John Cole Roberts is a Welsh geologist.
His paper "Feather Fracture and the Mechanics of Rock Jointing" introduced the geological community to this newly identified and newly classified fracture patterning, along with its impact in terms of jointing structures. [1] [2] He announced it in the summer of 1961. It continues to be the definitive standard of feather fracture work. [3]
Roberts was born in 1935 in South Wales, and grew up in the valleys surrounding the iron and steel town of Dowlais. He would have left school and started work in his mid teens, like the majority of young people of the time, had it not been for a school master, Ron Gethin, who realised his aptitude for earth sciences.
The first boy to take geology to O-level and A-level in his district, Roberts studied at Swansea University (University of Wales), where he graduated and obtained his PhD in Geology, in 1961, for his thesis "Jointing and Minor Tectonics of the Neath Disturbance and Adjacent Areas". Roberts became an expert in the jointing and fracture science of the South Wales coalfields and in the geology of the areas around the Vale of Glamorgan and of the Gower Peninsula of Wales. [2] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
After receiving his doctorate, Roberts progressed into lecturing, initially at Aberystwyth University. There he met his future wife, Susan Davies (a mathematics undergraduate student). He later moved to Northern Ireland.
Roberts joined the staff at Magee College, Derry, (now part of the University of Ulster) in 1962. He was one of the first academics selected to staff the newly opened university (then called The New University, now Ulster University at Coleraine) when it opened in 1968.
Roberts remained at Ulster University until his retirement in 2001. He left as a Senior Lecturer in Environmental Science, and was its longest-serving staff member at the time of his retirement.
Dr Roberts' achievements focused on the geology of the Inishowen Peninsula in County Donegal, Northwest Ireland. An acknowledged world expert in the area's geology John continued his research and offered geological tours of the area for interested parties, up until the time of his death. [9] [10]
Roberts and his wife lived in Portstewart, on the Causeway Coast, for many years. He maintained close links with the university and served for many years as the President of the Senior Common Room (latterly 'in exile'). in retirement John volunteered as part of the local Causeway Hospital Radio team and was an active member of his local Probus club, as well as being a regular social member at Portstewart Golf Club.
John Roberts died on 30 September 2016, from pancreatic cancer. He is survived by his widow Susie, daughters Rebecca and Hannah and his grandchildren Reshon and Rhiannon Roberts, and Sheqeal Robert-Scott.
County Donegal is a county of Ireland in the province of Ulster. It is named after the town of Donegal in the south of the county. It has also been known as County Tyrconnell, after the historic territory of the same name, on which it was based. Donegal County Council is the local council and Lifford the county town.
Portstewart is a small town in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. It had a population of 8,003 people in the 2011 Census. It is a seaside resort neighbouring Portrush. Its harbour and scenic coastal paths form an Atlantic promenade leading to a two-miles beach, popular with holidaymakers in summer and surfers year-round.
Inishowen is a peninsula in the north of County Donegal in Ireland. Inishowen is the largest peninsula on the island of Ireland.
Buncrana is a town in County Donegal, Ireland. It is beside Lough Swilly on the Inishowen peninsula, 23 kilometres (14 mi) northwest of Derry and 43 kilometres (27 mi) north of Letterkenny. In the 2016 census, the population was 6,785 making it the second most populous town in County Donegal, after Letterkenny, and the largest in Inishowen.
Fanad is a peninsula that lies between Lough Swilly and Mulroy Bay on the north coast of County Donegal, Ireland. The origins of the name Fanad are lost in time thought there is some speculation that the name derives from an old Gaelic word Fana for "sloping ground". It is also referred to as Fannet or Fannett in older records. There are an estimated 700 people living in Fanad and 30% Irish speakers.
Eógan mac Néill was a son of Niall Noígiallach and the eponymous ancestor of the Cenél nEógain branch of the Northern Uí Néill. The Cenél Eoghan would found the over-kingdom of Ailech and later Tír Eoghain, which would span the greater part of Ulster. His burial place is said to be in the Inishowen Peninsula in County Donegal, Ireland which was named after him.
Moville is a coastal town located on the Inishowen Peninsula of County Donegal, Ireland, close to the northern tip of the island of Ireland. It is the first coastal town of the Wild Atlantic Way when starting on the northern end.
Mussenden Temple is a small circular building located on cliffs near Castlerock in County Londonderry, high above the Atlantic Ocean on the north-western coast of Northern Ireland.
The O’Doherty family is an Irish clan based in County Donegal in the north of the island of Ireland.
Exfoliation joints or sheet joints are surface-parallel fracture systems in rock, and often leading to erosion of concentric slabs. (See Joint ).
A joint is a break (fracture) of natural origin in the continuity of either a layer or body of rock that lacks any visible or measurable movement parallel to the surface (plane) of the fracture. Although they can occur singly, they most frequently occur as joint sets and systems. A joint set is a family of parallel, evenly spaced joints that can be identified through mapping and analysis of the orientations, spacing, and physical properties. A joint system consists of two or more intersecting joint sets.
Urris is a valley to the west of the parish of Clonmany, in County Donegal, Ireland. It comprises the townlands of Crossconnell, Dunaff, Kinnea, Leenan, Letter, and Urrismenagh. It sits on the eastern side of Loch Swilly and it is bounded to the south-east by the Urris hills, and to the east by Binion hill. To the north, there is Rockstown bay and Tullagh peninsula. There are two entrances to Urris; the Gap of Mamore, and Crossconnell.
The Blue Lias is a geological formation in southern, eastern and western England and parts of South Wales, part of the Lias Group. The Blue Lias consists of a sequence of limestone and shale layers, laid down in latest Triassic and early Jurassic times, between 195 and 200 million years ago. The Blue Lias is famous for its fossils, especially ammonites.
The Moine Supergroup is a sequence of Neoproterozoic metamorphic rocks that form the dominant outcrop of the Scottish Highlands between the Moine Thrust Belt to the northwest and the Great Glen Fault to the southeast. The sequence is metasedimentary in nature and was metamorphosed and deformed in a series of tectonic events during the Late Proterozoic and Early Paleozoic. It takes its name from A' Mhòine, a peat bog in northern Sutherland.
The North West Liberties of Londonderry is a barony in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. It is bordered by two other baronies in Northern Ireland. They are Tirkeeran to the east, across Lough Foyle; and Strabane Lower to the south. It also borders two baronies in County Donegal in the Republic of Ireland. It borders Raphoe North, to the south-west; and Inishowen West to the north.
Mongavlin Castle also known as Mongevlin Castle is a ruined castle on the west bank of the River Foyle, approx 3 km south of St Johnston, County Donegal, Ireland. It was once a stronghold of the O'Donnell's, Lords of Tyrconnell.
Bernard Elgey Leake is an English geologist. He is Emeritus Professor of Geology at the University of Glasgow, was Leverhulme Emeritus Fellow at Cardiff University 2000-2002 and has been an Honorary Research Fellow at Cardiff University since 1997.
Martin Litherland OBE is a geologist who has travelled and published widely.
Sir William John Pugh was a British geologist who was director of the Geological Survey of Great Britain and of the Museum of Practical Geology, Department of Scientific and Industrial Research.
The Donegal batholith is a large granitic igneous intrusion of early Devonian age that outcrops in County Donegal in Ireland. It consists of at least eight separate plutons, the largest of which is the Main Donegal Granite. It was intruded at a late stage in the Caledonian orogeny about 400 million years ago (Ma).
