An essay competition for students on both sides of the Border to celebrate the Year of Planet Earth has been launched by the Geological Survey, writes Dick Ahlstrom.
Have you an unusual boulder in your back yard? Have you discovered seashells cast about on a mountain top? Do you know of a rock in a wall that doesn't match its neighbours?
If so, you may be looking at what geologists describe as an erratic. And writing about the out-of-place rock, boulder, pebble or even twig might win you a tidy €1,000 in an essay competition being run to mark the International Year of Planet Earth in 2008.
Students from any county on the island of Ireland are encouraged to enter the competition, organised by the Geological Survey of Ireland (GSI) and the Geological Survey of Northern Ireland. It is open to Transition Year students in the Republic and to GCSE students in years 11 and 12 in the North.
Students are invited to write an essay about any geological erratic they can identify in their area, explains Dr William Warren, senior geologist at the GSI. An erratic can be almost anything that has been carried away from its usual surroundings through geological activity, says Dr Warren.
Most erratics, for example the famous Mottee Stone in Co Wicklow - a 75 tonne lump of granite dumped in field 13km from the nearest granite deposit - were moved about through the actions of glaciers. Shells scoured from the seabed and left by retreating ice on the sides of mountains are also erratics, says Dr Warren.
But students need not feel limited by either the nature of the erratic or how it got deposited. The erratic can be anything from a pebble to a bolder and can have been moved by glacier, human activity, storm or avalanche.
"We are encouraging them to use their imaginations and identify geological material that is out of place," Dr Warren explains. "Because the countryside is dotted with geological oddities of some note, we thought it would be an idea for pupils to identify some of these and write essays about them."
There are a few requirements. "They must be able to tell us what it is, how it got there and do that in the most creative way they can."
While the judges will want to know what process deposited the erratic, the student can also provide the local lore. Legend says the Mottee, for example, got to its resting place after Fionn MacCumhaill hurled it from the top of Lugnaquilla Mountain. All of this can feature in the essay, says Dr Warren.
A significant prize fund of €20,000 is available, including a €1,000 prize for the best essay overall, and prizes of €300 each for the 32 best essays from each county.
The International Year was declared by the United Nations, says Dr Warren. "It comes from the desire of earth scientists to create a greater awareness of the planet Earth in all of its aspects."
The goal is to get people thinking about the planet and our impact on it, either through climate change, the environment and sustainability.
Full details about the competition and also about the lectures, tours and family events planned during the International Year of Planet Earth can be found on a dedicated website, www.planetearth.ie