GEOLOGIST Paul Callander will be the guest presenter to the Hamilton Field Naturalists Club (HFNC) for an upcoming event at the Hamilton Institute of Rural Learning (HIRL) next week.

Mr Callander will be known to visitors of the Volcanoes Discovery Centre in Penshurst, and it was his presentation skills at the Centre’s free information sessions that have impressed many.

Hamilton lies within the Newer Volcanic Province (NVP) of South Eastern Australia, with the most recent activity dating back to 5000 years ago, which means all of the volcanic features of the area have been strongly weathered.

The subject will be comparing and contrasting the volcanic features of the region with similar regions in the USA.

Mr Callander has visited the Craters of the Moon National Monument & Preserve in Idaho (about 1200 kilometres north-east of San Francisco) which had activity more recently (about 2000 years ago), and with a desert climate, weathering has been more limited.

He said this can therefore be seen as “taking a look back in time” for the NVP.

Other regions in the USA Mr Callander has visited include the Columbia River Basalts, the Washington Scablands, and the famous Yellowstone National Park - the largest volcanic system in North America.

The presentation will be held at HIRL on Thursday, July 21 at 7.30pm, with a gold coin donation appreciated and all are welcome.

The HFNC will also be holding a weekend excursion to the Northern Grampians on Sunday, July 24, meeting at the Hamilton Visitor Centre and departing at 9.30am to travel in convoy, and all are welcome to this as well.