Use the links below to explore this year’s event:
Festival Trips on 2-3 November
Professor Hazel Rymer, Open University will give a talk on : The Volcanoes of Iceland.
Dr Jeremy Young, UCL, will give a talk on : Coccolithophores – extraordinary microfossils now in the mainstream of global change research and an example of how to make specialist knowledge accessible online.
Professor Sarah Gabbott, University of Leicester, will give a talk on: The weird and the wonderful: interpreting the evolution of life through fossils.
Festival Trips on 2-3 November
Saturday 2 November Festival of Geology at UCL
As part of the GA Festival we will be offering a free Building Stones Walk as well as free lectures. The walk will be led by Ruth Siddall of University College and will be a tour of the Campus and local streets.
Meet 11.00 am at the GA stand. No advance booking required
Sunday 3 November Festival trips
Non-GA Members and Beginners welcome but booking is essential using the links below. There is a charge of £5 per person per trip.
For further details and to register for any of the trips below please contact fieldtrips@geologistsassociation.org.uk, telephone 020 7434 9298 or use the links below to register online via the GA website: www.geologistsassociation.org.uk/festival.html
1. City Building Stones Walk from Cannon Street to the Tower led by Dr Matthew Loader
The route of this walk will take us up the geological column, beginning with the oldest rocks near Cannon Street Station and finishing with the youngest ones at the Tower. Matt is an igneous petrolgist who uses his knowledge to lead building stones walks and is becoming well-known in this field.
Meet 10.30 am at the exit to Cannon Street Underground Station on Dowgate Hill (District and Circle lines). The walk will last around 2 hours.
2. Geotrail along the Thames Path from the Thames Barrier to Greenwich led by members of the London Geodiversity Partnership
The geotrail will begin at the Thames Barrier and continue upstream along the south side of the Thames to Greenwich. It will reveal the fascinating earth science stories hidden below the concrete foundations of a disappearing industrial landscape. There are traces of past climate change; these and aspects of London geology will be pointed out along the way. The walk is about six km (3¾ miles) along paths (mostly smooth). We aim to have a late lunch in the Cutty Sark pub on Ballast Quay, before concluding with a short walk into Greenwich town centre. The trip should finish by about 3pm close to public transport.
Meet.11.00 am at the Visitor Centre at the Thames Barrier, Charlton, southeast London. The nearest railway station is Charlton. It takes about 15 minutes to walk to the Thames Barrier Visitor Centre. The nearest underground station is North Greenwich on the Jubilee Line; from there take either the 161 or 472 bus.
3. Local geology and a conserved Anglian glacial outwash exposure in Thorndon Country Park, Essex led by Ros and Ian Mercer
A trip to experience the succession of Tertiary geology of south Essex and overlying superficial deposits, as seen in the eroding landscape of Thorndon Country Park. It includes a visit to the section in Anglian and later sands and gravels, prepared by the Essex Rock & Mineral Society and GeoEssex with the aid of Essex County Council. The Thorndon glacial outwash section was dug out eight years ago, an exemplary soft sediment geoconservation feature for Essex.
With its three layers of sedimentation and two soil profiles, this section provides a rare and excellent geomorphological insight into the evolving study of Ice Age geology. Access will be on foot around the Country Park – a distance of around one mile over undulating, sometimes quite steep, ground, with an optional extension to view the lower Thames valley. Ros & Ian are becoming very familiar with the soft rock geology of Essex, once described as “gardening” – but now they know better!
Meet 11 am at the Thorndon North EWT Centre concourse adjacent to the car park. Meeting point grid reference is TQ 60779145. Closest postcode is CM13 3RZ – but that is to the east of the park entrance which is actually at grid ref TQ 60439152. Finish for main itinerary at 1.30pm with optional extension walk to finish at 3pm. Light bites and hot drinks available at Essex Wildlife Trust Visitor Centre.
