Field Trips

There are several field trips running in conjuction with Goldschmidt2009. Please note that booking for the field trips closed on May 1st 2009.

Details of each trip are available below. If you require any further details about the trips please contact the trip organisers directly.

Unfortunately we cannot offer refunds for delegate cancellations.

Pre-conference Field Trips	Dates	Fees
Dynamics of Continental Collision and High-Grade Metamorphism Across the Western and Central Alps [details]	June 17-21	390€
FULL - Bookings Closed: Damma glacier forefield Critical Zone Observatory [details]	June 19-21	230€
Mineral springs of the Lower Engadine Window [details]	June 21	80€ (65€ students)
Heterogeneous subcontinental mantle lithosphere exposed on the ocean floor: The Totalp area, Davos [details]	June 21	30€
Post-conference Field Trips
Permian fossil crust-mantle transition in Valmalenco [details]	June 27-29	210€
Jöri glacial lake area, upper Vereina valley [details]	June 27	50€ (35€ students)

Dynamics of Continental Collision and High-Grade Metamorphism Across the Western and Central Alps
LEADERS:
Martin Engi, University of Bern (engi@geo.unibe.ch)
Roberto Compagnoni, University of Torino (roberto.compagnoni@unito.it)
Alfons Berger, University of Copenhagen (ab@geo.ku.dk)

This field trip offers a geological traverse from the Italian Western Alps to the Swiss Central Alps. Current research and the newest results will be presented and discussed en route to Davos, in spectacular Alpine settings. At the focus are the dynamics of continental collision, as seen in high-grade metamorphic rocks. We will visit a series of classic Alpine localities, where recent research has brought new insight into the deep subduction and rapid tectonic extrusion of continental crust. Progress has come from quantifying the conditions and timing of mineral growth, fluid-rock interaction, partial melting, and exhumation. In the internal Western Alps we will examine and discuss the conditions and timing of such processes in UHP- and HP-domains (Dora Maira, Sesia Zone); in the Central Alps (Lepontine, Ticino), the high-grade Barrovian overprint, with partial melting in a tectonic mélange channel, will be the principal theme. Along the entire field trip, the interpretation of mineral ages obtained from a variety of high-grade samples will be critically evaluated, in order to quantify the duration and rates of pre-, syn- and post-collisional processes.

Damma glacier forefield Critical Zone Observatory (BigLink field site)
LEADERS:
Emmanuel Lemarchand, ETH Zürich (lemarchand@env.ethz.ch)
Stefano Bernasconi, ETH Zürich (stefano@erdw.ethz.ch)
Ruth Hindshaw, ETH Zürich
Jan Georg Wiederhold, ETH Zürich

Bookings for this trip are now closed. If requested numbers exceed the available places the conference will refund payments to anyone who booked after the places were filled.

We offer the opportunity to hike in the stunning Swiss Alps and visit the BigLink field site. The Damma glacier forefield is located in the Aar granite massif (Central Swiss Alps) and is intensively studied in the framework of the BigLink project. This site, particularly interesting because of the well-documented glacial retreat since 1850, offers a granitic weathering chronosequence in a glacial environment with various stages of soil development and succession of microbial and plant communities. Members of the BigLink project will present the interdisciplinary research activities and their newest results in the field.

Mineral springs of the Lower Engadine Window
LEADER:
Kurt Hanselmann, swiss | i-research & training (kurt.hanselmann@hispeed.ch)

On this one-day field trip we will introduce participants to the geology and geochemical processes of the cold water mineral springs in the Lower Engadine Window (LEW) as well as the corresponding life strategies of the microbes present in these aquatic habitats. The LEW is a tectonic opening into penninic sediments whose layers appear as Bündner shale outcrops overlayed by gneiss, serpentinite and dolomitic rocks. The waters that emerge from the LEW aquifers are oversaturated with regard to calcium carbonate and they contain elevated concentrations of dissolved CO₂ as well as variable amounts of other dissolved anions and cations. Some contain dissolved ferrous iron, others sulfide. Aerobic chemolithotrophs at the mouth of the springs can make a living by oxidizing the reduced compounds.

A one hour lecture on the field trip topics is offered on the evening before. We will leave from Davos early in the morning and return late afternoon.  

Heterogeneous subcontinental mantle lithosphere exposed on the ocean floor: The Totalp area, Davos
LEADER:
Arjan Dijkstra, University of Neuchâtel (arjan.dijkstra@unine.ch)

In the Totalp area, a remarkable fragment of a fossil Ocean Continent Transition (OCT, transition of the Adria Margin with the Piemonte-Liguria segment of the Tethyan Ocean) is well exposed. The Totalp unit consists of moderately to strongly serpentinized peridotites, overlain by ophicarbonate breccias, Jurassic radiolarites and Cretaceous pelagic limestones. The Totalp area is part of a tract of OCT rocks from the Adriatic Margin that also include the Platta and Malenco units further south (see also Malenco excursion). Uniquely, the Totalp unit has suffered only very limited, very low-grade regional Alpine metamorphism. The peridotites (typically spinel-lherzolites) are essentially samples of subcontinental mantle lithosphere, exhumed to the ocean floor. They contain numerous pyroxenites, including rare garnet-clinopyroxenites and garnet-bearing websterites. On this one-day excursion, we will visit some key outcrops in the peridotites and the overlying sediments, and we will discuss the heterogeneous nature of the mantle (and the meaning of recent Re-Os isotope data), its exhumation history, and its association with the overlying oceanic sediments.

The Totalp area can be reached in 25 minutes by funicular/cable car from Davos to the Weissfluhjoch station at 2686 m. The outcrops are all within 3 km from the cable car station and are connected by comfortable walking tracks. Return is again by cable car to Davos. Note that the area is also suited for individual one- or half-day visits during the conference, and an excursion guide will also be available to non-participants.

Permian fossil crust-mantle transition in Valmalenco, Bergell intrusion and its contact aureole
LEADERS:
Lukas Baumgartner, University of Lausanne (lukas.baumgartner@unil.ch)
Othmar Müntener,, University of Lausanne (othmar.muntener@unil.ch)
Eric Reusser, ETH Zürich (eric.reusser@erdw.ethz.ch)

This 3-day field trip offers the unique opportunity to visit a fossil crust-mantle transition of Permian age. This sequence was subsequently exposed during Jurassic rifting at the seafloor of the Piemont-Ligurian ocean where the mantle peridotites were partially serpentinised. During the Alpine compression, these rocks were obducted and emplaced into the Alpine nappe stack. The first day of this field trip is dedicated to this crust-mantle transition where granulite facies lower-crustal rocks outcrop together with Permian gabbros and subcontinental mantle rocks. The second day is dedicated to the Oligocene Bergell intrusion and its contact metamorphic aureole. Different members of the calc-alkaline differentiation series (from hornblendites to aplitic granites) will be seen and emplacement mechanism (mixing and mingling) will be discussed. Other highlights are contact metamorphic marbles and beautiful metasomatic veins. During day three, a walk along the contact metamorphic Forno series will take place. This series is of oceanic origin. Amphibolites with remnants of pillow lava structures and Cu-Fe-Mn ore bodies are seen. The upper Forno series consists of meta-pelitic rocks with magnificent andalusite crystals and other contact metamorphic minerals.

We will close the field trip with the discussion of the Alpine tectonics in the context of a former passive continental margin at Maloja.

This field trip consists of three full day hikes with considerable difference in elevation (between 700 m and 1200 m) in an Alpine environment. Participants should bring good hiking equipment (mountain boots, anorak) and be well trained.

Jöri glacial lake area, upper Vereina valley
LEADER:
Kurt Hanselmann, swiss | i-research & training (kurt.hanselmann@hispeed.ch)

On this one-day field trip we will introduce the participants to a number of research projects being carried out in the catchment of the Joeri lakes. High mountain lakes are ideal for studying the adaptations of organisms to a variety of environmental extremes, microbial diversity in cold-extreme environments and the strategies they have developed to cope with constantly changing chemical and atmospheric ecosystem determinants. The area also offers sites to study the role of glacial erosion particles and the geochemical iron cycle in nutrient scavenging.

A one hour lecture on the field trip topics is offered on the evening before. We will leave from Davos early in the morning and return late afternoon.