GSM 2016 Summer Field Trip

July 16 and 17

The field trip will start at 8:30am both days from the Unity College Center for the Performing Arts on Depot Street in Unity.

Reservations for lodging need to be made by July 1.  See details below

Description

The 2016 GSM Summer Field Trip will be on bedrock and glacial geology in the greater Belfast-Brooks area, south-central Maine and will be led by Woody Thompson, Dave West, Roger Hooke, and Steve Pollock. It will be held on the weekend of July 16 and 17.

This field trip will highlight prominent bedrock and surficial features in the general area between Belfast and Brooks, Maine.  Many of the individual stops visited will allow for observations of features related to both the bedrock geologic history (hundreds of millions of years old), and the much more recent glacial history (tens of thousands of years old).

The bedrock portion of the trip will provide opportunities to observe representative units within the four major tectonic terranes that are juxtaposed in this region (St. Croix, Fredericton, Passagassawakeag, and Casco Bay belts).  Additionally, aspects of the deformation, metamorphic, and plutonic history of these rocks will be examined.  Finally, a spectacular traverse across the high strain portion of the regionally extensive Norumbega fault system will reveal a wide variety of fault rocks (e.g., mylonite, cataclasite, pseudotachylyte), and demonstrate a complex history of superimposed fault activity.

The glacial portion of the trip will include localities showing impressive glacial grooves revealing ice flow directions, erratic boulders eroded from till, a new glaciomarine delta exposure, and an esker pit.  Additionally there will be stops that “ground-truth” the new stunning Lidar imagery in the area that has provided evidence of widespread removal of upland till by subglacial meltwater streams which, near the glacier margin, are associated with esker nets.

Logistics:

Rooms are available at Unity College, 90 Quaker Hill Rd, Unity, Maine, Friday and Saturday nights.  We will be having a social with cash bar at the College Saturday after returning from the field, followed by a sit down dinner.  For those wishing to stay at Unity College, rooms will be $25 per night per person and will include breakfast.  I expect most will only be staying Saturday night, but if you wish to stay Friday night also that is an option.

1 night including breakfast buffet = $25.00

2 nights including breakfast buffet = $50.00

We will be having a sit down dinner prepared by the Unity College Catering Service on Saturday night.  It will include an entrée with salads and vegetables on the side.  The choice in entrees will be chicken, beef or vegetarian.  The dinner will cost $10.  We will have more information on this later. Both the social and dinner will be in the Unity College Center for the Performing Arts on Depot Street in Unity.

There is no cost for the field trip and it is not required that you stay at Unity College.  You can join the trip at the college on Saturday or Sunday mornings or both.  Field Trip details will be provided later.

For now I need to know how many people will be staying at Unity College and for which nights.  I also need to know who will be coming to the dinner and what entrée you want.  Please send me an email by Friday, July 1 and follow that with a check for room and food.  We must inform the Unity College Catering Service two weeks before the event, hence the July 1 deadline.

Bruce Hunter

Email – bruce.e.hunter@gmail.com

44 Old Fairgrounds Rd.

Readfield, ME  04355