The Jurassic Coast: Take a leap into deep time, Dr Anjana Khatwa
Recorded at Ada Lovelace Day Live at the Royal Institution on 10 October 2023
The Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site is perhaps one of the most extraordinary places in the world, where you can literally time travel with every step you take along its beautiful beaches. This possibility exists because a few hundred million years ago, the horizontal rock layers of the Jurassic Coast were uplifted and tilted towards the east. In a sheer geological coincidence, these tilted rocks are exposed along an actively eroding coastline which provides geologists with a near complete, continuous record of the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous Periods that cannot be seen anywhere else in the world: 185 million years of Earth’s history in just 95 miles of stunning coastline.
About Dr Anjana Khatwa
Dr Anjana Khatwa is an Earth scientist specialising in bringing stories about the origins and formation of natural landscapes to life for a wide range of audiences. Anjana has appeared on BBC Four’s Beach Live as the show’s resident geologist expert, engaging audiences with her insight and knowledge about geology and fossils. She has also appeared on many shows, including ITV’s This Morning, Channel 5’s My Cornwall with Fern Britton, and BBC Two’s Villages by the Sea.
She is an established learning professional and has published numerous papers on glacial geology, developed award winning teaching resources and won the Royal Geographical Society Geographical Award for excellence in educating the public about the Jurassic Coast.
About Ada Lovelace Day
Ada Lovelace Day is an international celebration of the achievements of women in science, technology, engineering and maths which aims to increase the profile of women in STEM and create new role models for both girls and women studying or working in STEM.
Ada Lovelace Day Live 2023 was held at the Royal Institution on Tuesday 10 October. It was hosted by comedian Helen Arney, and featured Prof Jennifer Rohn, head of the Centre for Urological Biology UCL; Dr Azza Eltraify, senior software engineer at Ultracell Networks Ltd; Dr Sophie Carr, mathematician, Bays Consulting Ltd; Dr Aarathi Prasad, writer, broadcaster, and geneticist; Dr Anjana Khatwa, Earth scientist and presenter; Dr Antonia Pontiki, biomedical engineer at King’s College London; and Rosie Curran Crawley, presenter at L’Oreal Young Scientist Centre.
About the Royal Institution
The Royal Institution brings the public and scientists together to share their interest and passion for science, empowering people to explore and get involved.
An independent registered charity, the Ri provides science education, public engagement, and heritage activities for people of all ages and backgrounds across the UK and around the world. These activities include the world-famous Christmas Lectures; public talks from the world's greatest thinkers in its historic lecture theatre and livestreamed online; a successful YouTube channel with over 1.3 million subscribers, a national programme of Ri Masterclasses for young people in mathematics, engineering and computer science; hands-on science workshops in its L'Oréal Young Scientist Centre; award winning animations and films; and the preservation of its scientific legacy through the Faraday Museum and archival collections.
The Ri is a home for science and everyone is welcome. Follow the Ri on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook.
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