Catching a Shooting Star (online lecture)
2021-04-08 19:30 - 21:00 (Europe/London) | Online event
Dr Queenie Chan, Royal Holloway, University of London
It is not easy to catch a shooting star, but when we find one, we make the most out of it by studying it in every detail to learn its secrets. Although the building blocks of life in meteorites could be vulnerable to extreme conditions, e.g. toasty temperature during a meteorite’s fiery entry into the atmosphere, the interiors of meteorites are buffered from those conditions. Trapped liquid water and life’s precursor molecules could have been preserved like “mosquito in amber” and therefore studied in the laboratory.
Queenie Chan is a planetary scientist. Her work involves the analysis of the chemical and organic contents of astromaterials including meteorites and asteroidal/cometary samples returned by space missions. In this talk, she will discuss how water and life’s simple building blocks were delivered to the early Earth.
Queenie completed her PhD in Planetary Science at Imperial College in 2011, and undertook post-doctoral assignments at the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and NASA Johnson Space Center. Until 2020 she was with the Open University and has recently been appointed Technology Lecturer at Royal Holloway, University of London.
This lecture will be held as a Zoom meeting. Society members for whom we have email addresses will be sent an invitation a few days before the event. If you are a member but are not on our email list, or a non-member who would like to join the meeting, please email the society’s meetings secretary to request an invitation.

Book launch: A Guide to the Geology of Islay, Jura and Colonsay
2021-04-28 19:00 - 20:00 (Europe/London) | Online event
This is an event to launch A Guide to the Geology of Islay, Jura and Colonsay, Volume 2, written by David Webster, Roger Anderton and Alasdair Skelton. This is a companion volume to A Guide to the Geology of Islay, published in 2015, which describes twelve geological excursions on Islay.
This new volume contains six excursions on Jura, three on Colonsay and a further four on Islay, that tell the fascinating story of the islands’ geological past from 2 billion-year-old gneiss to the Ice Age. The geology of each excursion is explained at an introductory level with maps and photographs, and the walks range from leisurely rambles to more demanding treks and sea-kayak expeditions.
You can register for the launch event on the Eventbrite website and the book can be pre-ordered on the Ringwood website.
A revised edition of the original guide is also available. This has some updates and improvements to key excursions and a revised geological framework section. You can order both volumes at a special price on the Ringwood website.

Geoconservation training
2021-05-06 16:00 - 18:00, 2021-05-13 16:00 - 18:00, 2021-05-20 16:00 - 18:00 (Europe/London) | Online event
The Scottish Geology Trust is running a free online training course in geoconservation, in partnership with Geoconservation UK. The course consists of three sessions that will give an overview of geoconservation in Scotland and the monitoring and designation of Local Geodiversity Sites. The sessions will take place on three consecutive Thursday afternoons, on May 6, 13 & 20. All sessions will be on Zoom, and will include exercises and time for discussion. Sessions will be recorded and available afterwards for anyone who cannot attend the live sessions.
Details of the programme can be found on the Scottish Geology Trust website.
You can register for the meeting on the Zoom website.

Members' Night (online event)
2021-05-13 19:30 - 21:00 (Europe/London) | Online event
In a departure from the normal format, Members’ Night this year will consist of a quiz organised by the society’s president, Neil Clark.
This event will be held as a Zoom meeting. Society members for whom we have email addresses will be sent an invitation a few days before the event. If you are a member but are not on our email list, or a non-member who would like to join the meeting, please email the society’s meetings secretary to request an invitation.

Cryogenian glaciation: the extraordinary Port Askaig record
2021-05-26 11:30 - 2021-05-27 18:00 (Europe/London) | Online event
This international workshop is in association with the Cryogenian Working Group of the International Stratigraphic Commission. For the latest details see:
https://www.cryogenian.org/science-conferences.html
The workshop is designed to allow full presentations of the results of a long-term field campaign on the 1100 m thick Port Askaig Formation focussed on the extraordinarily complete exposures in the Garvellach Islands and Islay, Scotland. Presentations will include virtual fieldtrips. These world-class rocks represent the best permanent exposures of ice age deposits in the British Isles.
Admission to the event is free. You can register on the Eventbrite website.

Fossil Grove Open Day
2021-08-22 12:00 - 16:00, 2022-04-17 12:00 - 16:00, 2022-06-19 12:00 - 16:00, 2022-07-17 12:00 - 16:00 (Europe/London) | Fossil Grove, 51 Victorial Park Drive South, Glasgow, G14 9QR, United Kingdom
This event will consist of tours of the Fossil House and the quarry and activities for children.

Scottish Geology Festival
2021-09-01 19:00 - 2021-10-17 16:00 (Europe/London) | Online and various venues
The Scottish Geology Festival 2021, which has been organised by the Scottish Geology Trust, will run from 1 September to 17 October. It features a programme of activities from Stranraer to Shetland that will showcase and celebrate Scotland’s geology. Events range from coastal walks to fossil hunting to online talks and even boat trips to Siccar Point, where James Hutton found proof of an ancient Earth. You can explore extinct volcanoes in Edinburgh or the UNESCO Global Geopark in the North West Highlands, find evidence of ancient tropical seas and coral reefs in Fife, and learn how the recent ice age helped shaped our incredible Scottish landscapes.
Further details, including a full list of events, can be found on the Scottish Geology Trust website.

Geology Of Islay (online lecture)
2021-09-09 19:30 - 21:00 (Europe/London) | Online event
David Webster
This will be a Zoom talk aimed at those going on the September excursion, but all members are welcome. A link will be circulated to society members and there will be the chance for a social catchup as well.

Islay
2021-09-10 12:00 - 2021-09-13 12:00 (Europe/London)
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.

Fossil Grove Open Day
2021-09-18 12:00 - 16:00, 2021-10-17 12:00 - 16:00 (Europe/London) | Fossil Grove, 51 Victorial Park Drive South, Glasgow, G14 9QR, United Kingdom
This event will consist of tours of the Fossil House and the quarry and activities for children. It is part of the Scottish Geology Festival.

Fossil Grove Open Day
2021-09-19 12:00 - 16:00 (Europe/London) | Fossil Grove, 51 Victorial Park Drive South, Glasgow, G14 9QR, United Kingdom
This event will consist of tours of the Fossil House and the quarry and activities for children. It is part of the Glasgow Doors Open Days Festival.

Tectonics and mountain building in the Himalaya (lecture)
2021-10-14 19:30 - 21:30 (Europe/London) | Online event
Professor Mike Searle, University of Oxford
The crash of the Indian plate into Asia is the biggest known collision in geological history, and it continues today. The result is the Himalaya and Karakoram – one of the largest mountain ranges on Earth. The Karakoram has half of the world’s highest mountains and a reputation as being one of the most remote and savage ranges of all. This talk will present a rich account of the geological forces that were involved in creating these mountain ranges. Using his personal accounts of extreme mountaineering and research in the region, he pieces together the geological processes that formed such impressive peaks.
Background reading. Mike’s book “Colliding Continents”is highly recommended.
Mike is Professor of Earth Sciences and Senior Research Fellow, at Worcester College, Oxford. He researches the tectonic, structural, metamorphic and magmatic evolution of mountain belts, in particular the Himalayan ranges of Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bhutan and south Tibet, and the Karakoram and Hindu Ranges. He also specialises in the tectonics of the Oman – United Arab Emirates mountain range in Arabia, the Worlds’ largest and best exposed ophiolite. He has spent more than 35 years carrying out fieldwork in these mountain ranges. During the last 15 years he has also worked extensively in Burma (Myanmar), Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam and Yunnan, as well as specific projects in the Cyclades Islands, Greece, Northern Scotland, and SW England. He retired in 2021 and continues to do active research, mainly in Nepal, Oman, Greece, Scotland and Cornwall.
Mike has been in the Department of Earth Sciences, Oxford University since 1989, first as a Post-Doctoral Research fellow, then as a Professor. He is a Senior Research Fellow at Worcester College, Oxford, and an Honorary Professor at Camborne School of Mines in Penryn, Cornwall, part of the University of Exeter. He has written three books, Geology and Tectonics of the Karakoram Mountains (1991; J. Wiley), Colliding Continents (2013, 2017; OUP), and Geology of the Oman Mountains, Eastern Arabia (2019; Springer). He has written more than 240 peer-reviewed papers and has published several geological maps, including the Geological Map of the Central Karakoram Ranges (1991), and the Geological Map of the Mount Everest – Makalu area, Nepal and South Tibet (2003, 2007). He has co-edited six books, all Special Publications of the Geological Society, London.
This lecture will be held as a Zoom meeting. Society members for whom we have email addresses will be sent an invitation a few days before the event. If you are a member but are not on our email list, or a non-member who would like to join the meeting, please email the society’s meetings secretary to request an invitation.

Annual General Meeting
2021-12-09 19:30 - 19:45 (Europe/London) | Online event
The AGM agenda & the minutes of last year’s AGM can be seen in the December newsletter. The council officers’ reports can be seen in the Proceedings for Session 163.
The AGM will be held as a Zoom meeting. Society members for whom we have email addresses will be sent an invitation a few days before the event. If you are a member but are not on our email list, please email the society’s meetings secretary to request an invitation.
The AGM will be followed by the December lecture.

The Hunterian and the Geological Society of Glasgow (lecture)
2021-12-09 19:45 - 21:30 (Europe/London) | Online event
Dr Neil Clark, Hunterian Museum (Retiring Presidential Address)
The Hunterian at the University of Glasgow has long been closely associated with the Geological Society of Glasgow. It is important that we celebrate the early historical links and recognise that it has not always been smooth. From the early keepers of the Hunterian such as Henry Darwin Rogers, who refused to even join the Geological Society of Glasgow, to his successor John Young (the bad), Ethel Currie and Ian Rolfe, who all became president of the society, the Hunterian has always had an influence on the society. Where will the future of the Society take us post pandemic and is there a future for geology at the Hunterian and Glasgow?
The lecture will be preceded by the society’s AGM.
Neil studied geology at Edinburgh University where he became a part-time research assistant travelling around southern Scotland looking for rare Carboniferous fossil crustaceans. At the same time, he began working as a part-time assistant curator at the Hunterian before starting his PhD in 1985. He completed his PhD on the world-famous Carboniferous Bearsden arthropod fauna in 1989 before working in interactive science centres in Edinburgh, Halifax and Glasgow. In 1990, he began working as part of a team of geological curators at the Hunterian as a result of the Earth Science Review process that amalgamated several university geology departmental collections in Scotland with the Hunterian.
In 1989, Neil began a public engagement exercise to promote geology in Scotland by instituting a national geology week. This soon evolved into a major undertaking with hundreds of events being organised across Scotland during the month of September until 2011.
Much of his early work at the Hunterian was dinosaur-related, beginning with the discovery of a four-toed track from the Jurassic of northern England in 1990, and he was described by the Glasgow Herald as “worth his weight in sand”. Since then he has been working on dinosaur eggs from China as well as Scotland’s first dinosaurs. From 1996 to the present day, there have been new discoveries of Scottish dinosaurs, nearly every year, all from the Isle of Skye. In 2006 he appeared in the book of Guinness World Records with his discovery of the world’s smallest dinosaur footprint. He has now published several dinosaur books for Dorling Kindersely and Readers Digest, as well as having worked on several encyclopedia and a book on Baltic amber. He works on all aspects of Scotland’s fossil heritage and because of his work on Scottish Jurassic dinosaurs was nicknamed Jurassic Clark by the Times Educational Supplement.
This lecture will be held as a Zoom meeting. Society members for whom we have email addresses will be sent an invitation a few days before the event. If you are a member but are not on our email list, or a non-member who would like to join the meeting, please email the society’s meetings secretary to request an invitation.

Deformed dirt: the deformation caused by glaciers and ice sheets (lecture)
2022-01-13 19:30 - 21:30 (Europe/London) | Online event
Dr Emrys Phillips, British Geological Survey, Edinburgh
High resolution seismic data from the Dogger Bank in the central southern North Sea has revealed that the Dogger Bank Formation records a complex history of sedimentation and penecontemporaneous, large-scale, ice-marginal to proglacial glacitectonic deformation. The internal structure of the Dogger Bank thrust-moraine complexes can be directly related to ice sheet dynamics, recording the former positions of a highly dynamic, oscillating Weichselian ice sheet margin as it retreated northwards at the end of the Last Glacial Maximum.
Further Reading
Phillips, E. et al. 2018. Large-scale glacitectonic deformation in response to active ice sheet retreat across Dogger Bank (southern central North Sea) during the Last Glacial Maximum. Quaternary Science Reviews, 179, 24-47.
Emrys graduated in 1984 from Manchester University and undertook an MSc there on high T/P metamorphism in the Lewisian. Subsequently he did a PhD at Cardiff on the Monian rocks of Anglesey and then joined BGS in 1990. He is currently Co-leader of Theme 1: Landscape Form, Use and Change: a Dynamic Earth, Scottish Alliance for Geoscience, Environment and Society (SAGES). He has been a an Editor of the Scottish Journal of Geology and is a past-President of the Westmorland Geological Society.
This lecture will be held as a Zoom meeting. Society members for whom we have email addresses will be sent an invitation a few days before the event. If you are a member but are not on our email list, or a non-member who would like to join the meeting, please email the society’s meetings secretary to request an invitation.

Below the bonnie banks – investigating Loch Lomond’s subaqueous Quaternary landscape (lecture)
2022-02-10 19:30 - 21:30 (Europe/London) | Online event
Dr Andrew Finlayson, British Geological Survey, Edinburgh
Andrew’s talk will focus on new work from Loch Lomond and some of the stories coming from the multibeam bathymetric and shallow seismic surveys.
Further Reading
Finlayson, A., Fabel, D., Bradwell, T. and Sugden, D. 2014. Growth and decay of a marine terminating sector of the last British Irish Ice Sheet. Quaternary Science Reviews, 83, 28-45.
Finlayson, A. 2020. Glacial conditioning and paraglacial sediment reworking in Glen Croe (the Rest and be Thankful), western Scotland. Proceedings of the Geologists’ Association, 131, 138–154.
Andrew graduated in 2001 from the University of St. Andrews in 2001 and undertook an MSc at Royal Holloway, University of London. Subsequently he did a PhD at the University of Edinburgh and joined BGS in 2005.
This lecture will be held as a Zoom meeting. Society members for whom we have email addresses will be sent an invitation a few days before the event. If you are a member but are not on our email list, or a non-member who would like to join the meeting, please email the society’s meetings secretary to request an invitation.

Big boulders of Scotland (lecture)
2022-03-10 19:30 - 21:30 (Europe/London) | Lecture Theatre 203, Boyd Orr Building, University Avenue, Glasgow, G12 8QW, United Kingdom
Noel Williams, Lochaber Geopark
In April 1871 The Royal Society of Edinburgh appointed a committee to “make inquiry about boulders in Scotland”. The Committee on Boulders had two main aims:
1. To identify where boulders of interest were situated.
2. To indicate which boulders were deemed especially worthy of preservation.
The idea of setting up this committee was inspired by large surveys which had been set up in 1867 to record erratic boulders and “enormous heaps of gravel” in Switzerland and the Jura region of France.
David Milne Home was encouraged by Professor Favre of Geneva to organise a similar survey in Scotland. In order to set up such a widespread survey Milne Home made contact with church ministers, head teachers and landowners across Scotland. The Committee on Boulders collected data over 13 years (1871–84) and published 10 reports.
We will retrace the steps of Professor Heddle and local headmaster Colin Livingstone who recorded the position of large erratic boulders, as well as glacial striations, during lengthy outings on the hills in the Lochaber district around Fort William.
Noel has written and edited guide books that have inspired thousands of mountain walkers and climbers. His great knowledge of the mountains, shown in his books, guides and magazine articles, has been garnered through painstaking research and thousands of hours exploring the hills, from being author of Scrambles in Lochaber in 1985 to being editor of Highland Scrambles South for the SMC in 2017. His interest in geology has also reached print, and he was co-author of Ben Nevis and Glen Nevis (NCC 1989) and Exploring the Landscape of Ben Nevis & Glen Nevis (Nevis Partnership 2016). He has also contributed photos to a number of different guides.
Noel was a member of Lochaber Mountain Rescue team for many years and for a while was deputy leader. He was involved in some big lowers on the North Face of Ben Nevis, including the first night-time lower on the Orion Face. He retired from the team in 2011. He has also been a member of the Scottish Mountaineering Club (SMC) since 1982, where he took on roles of Vice President from 1997 to 1999 and President from 2014 to 2016. He was also editor of the SMC Journal from 2008 to 2014.
As one of the founding members of Lochaber Geopark (2003/4) Noel is Chairman/Director of the charity. He has also been a director of the Nevis Partnership for many years. The charity guides policies and actions to safeguard, manage and where appropriate enhance the environmental qualities and opportunities for visitor enjoyment and appreciation of the Nevis area.
Noel taught for 10 years at Lochaber High School where he was involved in running the school mountaineering club. Several of his pupils went on to become members of Lochaber Mountain Rescue Team. He later taught at Kinlochleven High School until his retirement in 2005.
Although he claims to be not much of a runner, Noel Williams has completed 21 Ben Nevis Races, as well as Tranter’s Round and six marathons. He has also completed quite a few new routes on the sea cliffs of Skye.
This lecture will be held as a live event in the Boyd Orr Building but we also hope to provide online Zoom coverage. We hope that members can come to the talk in person as we don’t want the speaker to be talking to a sparse lecture theatre!
The talk will be in Lecture Room 203 on the ground floor, which is straight in front of you across the foyer as you enter the building. The lecture room is very big and therefore we do not need to have a booking process. Please space yourselves out appropriately and respect the university’s requirement to wear a mask inside the building at all times.
Socialising afterwards in the lecture room and foyer unfortunately will not be posible. Therefore we are suggesting that at the end of the Q&A we go directly to the Oran Mor at the top of Byres Road where we can get refreshments and sit at tables.
Society members for whom we have email addresses will be sent an invitation to the Zoom meeting a few days before the event. If you are a member but are not on our email list, or a non-member who would like to join the Zoom meeting, please email the society’s meetings secretary to request an invitation.

Landslides, glaciation and the evolution of mountain landscapes during the Quaternary (lecture)
2022-04-14 19:30 - 21:30 (Europe/London) | Room 639, James McCune Smith Learning Hub, University Avenue, Glasgow, G12 8QW, United Kingdom
Professor Colin Ballantyne, University of St Andrews
A persistent view amongst geologists is that landscape evolution in mid-latitude mountains during the Quaternary (2.6 Ma to the present) was dominated by glacial erosion. Using examples from Scotland, this presentation shows that areas of high ground have experienced very limited glacial erosion, and that classic glacial landforms such as glacial troughs, corries and arêtes continued to evolve during successive interglacial periods through rockfall and rock-slope failure. The present mountain landscapes of Scotland and other tectonically stable mid-latitude mountains therefore represent a synergistic relationship between glacial and interglacial (paraglacial) processes operating over very long timescales.
Further Reading
Ballantyne, C.K., Sandeman, G.F., Stone, J.O. and Wilson, P. 2014. Rock-slope failure following Late Pleistocene deglaciation on tectonically stable mountainous terrain. Quaternary Science Reviews, 86, 144-157.
Colin completed a PhD at Edinburgh University on the periglacial geomorphology of mountains in NW Scotland before taking up a lectureship at the University of St Andrews in 1980. He was appointed Professor of Physical Geography at St Andrews in 1994. His research has been recognised in a number of awards, including the Warwick Award (1986) and Wiley Award (1999) of the British Society for Geomorphology (formerly BGRG), the President’s Medal (1990) and Newbigin Prize (1991) of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society, the Saltire Society Scottish Science Award (1996) and the Clough Medal (2010) of the Edinburgh Geological Society, the premier Scottish award in Earth Sciences. He was elected FRSE and FRSA in 1996 and received the degree of DSc from the University of St Andrews in 2000. He is a visiting professor at UNIS (Svalbard) and former Erskine Fellow at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand.
Colin has recently published a very accessible book on ‘Scotland’s Mountain Landscapes’. This would make a great gift for folk interested in Scottish mountains and how they were shaped. He will bring some copies along for purchase at a bargain price of £20 (RRP £28).
This lecture will be held as a live event in the James McCune Smith Learning Hub.

Ardnamurchan
2022-05-06 12:00 - 2022-05-09 12:00 UTC
Leader: Con Gillen
Field days: Friday (afternoon)/ Saturday/ Sunday/ Monday (morning)
This trip was originally planned to take place in 2020, but was cancelled because of Covid-19. Priority will be given to those members who had expressed interest in the original excursion.
The Ardnamurchan peninsula, which includes the most westerly point of the Scottish mainland, is composed mainly of the remains of an early Palaeogene volcano with three centres of activity. Part of the North Atlantic Igneous Province which includes Mull, Rum and Skye, it was erupted into Moine metasedimentary rocks and overlain by a sequence of thin sedimentary rocks. Ardnamurchan displays classic geology on a colossal scale, with features such as mixed magma, ash flows, ring dykes, cone sheets and examples of “airfall” rocks formed from lava ejected from the heart of the volcano – it is regarded as almost a “textbook volcano”. A drive across the peninsula is a journey through its magma chamber. Its overall structure is difficult to perceive on the ground but from space the picture is much clearer – rings of once molten magma can be seen to define a series of almost perfect circles. These are the lower parts of the volcano after the superstructure has been planed off by erosion, in this case, effectively, by the last Ice Age. We plan to visit significant localities of igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks and there may also be the opportunity to sail to Tobermory (whales!) for those who wish to do less climbing!
Accommodation will be B & B in Kilchoan etc.; transport will be in shared cars.
This excursion is now fully booked.

Members' Night
2022-05-12 19:30 - 21:30 (Europe/London) | Room 639, James McCune Smith Learning Hub, University Avenue, Glasgow, G12 8QW, United Kingdom
The last evening meeting of the session will consist of a series of short presentations by society members.
Matthew Statis. Accessing the sedimentary record of ocean acidification prior to the K/Pg mass extinction
Simon Cuthbert. The beast of Linn Park: Arthropleura trail by the White Cart Water
Members of the Strathclyde Geoconservation Group. Glasgow area geological exposures: reconnaissance trips to Campsie Glen, River Kelvin and Overtoun
Members of the Fossil Grove Trust. Fossil Grove renovation project
We intend recording the talks but not doing a “live” Zoom. it would be good if as many members as possible could attend the meeting.

Charleston Lime Quarry
2022-06-11 09:00 - 18:00 (Europe/London)
Leader: Dr Katie Strang
We will be examining outcrops of the Blackhall Limestone and disused quarries. The quarries on the Elgin Estate are no longer operational but provide an excellent opportunity to look at outcrops of the Early Carboniferous Visean Limestone. There will also be a chance to look for fossils in some of the old spoil heaps. The walk is about 10 minutes from the Charlestown Lime Centre and is mostly flat, although can become quite waterlogged – wellies or walking boots advised! Time permitting, we will also go and look at the magnificent old lime kilns on the foreshore.
Leaving Molema Building at 9:00, returning at 18:00, travelling by coach

East Kirkton & Petershill Quarries
2022-07-02 09:00 - 18:00 (Europe/London)
Leader: Gary Hoare
East Kirkton is an unusual deposit because it favoured the fossilisation of land animals rather than those that lived in the water. It has been the scene of some of the most exciting discoveries in Scottish paleontology, which Gary will tell us about.
Petershill Limestone was originally quarried for lime in the 18th century until the quarries were converted to reservoirs in the 19th century, before finally being drained in the 1980s. The site is an SSSI for its species-rich grassland, scrub and wetland, as well as for the geology. The limestone contains a rich fauna including the colonial coral Siphonodendron and the large brachiopod Gigantoproductus.
Leaving Molema Building at 9:00, returning at 18:00, travelling by coach

South Queensferry
2022-07-16 09:00 - 19:00 (Europe/London)
Leader: Dr Richard Smith
Joint excursion with the Edinburgh Geological Society
The excursion starts on the promenade to set the scene and view the 3 bridges now spanning the Firth of Forth. Then we examine the accessible exposures along the shore to the east of South Queensferry which include the Lower Carboniferous West Lothian Oil-Shale Formation dipping generally westwards above the older Gullane Formation (both Strathclyde Group). The West Lothian oil-shales comprise cycles of thin marine or freshwater limestones followed by lagoonal oil-shales then mudstones, siltstones and sandstones where deltaic systems fed into a wide lagoon (Lake Cadell) which existed in this area about 335 Ma, open to the north-east but bounded to the south-east by the Southern Uplands. To the east the Gullane Formation, comprising sandstone and mudstone but generally lacking oil-shale, was intruded during Upper Carboniferous times by two prominent sills, the Mons Hill teschenitic sill and the Hound Point quartz-dolerite sill. These rocks were folded and faulted during the subsequent Variscan Orogeny. The surface bedrock has gradually been eroded by the elements, including within the last two million years, the Pleistocene glaciations. Subsequent late glacial and postglacial deposits cover much of the bedrock away from the shoreline.
Following the excursion, we will have high tea with our EGS colleagues.
Travelling by private car. Meet at 10:30 at Hawes Pier, South Queensferry; NT 135783. Parking is available by the promenade to the west.
There is no charge for the excursion, but members are expected to meet the cost of their high tea.
The numbers on this joint excursion are limited to 10 from each society. Therefore early booking is advisable if you wish to make sure of a place.

Geo-natter
2022-08-10 14:00 - 16:30 (Europe/London) | Kelvin Hall, 1445 Argyle Street, Glasgow, G3 8AW, United Kingdom
A chance to chat informally about geology, show off your rocks and fossils, ask questions about geology, find out what’s happening and perhaps even arrange to take part in future events
