The Geologists’ Association organizes a number of day-long and weekend field meetings (download the GA circular here). If you would like further information on any of the events below, please contact Sarah Stafford at the GA Office on 020 7434 9298 or by e-mail: fieldmeetings@geologistsassociation.org.uk. You can now pay for your place on the field trips online by clicking the relevant link below. Please note non-GA members pay an additional £5 for each trip.
Please see below the following important information for Field Meetings
2019 Meetings
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.
2020 Meetings
Saturday 21st March & Sunday 22nd March 2020
GA Dorset Weekend Field Trip
Leader: Prof. John Cope
Location: Bridport, Dorset.
This weekend trip will examine the upper half of the Lias Group, the MIddle and the Upper Jurassic, with bits of Cretaceous and Tertiary thrown in. The best tides are Sat 21 and Sun 22 March 2020. Attendees are to arrange their own accommodation. Bridport is recommended.
Meeting points and further details will be communicated to participants nearer the time. Contact details and emergency contact required at booking.
Cost:
£10 GA members
£15 non-members
Friday 3rd April 2020. (afternoon event.)
GA behind the scenes NHM – William Smith’s fossils
Leaders: Di Clements.
Location: NHM, London.
This event will take you behind the scenes at NHM London to look at the William Smith fossil collection. We are limited to a maximum tour size; however it can be run more than once in the afternoon if required. Afterwards members are invited to make their own way to Burlington House, Piccadilly, for tea at 5:30pm and where the evening GA lecture will follow a William Smith theme starting at 6:00pm
Meeting points and further details will be communicated to participants nearer the time. Contact details and emergency contact required at booking.
Cost:
£5 GA members
£10 non-members
Geologists’ Association fieldtrip, north Somerset coast
23-24 May 2020
Jonathan Turner, Radioactive Waste Management
The field excursion will focus on magnificently exposed cliffs and the extensive foreshore between Blue Anchor Bay and Hinkley Point power station, north Somerset. This section provides some of the best outcrops of Triassic (Sherwood Sandstone and Mercia Mudstone Groups) to Lower Jurassic ‘Blue Lias’, including the transitional Penarth (‘Rhaetic’) Group recording one of the major marine transgressions of the rock record. It is also one of the best places anywhere to examine faults, fractures and compressional deformation, which in this area was responsible for uplifting the margin of a major Triassic rift basin – the Bristol Channel graben.
Favourable tides will allow plenty of time to examine the evidence for ancient depositional environments, tectonic structures, oil-related fluids, and a spectacular mud volcano. We should even be able to sneak in a cream tea.
Meeting points and further details will be communicated to participants nearer the time. Contact details and emergency contact required at booking. Attendees are to arrange their own accommodation, Dunster is recommended.
Note: hard hats, wet & warm weather gear, walking shoes/boots are essential. The excursion leader is a fully qualified first aider.
Cost:
£10 GA members
£15 non-members
Friday 19th June 2020 – afternoon
BGS Keyworth
Leaders: John Stevenson
Location: BGS, Keysworth.
This tour around the British Geological Survey labs and offices will Introduction people to what The BGS does and who funds it. It will include the Library – including some history of the Survey, the Core Store – where a large number of bore holes are kept. The 3D Room Demo Geovisionary followed by a tour of their Geological Walk. Parking is available. There is a fair amount of walking and some stairs, but lifts are available. Much of the tour isn’t seated and people will be required to stand for most of the time. There is a canteen onsite that members of the group are welcome to use beforehand if they wish. The maximum group size will be 20.
Attendees wishing to stay on and make a weekend of it by attending the field trip on Saturday 20/06/2020 should arrange their own accommodation and sign up to that event separately.
Meeting points and further details will be communicated to participants nearer the time. Contact details and emergency contact required at booking.
Cost £5 will be same for both members and non-members
Saturday 20th June 2020.
GA field trip to Charnwood Forest
Leader: Dr Michael Howe, BGS
Location: Leicestershire
This trip will examine the Neoproterozoic (Precambrian) and Cambrian rocks around Charnwood Forest. The morning will be spent viewing the Maplewell Group and Whitwick Volcanic Complex around Mount St Bernard Abbey, with a possible visit to the Bomb Rocks, before examining the older Blackbrook Group in Morley Quarry. In the afternoon we will visit Bradgate Park, and if there’s time, hunt Tychichnus in Newtown Linford Churchyard.
Attendees wishing to take the ‘BGS Keyworth tour’ on the Friday afternoon before hand (19/6/2020) should arrange their own accommodation and sign up to that event separately.
Meeting points and further details will be communicated to participants nearer the time. Contact details and emergency contact required at booking.
Cost:
£5 GA members
£10 non-members
Saturday 18th July 2020 – all day
Geology and Art Workshop
Eridge Rocks near Royal Tunbridge Wells
Emma Jude
Talk on geological work of fine artists, followed by a practical workshop where participants are encouraged to sketch and take part in guided exercises interspersed with short lectures. How best to keep field notebooks to record observations.
Eridge Rocks is 10 minutes’ walk from Eridge Station, which can be reached within a 50 minute train ride from London Bridge.
Meeting points and further details will be communicated to participants nearer the time. Contact details and emergency contact required at booking.
Cost and max group size to be confirmed
Sunday 19th July 2020 – all day
GA field trip – Wealden Excursion
Eridge Rocks
Leaders: Peter Austen & Ed Jarzembowski
Location: Smokejacks Quarry, Wealden
This trip continues the popular annual Wealden excursions and again will visit one of the sites in the Weald Clay of south-east England. Attendees will need to be sure they can safely cope with the conditions to be found in working quarries.
Meeting points and further details will be communicated to participants nearer the time. Contact details and emergency contact required at booking.
Cost:
£5 GA members
£10 non-members
Saturday 12th September 2020 – all-day
Geology of Denbies vineyard, Lecture and wine tasting. Sussex.
Leader Emeritus Prof. Richard Selley
This trip to Denbies winery, near Dorking, will include; a lecture on ‘Geological & Climatic controls on two millennia of English viticulture’. A Winery tour a tutored tasting of 3 different wines. After lunch (pay for their own lunch in the restaurant) we will take a Vineyard Tour providing spectacular views of Box Hill, the North Downs, Mole Valley and the Weald. Maximum group size will be 25.
Meeting points and further details will be communicated to participants nearer the time.
Cost:
£20 per GA members
£25 non-members
The price includes tea, coffee, soft drinks & biscuits on arrival, use of the Denbies Suite for the talk, the winery tour, with 3 glasses of wine, and the vineyard tour with a glass of sparkling wine. (lunch not included – pay for their own lunch in the restaurant)
Please note the following important information for Field Meetings:
BOOKING. You must book through the GA office to confirm attendance. Meeting times and locations will be confirmed on booking. These are not normally advertised in advance, as there have been problems with members turning up without booking or paying and maximum numbers being exceeded. Field meetings are open to non-members although attendance by non-members is subject to a £5 surcharge on top of the normal administration fee. Some meetings may have restrictions on age (especially for under 16s) or be physically demanding. If you are uncertain, please ask.
PAYMENTS for day and weekend meetings must be made before attending any field meeting. Payments can be made on line by clicking the relevant box above. Alternatively cheques should be made out to Geologists’ Association Field Meetings. If making multiple bookings, please enclose a separate cheque for each meeting unless you have first confirmed that there are places available. A stamped addressed envelope is appreciated. Please give a contact mobile number and, if possible, an email address and provide the names of any other persons that you are including in your booking. Please also provide and emergency contact name and mobile number at the time of booking.
PUBLIC LIABILITY INSURANCE for field meetings is provided but personal accident cover remains the responsibility of the participant. Further details are available upon request from the GA office.
SAFETY is taken very seriously. Should you be unsure about either the risks involved or your ability to participate, you must seek advice from the GA office before booking. Please make sure that you study the risk assessment prepared for all GA field meetings and that you have all the safety equipment specified. You must decalre, at the time of booking, any disabilities or medical conditions that may affect your ability to safely attend a field meeting. You may be asked to provide further information on any prescription drugs etc. that you may use whilst attending a field meeting. In order to ensure the safety of all participants, the GA reserves the right to limit or refuse attendance at field meetings.
EMERGENCY CONTACT: If you are lost or late for the start of a meeting, an emergency contact is available during UK field meetings by calling the GA mobile phone (07724 133290). The mobile phone will only be switched on just before and during field meetings. For routine enquiries please call the GA office on the usual number.
The GA’s FIELDWORK CODE is widely recognized as a standard for advice and guidance in the field. The code can be obtained free of charge, and is available for distribution.
