GSNZ Taranaki branch field trip: POSTPONED
This Field Trip is designed as a follow-up to Tim Saunderson's presentation at the Taranaki branch meeting on Monday, 2 August when he'll be talking about micro-minerals.
Car share available but please arrange your own overnight accommodation.
Depart New Plymouth at 7.30am for Palmerston North.
At 11am Matthew Savoian will lead us round the three special microscopes and their uses.
Should you possess suitable slides/samples/examples of micro-minerals or other material, feel free to bring them along to Palmerston North.
Notes from Matthew:
We usually host groups of less than 15 and we give a brief, eg 10 minute overview for each of the three primary pieces of equipment that we have: scanning confocal light microscopy, transmission electron microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. Our equipment is used primarily to study biological samples such as cells or food products like diary emulsions. The scanning electron microscope (SEM) would be the most relevant to studying geological specimens because it reveals the surface topology of a sample. In addition it can do some elemental analysis. However because these are microscopes, the size of anything to be studied is accordingly quite small and for the SEM is limited to 1 cm or less, the confocal significantly smaller and for the TEM samples are generally 80 nm thick or less and limited to less than 1 mm in diameter.
Options for the afternoon include Pit Park (Taupo ash exposure, brick-making,) and the Museum.
The following day (weather permitting) as we return to New Plymouth, sites we can consider looking at are the Brunswick Road fossils, the Whanganui Museum and the oyster beds on the River Road out of Whanganui.