Geologic Structures, Joy's Glasses and Harry Potter

Hello again,

On our way to Skye we saw great geologic structures, the Harry Potter train and Vasa drove a lot.
I’ll begin with the geology, since we are on a geology fieldtrip. We went to an outcrop called Muidhe  led by Chantel. The first thing noticed was the rounded peaks on the outcrop. Most students had an idea of the geologic history of Scotland and knew about the previous glaciations in the area. We took a closer look at the rocks saw some roche moutonnée further solidifying our initial hypothesis about the glacier erosion in the area. The U-shaped valley as well as the pattern seen with the roche moutonnée helped us determine the glacier was running north west. In addition to the glacier erosion we saw a lot of folding within the igneous and metamorphic rocks. The metamorphic rocks are part of the Glenfinnan group which include psammites and pelite. It was easy to see the more dominant layer that shaped the folds and the more brittle layer.




There were some pegmatite veins with mica throughout the rocks as well. This was a great outcrop for a travel day as it was easy enough to climb up to and we could get a good summary of Scotland’s history with volcanics, sediments, metamorphism as well as the glaciation.
Now that the geology is done, I can talk about Joy’s glasses. Joy forgot a few things
throughout  the trip. The first day Vasa  had to drive her back to Edinburgh to get her hiking boots and today she forgot her glasses at the hostel. Vasa was kind enough to drive back and get her glasses. Luckily, she didn’t forget anything else but managed to take two compasses. Our first stop was  the infamous Harry Potter bridge (A.K.A the Glenfinnan Viaduct) where witches and wizards make their way to hogwarts for an excellent education under Albus Dumbledore. This was essential for geology students because the bridge was made out of rocks. Overall, every Harry Potter fan/geology student had a great day and Joy didn’t forget anything for the rest of the trip!


-Lindsay




(I miss my cats)

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