| 2025 AIPG Cornwall England Trip |
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2025 AIPG Field Trip - Cornwall's Fabulous GeologyMay 8-16, 2025 (8-nights) Registration has ended - Sold OutAIPG has again teamed with Down to Earth, a small company based in England, to offer an international geology field trip to Cornwall England in 2025!
Single rooms are SOLD OUT. To Register, fill out the booking form and the AIPG waiver form: -Pay by check - mail the forms and a check made out to AIPG or -Pay by credit card - call the AIPG HQ office at (303) 412-6205 to pay by phone (an additional 5% will be added to credit card payments for credit card processing fees). You can then email (aipgadmin2@aipg.org) or mail the completed forms (mailing address below). A deposit of $750 per person is due by June 15, 2024 with the final payment due January 15, 2025. Members and non-members welcome! A word from your leaders... We have been visiting Cornwall for more than 20 years and have stayed in a number of different places. We have chosen the small town of Redruth because it is so well connected. It has regular trains from London Paddington (the London station that Heathrow trains come into). Redruth also allows us to access all the principal geological locations easily, allowing us to offer you an unrivalled selection of geology. Redruth and nearby Camborne, were at the centre of a thriving tin mining district and there is a good prospect of a new tin and lithium mine in. the near future. We will be getting around using a locally hired coach that will pick us up from our comfortable hotel base. Tricky’s Hotel and the adjacent Tolgus Inn will look after all our needs by way of food and accommodation. With just 18 rooms,Tricky’s Hotel will be able to accommodate our group in a mix of different rooms. There are a maximum of 3 single rooms available. There are also twin, double and king rooms available. Geologically, we will be taking in rocks from the Devonian and Carboniferous periods that have been metamorphosed in the Variscan Orogeny. Many of the rocks have been spectacularly folded and faulted. There are a number of large granite plutons, some of which have been chemically altered to Kaolinite (China Clay). There are also numerous hydrothermal veins and old mines for tin, copper, lead and zinc. Down on the Lizard Peninsula is a well documented Ophiolite Complex with serpentine. Chris Darmon & Colin Schofield Getting to the area Cornwall can be reached easily by train from all parts of the UK, but is especially easy from London Heathrow. There are direct hourly trains from London Paddington to Redruth, which is a five minute taxi ride from Tricky’s Hotel. The train from London to Redruth takes around 6 hours. The nearest airports would be Plymouth or Newquay, which host domestic flights only. Getting around on the trip We will hire a coach daily from a local company which will allow us to provide you with a comfortable trip each day and also a live commentary covering the geology and landscape as we pass through the countryside. Why Cornwall? Cornwall has such varied geology within a small area. Igneous rocks are well represented with basaltic pillow lavas near St. Ives and several granites, especially the Land’s End and St Austell bosses. The granite landscape with its tors and acid soil and vegetation is so very special. Minerals associated with the granites have produced tin and copper in large quantities from numerous mines in the area. The former Devonian sediments have been metamorphosed to slate, and often show folding and faulting. We’ll be visiting the mines of the St. Just and St. Ives area and will take in Botallock Mine and the museum at Geevor. We’ll also hope to take you a unique tin stamp in the Blue Hills near to St. Agnes where you can see the only tin producing operation in Cornwall. On the Lizard Peninsular we have preserved one of the finest examples of a slice through an ancient seafloor and into the upper parts of the mantle. This is an ancient ophiolite complex, associated with a former subduction zone. Rock types such as serpentine, as well as banded gneisses and pillow lavas are all exposed within a small area. In the melange you will see an amazing jumble of rock types - in short a geologist’s paradise! With so many different rock types this is a great area to see the rich diversity of the rock record and to take in the different field techniques we use to understand them. For those that wish, there will be plenty of hands--on opportunities. If you like field sketching or photography, there should be plenty for you on this tour with stunning coastal landscapes. We will be taking in the China Clay district to the north ot St Austell where we will go to the China Clay museum at Wheal Martyn that also allows us a fine view over a modern working mine. In North Cornwall we will visit the delightful villages of Tintagel and Boscastle where we can see some amazing folding and the sites of several large thrust planes from the Variscan Orogeny. We’ll also take in a working slate quarry at Delabole which has been supplying roofing slates for nearly 200 years. Accommodation & Food Good food and a good night’s rest are important elements on our trips and we have worked hard to bring you the best local accommodation. We have deliberately gone not for one of the chain hotels, but a locally owned and operated one. Tricky’s Hotel, is set in 5 acres of countryside on the edge of the small former mining town of Redruth. It shares the site with the nearby Tolgus Inn where we will have our evening meals. With just 18 bedrooms it will provide us with an informal stay, where we will be the main, or even the only guests. Tricky’s offers a variety of rooms with twins and king rooms. We can offer a maximum of 3 single rooms (SOLD OUT), which are subject to a modest surcharge. If you can find someone to share a twin room with, that would be good. Couples can choose between double or king rooms. Itinerary The following is not intended to be prescriptive, but to give you an idea of what we hope to cover during this trip: • The coastal geology of St. Ives and Cape Cornwall Cost For 2 people sharing a double/twin room or the 3-4 person family room (2 available), the cost of the 8-night tour will be $2950 per person or What’s included in the cost? What’s excluded from the cost? Insurance Your money... Booking -Pay by check - mail the forms and a check made out to AIPG or -Pay by credit card - call the AIPG HQ office at (303) 412-6205 to pay by phone (an additional 5% will be added to credit card payments for credit card processing fees). You can email or mail the completed forms. A deposit of $750 per person is due by June 15, 2024 with the final payment due January 15, 2025. This trip will run provided a minimum of 20 people have booked by June 15, 2024. If you have any questions or queries - contact Chris Darmon as follows:-
Mail checks, booking and waiver forms to: AIPG |
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