farmers were a bit suspicious of this hammer-wielding figure wandering about with no apparent purpose in a hard hat and high-vis jacket. However, once the locals knew what Aoife was doing, they were eager to help, pointing out features that she might have missed, and advising her how best to get around the more difficult terrain.
The basins ride on top of a great thrust, and Aoife described this as like resting on a giant blanket. As the rocky blanket is moved, the basins on top are deformed.“ The basin itself is quite flat,” said Aoife,“ but the edges, east and west, were mountainy.”
Every feature had to be examined, and as she commented,“ its no good going up to a rock and glancing at it for five seconds.” Every feature means something, so, as she said,“ you need to think about it.”
Most of the rocks that Aoife encountered were limestone, but as she explained, this is not like the limestone we are familiar with from the Irish midlands. There are different types of limestone, she said, and what she was looking at had grains so small that the rock was like solidified mud. Distinguishing between these rocks in the field, she said, can be quite difficult, so its not always possible to take a snap
Aoife Blowick is now going to study geologically more recent sediments laid down by the Nile.
decision on identification, especially as appearances, such as colour, can be misleading. In cracking open one of these fine grained limestones, she said, you see that it is very hard, and it gives off a characteristic smell. These are the sort of clues that enable a geologist to work out what they are looking at even when outcrops are far apart. There is a lot of guesswork involved, but as Aoife said,“ it’ s educated guesswork.”
Everything that is likely to have significance is noted down, and like Myles, Aoife was not convinced that an electronic pad might be better than pencil and paper.“ New technology has its place,” she said, but with a notebook there is less chance of essential information being lost, and it is always possible to check back on the original observations.
The one technical advance that Aoife is really keen on is the camera.“ I take lots of photographs,” she said, and these form an important part of her records.
Both Aoife and Myles are well and truly hooked by geology, but while Myles is happy to get involved in the applied side, Aoife has chosen to immerse herself in research.“ I have started my PhD at UCD,” she said, and that involves studying the sandy deposits made by the Nile. So, from the ancient basins in France, Aoife is going to study the geologically much more recent deposits made by a major river. There are lots of parallels, she said, and when it comes to sedimentary deposits, it’ s an ongoing story. She is quite excited about this study, particularly as a lot of what she learns from the Nile could be applied to other river systems, such as those in South America.