| On my left is Dr. Ljuba Moroz from DLR in Berlin, who has attended several earlier IRSPS events with me, as well as one of the Moscow Microsymposia. |
| and on my right is Jens Ormö, another friend from earlier IRSPS activities, as well as having attended the Austrian Space Agency's Mars Summer School with me in 1999. |
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| On arrival Gian Gabriele Ori of IRSPS provides the group with an initial explanation of what we are looking at |
| The slope of the hill in the background displays a submarine volcanic edifice showing intercalation of carbonate deposits formed during volcanic activity |
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| the explanation continues |
| A view of the outcrop, showing the upper limestone unit in the upper right hand corner of the frame, overlying volcanic deposits. A lower limestone unit extends from about the center of the image to the right. |
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| Our next stop affords a panoramic view of the nearby town of Palagonia. |
| Antonio Baliva from IRSPS, who has helped with the organization on all of my earlier IRSPS activities. |
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| and this, of course, is yours truly.. |
| In this road section, it is possible to observe the foreset of a lava delta. |
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| The inclination of the strata is the original depositional surface. |
| Hyaloclastites and pillow breccia form the foreset of this delta. |
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| This stop is located in an abandoned quarry that shows two magmatic events separated by a calcareous unit. |
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| We gather for an explanation of the structures. |
| The lower unit consists of a lava delta prograding toward the east (to the right in this image). The upper part of the unit consists of horizontal subaerial lava flows that bend downward becoming pillow breccia. |
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| if it sounds like I know what I am talking about here, it is because I am plagiarising the explanations given to us by the field trip leaders.. |
| following the outcrop up an incline to the right to get a closer look at the different units. |
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| The little town at which we stopped for lunch offered a somewhat limited choice of venues once the few places in the local cafes were filled.. |
| Someone suggested that I needed to pull back a bit and include the petrol pumps to capture the full ambience of our lunch venue.. |
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