That Oman Mountains host some of the largest world class ophiolite and thus forms an ideal setting for the geofield excursions . Some of the highlights of our offers are:
1.An excellent opportunity for participants from different parts of the world to study these "World Class" oceanic crust and their geological context in the field.
2. An ideal setting for geoscientists from academic institutions and mining companies to discuss various aspects of the Middle East ophiolites .
3.Debate key problems associated with the world in general and Oman in particular.
4.Motivate and facilitate the launching of collaborative studies with active student participation.
Our aim must be to make a pleasant event of demonstrating some aspect(s) of geology in the field so that it will be fixed in the participants' minds and that they will recall the occasion with pleasure. An excursion must have a good atmosphere; it should be friendly and casual, and this is largely the creation of the leader. There is a time to talk and a time to encourage others to do so and a time to be silent and enjoy the atmosphere of a locality. Leading any party requires you to be conspicuous (not bossy!). Members of the group should never be asking who (or where) the leader is. It is important that the atmosphere is not that of an obedient school party (unless it is a school party!). At the end of the excursion, the participants should have a feeling of achievement - they should feel that they have seen and understood the things which you set out to demonstrate and they should also feel the pleasure which a walk in the countryside gives (unless of course the locality is one such as Sunderland town dump where the geology is excellent but the environment is slightly less than perfect!)
Preparation
It is essential that a good leader is fully prepared before going into the field. Be sure that we understand the geology which we are going to demonstrate and we have appropriate maps and notes prepared to hand out in advance and/or in the field, as appropriate. Wherever possible, we visit the locality shortly before the day of the excursion so that there will be no unpleasant surprises on the day. For example, the magnificent exposure we saw ten years ago in the town dump may have since been obliterated by refuse. In preparing for the excursion, we do not limit ourself to geology. We find out as much as possible about the area we will visit and the route we will follow. Cover history, wild life, farming practices, interesting/historic buildings etc. This will add to the interest of the excursion and will encourage the participants to find out more for themselves. Always we try to discover beforehand if specialists in relevant subjects, e.g. botany, archaeology, local history, ornithology will be present and, if appropriate, ask them if they are willing to help by talking about their subject as it comes up in the course of the excursion. The day of the excursion We make sure that everyone can hear what we are going to say, then state what the objectives of the excursion are, describe the geology, mention any other features that may be of interest and distribute hand-outs as appropriate. If we have experts present who have volunteered their services, we ask them to identify themselves to the party so that they can deal with questions. In presenting the geology, we may have explained the route ; where we start and finish, indicate the type of terrain, distance to be covered and the likely duration of the excursion. We try to keep reasonably close to our stated timetable and route.
Rest stops are spaced at reasonable intervals often determined by the pace of the slower members of the group. Some but not all rest stops can be timed for geological localities.
Good planning produces the best results.
