Geology

What we do: Study of rocks and earth processes: How rocks are formed; how they weather; movement of tectonic plates; examining samples of rocks and minerals.

 

Field Trips where possible. Where there is geological content, viewing members photos of holiday venues around the world.

 

Reading and discussing “The Earth” by Professor Fortey, a senior paleontologist at British Museum, and Collier Professor for the Public understanding of Science. This is a complete NATURAL history as well as a geology book. It is universally enjoyed by members of the Group.

 

 

 

Special Events:

1. Field Trip to Lulworth Cove

2. Dorset Geologists Assoc. Workshop;

3. Wimborne Minerals and Fossil Fair

Future events: U3A Resource Centre Slides covering all aspect Earth processes: glaciation, landscape, volcanoes et al

 

Knowledge level: The present members all came with no geological experience and we have a nil fall-out record. We have covered 'rocks' to near O level standard and can now recognise many of them.

Expertise wanted - is there a retired geologist out there please!

 

Autumn 2010 Update:On Wednesday 9th June a party of intrepid amateur geologists, plus dog, ably led by our incredibly  patient tutor, Betty Gaisford, made a field trip to Lulworth Cove. We were about to travel back through 60 million years of Earth’s geological history. The rocks of Lulwoth cove can be read like the pages of any book, each one opening a window into a past environment.

After a quick cup of coffee, our first stop was the Information Centre where we were able to see an interesting display of the various rocks and the timescales over which they were created, enabling us to better understand what we would be looking at, where the rocks had been squashed and bent into their current positions. Our timing was perfect as we were finishing just as a party of energetic schoolchildren arrived!

 

The main part of our visit was then a walk around the Cove itself. Betty was soon surrounded by her group bringing their ‘treasures’ to her, trying to find out exactly what it was we were all picking up! However, it would seem that over the weeks, we have learnt enough to give us some basic understanding of the spectacular formations of the rocks themselves. The more we have learnt, the more we realized how little we knew. Our enthusiasm, however, was most impressive.  After a lunch break, we took a short walk to view Stair Hole and admire the Lulworth Crumple – what a wonderful name which really describes where the limestone has clearly been folded.