Our Lough Fee field work basically consisted of two parts: a stratigraphic column of a given transect of the area and a geologic map of the entire area. The first was pretty straight forward, go from one marked Irish flag to the next, noting rock changes in order to depict a sequence of sedimentary rocks. This was to give us a small taste of what the subsequent mapping project would be like, only on a much larger scale.
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| Oligomictic Orthoconglomerate |
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| Examining the outcrops |
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| Just my lunch spot, no big deal. |
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| A big cobbled clast in the conglomerate unit |
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| This is what it means to walk through a bog |
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| Bog frogs are the cutest |
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The mark of the end of the stratigraphic section
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After our strat columns were done and turned in, so began our 3 day mapping project...
Day 1: Friday was spent basking under blue skies and a warm breeze leisurely making our way to each outcropping of rock that we could find in the bog.
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| We found a contact!! |
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| Thanks for the field hat mom! |
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| Some spindly quartz veins |
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| Killary Harbour |
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| Killary Harbour |
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| Killary Harbour |
Day 2: Saturday was spend shivering in horizontal rain and sticky mist, sloshing through thickening mud, and trying desperately to muster enough motivation to get the rest of the outcrops in the bog.
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| I was excited because there was a lull in the rain |
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| Bog, bog, and more bog. |
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| The closest I have yet gotten to a lamb, easily one of my favorite moments here in Ireland so far. This picture doesn't even do this lamb justice to how cute it was. |
Day 3: After looking at the same boggy nothingness for the past 4 days, things were getting a little dull, so I started trying to find other ways to pass the time...
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| I did a lot of experimenting with placing stuff in the bog and seeing how long it took to disappear, take this sample of litharenite for example... |
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| I simply place it in the bog (it is important to note that there was only about 2 or 3 cm of standing water, the darker stuff is bog sludge) |
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| The sinking begins |
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| A mere 5ish minutes later...no more rock...I found this a bit disturbing to say the least. |
Then I realized that we had only a billion more outcrops to go and limited time to do it, so a 2 hour panic ensued sloshing around the bog to finish the necessary data collection. It was during this frenzy that I had a near disastrous encounter with a particularly boggy section. One second I was on solid ground walking around an outcrop to my partner, the next my leg was thigh deep and sinking in bog goo. Luckily I was able to yank myself out by swinging my hammer into the nearest grass tuft. With a strong, swift yank, my leg slurped out from the muddy hole. Needless to say, I was a bit more cautious with what I stepped on. Note to self, the mossy mounds are not safe zones. By the time the vans picked us up from the road, I was bogged out and ready to move on to less saturated field sites. I am quickly learning how silly of a hope that is over here.
And so ends my time at Loch Fee...luckily tomorrow is our official first day off here in Ireland!
I'm not entirely sure who reads this blog, but given the severe lack of reliable internet connection, I have been unable to access email. It is for this reason that I'd like to tell my grandpa down in Tampa happy belated birthday! Sorry I'm a day late, just wanted you to know that I'm thinking about you and Nana and I hope you had a good one! Love you and tell Nana I'm working on catching a baby lamb to bring back for her! ;)
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