Sunday 22nd May 2022
Field Meeting: Maeshafn Mining District

This meeting is a follow-on from the very successful and popular meeting held at Cwmorthin in recent years. Whilst there are adrenaline-fuelled adventures for thrill-seekers, this is intended to explore the underground legacy and the geological background to the Welsh slate industry. The underground itinerary is designed specifically for our requirements by Mark and the team at Corris, and intended to last for around 3 hours. Holding an outdoor meeting in March is unusual, but the weather is unlikely to pose risk to this expedition. There will be a charge for this guided trip, though the Association will be off-setting part of the actual cost for members. Safety gear is provided, and wellies if necessary, but overalls and waterproofs are your responsibility. You will be required to understand and sign a declaration of terms and conditions and fitness for the expedition - a copy can be provided in DOCX format prior to the day.

Please contact Jonathan Wilkins by email or telephone to register your interest.
Image courtesy of corrisminexplorers.co.uk.

Maeshafn “Big Covert” woodlands show an extensive historical record of past Lead/Zinc mining in Carboniferous Limestone. This walk will cover the ground that Keith described in his recent paper that was published in our newsletter. The full text is here: PbZn Mining Legacy for a full reference and guide.

Whilst there is some up and down on this walk - it is generally easy walking in woodland. And we will start and finish at the Miner’s Arms! The nearest shop for supplies on the day is Loggerheads service station.

Please contact Gary Eisenhauer by email or telephone to register your interest.

We are delighted to welcome Alastair to give our first face-to-face meeting for three years, at the traditional venue in Pensychnant, Conwy. Alastair has been a member for a few years now, and has been itching to talk about how research in which he has been involved has touched on several linked themes.

Alastair will show us a radical, new model for the geological evolution of northern Tunisia.

Protracted exploration histories for base metal and petroleum deposits in the northern half of Tunisia have concentrated on the significance of the Triassic strata in the region, with most workers concluding that the exposed masses of Triassic strata are of diapiric origin.

In essence, this story is a summary of more than 30 years of consultancy, including more than 40 visits, normally to do bits and pieces of fieldwork throughout northern and central Tunisia. The consultancy was initially for a number of major oil companies and latterly for several small mineral exploration companies. Alastair will draw on this body of work, conducted in conjunction with Chris Clayton, consultant in geochemistry, petroleum, minerals and groundwater.

We are delighted to welcome Jenny Cooke to Pensychnant, Conwy for the second talk in our Autumn programme.

This talk brings together stories from geologists across Britain and beyond to reflect together on how the climate crisis is driving changes in the role of the geologist.

How are geologists contributing to the transition to a net-zero society, from wind turbine foundations to responsibly extracting metals for solar panels and batteries?

What’s the geologist’s role in moving from gas boilers to heat pumps, and the possible future options for carbon capture and storage?

And how do we attract new entrants to a profession viewed by many young people as an enabler for fossil fuel extraction, rather than contributing to the society we want for the future?

Jenny Cooke is a chartered geotechnical engineer, who has worked in geotechnical design, earthworks asset management and major rail projects. At Network Rail she leads an engineering team in Birmingham and seeks to embed climate resilience and low carbon thinking into project delivery.

We are delighted to once again offer our annual "Open-mike" event of short offerings from within the Association.

In no particular order:

Julian Bridges - What Happened when the Bung Came Out. Fast geology for those with a short attention span.

Alastair Baird - Prequel to a Field Meeting interpreting original field slips on Anglesey.

Jonathan Wilkins - Reflections on a Damp Day in the Gwydir Forest. What can be found while others are looking for fossils, and 'reflecting' on it afterwards.

If you want to bring along any prized specimens that you may have collected recently, there will be an audience and no notice is required.

Depending upon the rate of progress, seasonal refreshments may be taken before, during and after the talks. We look forward to seeing you all at this low-key entertainment.

The point at which the Association is open to scrutiny by its members, followed by our invited speaker, Katherine Reeves

Volcanoes can generate pyroclastic material that is deposited on ice and snow surfaces, consequently modifying the optical properties and thermodynamic behaviour of an ice system relative to clean ice. These behavioural changes are primarily dependent on particle properties. However, a variety of particle properties and layer thicknesses are observed when considering volcanic particle deposition on ice surfaces. Experimental work has been conducted to provide insights into some of the processes associated with this range of scenarios to improve understanding of how volcanic material interacts with ice. This talk will describe the systematic experimental approach and present some of the key findings and complexities associated with these systems.

We hope that you will give a warm welcome to Louise, who is Lead Specialist Advisor at Cyfoeth Naturiol Cymru / Natural Resources Wales. She has worked for several years in pollution control, contaminated land and remediation and has for three years worked for CNC/NRW.

Louise will describe current Welsh Government funded studies dealing with liability issues arising from past metal mining activity. She will focus on current projects in North Wales particularly – including Parys Mountain and Parc mines.

The image shows Parc Mine No 3 Level (Richard Bird, cc-by-sa/2.0) Parc Mine was a most productive working for lead and zinc from around 1860 and was worked up until the 1950s. Apart from a short mineral dressing experiment in 1962-3, by the mid 60s all had come to an end. This picture was taken in 1974, before a major remediation programme to mitigate metalliferous, airborne dusts.

We look forward to hearing from Tom regarding his work on the "Fossil Forest" of Brymbo, nr. Wrecsam.

In association with Bangor University, a KESS 2 East Scholarship project was started, supported partly by European Social Funds through the Welsh Government and partly by the Brymbo Heritage Trust. This is a PhD project based in the Molecular Ecology and Evolution lab in Bangor (MEEB) and Tom Hughes is researching how these ancient plants lived around each other and how they interacted with their environment.

The Brymbo fossil forest is internationally important for its in-situ, growth position Carboniferous plant fossils. My PhD research has aimed to unlock even more information from the rocks and fossils of Brymbo by studying their geochemistry. Stable isotope analysis has allowed us to understand more about the ecology of these plants and how they were so well preserved.

The image originates from the first field meeting to be held at the Brymbo open-cast mine by CDGC/NWGA, before its fossil riches were fully realised. Image © J.Wilkins, 23-Jan-2002