Young geologists and adult local historians, geologists and biologists take every opportunity to go travelling and make sure that even in the autumn nasty weather you can see the beauty of unique natural sites in bright red/yellow/green clothing.
On October 14-16, 2022 a team of trainees of the "Young Geologists of the Republic of Bashkortostan" Open Geological School Educational Centre of Education ¹ 40 (Ufa) (head - E. I. Scherbakova) with scientific support of Institute of Geology UFIC RAS (G. A. Danukalova, A. V. Snachev and N. V. Snacheva) and organizational support of Salavat local branch of Russian Geographical Society in the Republic of Bashkortostan and Geopark "Yangan-Tau" traveled through "Fairy taiga" of Ufa plateau.
On the territory of Ufa plateau young geologists visited geological sections of lower Permian Biyaz and Urmantau, where carbonate rocks of Yuryuzan formation of Sakmarian stage with mass of paleontological remains were exposed, geological section Bagantash, composed of organogenic limestone of Duvan reef formation of Sakmarian stage, they observed the result of slope process on the left side of Yuryuzan river valley opposite v. Ust'-Atavka and the result of the karst process on the Bagantash mountain - Ust'-Atavskie 1, 2 and 3 caves. The children were also able to get acquainted with some representatives of fauna which are trogloxenes: in Ust'-Atavskaya 3 cave among the hand-wings we met the wintering brown barn owl Plecotus auritus, among the moths - the moth Scoliopteryx libatrix, day peacock eye Aglais io, lumbering moustache Hypena obesalis, among the two-wings - winter mosquitoes Trichoceridae. Also on the walls of Ust'-Atavskaya 1 and 3 caves we saw remains of Crinoidea crinoides, as well as corals and brachiopods - ancient ocean dwellers.
Young geologists and their mentors were also impressed by the beauty of the river Yuruzan, by the multi-coloured autumn forest on the slopes of the valley, by the light of the setting sun, which opens to our eyes from the observation platforms of Bagantash mountain, and, of course, by the hot tea from the samovar.
Before going home, in spite of rain, the young geologists had time to visit unique geological sections of Mechetlino and Akhunovo, where they got acquainted with terrigenous carbonate rocks of Artinsky and Kungurian stages of the lower Permian, observed peculiarities of rock occurrence.
Personal acquaintance with geological features and landscapes of the south-eastern part of the Ufa plateau will help children in preparing school research papers. In winter all rock and fossil collections will be processed, supplemented with descriptions and photos and made into research works for Olympiads and conferences of different levels.
The young geologists would like to thank P.G. Polezhankina, biologist of the geopark "Yangan-Tau", I.R. Ismagilov, chairman of the Salavat local branch of the RSO in Bashkortostan, as well as A.A. Ismagilova, T.I. Ismagilov, the family of Z. and I. Gaynetdinovs (Alkino) and A. Galieva (Maloyaz) for supporting the expedition.
