CH-QUAT Excursion 2021

Organisation:
Stefanie Wirth (GEOTEST)
René Löpfe (CSD)

With contributions of:
Stefan Schneider (CSD Ingenieure AG)
Reto Thöny (BTG AG)
Flurina Brunold (BTG AG)

The 2-day CH-QUAT excursion led us to the large landslide Brienz/Brinzauls GR and to the Tamina Gorge SG. The focus was on applied geology such as monitoring and management of natural hazards and Quaternary valley formation combined with hydrogeology. The excursion was fully booked and the topics met with lively interest among our members.

For the various stops at the large landslide Brienz/Brinzauls we received extremely competent support from the offices CSD AG and BTG AG, which are responsible for the monitoring of the landslide and have already carried out extensive field investigations. Various stops on the opposite slope, in the landslide area itself and in the core repository gave us an exciting insight into the hazard management, the hydrogeological investigations and the findings from the core drillings. The day was concluded in front of the portal of the exploratory tunnel, for which excavation began the week after the excursion.

On the second day we visited the 'Alte Bad Pfäfers' and the Tamina Gorge. Although the weather was rainy, this did not diminish the experience. We spent most of our time in the old building of the bath and in the narrow, anyway wet gorge. The highlight was the walk through the narrow part of the gorge and the visit to the thermal spring. There was lively discussion about the history of the gorge formation and the related work of Albert Heim, as well as about the chemical composition of the 'healing water'. From Bad Pfäfers we hiked - including geological discussions, of course - back to Bad Ragaz train station, where we ended the excursion looking at many satisfied faces.