River Greta Field Trip
Led by Alan Wise on 17th August
On the evening of 17th August 16 members and friends met in Keswick. Our leader, Alan Wise, kindly ferried us all to Low Briary where there is a spectacular landslip caused by Storm Desmond on 5th December 2015. The steep face in the hillside exposes chaotic rocks largely covered in soil. The few exposures indicated it is in the Skiddaw Group. Alan explained that most of Latrigg Fell is composed of a chaotic assemblage of Skiddaw Group rocks and there are arcuate faces on the hillside indicating that more landslips will occur in the future.
The Group then moved upstream to a fresh face, cut by the storm, into glacial deposits clearly overlying Skiddaw Group bedrock. This was a clean face with clear structure and it was suggested it may expose evidence of two periods of glacial deposition. The flat topped boulder bank, built by the storm, is composed of a very wide variety of cobbles, which provided an interesting time in identification and suggested provenance.
Finally the group moved on to where the girder railway bridge, which had provided a footpath over the river Greta, had been completely removed by the storm. The bridge currently lies in a tangled mass of ironwork across the river. Here Alan was thanked for guiding us to these impressive sites and the party returned to Keswick.
Susan Beale
