Islay

Leader: David Webster

Field days: Friday (afternoon)/ Saturday/ Sunday/ Monday (morning)

After having had to cancel our “2nd Islay trip” of last April due to Covid-19, we are now tentatively planning to run it from Friday September 10 to Monday September 13 2021. This trip is a repeat of that of April 2019 in which we visited key localities with the aid of A Guide to the Geology of Islay by David Webster, Roger Anderton & Alasdair Skelton (see report in the Proceedings of Session 161). However, we may also include a sail over to the island of Jura.

The geology of Islay is amazingly varied – 1800 Ma gneiss, Precambrian metasediments and fossil stromatolites, the famous Port Askaig Tillite (possible “Snowball Earth”?), low grade metamorphic Dalradian rocks retaining original sedimentary structures, reactivated and reversed extensional faults, substantial mineralisation, 60 Ma igneous intrusions (opening of the Atlantic Ocean) and a large selection of Quaternary Ice Age features.

The excursion was not advertised earlier because the limited places were offered to people on the reserve list for the 2019 excursion.

Accommodation will be B&B in Bowmore.

We will use shared private cars, (no minibus) and, as parking is tight at most localities, we are restricting the number of people to 16. Some Covid restrictions may also still apply.

The trip is now almost full. However, anyone interested should contact Maggie Donnelly at restrips@gsocg.org.