The Royal Scottish Geographical Society
Exploration 1996
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The Royal Scottish Geographical SocietyExploration 1996 |
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The Expedition Grants Committee decided to give larger amounts to a smaller number of expeditions this year. Once again the Society is grateful to the Springboard Trust which enabled it to increase substantially the amounts awarded to expeditions. Thanks are also due to a large number of RSGS members who responded to the appeal to support expeditions.
If the name-heading of an expedition is highlighted as a hyperlink, then clicking on it will provide details of any reports or other documentation held by RSGS.
University of Aberdeen - Svalbard Expedition (Spitsbergen) - £400
Dr Graeme Paton and Dr Mike Billet, accompanied by 3 students from the Plant and Soil Department, explored the local area on trips away from base-camp, crossing to the VonPosbreen glacier, and travelling the length of the Sassen Valley. Three soil classification systems were compared, and their usefulness in the Arctic established, whilst water and soil samples were collected under harsh conditions. Soil formation seems to be influenced by the variation of the hydrogeomorphology of the region at a small scale, the soils present being of varied type and depth. Soils identified in the chosen study-area were classified and soil-maps drawn.
University of Aberdeen - Project Elgon, Uganda - £700
Working at an altitude of 2,800m, teams from Aberdeen University and Makarere University in Kampala carried-out investigations into the distribution and abundance of small mammals and birds, the structure and diversity of plant-communities in forests regenerating from grazing and agriculture, and the pattern of agricultural land-use on the footslopes of Mount Elgon.
University of Aberdeen - Malawi '96 - £400
Buckie Community High School - Africa
A study of life in a modern African community.
University of Edinburgh - Wetland Savanna - £700
University of Glasgow - Kimberley '96, Western Australia - £700
University of Glasgow Exploration Society - Trinidad
University of Glasgow Exploration Society - Spitsbergen - £700
A team of 22 (including a one-year-old child!) ventured to St Johnsfjorden on the west coast, 6 hours by boat from Longyearbyen, to spend the month of August studying the area's glaciers. The area was covered extensively during the surveying of the fjord's raised marine and deglacial landforms and sediments. Much good data was collected in spite of foul weather conditions.
Jordanhill College - India - £400
Portree High School - Morocco - £500
Twenty-two pupils and 3 members of staff set-off under the leadership of Mrs Anne Robertson, Principal Teacher of Geography, "determined to enjoy the experience" after many months of fund-raising and preparation. Guided by Anne and Andy Johnston of Discover Ltd., the party spent a day exploring the souks and jacaranda-lined streets of old Marrakech, before heading south into the valleys of the High Atlas to begin fieldwork. In the valleys of Mzig and Imlil they studied land-use and rural settlement, operating from a base in the kasbah at Asni. There they carried-out survey tasks which included transects, sampling, field-sketching, and photography.
University of Southampton - Five Blues Expedition to Belize