Talk – Continental collision in the Alps
Dorset Geologist’s Association Group (DGAG) will host a talk on the Tuesday 21st April 2026.
Title: Continental collision in the Alps
Speaker: Giles Droop (DGAG member and former University lecturer)
Time: Talk will start at 7pm; finish approximately 8pm
Venue: Activity Meeting Room: Dorford Centre, Bridport Road, Dorchester, DT1 1RR
Lecture Entry Cost: All welcome: £6 non-members (£5 DGAG members), cash please.
Booking a seat: contact Chris Webb at email: events@dorsetgeologistsassociation.org
Talk Description: The European Alps are arguably the most thoroughly studied mountain belt on Earth and have become the ‘gold standard’ of belts formed by continental collision. However, in some ways the Alps are not typical because they are the product of an extended ‘train crash’ of micro-continents and small intervening ocean basins. In this talk I shall present evidence for the various continental and oceanic materials of various ages caught up in the collision zone and show how they have been tortured by plastic deformation and metamorphism, producing spectacular new structures, textures and minerals. I shall summarise how information from metamorphic mineral assemblages can be used to deduce the temperatures and pressures to which the various rock units were subjected, and how deep those units were subducted before being returned to the Earth’s surface by erosion and buoyancy forces.
Photo: European Alps-Tasch Weisshorn (Courtesy of speaker)