Professor Rachel Flecker of the University of Bristol School of Geographical Sciences led us on an exploration of the 300 million year history of Troopers Hill as told by the rocks that shape it.
We started by looking at some geological maps of the Bristol area and picking out features as we looked at the view across the City.
At the chimney we used field lenses to look in detail at the sandstone it is built from and talk about what the size and variations of grains in the stone could tell us about its origin.
Moving to the area of exposed rock at the top of the Gully, Rachel introduced us to compass-clinometers to look
at the angles of slope of the rock and its and direction.
Down in the Gully, we again used the field lenses on the exposed rock there and examined the fossil of plant life from 300 million years ago.
We also looked at the large face of rock at the end of the Gully and talked about the quarrying and mining that had happened at Troopers Hill in the past. We had cleared some of the vegetation obscuring this face at our work party a few days before.
Learn more about the geology of Troopers Hill on our Geology page >>
