Field Trips

2023 Kropfmühl

Our chapter’s inaugural field trip was an excursion to the Kropfmühl graphite mine in the southern Bohemian Massif. Thirteen eager students embarked on an immersive journey, exploring the underground workings and production shafts that have been operational since 1870. The fascinating, highly-metamorphic paragenesis comprised dark, graphite-bearing garnet- gneisses, luminous quartzitic gneisses, quartzitic insertions, amphibolite layers, calc-silicate marbles (skarns), and calcsilicate formations. For many it was the first time to go underground and a very memorable experience to see the rock formations at depth. Back on the surface, the students were able to see how the graphite is prepared and processed to be eventually turned into graphite products such as expandable graphite or dispersions for metallurgy. Overall, it was a very exciting first field trip of our SGA student chapter!