PROPOSED TWO INDOOR COURSES IN MARCH 2020

Proposed Two Indoor Courses in March 2020

Nick Chidlaw has contacted me about two courses he would like to run in Thornbury in early March.

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Information on courses

I am currently offering two 1-day courses for next March; these are indoor-based, and describe field areas where I have organised events in the past. These courses may be attractive to people who are not in a position to visit these areas e.g. insufficient time available because of family / work commitments, or health problems.

Details of each course is provided at the bottom of this message.

Each course would comprise powerpoint-based lectures, together with examination of hand specimens of relevant mineral and rock types, and published geological maps of the field areas. The hand specimens have been collected by the tutor in the field areas described.

A handout outlining the day’s programme containing sketch maps and other relevant drawings, stratigraphic tables and a list of optional reading,  would be provided on each course. No prior knowledge of geology or the study areas would be assumed.  

Please note that these courses are run on the same weekend and in the same venue, but are independent of one another – you can enrol on both if you wish to, or one of them, according to your interests / availability.

Venue for both courses

The Buckingham Room (single storey building by the car park) at The Chantry, 52 Castle Street, Thornbury, South Gloucestershire. BS35 1HB. See website for further details www.thechantry.org.uk

I will provide Information on accommodation options to those who live beyond reasonable commuting distance. 

On each course, attendees would bring their own packed lunch and other refreshments, or go into the town for lunch.  

Tuition Fee 

£27.00 per person for each course.

Payment of Tuition Fee

Cheque payable to me sent to 8, Silver Street, Dursley, Glos. GL11 4ND. Bank Trans can be arranged if required (let me know).

Deadline for viability of both courses 

Saturday 1st February (5 weeks before the courses are due to run).

Both courses to have a minimum of 10 attendees / fee equivalent. Maximum of 30 attendees on each course. If viability for either or both courses is reached, those enrolled will be informed on the deadline date and arrangements will be able to continue. Further enrolments can be made up to 1 week before the courses are due to run. If the minimum number of attendees / fee equivalent is not reached for either course by the deadline, that course will be cancelled and fees received will be returned to those who have sent them in.

Any queries, do get in touch with the tutor nickchidlaw@gmail.com

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PERMIAN STRATA IN NORTH EAST ENGLAND: continental dune fields, marine reefs and karstic collapse

Permian Slump Olistolith, Trowe Point

Saturday 7th March 10.00 am – 5.00 pm

During the Permian period (299 – 252 million years ago), the crust that became the British Isles was located just north of the equator, under a hot, dry climate. Here, continental environments characterised the period, except in parts of north, where in Mid and Late Permian times episodic marine incursions laid down mostly carbonate sediments with interbedded evaporites. In the north east of England, Permian strata of both continental and marine origin are well represented and exposed, particularly along the attractive coastline. They are impressive, reflecting a variety of environments: continental dune fields, succeeded by both deep and shallow water shelf deposits, including an extensive bryozoan reef belt 20 miles long and up to 100m high. In some of the marine strata, fish, land plants and land reptile remains are preserved. Localised as well as extensive wholesale landsliding of the marine shelf  is evident. In what are now the onshore areas, the evaporites (chiefly halite and anhydrite) were subsequently mostly dissolved, forming impressive collapse features. Bizarre concretionary structures, which may have developed in much more recent geological times, characterize some of the carbonates.      

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METAMORPHISM AND MINERALIZATION IN THE BRISTOL – MENDIP AREA

Pb & Zn Ores with Calcite, Radstock Museum

Sunday 8th March 10.00 am – 5.00 pm

Following the end of the Carboniferous period around 300 million years ago, the area of the earth’s crust that became the British Isles began to stretch and heat as the North Atlantic Rift basin began to form. In the west of England, subsiding rift basins developed where the Cotswolds and Somerset Levels now lie. Between these places, in the Bristol – Mendip area, the crust was under tension at times, causing opening of lines of weakness including faults, joints and fissures. Into these created spaces, and cave systems, descending and ascending chemical –rich fluids accumulated, cooling and crystalizing to form mineral deposits. They include deposits of iron and manganese in Triassic times, and chiefly lead and zinc sulphides in Middle Jurassic times. Associated with the latter, other fluids spread extensively through porous strata in some areas, metamorphosing them to a silica-rich rock. Subsequently, many of these mineral deposits became of significant economic importance to man. This course will familiarise attendees with the history and character of this mineralization, and the impressive variety of mineral types that have been collected in the area in the past.