Field trips

There will be three field trips associated with the conference: 

1 day pre-conference field trip to the North Solway Firth. Saturday 4th September. The North Solway field trip will visit a classic location where we will look at the relationships between faulting and sedimentation at a major basin bounding fault. We will examine fracture systems in the footwall, evidence of syntectonic sedimentation and fluid flow and mineralisation along with the effects of fault reactivation.  The Solway Basin has a long history of development from Devonian and Permian through to present day and it provides numerous analogues for industry interpreters working in basins, inverted margins and fracture systems. Delegates will have the opportunity to see some of Scotland's attractive scenery and hear tales of pirates, poets and pioneers who helped shape the modern world. Price: £50 includes transportation and bag lunch. Please contact zoe.shipton@ges.gla.ac.uk for information and registration. Contact Jean.McPartland@ges.gla.ac.uk for payment.

3 day post-conference field excursion to the NW Highlands to examine igneous and tectonic structures. Please contact rob.butler@abdn.ac.uk for information and registration.

Palaeogene igneous centres of Northern Ireland. The Volcanic and Magmatic studies group of the Geological Society of London (VMSG) run an annual fieldtrip, which this year has been timed to coincide with the Anderson conference. This year’s VMSG field trip will be to the Palaeogene igneous centres of Northern Ireland. The Northern Irish sector of the British and Irish Palaeogene Igneous Province (BIPIP) is a classic area in British and Irish geology containing key subvolcanic complexes – the Mourne Granite Centres, Slieve Gullion Ring Complex and the Carlingford Complex – and the UNESCO World Heritage site the Giant’s Causeway. This region is also steeped in mythology where the fabled giant Finn McCool acquired his name (Finn or Fionn meaning fair) when he was tricked by a witch to dive into an enchanted pool at the summit of Slieve Gullion. Then there is the eponymous Giant’s Causeway which was part of a spat between Finn and the Scottish Giant Fingal (of Fingal’s Cave on Staffa). On this trip we will visit localities in the Mourne Granites, some new road cut outcrops through the Slieve Gullion ring-complex, cone sheet outcrops of the Carlingford Centre, faulting and intrusion relationships west of the Antrim Basalt plateaux, the Portrush Sill and, of course, the Giant’s Causeway. The aim of the trip is to consider the structural relationships of these subvolcanic intrusions, the implications for their emplacement and examine new evidence for tectonomagmatic relationships in this sector of the BIPIP.
Costs: Full price £350 Student £280
Price includes full board YH accommodation and a field guide. Places are limited to 30, on a first come first served basis and are already filling up fast. Registration deadline 1st July (or when places are filled).
Please contact Carl Stevenson for a registration form and payment details.