In June 2021, our entire team and a few friends from other universities celebrated our first field trip since the start of the Covid ’19 pandemic – a fantastic experience after 15 months of lockdowns. We took two paleomagnetic sampling kits and went to a sedimentary section in the Swiss Molasse basin, in the foreland of the Alps, to collect samples to test the most optimal and efficient paleomagnetic sampling approaches in sedimentary rocks to obtain paleomagnetic poles for (plate) tectonic analysis. So far, the paleomagnetic signal appears to be less good than expected, but the trip itself was a big success, even though it was raining and the river was pretty high. After being inside for so long, it was great to be in the field again! Here’s a picture impression.
The team: from left front to right back: Erik van der Wiel (PhD student, Utrecht), Leny Montheil (PhD student, Montpellier), Bram Vaes (PhD student, Utrecht), Lydian Boschman (Post-doc, ETH, Zürich), Dieke Gerritsen (MSc student, Utrecht), me, Goran Andjic (Post-doc, Utrecht), and Abdul Qayyum (Post-doc, Utrecht)We were sampling along a river in the NW Alps, but due to the heavy rains in Europe in June 2021 (remember the floodings in Belgium and Germany?), also our river was a bit higher than anticipated…
And during the field trip, it kept raining…Leny didn’t care much 🙂
Much of the sampling occurred with cold feet…
Erik, drilling the claystones of the section
The section had been described and sampled before by Fritz Schlunegger (Uni Bern) for his PhD work a while ago. Fritz came with us on the first day (much appreciated!) to show the section and explain to our field master, Dieke, where the landmarks were to follow his stratigraphy in detail.
Crossing the river was a challenge sometimes…doesn’t look like much, but the water was flowing pretty fast. Leny carrying the equipment across the river
Abdul, orienting samples
Leny and Lydian, measuring in a rare pause between the showers
Heading back after sampling
Bram, enjoying himself
Leny, drilling. Bram, providing water. Lydian, providing mental support
Me, cleaning a site with a pick-axe
…and heading to the next site, back through the water
Erik & me, trying to find exposure
Nah, maybe not here
Heading back after a day of sampling
…to our awesome field house!
Scientists, having a chat…
Erik, stuck in the mudErik and me, crossing the riverThe team, at work…and some more fieldwork impressions!
