Charnwood with Nick Chidlaw

Precambrian Geology at Charnwood Forest, Leicestershire.

Nick Chidlaw has asked me to publicise this course. We are very happy to oblige!

Charnwood Old Cliffe Hill Quarry - buried landscape

Lifelong Learning 4 day course

Precambrian Geology at Charnwood Forest, Leicestershire 

Tutor: Dr Nick Chidlaw

Saturday 22nd – Tuesday 25th June 2019

10.00 am – 5.00 pm each day

In the eastern English Midlands, the generally subdued relief is conspicuously interrupted by the craggy, locally—wooded hills of Charnwood Forest, a few miles north-west of Leicester. Here are found rocks formed from explosive volcanic eruptions about 600 million years ago, together with lavas and igneous intrusions. Within rocks that were once volcanic ashes have been found world-famous fossil sea pens and jellyfish, predating the earliest known shelly fossils.

Attached photograph is of Old Cliffe Hill Quarry, where the South Charnwood Diorites are worked for aggregate. Here, the Diorites are intruded into the Bradgate Formation, both formed in the Ediacaran Period. A late Triassic desert land surface is preserved in profile, overlain by the Mercia Mudstone Group. 

No prior knowledge of geology or the area is assumed. Attendees arrange their own travel, meals and accommodation – tutor can advise.

Meeting location provided to those enrolled. The course is organised through Cardiff University. It carries assessment, which is very difficult to fail! Attendees usually find assessment on these courses useful for consolidating what they have learned.

Tuition fee is £165.00 (concessionary fee available £ 132.00)

Enrolments can be found by ‘phoning 029 2087 0000 or visiting website www.cardiff.ac.uk/learn

For more information on the course, contact tutor nickchidlaw@gmail.com

Field Geology in Pembrokeshire (Part 1)

There has been a problem with the new ‘Pembrokeshire Part 1’ course arrangement to be run by Lifelong Learning at Cardiff University: some people have enquired to Cardiff about the course, only to be told that there is no such course available! It is available and the organisers in Cardiff need to know the level of interest in the course by the end of January.
People who express an interest will be informed in due course of when to pay the tuition fee (£85.00) to the University.
Contact at Cardiff to send expressions of interest: Dr Zbig Sobiesierski - email
Details - The Pembrokeshire landscape differs from much of Wales in that it is largely unmountainous, with extensive areas forming plateaux lying below 183m (600 ft). The landscape is nonetheless striking, with steep slopes and rocky outcrops a widespread feature; most of the highly attractive coast, designated a National Park, is cliff-lined. The county’s geology ranges in age from late Precambrian times to the end of the Carboniferous period (c. 650 – 300 million years ago), with some localized much younger deposits, including those from the recent Ice Ages. On this course you can learn how this part of the earth’s crust passed northwards from the southern hemisphere, across the equator to its present position; it was compressed, stretched and compressed again during enormous intercontinental plate collision and extension events.
These changes in geographic location and tectonic activity are recorded in the rocks, leaving a legacy of magma intrusions and volcanic eruptions, deep and shallow tropical seas, tropical river plains and swamps. This course will examine a number of key locations, mostly coastal, where these often fossiliferous rocks can be examined. Part 1 focuses on Precambrian, Cambrian and Ordovician rocks located mostly in the north of the county, and is divided into 2 weekends to maximize safe access on tidal beaches. No prior knowledge of geology or the county
will be assumed. A pre-course handout covering details of meeting points, safety, geoconservation and geology will be sent to those enrolled.
Dates: Saturday 12th, Sunday 13th; Saturday 26th, Sunday 27th June 2010.

Geology Courses

Dr. Nick Chidlaw writes "I was very pleased to be able to run most of my intended courses and field trips this autumn, despite the closure last summer of Lifelong Learning provision with the Department of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol; thanks are due to all those who were in a position to attend these courses on offer, and to a variety of local organizations including WEGA and Bath Geological Society for kindly agreeing to advertise the events to members. The venerable Geological Society of London has also shown concern over the end of Lifelong Learning at Bristol, and supports the efforts of former tutors who have decided to continue independently." 
Please click here to view the courses and trips Nick is proposing to run during the period January - June 2010 if there are enough takers to make them viable. If any of them are of interest to you, and you can attend, do get in touch and Nick will send you further information.