Reports

Reports (Click below to go to other pages.)	Reports of Meetings from January to November 2005
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Meeting Reports 2005

18th Jan, 2005 Tue Dr. C.V. Burek - A talk on Limestone Pavements and Research in North Wales.
Now legally protected from the ravages of the landscape gardening industry, we have some 100 Hectares left of which the largest is on the Great Orme, with smaller pavements on the Little Orme and at Bryn Pydew and Din Lligwy on Anglesey. The delicate ecosystems in the grykes are now being studied and conserved

15th Feb, Tues Members' Miscellany - This year's programme. Short AGM

13th March, Sun Carboniferous to Jurassic. We joined OUGS Severnside for an "Introductory Day" at Barry Island, South Wales with Dr. Geraint Owen Coastal sections expose Carboniferous, Triassic and Jurassic rocks. The fossil-rich Carb Limestone represents sediments that built up on the bed of a warm shallow tropical sea. The Triassic rocks are deposits from an arid period when dinosuars roamed the British desert. Jurassic rocks record a flooding of the desert landscape and are again fossil-rich sea floor deposits.

15th March, Tuesday Meteorite Evening, with a short talk on "What meteorites tell us" Tony Thorp

19th April, Tue Dr. Chris Fletcher described his three years in Bolivia, when he was part of a team making geological maps of the impenetrable jungle-covered headwaters between the Amazon and Plate river basins. The teams had to rely on the first satellite images and a few poor quality aerial photographs to navigate through the dense spiny vegetation, along riverbeds, across swamps and up onto flat-topped mountains surrounded by near-vertical cliffs. Truly the ‘Lost World’ of Conan Doyle. The project area is largely composed of Archaean granulites, Proterozoic schist belts and granitiods that were formed during several orogenic cycles. During the last of these PreCambrian cycles a five kilometre-thick, layered ultrabasic igneous sill-like body was intruded into the supracrustal sequences. This body ranks as one of the largest ultrabasic intrusions in the world. The project also found a completely unknown alkaline ring complex that provided evidence for the internal fracturing of the continent during the initial stages of the break-up of Africa and South America some 140 million years ago. The survey also located significant concentrations of gold, platinum, copper, rare earth minerals and chromium.

24th April, Sun Field trip - Dr. David James led a trip to Cerrigwynion Quarry and Caban Coch Quarry. We looked at the shelf edge processes with channels filled with coarse pebbly conglomerate which fed the more basinal sandy turbidites evident at Ystrad Meurig.

17th May, Tues Dr. John Davies - A glimpse of the major structural geology of Montgomeryshire. How structures are determined by tectonic extensional faulting and subsequent inversion

22nd May, Sun Tony Thorp - Field trip to Trefor Rocks near Llangollen with the "Informal Field Group"

12th June, Sun Bob Cannon - Field trip to Clogau gold mine near Barmouth

21st June, Tues A Members' evening. Dr Bill Fitches joined us to talk about and discuss RIGS. (Regionally Important Geological Sites).

9th/10th July, Sat/Sun W/E Field trip to Anglesey with Dr. C. Bendall

19th July, Tuesday Dr. Paul Brewer Evening Field Trip 6.30 - 9.30p.m. The Severn - Caersws to Newtown

26th July, Tuesday Kate Hendry told us about her field work at Adelaide Island on the Antarctic Peninsula, living on the British Antarctic Survey base, Rothera Station and geochemistry research in Antarctic waters, with fantastic photos.

16th Aug, Tue Talk/Members' Evening/Anglesey geology

28th Aug, Sun Field Trip to Hopton Hill with Peter Mackenzie Dyer

20th Sept, Tue Talk - Aspects of Palynology - Daren Stead

Sun 25th Sept D.I.Y. Field trip to Copa Hill, Cwmystwyth.

Sun 13th Nov Field trip with Tony Thorp - Silurian roadside exposures on the way to the Observatory, Knighton. We followed the A483, calling at Castle Vale roadcut (092 746)(p124) exposing Penstrowed Grits, These are well behaved Wenlock turbidites, sourced from major events to the SW. which were deposited the length of the basin but did not encroach up the basin slopes. Between the turbidites there were laminated hemipelagites. If these represent annual cycles, we got an idea of the frequency of turbiditic events. The sandy units were used to build the castle which is in a sorry state with just part of the gatehouse left standing, but we didn't visit it as it is on top of the hill. Next location was at Llananno West. These turbidites are upside down and we found flute casts, loading and water escape structures. We called at other quarries showing slides and slumped beds indicative of basin slope before calling at Cwm Ffrwd quarry in the Bailey Hill Fm, showing spectacular convoluted bedding.
This was followed by a tour of the Spaceguard Observatory at Knighton. This was well worth while and we thank Jay Tate for a fascinating insight into the the anticipation of and avoidance of meteorite impacts.

15 Nov Tues Members' evening. Welsh Basin

18th Jan, 2005 Tue	Dr. C.V. Burek - A talk on Limestone Pavements and Research in North Wales. Now legally protected from the ravages of the landscape gardening industry, we have some 100 Hectares left of which the largest is on the Great Orme, with smaller pavements on the Little Orme and at Bryn Pydew and Din Lligwy on Anglesey. The delicate ecosystems in the grykes are now being studied and conserved
15th Feb, Tues	Members' Miscellany - This year's programme. Short AGM
13th March, Sun	Carboniferous to Jurassic. We joined OUGS Severnside for an "Introductory Day" at Barry Island, South Wales with Dr. Geraint Owen Coastal sections expose Carboniferous, Triassic and Jurassic rocks. The fossil-rich Carb Limestone represents sediments that built up on the bed of a warm shallow tropical sea. The Triassic rocks are deposits from an arid period when dinosuars roamed the British desert. Jurassic rocks record a flooding of the desert landscape and are again fossil-rich sea floor deposits.
15th March, Tuesday	Meteorite Evening, with a short talk on "What meteorites tell us" Tony Thorp
19th April, Tue	Dr. Chris Fletcher described his three years in Bolivia, when he was part of a team making geological maps of the impenetrable jungle-covered headwaters between the Amazon and Plate river basins. The teams had to rely on the first satellite images and a few poor quality aerial photographs to navigate through the dense spiny vegetation, along riverbeds, across swamps and up onto flat-topped mountains surrounded by near-vertical cliffs. Truly the ‘Lost World’ of Conan Doyle. The project area is largely composed of Archaean granulites, Proterozoic schist belts and granitiods that were formed during several orogenic cycles. During the last of these PreCambrian cycles a five kilometre-thick, layered ultrabasic igneous sill-like body was intruded into the supracrustal sequences. This body ranks as one of the largest ultrabasic intrusions in the world. The project also found a completely unknown alkaline ring complex that provided evidence for the internal fracturing of the continent during the initial stages of the break-up of Africa and South America some 140 million years ago. The survey also located significant concentrations of gold, platinum, copper, rare earth minerals and chromium.
24th April, Sun	Field trip - Dr. David James led a trip to Cerrigwynion Quarry and Caban Coch Quarry. We looked at the shelf edge processes with channels filled with coarse pebbly conglomerate which fed the more basinal sandy turbidites evident at Ystrad Meurig.
17th May, Tues	Dr. John Davies - A glimpse of the major structural geology of Montgomeryshire. How structures are determined by tectonic extensional faulting and subsequent inversion
22nd May, Sun	Tony Thorp - Field trip to Trefor Rocks near Llangollen with the "Informal Field Group"
12th June, Sun	Bob Cannon - Field trip to Clogau gold mine near Barmouth
21st June, Tues	A Members' evening. Dr Bill Fitches joined us to talk about and discuss RIGS. (Regionally Important Geological Sites).
9th/10th July, Sat/Sun	W/E Field trip to Anglesey with Dr. C. Bendall
19th July, Tuesday	Dr. Paul Brewer Evening Field Trip 6.30 - 9.30p.m. The Severn - Caersws to Newtown
26th July, Tuesday	Kate Hendry told us about her field work at Adelaide Island on the Antarctic Peninsula, living on the British Antarctic Survey base, Rothera Station and geochemistry research in Antarctic waters, with fantastic photos.
16th Aug, Tue	Talk/Members' Evening/Anglesey geology
28th Aug, Sun	Field Trip to Hopton Hill with Peter Mackenzie Dyer
20th Sept, Tue	Talk - Aspects of Palynology - Daren Stead
Sun 25th Sept	D.I.Y. Field trip to Copa Hill, Cwmystwyth.
Sun 13th Nov	Field trip with Tony Thorp - Silurian roadside exposures on the way to the Observatory, Knighton. We followed the A483, calling at Castle Vale roadcut (092 746)(p124) exposing Penstrowed Grits, These are well behaved Wenlock turbidites, sourced from major events to the SW. which were deposited the length of the basin but did not encroach up the basin slopes. Between the turbidites there were laminated hemipelagites. If these represent annual cycles, we got an idea of the frequency of turbiditic events. The sandy units were used to build the castle which is in a sorry state with just part of the gatehouse left standing, but we didn't visit it as it is on top of the hill. Next location was at Llananno West. These turbidites are upside down and we found flute casts, loading and water escape structures. We called at other quarries showing slides and slumped beds indicative of basin slope before calling at Cwm Ffrwd quarry in the Bailey Hill Fm, showing spectacular convoluted bedding. This was followed by a tour of the Spaceguard Observatory at Knighton. This was well worth while and we thank Jay Tate for a fascinating insight into the the anticipation of and avoidance of meteorite impacts.
15 Nov Tues	Members' evening. Welsh Basin

Reports of Meetings

from January to November 2005