Field Trip – Siccar Point and Pease Bay

The classic angular unconformity at Siccar Point became a landmark location in the history of geology after a boat trip to the site by James Hutton and his colleagues Professor John Playfair and Sir James Hall in 1788. Hutton successfully used the unconformity to support his view that the Earth’s landforms and geological record resulted from uniform natural processes such as sedimentation, uplift, erosion, and renewed sedimentation through deep geologic time. At Siccar Point, gently dipping Devonian fluviatile Old Red Sandstones unconformably onlap vertical Silurian deep-water greywackes to produce the most classic of angular unconformities that remains a must-see outcrop for geologists to this day. Although most geoscientists educated in Scotland will have seen this outcrop in their student days, as a teaching aid to illustrate basic principles, a trip later in life can remind us of the importance of the site in a historical geology context. The location continues to inspire and instils a sense of duty in us, as scholars of the Earth’s formation, to communicate and share the principles of deep time with those who have not had the privilege of an education that included the fundamentals of geology.

Dr Stuart Archer will lead the August weekend field trip Sat 17th and Sun 18th August to Siccar Point and Pease Bay.  We plan to meet up 10.30-11am on Saturday morning and will provide the exact meet up location nearer the time. The plan is to stay in Dunbar Saturday night. We encourage you to car share where practical and book your own accommodation. A brief summary of the trip is attached. (Note this also includes designs of a proposed new AGS logo created by student Jess Pugsley).

For planning purposes can you please advise if you plan to attend this trip by emailing me at SidneyDantumaJohnston@gmail.com