A NOTE FROM THE EDITOR

Dear readers,

in this issue we have some excellent field trip reports. A big thank you to all authors!

On page 13 you’ll find details about the upcomingAGM, which will take place in Zurich at thebeginning of February. It’ll be definitely worth itto join us, because we have a great field tripplanned. But do make sure that you book youraccommodation soon! Many places are fullybooked already.

Until then – have yourself a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year!

Marion Seitz

€UROCKTHE ELECTRONIC NEWSLETTER OF THE OPEN UNIVERSITY GEOLOGICAL SOCIETYMAINLAND EUROPEWINTER 2013

DEAR ALL,

we had a great programme this year thanks to allthe members who organised the different eventsand to all the participants who enjoyed them.

We might be a small OUGS branch dispersed allover Mainland Europe, having to travel far to joina trip, with most of them running over two days ormore. But this gives people time to socialise in thefield around an odd outcrop, and in the eveningaround a meal. After each trip I always have thefeeling that I have learned a lot about geology, butmost of all, that I have spent a really good timewith friends.

IN THIS ISSUEField trip to the Harz Mountains, day 1.............2

Field trip to the Harz Mountains, day 2.............6

Field trip to Serbia, day 1 ..................................8

Field trip to Serbia, Tuesday and Wednesday..11

AGM 2014.......................................................13

Fossil hunting field trips 2014.........................15

Longer field trips 2014 ....................................16

Last, but not least.............................................17

Living all over Mainland Europe gives members alsothe opportunity to share with us the geologicalwealth of their home area; Fiona and Gerd took usinto the Harz mountains last Autumn, Marion organ-ised the venue of the AGM in the beautiful historicaltown of Heidelberg and we were privileged to getintroduced by Milorad to Serbian geology and cul-ture. And next year, Stephan will invite us to joinhim on several fossil hunting trips; more about later.Last spring we also visited the granites ofPloumanc’h with Emilie and with a local geologistpassionate about the Celtic legacy; you could readall about that in the previous newsletter .

But for now, have a cup of tea and enjoy reading thiswinter edition.

I wish you all a merry Christmas and hope to meetmost of you in Zürich for our AGM, hometown ofDave who is working hard organising it.

Elisabeth d’Eyrames

The Harz Mountains are a fault block mountainrange in northern Germany, situated at the junc-tion of the states of Lower Saxony, Saxon-Anhaltand Thüringen. Known in Latin as Herzyniawhich gave its name to the alternative term forthe Variscan Orogeny, namely the HercynianOrogeny.

The area is famous for its rich and varied geologyand historical/archaeological mining. Therefore theaim over the following three days was to see asmuch as possible from the varied geological expo-sures, and visit some of the mining sites that makethis area so well known.

Day one: Rammelsberg Museum & Besucher-bergwerk (mining museum) situated onthe outskirts of Goslar.After a hearty breakfast in the Lodge Hotel Goslar,which was to be our base for the weekend, we set off

on foot to the Rammelsberg Mining Museum. Gerdsaid “it’s only a gentle 10 minute walk”, howeverover the weekend we were to learn that Gerd’s ideaof distance and time varied somewhat to what themajority of us considered gentle and not too far.Gerd’s gentle walk was a steady uphill climb ofaround 1 km and took more like 20 minutes to com-plete. The Rammelsberg is actually 635 metreshigh; fortunately for us the mine is not at the peakbut some 450 metres below it. But what awaited usthere was well worth the after-breakfast exercise!

Within the mining museum complex are the officesof the “Niedersächsisches Landesamt forDenkmalpflege” (something like a Federal HeritageAgency). There the man in charge, Dr Lothar Klap-pauf, gave us a tour of his department and a brief ex-planation of their work, before taking us to the siteof the archaeological dig that was discovered withinthe grounds of the Rammelsberg Mine.

This again consisted of another uphill walk ofaround 1 km through the mine surface buildings androad ways to the edge of what originally was theopencast mine, in use before mining at the Rammels-berg was continued underground.

At the dig we were shown were they had found aleather shoe sole, which after radio carbon datinggave an indication that it was from the beginning ofthe 11th centuary. This would indicate that the sitewas being actively mined from possibly around the10th centuary.

FIELD TRIP TO THE HARZ MOUNTAINSOctober 24th to 28th 2013 / Day 1

Another of theirinteresting findswas a length ofrope thought tohave been used topull the ore wag-ons by horses, asevidence of hoofand wagon wheelprints have beenfound in theground.

The thought isthat this site wasbeing workedthrough oldopencast miningdebris, by driving shafts and tunnels to get to thecopper rich veins which had become unworkableusing opencast mining methods.

This was due to the depth of the vein and also thedanger of the working face collapsing on the miners.This debris is rich in lead but was not of interest tothe early miners. Copper was their goal, the ore wasthen transported to smelting sites all over the Harz

Mountains, this was easier than moving the largeamounts of timber that were required to smelt the oreto the mine itself. This timber had then to be con-verted to charcoal before use.

The Rammelsberg Ore body was formed by the es-cape of hot metal bearing thermal springs on the seafloor which today we call “Black Smokers”, duringthe Devonian period.

Two large lenses of ore were formed which werelater caught up in the folding of the rocks during theVariscon or Hercynian orogeny and now lie over-turned at an angle to the mountain.

The ore body is a sulphidic microcrystalline copperand lead/zinc composition, and within the upperHarz are also found coarse sulphidic lead/silver ores.The mining of these ores started in the 10th and 11thcentury at opencast sites (old bed) and after the dis-covery of the (new bed) in the 19th century contin-ued with tunnels and shafts into the mountain.

Industrial extraction continued at the RammelsbergMine until June 1988 when the mine closed. Offi-cially this was because deposits were mainly workedout, but the local version is slightly different, in thatthey believe it was the difficulty in finding sufficientyoung miners to continue the extraction of ore,which was the reason for closure.

In 1992, the Rammelsberg Mines and the historic in-fluenced Old Town of Goslar were entered on theUNESCO World Cultural Heritage List.

It is estimated that in this 1000 years of mining, 30million tonnes of Rammelsberg ore have been ex-tracted. A typical ore body is around 14% zinc, 6% lead and 2% copper with some traces of gold andsilver. The picture which is a sample of Rammels-berg ore shows on the right hand side how the orecan be polished due to the high copper content

After lunch Dr Klappauf’s good friend HerrFriedrich-Albert Linke showed us how to find someof the 3000 year old smelting sites used by earlyman to extract tin, lead and copper from surface oredeposits exposed by erosion.

After a short bus journey from Goslar up into thesurrounding forest area, we arrived at the location ofour attempts to discover a smelting site. The methodused is very simple, but as we were to find out,100% successful.

The Method

> First find a small stream that has made its waydown the hillside through the pine forest.

> There you look for traces of slag in the stream bedand if you are successful and find some, you thenfollow the stream uphill whilst continuing to look forslag deposits at regular intervals.

> Eventually the slag can no longer be found in thestream bed.

> At the point where you last found slag, start look-ing around for small mounds without any vegetationgrowth (the slag inhibits the growth of vegetation). Ifyou spot one (which we did), start digging and lowand behold large lumps of slag started to appear.

> There you have it: one more prehistoric smeltingsite discovered by the OUGS ME.

If the slag you find looks like the example on the leftin the picture, then they managed to extract copper,lead and tin from the ore using charcoal. However, ifit looks like the right example, only lead and tinwere extracted, because they had only used wood asa source of heat. The temperature of burning wood isabout 200 degrees short of the melting point of cop-per, which requires the higher burning temperatureof charcoal to extract it from the ore.

Using this method, Herr Linke and his colleagueshave up to now found some 1600 smelting sites inthe surrounding area, well thanks to the OUGS MEthat is now 1601.

As an added bonus to all the activities of the day, wehad the opportunity before setting out to look forslag, to visit the Roeder Gallery at the RammelsbergMine.

Here we joined one of the guided tours around the200 year old gallery system. It consists of a networkof galleries, water wheels and shafts. We followedfrom the surface the route of the water, channelledinto the mine to set four wooden water wheels inmotion. Two of the wheels served to transport oreout of the mine, the rotary motion of the wheel usedto drive a winding drum which allowed an empty orebucket to be lowered down the shaft whilst at thesame time hauling a full ore bucket up the shaft.

By using two wheels set side by side but having thepaddles set in opposite directions, the water could bedirected to either side of the wheel, and so the direc-tion of rotation of the water wheel could be alter-nated to allow continuous movement of full andempty ore buckets up and down the shaft. The wheelalso had a braking system, used to stop the ore buck-ets at the top and bottom of the shaft.

This was all controlled by a man at the shaft bottom,using a system of wooden beams running along a tunnel 80 metres long to the wheel itself.

The remaining two wheels were used to lift waterout of the mine; water for the wheels came from theHerzberg Pond built in 1561 and created to ensurethat a continuous supply of water was available evenin times of drought.

This all seems very straightforward until you realisethe size of these wheels: the two ore transportationones are 7 metres in diameter and the pumping ones8 metres. They were constructed over 200 years agounderground, using candles and crude oil lamps asthe only source of light, in very wet and confinedspaces using basic hand tools. Yes, as you may haveguessed we were very impressed with what we sawand were told during our tour of the Roeder-Gallery.

Terry Warrington

REFERENCES:

Dr Lothar Klappauf.

Herr Friederich–Albert Linke.

Rammelsberg Museum & Besucherbergwerk literature

Wikipedia: Harz Mining.

Geology in the Southern Harz.We journeyed to the south end of the Harz nearOsterode and met up with Dr Firouz Vladi, a gregarious character brimming with scientificand local knowledge. He took us into the forest inDuren, a protected area he explained, which hadnever been clear-felled since it appeared at thebeginning of the present interglacial.

The forest and indeed surrounding area sits on gyp-sum deposits created when the locality formed partof the famous Zeichstein Sea during the Permian.During the late 80’s, a severe summer storm al-legedly swept through the forest and the remains ofmany trees still litter the forest, however it is alsoknown that Gerd was in the locality around this timeand he has never satisfactorily accounted for hiswhereabouts.

At first the forest appeared to contain more sinkholes then mushrooms, the former are the result ofcollapsing gypsum caves, themselves created by anhydrite layers rehydrating and swelling as they approach the surface.

In previous centuries, cracks and channels connect-ing these caves were often found to contain the re-mains of such exotic creatures as (woolly)rhinoceros and elephants which may have beenhunted by Neolithic man or escaped from a passingcircus. Such finds stimulated the debate on evolu-tion. Fortunately these creatures are no longer in thearea, instead as we pressed into the forest the mush-rooms became more plentiful.

Near a large sink hole whose water content fluctu-ates with the water table and appears to lag precipita-tion by 21 days, a large yellow and blackself-propelled mushroom was spotted. Sluggish inthe autumn temperatures, it obligingly posed forphotographs.

Inspired by such finds and the tales from our guide,we set off to a cave where the local population tookrefuge during the allied advance of 1945. It is knownthe only villager to die was one unfortunate ladywho returned to find her donkey. The fate of herdonkey has never been established.

Dissolved gypsum causes subterranean lake water tobecome heavily stratified and this stratification in re-turn exerts a strong control over cave morphology,giving them uniformly flat ceilings and 45° walls.We had a look in the cave but of far more interestwas the tale of Bronze Age skeletons.

FIELD TRIP TO THE HARZ MOUNTAINSOctober 24th to 28th 2013 / Day 2

After this, we embarked on a long hike through thewoods, stopping to gain insights on how the recentglaciations (and interglacials) have contributed to thelandscape we see now. Halfway through the hike ourconvoy was interrupted by a herd of particularlyboisterous cows (of Bavarian origin most like). Ingood spirits and buoyed by the warm sunshine thegroup decided on a route which put at least 500 extrametres between me and my sandwiches. We didhowever find some stones which when beaten re-leased a strong odour of natural gas. These wereidentified as dolomites.

After the walk we drove off to a café next to a bigwhite rock for lunch. Its garden contained numerousmushrooms, sheep and geese. The bockwurst and”einbecker” beer were rudimentary but the cherrywaffles were reckoned to contain some 3,000 calo-ries. A castle used to sit atop the big white rock butthe French blew it up after the “Seven Years War”.

After this we set off to look at some more rocks at“Hammersberg Klipp”.There was a nice view fromthe rocks (see below) which were almost 100%quartz – although nobody could decide on a name ora metamorphic grade. Despite our best efforts withhammers, some rock remained after our departure

Returning through the woods, we looked at a drystonewall, possibly a Neolithic enclosure. There wasalso a block of salt nearby which hunters placed tolure deer.

After this, all geologied out and despite the unfortu-nate lack of rain, we jumped in the bus and headedfor the hotel and our enjoyable dinner at the“Brauhaus”.

Ciarán Costello

The summer field trip to Serbia began as we metup in the Hotel Royal in central Belgrade on theafternoon of Friday 23rd of August.

Following our arrival, the group became acquainted(or re-acquainted, as the case may be) over somebeers in the hotel bar before heading out with Antawho showed us the area around the hotel beforebringing us to a nearby restaurant where we had ourfirst taste of Serbian food: delicious, but very richand with a heavy emphasis on grilled meats. Not aplace for vegetarians!

Our field trip began in earnest the next morning aswe met up with our guide, Professor Nenad Banjacfrom the University of Belgrade. As soon as every-body was present on the minibus at around 9 am weheaded out from Belgrade to make our way towardsthe Dinarides in the western part of the country.

Our first stop was near the village of Moravel, wherewe observed an outcrop of bivalve-rich Urgonianlimestone dating from the lower Cretaceous. It wasexplained that this was part of a big block of the flysch associated with the closure of the TethysOcean. The Professor explained to us that the area atthe time consisted of shallow seas and isolated islands - an interesting result of which were thedwarf dinosaurs of Romania (sadly, no dinosaurs –dwarf or otherwise – were spotted on this field trip).Our group leaders also took time at this point to goover the area's quite complicated geological settingand explained that the ophiolite here is the largest incontinental Europe.

After being given time to examine the outcrop andtake a few photos, the group then made its way backto the minibus and we continued on to our next stop,the Ljig Flysch. The rocks there are Santonian toMaastrichtian in age, and the formation representsproximal sedimentation. Interesting features such asBouma sequences and micro-conglomerates arepresent as infill channels. Flute marks were used toshow us the flow direction, and bioturbation wasalso present, giving us another method to determinewhich way was up. Overall it was a great place tosee textbook examples in real life, though unfortu-nately the outcrop was on the edge of a busy road sowe had to take extra care not to get hit by oncomingtraffic as we examined it. Luckily everyone in thegroup survived this stop.

The next stop then was at Struganik Quarry.

Here the rocks date from the Maastrichtian to thePalaeogene and represent one of the most tectoni-cally complex areas due to its proximity to a contactbetween different blocks.

The limestone beds in the quarry itself are almosthorizontal with only a small slope of a few degrees,and they represent a deep marine environment de-posited on a continental slope. The presence of pyro-clastic material in certain layers indicates periods ofvolcanic activity in the zone.

Other geological features such as neptunian dykesand styolites were also present here, again giving excellent textbook examples in real life.

DINARIDES, SERBIA23 – 29 August 2013 / The first excursion day

The stop was also the closest the group came toidentifying anything dinosaur-related, with a possi-ble footprint identified at the base of the quarry –however, the lack of accompanying prints and thebadly eroded nature of the depression meant wecould not identify it with any certainty and thus thetrip would officially remain a dinosaur-free expedi-tion.

Once everyone got back on the minibus we thenheaded off to the Petnica Science Centre, our finalstop before lunch. The Petnica Science Centre is anon-governmental educational institution whereyoung students who show advanced interest or abil-ity in science can go to take more in-depth coursesand further their education. Our group visited theirlibrary and we were given an interesting talk aboutwhat the institution does, and we were given an op-portunity to ask questions.

Upon leaving the centre we made our way on footdown to a nearby cave.

The cave itself formed as a fault line allowed waterin and karstified the limestone, and it is somewhatfamous in the area as reputedly being a vampire lair.Faces were sculpted into its walls, adding to thecave's charm.

The restaurant where we had lunch was located justat the entrance, and the cave's cooler air was a wel-come relief from the rather hot weather we had experienced so far.

Once we had finished our lunch we set back out forthe minibus and on to our final stop of the day. Thiswas at Maljen-Divzibare, where massive ophiolitesand ophiolite mélange were exposed at the side ofroad – thankfully not nearly as busy as the one atstop 2.

We were able to observe serpentine and peridotiteand had a discussion about the difference betweenthe two.

The outcrop was a mélange and thus featured differ-ent lithologies, including pillow lavas. The emplacement of the mélange dated from theMid to Upper-Jurassic. The ophiolite formed by ob-duction onto the continental crust when the oceanwas closed by southeastward subduction.

The final stop on our first day was thus concludedjust as rain was starting to fall (this was to become atheme throughout the trip), and we then made ourway to our hotel for the night. There we enjoyed yetanother large and delicious Serbian dinner, and ourgroup grew even larger as additional members joinedup with us.

Emmanuel Kavanagh

Tuesday, 27 August On this day, as we left the Hotel Panorama, it was wet, so all our field stops were taken as viewsfrom the bus. It became a travelling day as weheaded back to Belgrad with some tourist stopsen route.

We had stayed near Nova Varos in the southern partof Serbian Alps, the furthest south we would travelon our trip. This area, including adjacent regions inMontenegro and Bosnia, is a Muslim enclave butalso has many Orthodox Christian Churches.

Our first roadside stop was to view a limestone olistolith of Triassic age which displayed all the ele-ments of reef limestone. It is the largest olistolith inSerbia being several hundred of metres long and isinterpreted as having slumped into the ocean trench.

Our next and final roadside stop was to view beddedlimestones that were deformed into tight folds. Theoutcrop changed into massive cherts and diabasevolcanics all of which were deposited into the oceantrench.

Out first tourist stop of the day: The high point inthis region is Mt Zlatar and on it’s slopes is theMonastery of Mileseva. Founded in 1234, it is dedi-cated to St Sava. Although the church has suffereddamage over the years, the 13th century frescos arenow preserved and free to view. Most famous is theWhite Angel, which appears as an emblem in manyplaces in the region and has also been adopted as an

emblem by the United Nations. The frescos are simply amazing considering their age and give aflavour of how highly decorated the interiors ofchurches must have been at the time.

As we headed north, the Professor took us to see aRailway Museum where some of the preserved en-gines had been used by the Royal Family. In additionto the engines, there was a replica ticket office, restored to 1940’s. The Professor found a kindredspirit in at least one of our members who discussedtechnical details about the engines on display withgreat enthusiasm.

DINARIDES, SERBIA23 – 29 August 2013 / Tuesday and Wednesday

Wednesday, 28 August On our final day with the Professor, he treated us toanother day with a mix of (a little) geology and somesightseeing.

We saw the previous headquarter of the Army whichhad been bombed in 1999 by the UN, when Kosovowas struggling for independence from Serbia. Todate the damage has not been repaired. (This was theonly example we saw of any war damage.) We alsosaw several of the international embassies includingthe American and the French. The previous USA embassy was a building with windows entirely shuttered with a barricaded access road. The newone on the outskirts of town is behind high walls andwas completely inaccessible from the road.

We stopped to visit St Sava’s Cathedral. This a huge,newly constructed building in the centre of Belgradthat dominates the skyline of the city. It is the largestOrthodox church in the world and one of the tenlargest churches of any denomination. It is clad inwhite marble and granite but the interior murals arenot yet finished. It can accommodate up to 10,000believers at one time.

We visited an abandoned outdoor theatre, sited in an old quarry. This was our geology for the day. The outcrops visible were deposited during a hugetransgressive event in Albian times. Oolites the sizeof peas could be seen – pisaliths. We also viewed Urgonian limestone with slicken-sides and fault brecchia.

Returning to sightseeing, we visited 2 memorials.The first, in Belgrad, was to 1st World War Germansoldiers. The German nation purchased a small areaof land to erect this, so that the memorial could beplaced on German soil. Driving slightly out of town to Avala, a hilltop parkoverlooking the city, we climbed up the steps toenjoy the view from the top of the Monument to theUnknown Soldier.

Returning to the centre of Belgrad, we walkedaround the Citadel. This is a huge public space sitedwithin the old fortifications of the city, overlookingthe River Sava near its confluence with the Danube.We were told that a small house opposite the Citadelwas where the final talks had broken down theevening before WW1 was declared.

Jane HiscottOUGS Severnside Branch

(Branch Organiser)

Organisational remarks: Participants should travel during Friday, the 31st January, to check into Hotel or Hostel in time to meet altogether for an evening meal.

The main event on Saturday the 1st will be a trip tothe Glarus Thrust, about one hour's drive east ofZurich. Dr. Marcel Frehner of the Zurich UniversityGeological Department has kindly agreed to lead ourparty on the trip. See next page for more informa-tion.

This trip is subject to acceptable weather conditions.If necessary we could abandon the trip or make ashorter version of the trip or simply tour close toZurich. There are various interesting exhibitions andplenty of things to do and see.

AccommodationHostels /Hotelswww.youthhostel.ch/en/hostels/zurichwww.myswissalps.com/en/hotelszurich.aspx

There are many more sites offering either direct oragency bookings

TransportZurich has a good network of trams and buses and a24-hour ticket covers the traveller for the mainlinetrains/(SBB), trams/buses(ZVV) and even some ofthe boat trips.

One must have a valid ticket, bought before travel-ling. Trains from the airport take about 12 minutes tothe main station.

www.sbb.ch/enwww.zvv.ch/enwww.zurich-airport.com

AGM JANUARY 2014 AND TRIP TO GLARUS THRUSTFebruary 1st and 2nd / in Zurich (Switzerland)

QUICK FACTSDate: February 1–2, 2014

February 1: Field tripFebruary 2: AGM at 10:00 amPlace: Zurich, SwitzerlandContact: Dave Kopsch

dk845@ggaweb.ch

Please book your accommodation asap (Zurich isa busy place that weekend) and let Dave know thatyou are going to come to the AGM.

Please let Dave also know whether you are going to come by car and would be willing to take any passengers.

The Glarus area in eastern Switzerland is one ofthe first places in the world where geologists ofthe early 19th century realized that older rocks lieabove younger ones. They were just starting torecognize the Glarus Thrust. 200 years later, the Glarus Thrust is the main attraction of theUNESCO World Heritage “Swiss Tectonic ArenaSardona”.

We will visit the Glarus area with its spectacular out-crops of the Glarus Thrust and beautiful panoramastops overlooking the frontal parts of the HelveticNappe system.

FIELD TRIP TO GLARUS THRUSTAGM 2014

Please be prepared for a proper geological excursion,despite the time of the year. Bring very warm clothesand snow-proof shoes. Also, please be aware that wemight have to change plans on short notice depend-ing on the weather- and snow-conditions.

I am looking forward to meeting you and introduc-ing to you the exciting geology of the Glarus area.

Marcel Frehner

Excursion Leader: Marcel Frehner (ETH Zurich)marcel.frehner@erdw.ethz.ch

Further information:www.unesco-sardona.ch/Wie-Berge-sich-erheben.das_welterbe.0.html?&L=4

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glarus_thrust

During 2013, Stefan Mohr, one of our branchmembers, has been on a few day trips huntingfossils. These trips were led by professional geolo-gists (except one which is led by an amateur), butaimed at a general audience. Inspired by the funhe and his family had, Stefan has decided to or-ganise a few trips for 2014. This time, all mem-bers of OUGS are invited to come.

All trips will have the same features in common:

> they will be led by professional geologists (exceptthe one at Lägerdorf)

> they won’t cost much: 30 EUR for a daytrip or 69 EUR for a weekend trip to pay the geologist

> the main aim will be to look for and collect fossils

> accommodation for the weekend trips is being or-ganized by the geologist but will be paid on a indi-vidual basis in addition to the fee mentioned above

> travel is being organized by everyone on their own

> registration for the trips is being handled by theprofessional geologists but Stefan will help everyoneto do so (e.g. help with the registration forms)

> the usual equipment is needed in every quarry:Hard hat and maybe reflective vest, appropriateshoes and clothing, hammer, hand lens, chisel(s),bags, fieldbook

If you are interested, just send an e-mail to stefan@familie-mohr.com. He will contact you to organize your participation and answer all yourquestions!

DATES AND PLACESThe following dates and places are confirmed so far:

Hannover (Cretaceous / Campan, several fossil-rich strata in up to 3 active quarries in Höver and Misburg near Hannover)

2-day trip, 29 – 30 March 2014, 10:00-16:00h

www.geo-infotainment.de/exkursion.php?exkur-sion=185

FOSSIL HUNTING FIELDTRIPS IN GERMANY2014

Zweedorf (Tertiary, active gravel quarry with differ-ent sorts of marine fossils and amber, 50 km east ofHamburg)

1-day trip, 12 April 2014, 10:00-16:00,

http://www.geologisch-erleben.de/veranst/t1.htm#t_1

Lägerdorf “Heidestrasse” (Cretaceous, differentfossils, active quarry ca. 40 km West of Hamburg)

1-day trip, 13 July 2014, 09:00-16:00

Organised by an amateur palaeontologist, this is def-initely a “do it yourself trip” / no fee (but it is usualto give a small “tip”, e. g. 10 Euro) / special docu-ments needed for registration (Stefan will help youwith these documents)

Gräfenberg / Eichstätt (Jurassic, different strata,active quarries, near Gräfenberg and Eichstätt,Bavaria)

2-day trip, 02 – 03 August.2014, 10:00-16:00.

http://www.geo-infotainment.de/exkursion.php?exkursion=186

This trip could (and should) be combined with atleast one day at Holzmaden, ca. 100 km along theAutobahn to Stuttgart, where one famous museum islocated (www.urweltmuseum.de) and where you cansearch for fossils on your own, too (www.schiefer-bruch-kromer.de)! If there are enough people whowant to do so, just tell Stefan and he will try to giveyou more information about it.

Eifel (Devonian, closed and active quarries, collect-ing at some fields, Corals, Brachiopods, Trilobites),2-day trip, 15 – 16 November 2014, 10:00-16:00

http://www.geo-infotainment.de/exkursion.php?exkursion=12

The Vosges (France)The Vosges are located in eastern France, close toGermany. Here, we are going to spend several days at the end of June 2014

The Alps (Austria / Italy)We are spending about a week along the formerRoman Via Claudia Augusta, which is today theReschen Pass.

This will be at the end of September 2014.

GOING TO THE VOSGES AND TO THE ALPS IN 2014The OUGS ME speciality: longer field trips

Although the details are not finalised yet, domark you diaries and keep an eye on the eventslist of the main OUGS website.

As soon as precise dates and schedules are known,they will be posted there.

It’s that time of year again – the time to renewyour OUGS membership.

The OUGS 2014 Membership Fee is due on 1st January, 2014. If you intend to pay in PoundsSterling, please complete the membership renewalform that was sent to you by e-mail and return it tothe OUGS Membership Secretary. (No need to fill inthe whole membership renewal sheet if no detailshave changed since last year.)

Make the payment by using the OUGS bank accountdetails contained in the form.

If you wish to pay in Euros, the subscription ratesare the same as in 2013:

Full Members Euro 21,00

Family Members Euro 2,00 each.

Please do not complete the Membership RenewalForm.

Payment should be made by bank transfer to theOUGS ME Account shown on the right. Since theSEPA regulations now also apply to all transferswithin the Euro Zone, the account details are thesame, irrespective of where you live.

When your bank transfer has been completed, I willconfirm this to you and inform the OUGS Member-ship Secretary that your payment has been made.

OUGS MEMBERSHIP RENEWAL

FACEBOOK

Please note, if you joined the Society after 30thJune, 2013, the 2013 Subscription Fee you paidalso covers 2014.

Mike Molloy

OUGS ME Bank account

Recipient: Frank Molloy

Purpose: OUGS 2014 Membership Fee

IBAN: DE69 7025 0150 0010 8454 44

BIC: BYLADEM1KMS

Those of you who are on Facebook might be interested to hear that we now have a small andcosy OUGS ME group.

All members and friends are welcome to join. Justgo to

www.facebook.com/groups/ougs.mainland.europe

To those who are not on Facebook yet, I can onlysay: do consider joining. I know, there’s loads to sayabout data protection and all the rest of it.

But it has to be said that Facebook is an excellentway to keep in touch with people, particularly if theyare spread all over the place.

Plus, it’s so easy to be up to date with scientificevents, whatever is going on in the OUGS, howother students on your module are doing etc.

Overall, Facebook can be fun as well as extremelyuseful. You can still protect your data and nobodyforces you to do anything you don’t want. So whynot give it a try?

If you are now interested but not sure how to getstarted, just e-mail me – I’m happy to help.

Marion Seitznewsletter@ougseurope.org