Branch AGM weekend 20-21 January 2006
A small but enthusiastic group met up in Vevey, Switzerland for the AGM weekend which, as usual, was embedded in geological activities, but this year with a difference. A Swiss winter does not always lend itself to outside activities, especially in such a snowrich season as this has turned out to be. On Friday evening we were all gathered in the backpackers’ hotel on the edge of Lake Geneva, with this BO, despite having a shorter distance to travel than most and, one would think, knowing the area very well, was the last to arrive, having taken the wrong motorway south! I guess I was too fixed on the usual trip to exams in Geneva to consider that Vevey was actually on the other side of Lausanne. By the time I arrived, with Vladimir, who had arrived in Bern a day earlier, Phill had almost finished cooking one of our favourite recipes, which we have termed ‘Etna Surprise’. This stems from our two trips to Sicily, where the monastery in which we stayed served up pasta every evening with different ingredients, so we never knew what was on the menu beforehand. If you are interested in the recipe, it is very simple: take a bowl of precooked pasta and add it to a pan of a mixture of cooked whatever you have in your fridge at the time, plus tomatoes. It may sound a bit haphazard, but it is delicious.
After
supper, I showed some photos of the Turkey
trip and explained the geology for those who had not been able to participate.
Saturday morning was reserved for a visit to Château de Chillon, Montreux. This medieval castle stands directly on the Lake of Geneva and, for English tourists is mostly famed for the visit of Byron, who, in the manner of many a tourist, scratched his name into a stone wall. Being interested in geology, of course, no building is purely interesting for its history, but for the stone used to build and discussions on the source. The courtyard was paved with pebbles taken from the lake, which originate from the Rhone valley. The castle itself is built of limestone blocks from the region. However, the site is of most interest as the plan follows the topography and on the ground floor the walls have been constructed on a monocline jutting into the lake. After exploring the various rooms and annexes, we set off in the direction of Lausanne for a visit to the Geology Museum of the University of Lausanne. This museum has some wonderful exhibits of Alpine rocks and minerals and a very good palaeontological section with its own mammoth. The person responsible for restoring the mammoth skeleton was onsite to answer questions and discuss his research work.
Back at the hostel it was time for the AGM, which we managed to keep short. The minutes will be distributed to all shortly, but to summarise, OUGSME had a good year, despite the absence of field trips and the finances are healthy. A handheld GPS, as decided at the AGM 2005, and two small twoway radios were purchased from branch funds and, thanks to the EU grant, we were also able to buy Dreamweaver, Publisher and Adobe Acrobat. Two trips are definite for this year, the BO’s weekend and a week of Bavarian geology organised by Mike Molloy. Phill Marston stepped down as newsletter editor. Due to certain communication problems prior to the AGM, no electronic voting mechanism for the committee posts had been set up and so those willing will remain in office for the coming year. With thanks to committee officers and members for their enthusiasm and help, the BO brought the meeting to a close and the room was set up for the presentation of Dr. Vladimir Verzhbitsky.
Vladimir is a member of the scientific group of P.P: Shirshov Institute of Oceanography, which OUGSME is partnering for the EU project, and he is an expert on underwater landslides. He took this opportunity to inform the branch on the work undertaken so far related to promoting a combined approach to investigating risks of earthquakes, landslides and tsunamis in coastal, shelf and continental slope areas. Each member of the Russian group had contributed to the presentation which included seismic profiles of ancient underwater landslide events, wave propagation models related to the keyboard effect of subducting blocks and an animated graphic of a possible tsunami event in a seismic gap area of the Kuril Islands indicating possible risk potential for the oil and gas industry. (Once the website is up and running, this information will be available to all). After the presentation a short walk through Vevey Old Town brought us to the restaurant and our annual dinner.
The Sunday outing was something special in the way of geology. Our trip took us to the thermal bath of LaveylesBains in the Rhone valley. This hydrothermal source was discovered by a fisherman who was surprised that he had warm feet despite standing in the normal cold waters of the Rhone. We spent almost three hours pampering ourselves. Unfortunately the clouds were very low, which meant we were unable to lie on the massage beds in the pool and observe the Morcles Nappe, but there were enough faults and folds of interest in the rock face to make up for this.
To close I would like to thank Phill Marston for organising this successful weekend. I would also like to acknowledge his work as newsletter editor for the past few years. Our newsletter again benefited from a professional layout and from the feedback received, was widely appreciated.
Annette
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Last modified on Tuesday, March 21, 2006 at 09:29
