GEOLOGY OF SNOWDONIA:

Discover the amazing story of the mountain-building and glaciation that produced the landscapes of Snowdonia. This one-day walk is intended for hillwalkers and Mountain Leaders/instructors who want to learn something about the geology and scenery of the popular mountain areas. No previous knowledge of geology is necessary. The walks take place on and off tracks on rough ground in Snowdonia and involve up to 500m of ascent/descent. The field course will introduce you to the basic concept of modern geology such as plate tectonics, volcanoes and glaciation and their role in creating the mountain scenery of Snowdon and other mountain areas. You will learn to identify landforms and how they were made. You will also see how geology can be used as a navigational aids.  

The walk will start at Pen y Pass, at the head of the Llanberis Pass, and walk off road to Nant Peris. The Llanberis Pass is a stunning location with the great hills of the Snowdon and Glyderau massifs rearing up on either side of the route. The Pass itself is an ancient fault line, in part the boundary of the great Snowdon caldera, and a spectacular example of a U-shaped glacial valley. There are plenty of different rock types to be seen including air fall tuffs, intruded dolerite, welded tuffs, sedimentary rocks with fossils, breccias, flow-banded intrusive rhyolite and lava flows. Also there is a wealth of geological features, including a slice through a volcanic conduit that once carried molten magma towards the surface, and glacial features including hanging valleys, moraines, truncated spurs, 'erratic' boulders dumped by the melting glacier and post-glacial rockfalls. The range of geological and glacial examples encountered over such a comparatively short distance is exceptional and makes the Llanberis Pass one of the most exciting geological walks in Britain, framed throughout by glorious scenery.

Workshop provider: The workshop will be delivered by Paul Gannon. Paul Gannon is the author of the successful series of RockTrails books, looking at the geology of Snowdonia and the Lake District. He is a qualified Mountain Leader and leads geology walks for Bangor University Lifelong Learning, the Field Studies Council and others. He lives in Llanberis.

Meeting place: Outside National Park Centre, Note that the car park at Pen y Pass is often full before 9am at weekends, consider using the bus service (check timetable and rountes) or park near Pen y Gwyrd or Cromlech boulders areas.

What to bring:

Please bring appropriate hillwaking gear and dress appropriately for the weather.

Please bring a packed lunch.

HOW TO BOOK:

http://paulgannonbooks.co.uk/styled-20/

Start

08/09/2019 10:00

End

08/09/2019 16:00

Total Days

1

Maximum Bookings

10

Bookings

5

Venue

Pen y Pass Snowdonia

Town

Nant Gwynant

County

Gwynedd

Country

United Kingdom

Latitude

53.08000

Longitude

-4.02000

Name

Mountain Training Association

Phone

07800 966 667

Website

Booking/Details

Email