In just over a week from writing this I'm going to be heading off to County Mayo in Ireland to spend 6 weeks doing my independent mapping project. The mapping project happens in the summer between our 2nd and 3rd years of our undergrad degree and consists of 6 weeks in the field, mapping our chosen area, followed by a write up over summer/at the start of our 3rd year. The mapping is done in pairs and the write up is individual, overall accounting for 10% of our degree.
Five other girls and I are heading off to County Mayo in Ireland for our project very shortly and I thought I would share the whole process on my blog.
A field slip from mapping practice on our most recent field trip to the Assynt, Scotland
Mapping is a skill we have been practicing a lot, especially on our trip to Assynt over the easter vac, but the whole project at the moment is still seeming a bit overwhelming. Being let loose to map in just pairs with minimal guidance is quite intimidating and it will all be a big learning processes but hopefully lots of fun as well!
The process started off at the beginning of our second year when we had to start thinking about where we wanted to map. We basically had the choice of anywhere in the world, provided it was safe and the geology would be good enough for us to have a decent amount to map and write about. Initially we submitted a proposal to map Sweden which we were all very excited about. Unfortunately we really struggled to find any maps published of Sweden at the relevant scales to justify it having good enough geology, despite emailing various universities in Sweden and the Swedish Geological Society, and our proposal got rejected. We then had a rethink and chatted to one of our professors who suggested we look at the west of Ireland, where than professor happened to be from, and from there we came up with a proposal that got approved.
Next we had to start thinking about travel and accommodation. Accommodation was a tricky one but we managed to find an airbnb close to the area we were interested in. It was mutually agreed that we wanted to stay in an airbnb rather than a hostel as the extra space for cooking, hanging out and drawing up office maps in the evening was definitely needed. In terms of travel, Ireland was a good shout as it meant we could take our cars on the ferry. Conveniently two of us in the group have cars so we are able to have them to get around once we reach Ireland. Being able to drive into our mapping area each day is going to be so ideal as it meands we don't need to rely on buses/other methods of public transport so gives us a lot more felxibility, especially when we are in very rural places. We even managed to use Tesco clubcard points to get a bit of a discount on ferry tickets which was a big win!
The next step in the process was applying for funding. The Earth Science department gives us all £500. We also then all applied for funding from our colleges. I'm unsure of the process at the other colleges but at Teddy there is a dedicated mapping fund and we had to fill in a couple of forms to apply for it. College then also gave us £500. This money has gone towards travel and accommodation as well as some equipment. The food and other expenses when we get there etc will then be self funded.
As part of the safety preparation for the trip, department got in an external company to do a wilderness medical training day with us. This, whilst we did feel a bit silly acting out scenarios in the middle of uni parks, was very useful. We went over basic survival skills such as CPR, making splints/bandages and what to do in different scenarios we might face in the field. Hopefully, none of us will ever have to use these skills but it was a key part of the getting ready for our projects.
Once we had got our funding we took our feet off the pedals for a bit as we focused on our exams. Post exam season, reality kind of hit that we were actually going to have to do this thing and we began sorting the rest of the admin. Risks assessments had to be filled in and travel insurance had to be applied for. We decided between us who was mapping each area and it was time to start reading. For the project we are expected to be familiar with the literature on the area. The map we make is very much supposed to be our own work and own interpretation of the rocks based on observations we make in the field, not a copy of any already made map. This being said, its much easier when we do the mapping if we have an idea of what we are looking at. So far I've found a couple books in the library and read a few papers form online. I've also had a look at some published maps of the area and the Geolgical Survey of Ireland website to get a better idea of what we might expect to see.
I've also had a look through feedback on my mapping in Assynt (our most recent field trip) and decided how to set out my notebooks, I've got 8 notebooks to take with me and expect to fill up most of them. My primary feedback consisted of "you're too messy, be more neat, write smaller" etc etc so at least that's not too hard to fix. We have also had a tutorial post exams on setting out our field books in the bets way for mapping which was incredibly useful.
Once we had had a decent look at the geology of the area we had to decide who was going to be mapping each bit. In our partnerships we have to map about 15sqkm, trying not to have any overlap with the other groups. To pick the areas we had to look at two main factors: did the area have enough structure and varied geology to be worth mapping, and was there enough exposure of rocks at the surface (very hard to map the rocks if you can't see them). We used the online geological maps by the Geological Survey of Ireland to look at the geology and Google Earth to figure out exposure. From here we managed to agree on three mapping areas (one for each pair in our gorup) and decide who was doing which. At first, I was a little disappointed with the area my partner and I got to map as the structure was not as complex as the other two, but upon further reading the mix of rock types in the area (both sedimentary and metamorphic rocks) are going to provide plenty to do. As I am one of the drivers in the group, it made sense for us to have one of the further away areas, and that was ultimately how we decided who got which bit.
The next thing to do was to print out our basemaps. Our basemaps are the balnk maps of the area that we then draw the geology we find (such as rock types, faults and contacts) onto. This took a while to figure out how to do. If we were mapping in the UK then OS maps would have done the trick but since we are going to the Republic of Ireland we had to sort this out differently. I was not much help with the actual making of the maps (thanks Lauren and Catherine!) but I did my bit in working the printer when we finally got round to printing them. We printed A LOT of copies as we need 6 weeks worth of field slips to use when we are out in the field, along with some spares in case we drop them in a bog etc, and office maps to write up a neater version onto every night.
Kit also needs to be purchased and packed before we go. Along with generic field equipment that we normally take on field trips such as hard hats, hi-vis, hammers, handlenses etc, I've also purchased a new set of mapping pens (very fine liners in multiple colours) and, arguably my favourite purchase, a belt pen holder to up my field fashion and be incredibly useful to hold all my pens. Packing, I anticipate may take a very long time, but checklists have been made to ensure nothing is left behind. Given we are going to be in the absolute middle of nowhere, forgetting something would really cause some issues!
So here we go, all thats left is to rewaterproof my boots (I got very soggy feet in Scotland from walking through bogs) and set off on the 10 or so hour drive to Ireland. I'm sure I'll keep you updated how it goes and share the process as we figure out what we are doing!
If you want to follow along more with my mapping progress check out my instagram @letschalkaboutit_blog or twitter @LivAllen02
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