GEOLOGICAL TRAVEL AND THEORETICAL INNOVATION - THE ROLE OF LIMINAL EXPERIENCE

Geology is a science in which fieldwork is a central element of practi ce, not least because so many important geological features are not mo bile. At least in the past, geological expeditions involved a double m ovement from the familiar to the unfamiliar and back again - not only in terms of features seen and studied, but also in terms of separation from and reintegration into the 'home' scientific community. The dyna mics of this process are here compared with van Gennep's classic conce pt of 'liminality', and with Victor Turner's application of that conce pt to the process of pilgrimage. Theoretical innovation in a field sci ence such as geology may require, or at least be facilitated by, a pil grimage-like process in which scientists are exposed to unfamiliar per ceptual and personal inputs while temporarily insulated from their fam iliar scientific environment.