is a single keyhole shaped cavity. Each hole is 1ft 5in in diameter and 1ft 9in deep. The shaft of the hole measures 10in wide and is 8in long and is shallower than the main hole at 3½in. A scar around the hole suggests it originally contained a vessel with the asphalt brought up around its lip. This is confirmed by the survival of the surrounding lip in similar stores at RAF Faldingworth, Lincolnshire, and by the rare survival of a number of stainless steel vessels at the bomb store at RAF Gaydon, Warwickshire.

The electrical system of each store was contained within small bore metal pipes; circular junction boxes led to other electrical fittings, which have in most cases been removed. In a number of the stores 'Walsall' Type 1174X flameproof switch boxes remained. On their covers is cast ''5 Amp 250 Volt Flameproof switchbox type Walsall 1174BX Group 2 FLP 302 Group 3 Test P60 Isolate supply elsewhere before removing this cover''. A small formica sign confirmed that ''The electrical installation in this building is standard 'A' in accordance with AP 2608A''. All the stores originally had external fuse boxes to the left of their doors.

The doors are wooden and open outwards, their outer faces being protected by a steel sheet. They are secured by a combination lock and internal vertical locking bar operated by an external handle. A metal fitting in the path allowed the door to be secured half ajar. Above the door, and attached to its frame, is a spring-loaded electrical contact, which probably recorded on the control board in building 63 whether or not the door was open or closed. Externally and internally the doors are painted light blue. On the door of building No. 1 is a 1ft diameter radiation symbol in yellow and out-lined in black, below it is a 11½in yellow square with a black star at its centre.

The Type 'B' store buildings 49-57 are slightly larger than the Type 'A' measuring 9ft 7in by 7ft 10n. Otherwise the details of the stores are identical to the smaller stores. The principle difference between the two types of structures is that the Type 'B ' had two storage holes in their floors. Each of these buildings was also equipped with a small wooden counter adjacent to the doors; the counters measure 2ft 6in by 1ft 6in and standing 4ft tall. They have been removed from stores 53 and 55. At some point during the operational life of the station the holes in the floors of all the Type 'B' stores were filled and covered by gritless asphalt. The asphalt surfaces in the stores are continuous, often with a slight depression marking the position of the holes, which implies that the original floor was lifted and new floors laid. The holes in store 52 have been reopened, as indicated by fragments of the asphalt surface thrown back into the holes. This is in contrast to RAF Faldingworth where the holes have been left open.

In total there were enough holes to store 66 fissile cores. One source states that the single hole stores contained plutonium cores, while the double-hole stores were, used for cobalt cores. Currently available documentation does not reveal if one fissile core may be equated with one bomb, or if a bomb contained more than one fissile core. Recent research has shown that Britain probably produced no more than twenty Blue Danube warheads, with this number on the active stockpile between 1957 and 1961. It is therefore likely that no more than a handful of weapons were stored at RAF Barnham at anyone time.

The significance of the filling of the holes in the Type 'B' stores is also unclear. It may coincide with the withdrawal of the first generation nuclear weapon, ''Blue Danube'', and the deployment second generation atomic bomb, ''Red Beard'' (from 1961), or it may be related to the introduction of first British hydrogen bomb, ''Yellow Sun'' (from 1958). Given the number of available nuclear warheads in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s, it is unlikely that the RAF Barnham store was ever full. Part of RAF Barnham's function, along with other bomb stores, was to convince the Soviet Union that Britain had more nuclear weapons at her disposal than was in fact the case.

Information sourced from English Heritage.

Limestone over coal in the Pennsylvanian of Ohio, USA.

This eastern Ohio exposure is in the Pottsville Group, a Pennsylvanian-aged cyclothemic succession containing nonmarine shales, marine shales, siltstones, sandstones, coals, marine limestones, and chert ("flint"). The lower Pottsville dates to the late Early Pennsylvanian. The upper part dates to the early Middle Pennsylvanian. The Lower-Middle Pennsylvanian boundary is apparently somewhere near the Boggs Member (?).

The Upper Mercer Limestone is a moderately laterally persistent chertified limestone horizon in the Pottsville Group. It is often composed of black-colored chert/flint but can be dark bluish to bluish-black colored as well (the latter colors are referred to as "Nellie Blue Flint"). Upper Mercer Flint has whitish-colored fossils and fossil fragments that include fusulinid foraminifera, crinoid ossicles, and other Late Paleozoic normal marine fossils. Apparent phylloidal algae can also be present as squiggly lines.

Non-chertified limestone is frequently present in the Upper Mercer horizon, although minor in volume. Limestone usually occurs along the outside portions of chert masses, but also in relatively small patches within the chert.

In places, the Upper Mercer Flint/Limestone horizon is missing, usually removed by paleoerosion.

American Indians sometimes used Upper Mercer Flint to make arrowheads and spear points and knife blades. "Flint Ridge Flint" (= Vanport Flint) was the most desirable source rock for these objects, but other chert horizons also attracted attention.

At this outcrop, limestone makes up most of the Upper Mercer, which is unusual. Black, irregularly-shaped flint nodules are present in the limestone.

The upper ledge is the Upper Mercer Limestone. The recessed area (shadowed) is mostly shale. The lower ledge is the Bedford Coal, which at this site is composed of bituminous coal and cannel coal. Below the coal is an "underclay", composed of shale that has been subjected to chemical weathering from minor sulfuric acid percolating downward from the coal. The sulfuric acid was generated by oxidation of pyrite (in the presence of water) in the coal. Pyrite in the Bedford Coal occurs as small nodules, disseminated tiny crystals, and is in partially pyritized fossil charcoal.

Stratigraphy: Upper Mercer Limestone over Bedford Coal, upper Pottsville Group, Atokan Stage, lower Middle Pennsylvanian

Locality: Tunnel Hill North Portal Outcrop (= Noland Tunnel's northern portal), ~1.75 air miles north-northeast of the town of Tunnel Hill, western Coshocton County, eastern Ohio, USA (~40° 16’ 33.27” North latitude, ~82° 01’ 53.04” West longitude)

Pyritized charcoal in weathered coal from the Pennsylvanian of Ohio, USA. (field of view: ~5.7 cm across)

This rock is from the Pottsville Group, a Pennsylvanian-aged cyclothemic succession containing nonmarine shales, marine shales, siltstones, sandstones, coals, marine limestones, and chert ("flint"). The lower Pottsville dates to the late Early Pennsylvanian. The upper part dates to the early Middle Pennsylvanian. The Lower-Middle Pennsylvanian boundary is apparently somewhere near the Boggs Member (?).

The sample is derived from the Bedford Coal, a horizon that occurs just below the Upper Mercer Limestone (or Upper Mercer Flint). Lithologically, the Bedford ranges from carbonaceous shale to argillaceous coal to bituminous coal to cannel coal. The cannel coal in the Bedford was targeted for mining in the 1800s as a source of fuel. It was particularly useful in the manufacture of kerosene, an illuminating fuel. After the petroleum industry started in the 1860s, production of kerosene from cannel coal essentially ceased.

At this locality, the Bedford Coal consists of cannel coal and bituminous coal. This specimen is weathered bituminous coal with pieces of compressed fossil charcoal. The dull brassy gold-colored piece of charcoal near the center is pyritized. The lustrous black area near the top is non-pyritized charcoal. The Pennsylvanian was a time of relatively high atmospheric oxygen (O2) levels, and forest fires were relatively common events. Charcoalized fossil wood can be found in some abundance in Pennsylvanian sedimentary successions. The original wood microstructure is usually well preserved, but the charcoal fragments themselves are quite delicate. A gentle rub with a finger turns these fragments into black powder. Sometimes, the fossil charcoal is partially pyritized.

Stratigraphy: Bedford Coal, upper Pottsville Group, Atokan Stage, lower Middle Pennsylvanian

Locality: Tunnel Hill North Portal Outcrop (= Noland Tunnel's northern portal), ~1.75 air miles north-northeast of the town of Tunnel Hill, western Coshocton County, eastern Ohio, USA (~40° 16’ 33.27” North latitude, ~82° 01’ 53.04” West longitude)