Hon. Excursions Sec.: Mike Stoddart
email: mike.stoddart@live.co.uk
phone: 0151 625 8939
mob: 07710 764 966
General Information about Field Excursions
Each person attending field meetings does so on the understanding that they attend at their own risk.
Liverpool Geological Society has Public Liability Insurance Cover for field (and indoor) meetings, but Personal Accident cover and Personal Liability cover remain the responsibility of participants. Field meetings are open to non-members (additional charge of £2/day). Some field meetings may be physically demanding. If you are uncertain, please ask. Priority is given to Members.
Safety is taken very seriously. Please make sure that you study any risk assessment or safety briefing and that you have all the safety equipment and clothing specified for the field meeting.
23rd-26th May 2025
Field excursion to Anglesey
This weekend field excursion to Anglesey will be held on Saturday 24th, Sunday 25th and Monday 26th May 2025. The plan is to arrive on the evening of Friday 23rd May so the visit will include a minimum of three nights of accommodation.
The excursion will be led by Dr A. Graham Leslie, a recently retired (2022) British Geological Survey Senior Mapping Geologist with over 40 years of experience in primary mapping, structural geology and geophysics. He was part of a team that, between 2008 and 2015, worked on a revision of the tectonic evolution of Anglesey in the context of the Appalachian–Caledonian Orogen, underpinned by a new stratigraphical framework for Anglesey. The main focus of that survey was to examine and interpret key stratigraphical and structural relationships, and to set out revised stratigraphical successions for the district.
Those wanting a flavour of Graham’s work can watch his lecture to the Edinburgh Geological Society on YouTube here while those with access can read “Tectonic evolution of Anglesey and adjacent North Wales” by Schofield et al 2020, a Special Publication of the Geological Society of London here.
The LGS excursion will focus on mainly coastal exposures in the south-west, north-west and north-east of Anglesey. Most exposures should be a fairly short walk from our parking spots so the trip should not be particularly physically demanding.
All the places for this excursion to Anglesey are now taken, but if you want to be placed on a reserve list, please contact our Excursion Secretary at mike.stoddart@live.co.uk . If you are not a member of the Society, we would encourage you to join otherwise you will have to pay £6 to cover our liability insurance.
14th June 2025
Shap Quarry Excursion – Cancelled
Apologies – we hope that this excursion can be rearranged during 2026.
This day excursion will be a visit to the famous Shap Granite quarry in Cumbria. The rock here is an attractive building stone and can be seen in many famous buildings but these days it is worked for road stone by Armstrongs. Members will be able to collect specimens of the granite itself and, potentially, some interesting minerals; as reported by the BGS, joints in the rock commonly bear “molybdenite, chalcopyrite and abundant pyrite sometimes with much fluorite (purple, green and colourless) or sometimes a little white barite. Traces of galena, sphalerite and bismuthinite are also found”.
The quarry is about a two-hour drive from central Liverpool and we will there for about three hours starting at 10:00 hours. Given the distance (about 100 miles), we will be encouraging lift-sharing. We may have lunch at the Shap Wells hotel afterwards and walk along Wasdale Beck to see the mid-Devonian unconformity. Numbers may be limited so members are encouraged to reserve a place with our Excursion Secretary, at mike.stoddart@live.co.uk . The location is the Shap Pink Quarry just off the A6. The What3Words location is https://w3w.co/fewest.revolts.revisits and the coordinates are 54°28’01″N 2°40’44″W. The nearest postcode is CA10 3QQ.
Directions to the Shap Quarry: Exit M6 at Junction 39 then turn left onto the A6. The quarry entrance is approximately 3 miles along the A6 on your right hand side (there is a white and red sign post that you can see from the A6 as you approach).
28th-29th June 2025
Edinburgh Excursion
This excursion will be take place over the weekend of 28-29th June 2025. We are planning to look at the geology of the Edinburgh area. We will travel up on the Friday ready for a full day in the field on Saturday and then further fieldwork on Sunday. This means accommodation will be required on the Friday and Saturday nights. Members can chose to attend either or both days.
Saturday 28th June
We will be visiting Siccar Point – the location of Hutton’s Unconformity – a “bucket list” location for any geologist. Our guide will be Robert Gatliff (Edinburgh Geological Society) and the excursion title is: Following in the footsteps of James Hutton: the evidence at Siccar Point for “deep time”.
Date & start time: 10.30am at White Sands Car Park (NT725773).
Finish time: 4.00pm at Siccar Point car park (NT805706).
Carboniferous and Devonian sediments and volcanic rocks predominate across the Midland Valley of Scotland. However, there are clearly much harder and more tectonically deformed older Palaeozoic rocks across much of the Southern Uplands. Hutton knew about this from his experiences in farming and his studies in geology. He predicted where he would see the junction between the two series and his visit to Siccar Point was to reveal the contact with utmost clarity. To this day it remains the most historically important geological site in the world.
We will start the day a few miles north of Siccar Point in the Carboniferous and see some of the varied facies in the Carboniferous, including coals, soils, sandstones and some remarkable remains of a fossil forest and some of the best limestone exposures in Scotland. As we approach Siccar Point we will make a short stop at Cove (car park at NT780717), probably the harbour where James Hutton set sail for Siccar Point. Here we will see reddened sandstones of early Carboniferous/late Devonian age.
At Siccar Point the unconformity will be clearly visible from the top of the cliff. At the base of the steep grassy slope (a difficult descent: Please wear appropriate clothing and footwear) on the foreshore we will be able to explore the sedimentology and structure in the older rocks, review the shape of the unconformity surface, study the basal beds above the unconformity and summarise the evidence that Hutton found.
We will finish on the unconformity with a discussion about James Hutton’s ideas of deep time and how geosciences have evolved since the he wrote ‘We find no vestige of a beginning – no prospect of an end.’
Terrain, walking distance, height gain, hazards:
White Sands/Barns Ness: 500m walk along rocky coast; return on footpath parallel to coast.
Siccar Point: about 800 m across field to cliff top where excellent view of the unconformity. There is a 60 m steep path down and up on return to the outcrop.
The key hazard is walking down and up the grassy cliff to the outcrop at Siccar Point.
Control measures required to mitigate against any Hazards referred to above: Walking boots are recommended for this trip. Please note: hard hats and Hi Vis clothing are not required.
Sunday 29th June
We will be visiting locations in Edinburgh which has many (Carboniferous volcanic) geological marvels including Salisbury Crags, Arthur’s Seat and Hutton’s Section (currently off limits, unfortunately).
Members who are interested in attending this weekend excursion should reserve a place with our Excursion Secretary Mike Stoddart at mike.stoddart@live.co.uk
July 2025 (date to be confirmed)
Excursion to Fall Hill Quarry near Ashover
This day excursion will take place during July 2025.
Further details will be posted when they are available.
