May 1986 Scotland Geological Field Trip Notes
Traipsing around the unconformities via a 38-year-old field notebook.
Many don’t know that my minor aside my economics major at Lehigh was geology. I think I was inspired partly by my maternal grandmother, who’d studied geology as part of her coursework at Wellesley in the ‘30s, as well as high school experiences rock-scrambling in Eastern Pennsylvania where I grew up. I recall that I was also hedging my career bets a bit; if Wall Street didn’t work out, I had a fallback to employment in the oil patch.
My son recently visited a school friend in Edinburgh, and as his 27th birthday was on this trip, I told him my 21st was on this field trip 38 years ago, and offered him a tip on where I’d celebrated. In doing so, I recalled that I still had my field notebook on my bookshelf. Re-reading it proved a delightful time capsule of my observations on my first trip to Great Britain. Much has changed (most notably myself!), but as with the geology itself, much hasn’t. I’m going to transcribe my jottings (mostly) verbatim, with some modern retrospective observations.
I’ll comment whilst transcribing in brackets, and anonymize the personalities involved:
“S”, the doctoral candidate who led the trip.
“W”, his girlfriend and graduate student.
“Prof. R”, one of the full professors.
“Prof. C”, another one of the full professors.
“Clinch”, a knowledgeable but talkative doctoral candidate, whose name became a verb for being buttonholed.
“Lou”, a graduate student.
“Loops”, another graduate student.
“Buto”, another graduate student.
“M”, another graduate student.
“V”, an undergraduate student.
“Buddy Holly”, another undergraduate student with distinctive eyeglasses.
“Blonde Dude”, another undergraduate student.
“Rob”, another undergraduate student.
“D”, another undergraduate student.
Plus four others, including myself.
Conclusions:
I noticed that I used to be more “chatty” with strangers in my youth; perhaps it my age and/or the novelty of international travel. People used to read newspapers. Wikipedia is an excellent resource to shorthand/incorporate a lot of the geological jargon by reference. How did we do all this without the internet, notably Google maps, to prepare in advance? It’s amazing how just a few notes and access to the internet can make a trip from 38 years ago come back to life in one’s mind.
16 May 1986
1:00PM EST Dad dropped me off at the Bethlehem Bus Terminal. Talked with a WWII vet on his way to the [Atlantic City] casinos who’d been in Scotland before the Normandy landings in ’44. “You’ll like Scottish girls.” 2:00PM EST Trans-Bridge bus to Port Authority. 4:00PM EST Carey Transport to JFK. Talked with an oil company executive from Oklahoma. Very nice conversation on world economics, solar and wind power, the oil situation, and post-college plans. He was a Green Beret in Vietnam, (two tours) who “screwed up by getting into a horrendous marriage”. Gave some good tips for London theatre (specifically “Cats” with British cast), restaurants, The Serpentine, and (oddly) the Holiday Inn Restaurant. 7:00EST Air India Terminal. Ran into PT (a Lehigh Chi Phi fraternity brother of mine) at the currency shop. He’s on the same flight (small world). Big time security checks, bordering on the ridiculous [much unrest in India at the time https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1984_anti-Sikh_riots and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_India_Flight_182 ]. The airplane is a 747 – pretty nice. Three channels of Indian music, one of American country, as well as one of British pop music. Seated next to a guy who introduced himself as Winston, who was in import/export (silver, rugs, madras fabric, and furniture) whose father is Portuguese and an Air India crew chief, so we enjoyed free drinks and an English language screening of “The Jagged Edge” in the executive class nosecone of the 747. He’s studying to become a doctor because his mother and brother were killed by incompetent surgeons. Exchanged addresses. [After I’d returned to the States, Winston tried to call my parents’ place completely forgetting the time change in the middle of the night, and nothing ever came of our grand import/export plans.]
17 May 1986
I turn 21 over the Atlantic.
08:00 GMT Landed at Heathrow and wait in line with about 400 Canadians on a massive senior citizen package tour. Baggage through okay. “S” gives instructions while “W” plays the recorder, to which someone remarked “Columbia must turn you into a vegetable”. Got on board a double-decker [allegedly] to King’s Cross; saw more BMWs per capita than Jags and Rolls combined; more Benzes also, but seemingly only in light blue. Arrived at Euston and fumble around until around a bit until we find the bus to King’s Cross, which is like a miniature Reading Terminal.
11:35 GMT
Board train and head north. On train, feared “S” monologue never materializes, as we all suffer from jet lag and a lack of outcrops. England and Scotland look a lot like West Chester [Pennsylvania] horse country, except everything is more quaint. Accents heavier as we head north, ad become unintelligible at the border.
17:00 GMT
Arrive in Edinburgh, and met “Prof. R” and “Lou” at the train station, as they had flown ahead to procure the rental Ford Transit vans, which aren’t much larger than a VW bus, but are roomy enough and seat 10 apiece. “Lou” almost immediately clips a car ‘cause he can’t judge the reversed driving position yet. Edinburg is picturesque in a big way. We set up camp at a local campsite (next to an actual Scottish trailer park!) and headed back to town. There was a big bagpipe and drum parade that almost looked staged for us. Big BBC vans covered the action. “M”, two others, and I eat at an Italian-Scottish restaurant and then head for Deacon Brodie’s Tavern to celebrate my birthday with some smooth scotch. We met and conversed with and Aussie and a New Zealander, then return to camp and crash out at 10:30 GMT.
[Deacon Brodie’s on The Royal Mile https://edinburghguide.com/venues/pubs/deacon-brodies-tavern still exists, and my son celebrated his 27th birthday there on his recent trip]
18 May 1986
04:15 GMT Early up due to time distortion. Windy night, but the best night’s sleep I’ve had in months. The sleeping bag was incredible – thanks, Mother. Took a shower and caught up on the trip log. Got petrol and broke camp and drove to Siccar Point – Hutton’s Unconformity https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hutton%27s_Unconformity . Sheep, steep hills, and a turnip farm. Went to the very location where Hutton https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Hutton demonstrated the intrusive nature of igneous rocks. We climbed the huge volcano mountain in 40 mph gusts! I drove to Oban https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oban after lunch and groceries, and backed into a car – oops! (no damage though). Long drive, with “S” in front of me driving like a maniac the whole way. The scenery was spectacular. Arrived at campsite in Oban, ate dinner, and went to bed at 22:00 GTM.
19 May 1986
06:30 GMT Woke up and travelled to a fisherman’s house in Luing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luing on one of the close-in islands west of Oban via a short ferry driven by a fisherman who also trawled for prawn, lobster and clams (scallops). There were two guys on board, both reading Mitchner novels, and two cool dogs. We then travelled to the Garvellachs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garvellachs . Mr. Robin Pitt lives there all alone as a naturalist, who served us tea and told fish tales. [It turns out Robin Pitt was a former Conservative MP in London https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lambeth_London_Borough_Council#Leadership . ] Most amazing scenery. Got “Clinched” [our term for being buttonholed] on the geological tour’s down section. Returned via fishing boat, and saw some amazing fold action. Drove back to Oban (“sheep shit campground”) and had an al fresco haggis dinner. Went into Oban to The Mantrap [recently re-opened https://www.obanview.com/bars/the-mantrap/ ] and The Oban Inn [also still there https://www.explore-oban.com/where-to-eat/pubs-and-takeaways/the-oban-inn/ ] and played snooker and found “V” with some guy. Drove home around 23:00 CET.
20 May 1986
Went to the Isle of Kerrara https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerrera . Gylen Castle was a long 2.5 mile walk away, but amazing deformation unconformities along the way https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unconformity and https://www.geologypage.com/2019/06/unconformity.html . A geological treasure trove. Long drive to Beauly https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beauly as “S” kept screwing up and we made 3-4 U-turns.
Along the way, we saw:
Great Glen Fault https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Glen_Fault
Loch Ness https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loch_Ness
Castle Stalker (of Monty Python and the Holy Grail fame) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_Stalker
We finally got there and had the best dinner of the trip, spaghetti and meatballs. The local pub was closed. “D” took a time exposure.
Vans have divided into the “Death Van” (Including “S”, “W”, “Prof. C”, “Blonde Dude”, “Hike”, “Clinch”, “V”, plus two others), and the “Happy Van” (myself, “Lou”, “Loops”, “D”, “Buddy Holly”, “M”, “Rob”, “Buto”, and two others).
Slang terms that emerged: “Quaff” for drinking. “-age” as a suffix for everything, such as “quaffage”. “dude” and “one time” as used by “Rob”, “full wood” for geologically significant, “’mokes” for smokes, and “coal tray” for ashtray, “Clinched” for having one’s ear talked off, and repeated use of the “yeah, that’s the ticket” catchphrase from the from the Saturday Night Live “Pathological Liar” sketch https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recurring_Saturday_Night_Live_characters_and_sketches_introduced_1985%E2%80%9386#Tommy_Flanagan,_the_Pathological_Liar .
21 May 1986
Drove to Loch Monar https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loch_Monar and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glen_Strathfarrar , home to a big hydro power project https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affric-Beauly_hydro-electric_power_scheme . Stopped first at a red deer hotel for coffee (too much!), visited the hydroelectric plant, and saw lots of examples of polyphase deformation from six different folding events. In the early afternoon, “Rob”, “M”, and “Buto” go to Inverness, leaving the group. We break camp and drive way out west to Applecross https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Applecross . Dinner was chili and curry rice. We then went to a pub and had a wonderful time with the locals, including a radar controller from the local submarine base. Everyone was reading tabloid newspapers. Came back and quaffed in the van with “Lou”, “Loops” and “Hike”; I slept in the van as the weather was so awful, and “Loops” came in later. It was actually a beautiful campsite, but the owner “Clinched” me later.
By this point, we’d absolutely had it to death with the BBC’s constantly playing Simply Red’s “Holding Back The Years”
22 May 1986
Wake up at 06:30 GMT. Kind of a bogus day. Drove most of the time. Heavy “van geology”. On the way I misplaced my sunglasses, and at one petrol stop bought what I thought was a sweet pastry at that turned out to be a cold mutton pie. [When I got home, I sent letters to a number of post offices along the way where I could’ve left them, and a few weeks later they appeared from the Laide https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laide Post Office https://www.laide-postoffice.co.uk/ “with compliments”! I sent them a fiver for their trouble.] We stopped at Ullapool https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ullapool , where I bought a ground pad as I hadn’t been sleeping comfortably without. We met another group of geology students from Miami University of Ohio. We went to a pub in Scourie https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scourie , drank two lagers and watched TV, and were in bed by 23:30 GMT. The campsite was swampy with a little restaurant.
23 May 1986
Up at 07:30 GMT. Applecross and the Point of Stoer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Man_of_Stoer were primarily Torridonian https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torridonian , and we’d mainly seen Caledonian effects https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caledonian_orogeny , but now we’re out of the orogenic belt https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orogeny , but Scourie has structures predating the Torridonian, i.e. the Precambrian Lewisian https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northwest_Highlands#Lewisian_complex .
Scourian orogeny https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scourian_orogeny was 2.6-2.2 billion years ago with granitite fascies showing deep metamorphasism, banded grade gneisses, and lithologic bonding (not bedding). Monar shows multi-folding https://www.geolsoc.org.uk/GeositesLochMonar , and Kerra shows multi cleavages https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerrera .
Scourie dikes https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scourie_dykes are cross-cut Scourian basaltic https://www.scottishgeologytrust.org/geology/51-best-places/scourie-bay-and-laxford/ . Black, wide, long basaltic igneous intrusion, post-Scourian with a northwestern trend. No dikes in Lewsian formations ... why?
Laxfordian phase https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laxfordian_orogeny metamorphism happened 1.7 billion years ago, and turned dikes from basaltic to plagioclase https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plagioclase amphibolites https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amphibolite . The dikes are boudinaged https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boudinage , and so thin now they can’t be shown on a map. More water → lower temperature for melting, with direct evidence of partial melting layers with partial granitic-igneous texture. Cross-cutting pegmatites https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pegmatite are evidence of partial melting.
This is all highly-speculative stuff in such high-grade rocks, but there’s a consensus (Rydberg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_Rydberg nd https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rydberg_constant ) that these are the oldest rocks in western Europe, and possibly the world. Walked five mile section with metamorphic pyrites. Went to a remote point which was a basaltic dike.
More vocabulary: “Zonin’” for sleeping, “Weetabix” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weetabix for British cereal, “angel delight” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angel_Delight for dessert.
Ate a fish dinner at a hotel restaurant in Rhiconich https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhiconich near Laxford Bridge https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laxford_Bridge . Had a few drinks at a local pub with a shaggy wrecked guy who looked like a sheepdog, and talked to some construction workers until 22:30 GMT, then went back to camp.
24 May 1986
Drove to Assynt https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assynt , site of a double unconformity. There was a waterfall by the Oykel Bridge https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_Oykel (famous for salmon fishing and as the “McEwan’s River” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McEwan%27s ). Chicken dinner at the campsite restaurant. Back to the “Eagles Ayre” pub at the Scourie Hotel. The locals wanted to go to dance in Durness https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durness , but that fell through (thankfully).
25 May 1986
Up early, broke camp, and drove 26 miles north to Durness. Arrived at “Sango Sands Oasis” greeted by gale force winds, which had everyone pissed off. Saw some “oyster rock” mylonites https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mylonite and Lapworth’s mylonites https://www.lyellcollection.org/doi/abs/10.1144/sjg38010001 . Ended up on a huge bluff with horizontal rain. Saw a double rainbow. “Buddy Holly” and others wet, cold, and pissed, and squat in the van. Saw Loch Eliboll https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loch_Eriboll , with WWI sub wrecks, and an RAF and Royal Navy target range. Ended up back at Sango Sands and everyone drank a lot of Scotch and waded out to a rock in the Atlantic, which was a pretty stupid idea.
26 May 1986
A day off, with the wind breaking up the camp. Visited the Balnakeil Craft Village next to Durness https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durness , one of the most northwestern points of Scotland There was an artisan originally from Valley Forge, Pennsylvania there, who we determined didn’t just move there just to make candles. We returned to the Sango Sands expecting to meet up by 18:00 CET to drive on. The vans were all loaded up, and then “S” drops a bomb: “we’re staying here!”. Mutinous rumblings. Picked a gorgeous campsite on the beachfront with no wind and overnighted after some quaffin’.
27 May 1986
Van breakfast. “Clinch” blows up at “S” and takes over for the day for some disappointing glacial deposit viewing. “We could’ve seen better deposits in Lehighton” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lehighton,_Pennsylvania . “S” hit a sheep with the van at low speed, but it was okay. Headed back toward Edinburg. Stopped at overturned anticlines https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anticline outside of Edinburgh on the A1. Camped off the A1 in Haddington https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haddington,_East_Lothian east of Edinburgh.
28 May 1986
Drove all the way back to London. Stopped by St. Abb’s Head, part of the Devonian https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devonian over the North Sea. A parallel fold and perfect anticlinal with turbidites https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turbidite .
29 May 1986
Geological Museum on Exhibition Road in Kensington https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geological_Museum , right next to and now incorporated with the Natural History Museum https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_History_Museum,_London .
30 May 1986
“S” ripped the roof rack off his Transit van driving into a parking garage right before the return to the airport for the flight back.
31 May 1986
Uneventful return. JFK to Port Authority, and a Bieber bus back to Reading, Pennsylvania 11:00 AM -2:00 PM EST.
I ended up obtaining my degree, and never quite lost my interest in geology.
It feels a bit weird reading one’s handwriting from almost 40 years ago. I encourage my kids to keep some sort of diary on their travels … one never knows if it’ll come in handy.