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International Placements

Foreign Fieldwork #2

6 October 2019
Niamh O'Reilly

Niamh O'Reilly

Today I embarked on my second (likely my final) fieldtrip here in Vancouver. I really enjoyed writing about my previous fieldtrip, and you seemed to enjoy reading it so why not write about today too!

The view from the Brandywine Falls viewpoint.

Like last time we left UBC at 8am- a struggle for me as my beloved Aston Villa kicked off at 7am meaning I was unable to watch the game- even more annoying as we won 5-1, we NEVER win 5-1! And I missed the entire thing. Anyway, we hopped in the EOAS minivan and drove up to Daisy Lake, we scrambled down a steep slope to access the outcrop which happened to be on a train track (a strong theme for today as you’ll see!).

The first train track of the day. and the first train track I can remember walking on. to the left is the slope we had to climb up and down.

Our focus today was on how glaciers interact with volcanism. We studied the outcrop for a while but our time at the outcrop was cut short as the tracks began to rumble and we practically ran back up the slope so that we weren’t squashed.

The train we were nearly killed by! We awkwardly stood and waved to the many carriages full of people thrilled to see us!

Later in the day we stopped at Brandywine Falls, headed to another train track ( the same one but further south) and looked for evidence to prove a theory regarding a specific lava flow, we found some evidence however would need much longer at the outcrop to prove it right so we headed to the waterfall.

The second train track of the day!

The waterfall was beautiful, and we spoke about how the large horseshoe shaped valley might have been formed (a huge outburst of water from a large lake) as well as looking at the many lava flows observed in the cliff face.

Brandywine Falls- you can see various layered lava flows on the cliff face to the left.

We walked back to the car and drove to our final locality where we saw some excellent examples of columnar basalts (think Giant’s Causeway) which represent the cooling of a lava flow. We studied the columns to determine their rate of cooling, why they cooled the way that they did and their composition before we headed back home.

The third (and final!) train track photo of the day! I was just so thrilled to be walking on an active track.

Today was one of my favourite days in Vancouver so far. The weather was glorious, the fieldwork was incredibly interesting, relaxed, fun and best of all… absolutely beautiful!

My favourite photo of the day- me on some columnar basalts, the comfiest rock I’ve ever sat on!

Comments

11 comments
  2. Donya OReilly

    Yes I beat Sam as first comment! Lovely rocks Niamh! So glad you enjoyed the day xx Mum

  4. Sheila O'Reilly

    Looks fantastic …. wonder how it became known as Brandywine Falls ….. sounds just like my place. Scenery breathtaking and that Train is so cute xxxNan xxx

  5. Joe O'Reilly

    It’s good. But is it a 5-1 win with a Big Wes double!!!

  6. grandad

    Niamh I sat on a coach for 5 and a half hours ,only had time for 3 pints ,for what ? a boring 5-1 win ,at least you seen some spectacular scenery and learned something. Oh yes and jack Grealish gave Johns grandson his shirt ,so the day wasn’t a complete waste of time.hahahahaha

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