Geological excursions
Field Excursions:
Selection of Novosibirsk for the Symposium provides a good opportunity to learn more about the Ordovician geology of both the Siberian Platform and Altai Mountains. We also added to the program a pre-Symposium excursion to the St. Petersburg region. Therefore, participants who attend both the pre-Symposium and post-Symposium excursions on the platforms (Russian and Siberian respectively) will have a chance to compare the sea-level story, long-term lithological changes and faunal differences in the two Ordovician palaeocontinents.
Pre-Symposium field trip 1.
July 15-17, 2019 (3 days).
Ordovician of St. Petersburg region.
Co-leaders: T. Yu. Tolmacheva and A.V. Dronov.
Costing:
Pre-Symposium field trip 1. Ordovician of St. Petersburg region (3 days); 300 Euro (covers field guide, transportation, all meals and accommodation).
Excursion starts and ends in St. Petersburg. Participants will have an opportunity to examine classical Ordovician sections connected with the names of R. Murchison, Ch. Pander, A. Volborth and many other famous scientists. We will study Cambrian and basal Ordovician (Tremadoc) siliciclastics including traces of permafrost on the Middle/Upper Cambrian boundary. The cool-water carbonate succession (Floian –Lower Sandbian) and warm-water carbonates (Upper Sandbian –Katian) including supratidal sabkha dolomites, unusual for the other parts of the Ordovician basin of Baltoscandia, will be demonstrated and discussed. Ordovician limestones of St. Petersburg region are extremely fossiliferous. Rich fauna include trilobites, brachiopods, cephalopods, gastropods, bryozoans etс. Discussions at most stops will include summary findings from conodont, trilobite, brachiopod and graptolite biostratigraphic investigations as well as palaeoclimatic, sequence stratigraphic, facial and palaeobathimetric interpretations. Special attention will be made to trace fossils distribution and their potential for regional high-resolution correlation. Unique cool-water Middle Ordovician reefs (Hecker-type mud mounds) will be demonstrated and studied in detail.
The first and second days will be devoted to the Cambrian, Lower and Middle Ordovician of the eastern part of the St. Petersburg Region. The localities to be visited during the first day include Tosna River and Sablinka River canyons, Sablino caves, “Pander’s anticline” (Popovka River canyon), Putilovo quarry and Lava River canyon. The first night participants will spend in the town of Volkhov on the Volkhov River in the eastern part of St. Petersburg Region. The localities to be visited in the second day include Volkhov River valley, Babino quarry (Fig. 2), Lynna and Says River valleys (Fig. 3). Tourist stops during the excursion include Fortress in Old Ladoga (the first capital of Russia) and Viking burial mounds on the banks of Volkhov River. At the end of the day participants return to St. Petersburg and spend a night there. The third day will be devoted to the Lower, Middle and Upper Ordovician of the western part of St. Petersburg region. Localities to be visited include Kaskovo quarry, Elizavetiono quarry, Alekseevka quarry, Suma river canyon and Pechurki quarry. We return to St. Petersburg the evening of July 17, and on July 18th participants will fly to Novosibirsk. For the flight St. Petersburg –Novosibirsk participants need to make their own arrangements.
Fig.2. Fresh exposure of Dikari Limestone (Lower Dapingian) in Babino quarry
Fig.3. Middle Ordovician (Upper Dapingian-Lower Darriwilian) outcrop on Lynna River
Field trip fee covers guidebook, transportation all meals and accommodation in hotels during the excursion. Registration is 300 Euro for a minimum of 8 and maximum 40 participants. In July, the day temperature in St. Petersburg region is usually between +17°C and +27°C. Occasionally there could be rain.
Pre-Symposium field trip 2.
July 09-18, 2019 (10 days).
Ordovician of the Altai Mountains.
Co-leaders: N.V. Sennikov, O.T. Obut and E.V. Lykova.
Costing:
Pre-Symposium field trip 2. Ordovician of Gorny Altai (10 days); 900 Euro (covers field guide, transportation, all meals and 9 nights’ accommodation).
The field trip is planned to demonstrate the most important Ordovician localities of the Gorny Altai Mountains (Fig. 4 & frontispiece). Excursion starts and ends in Novosibirsk (Akademgorodok). The first and last days are mainly driving. Distance from Novosibirsk to the first field camp (tourist camping) in North-East Altai is about 500 km. Transportation in the field will be by bus, 4WD tracks and jeeps. The Altai is usually called the Siberian Switzerland for its beauty but it is not high mountains. Altitude on the route of the excursion varies between 500 m and 1500 m above sea level. Mountains are covered by taiga forest and mountain meadows. Exposures are mainly along the river banks, road cuts, on mountain slopes and in active quarries.
Participants of the excursion will have an opportunity to examine all the Ordovician succession of the Gorny Altai Mountains represented in different shallow to deep-water facies including:
- delta front;
- inner shelf (ramp);
- inner slope of the carbonate platform;
- central part and outer slope of the carbonate platform;
- deep-water shelf;
- continental slope;
- open ocean deposits and sea mounts.
Fossils are represented by graptolites, conodonts, chitinozoans, radiolarians, trilobites, ostracods, brachiopods, gastropods, crinoids, scolecodonts, tabulate and rugose corals, bryozoans and algae.
Fig.4. Upper Ordovician reef limestones, Gorny Altai
Tourist sites on the route include:
- Boat trip along Teletskoe Lake, which is known as “Altaian Baikal”.
- Denisova Cave which represents one of the most ancient dwelling places of humans in Siberia (more than 200 000 years B.C.).
- Scyphian burial mounds (IV-II centuries B.C.).
- Kolyvan’ stone factory founded in 1802 which is famous for its giant jasper vases now stored in Paris and St. Petersburg (Hermitage).
Typical temperatures for July in Gorny Altai are about +20-25°C, rarely +30°C during the day and +5-15°C at night. Occasional rain is possible. Heavy dew is typical in the mornings. It is planned to stay in four field camps (tourist campings) during the excursion with distances between camps of about 250-400 km. Participants are advised to bring field boots, warm sweaters, raincoats, umbrellas as well as caps and swimming suits. Tents, sleeping bags and other camp facilities will be provided by the organizers.
Field trip fee (900 Euro) covers guidebook, all meals, accommodation in field camps and campings and transportation during the excursion. This field trip is restricted to minimum 8 and a maximum 25 participants.
Post-Symposium field trip.
July 22-30, 2019 (8 days).
Ordovician of the Siberian Platform: Podkamennaya Tunguska and Stolbovaya Rivers.
Co-leaders: A.V. Dronov, A.V. Timokhin and T.V. Gonta.
Costing:
Post-Symposium field trip. Ordovician of the Siberian Platform: Podkamennaya Tunguska and Stolbovaya Rivers (8 days); 1300 Euro (covers field guide, transportation, all meals and accommodation).
Excursion starts in Novosibirsk and ends in Krasnoyarsk. Late in the evening of July 22 we will take a night train Novosibirsk – Krasnoyarsk (800 km). On July 23, we will fly from Krasnoyarsk to the town of Bor (600 km) on the Yenisei River opposite the mouth of the Podkamennaya Tunguska River. The same day the flight by helicopter from Bor to the field camp (120 km) on the Stolbovaya River, tributary of Podkamennaya Tunguska will be organized. For transportation between the outcrops during the excursion, rubber boats and motorboats will be used. Accommodations are in a field camps (Fig. 5). Motorboats will arrange the way back to Bor downstream to Podkamennaya Tunguska at the end of the excursion (July 30). Organizers will provide the flight from Bor back to Krasnoyarsk (July 30) but for hotel in Krasnoyarsk participants need to make their own arrangements.
Fig.5. Field camp. Tributary of Podkamennaya Tunguska River
Participants of the excursion will have an opportunity to visit important Ordovician localities of the Tungus Basin on the banks of Podkamennaya Tunguska and Stolbovaya Rivers. They will see the Lower Darriwilian tropical carbonates with stromatolite buildups and oolitic grainstone that represent the uppermost part of the “Great Siberian Carbonate Bank” an analogue of the Great American Carbonate Bank. The Upper Darriwilian shallow water quartz sandstones of the Baykit formation with Skolithos, Kouphihnium and giant Siberian Rusophycus trace fossils will be examined in several outcrops. The Lower Sandbian phosphate conglomerates of Ust’Stolbovaya formation overlying Baykit sandstone and marking the beginning of the Upper Ordovician transgression associated with upwelling of the cool-water oceanic waters into the epicontinental Tungus Basin, as well as the cool-water carbonate series (Sandbian –Katian), will be also examined in several localities. The Upper Ordovician K-bentonite layers within the cool-water tempestites of Mangazea and Dolbor formations will be traced and studied at several localities along the Podkamennaya Tunguska and Stolbovaya Rivers (Fig. 6). These deposits are also rich in body fossils, which include trilobites, brachiopods, bryozoans, crinoids, ostracods, corals and gastropods etс, as well as trace fossils including Rhizocorallium, Halopoa, and Balanoglossites etс. At some of the outcrops, contact with the Lower Silurian deposits will be seen. Discussions at most stops will include summary on biostratigraphic investigations as well as palaeoclimatic, facial and palaeobathimetric interpretations. Sea-level changes and sequence stratigraphy will be discussed as well.
Fig.6. Upper Ordovician cool-water carbonates with K-bentonite beds. Stolbovaya River
In July, the day temperature in this part of Siberia is usually between +17°C and +25°C. Occasionally could be rain. Participants are advised to bring field boots, warm sweaters, raincoats, umbrellas as well as caps and swimming suits. The tents, sleeping bags and other camp facilities including repellents against mosquitos will be provided by the organizers.
Field trip fee (1300 Euro) covers guidebook, all meals, accommodation in field camps and transportation during the excursion. This field trip is restricted to minimum 10 and maximum 20 participants.
Social and Cultural Highlights:
For accompanying persons during the Symposium a boat trip on the Ob’ River could be recommended. The other tourist attractions are listed in the outlines of the field trips.