Mendip Hills In some areas the limestone and the dolomitic conglomerate have been mineralised with lead and zinc ores. From the time of Roman Britain until 1908, the hills were an important source of lead. These areas were the centre of a major mining industry in the past and this is reflected in areas of contaminated rough ground known locally as "gruffy". The word "gruffy" is thought to derive from the grooves that were formed where the lead ore was extracted from veins near the surface. Other commodities obtained included calamine (zinc ore), manganese, iron, copper and baryte. The eastern area reaches
Bioabsorbable metallic glass metallic glasses could only be produced in a limited number of forms (typically ribbons, foils, or wires) in which one or more dimensions were small so that heat could be extracted quickly enough to achieve the necessary cooling rates. As a result, metallic glass specimens (with a few exceptions) were limited to thicknesses of less than one hundred micrometers. Mg-Zn-Ca based metallic glasses are a relatively new group of amorphous metals, possessing commercial and technical advantages over early compositions. Gu and co-workers produced the first Mg-Zn-Ca BMG in 2005, reporting high glass forming ability, high strength and most importantly exceptional