News

SUNDAY 18 JULY

CAUSEY PIKE

Leader to be confirmed.

Easy, lower half day or continue for a strenuous full day.

Meet at 10.00 am at Uzzicar, in Newlands by the site of the old Barrow Mine NY 232217.

Participants will have the option of a half day excursion of 2 km of walking and 150 m of ascent or continuing on the full day fairly strenuous trip of 6 km of walking and about 500 m of ascent. If the weather is poor the trip will be half a day at the lower localities which are on good tracks, footpaths and on steep stream sides. The higher localities are on a fell walk of paths, tracks and rocky sections.

The trip has several aims: to show the olistostromic Buttermere Formation and Robinson Member of the Skiddaw Group, the normal siltstone facies of the Skiddaw Group (Kirkstile Slates) and its alteration by hornfelsing, and thrusting of the hornfelsed strata over unaltered rock. We will visit turbidite sequences with good way-up evidence plus inverted and right way-up strata.

The planned event around Pooley Bridge is still on but the second part involving a meal at a local inn cannot now take place for reasons beyond our control. The programme is now as follows.

Meet at Dunmallard car park 6pm (allow enough time to find alternative parking in the vicinity if Dunmallard is full).

Take activity sheet and follow instructions. The itinerary involves walking on easy ground for no more than a total of c. 800-900m.

Convene at Chestnut House yard by 7pm. Chestnut House shop will be open and take-away drinks and light refreshments will be available. A review of the exercise will be done (answers) re. local geology.

There will be then be a brief ceremony to make presentations to Margaret Bennett and Dai Powell who have both been long-serving officers of CGS.This part will conclude at 7.30 pm and it may be that members attending may want to make their own arrangements for a drink/meal locally. It has not been possible to make a party booking in Pooley Bridge but there are 3 places that will be open in the village on a walk-in basis.

We hope to see as many members as possible for this mixed evening event but be aware that it may be weather affected and suitable clothing or an umbrella is advised.

John Rodgers 

President CGS

WEDNESDAY 7 JULY

AN EVENING AROUND POOLEY BRIDGE

Leader John Rogers

Meet at 6.00 pm in the Dunmallard car park by the riverside NY 469245.

The first part of this event will be a walking “treasure hunt” type exercise in the immediate area around the new bridge, followed up with a review of findings in a reserved seating area at Chestnut House in the village at 7 – 7.30 pm. Bring a pen and clip board or similar for your question sheet.

We intend to follow this up with a social event at a local inn similar to the end-of-season occasions we used to have before the pandemic. This will also be an opportunity to show our appreciation to two long serving CGS Council members who retired at this year’s AGM, namely Margaret Bennett (Treasurer) and David Powell (Librarian), both of whom have been invited. In order to secure dining space for our exclusive use at one of the village inns we will need to know who will be attending this part of the evening, which can be an addition to or a separate affair from the 6 – 7.30 part. Please let us know if you wish to be included for the evening meal so we can book somewhere at the earliest opportunity. Either e-mail John Rodgers at email hidden; JavaScript is required or phone/text message to Fiona Harwood on 07791752813 giving name(s) and contact details. We will issue more details about this directly and/or via the CGS website.

SATURDAY 19 JUNE

SCAFELL CALDERA COLLAPSE TOPOGRAPHY AND MAJOR LANGDALE CALDERA
VOLCANOTECTONIC FAULTS

Leaders Clive Boulter and Dave Haselden.

Briefing Notes

http://www.cumberland-geol-soc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/2021-CGS-Field-Excursion-Langdale-Caldera-Scafell-Caldera-Margin.pdf

Meet at the National Trust car park at Blea Tarn NY 29560433 at 10.00 am. 3 km on rough and steep ground and very little of it is on marked paths. A bit of a hard walk with about 450 m of ascent involved.

Please note, if you went on the Side Pike Complex trip a couple of years back, this is all new material. Briefing notes will be available nearer the time.

SATURDAY 19 JUNE

SCAFELL CALDERA COLLAPSE TOPOGRAPHY AND MAJOR LANGDALE CALDERA
VOLCANOTECTONIC FAULTS

Leaders Clive Boulter and Dave Haselden.

Meet at the National Trust car park at Blea Tarn NY 29560433 at 10.00 am. 3 km on rough and steep ground and very little of it is on marked paths. A bit of a hard walk with about 450 m of ascent involved.

Please note, if you went on the Side Pike Complex trip a couple of years back, this is all new material. Briefing notes will be available nearer the time.

WEDNESDAY 9 JUNE

SLUMP FOLDING IN KIRKSTILE FORMATION, WYTHOP WOODS

Leader Phil Davies

Meet at 6.00 pm at Beck Wythop Car Park, alongside Bassenthwaite Lake NY 214284. NB This is the one at the Keswick end of the dual carriageway on the A66, not the Woodend carpark at the Thornthwaite junction. It’s a ‘there and back’ route. The outbound leg is about a mile gently uphill. The tracks aren’t too rough – stout footwear is always a good idea, but not necessarily heavy boots for this one.

The purpose of the trip is to examine Ordovician Kirk Stile Formation (part of the Skiddaw Group) which is well exposed in about ten forestry track cuttings. Everything can be seen conveniently from track level.
The mudstones, siltstones and sandstones are strongly affected by slump folding, probably influenced by later tectonic folding as well. Some of the slumps are fairly dramatic ‘crumples’. At least one fold has a neat ‘v’ shape, somewhat out of character with the crumpled / curved slump folds. That doesn’t mean it isn’t also a slump feature! Some very tight folding is also present, but not so easy to spot.

Despite the rather chaotic first impression, a general structural pattern can be revealed. Most bedding dips are towards the SE or NW – the NE to SW strike is reflected in the trends of the axes of small folds that are visible in the cuttings. Fold axes generally plunge at shallow angles. The limb of one fold can be examined, and the axis can be seen to be curved.

There must be faults of varying magnitude that juxtapose rock units of different bedding orientation. Some faults can be seen in the cuttings.

There is at least one suspected intrusion – something to look out for and discuss. We should also consider the range of sedimentary strata and if there are any believable way-up indicators.

This is a pleasant place for a walk, and this trip could be regarded as an introduction for further explorations across to Lothwaite and Peil Wyke. The structural configuration around Peil Wyke forestry cuttings (to the north) is superficially similar to that in Wythop Woods. However there is an area in between where the bedding dip is predominantly to the south, which is a bit of a head-scratcher. BGS publications refer to a Wythop Syncline – perhaps this ‘big picture’ interpretation has been deduced from consideration of interfaces of the Kirk Stile Formation with underlying Loweswater Formation but it’s hard to reconcile this with evidence in the forestry cuttings. Discuss!