For many years the eminent Earth scientist, Prof John Dewey, has made an annual pilgrimage to Connemara in his search for answers to some key questions. This year, to mark his 60th birthday, he is accompanied by a posse of equally eminent colleagues.
They have spent the last few days scrambling up and down hills and glens to view this or that rock formation, comparing notes about the upheavals which left enduring marks on the region some 500 million years ago.
Connemara is a happy hunting ground for geologists. It gives them a wealth of information about the forces which shaped the great Caledonian-Appalachian mountain chain that stretches from Alabama to Scandinavia, crossing Connemara and northern Scotland en route.
His observations in Connemara helped Prof Dewey develop some of the ideas about plate techtonics which revolutionised our understanding of the Earth. Plate techtonics is the theory that the surface of the Earth is composed of a number of shifting continental plates, which throw up mountain ranges and other features when they collide with each other.
Connemara and south Mayo are also rich in mineral deposits. Some of the most bitter environmental controversies of recent years - about proposals to mine gold on Croagh Patrick and Cregganbaun in Doo Lough valley - remain unresolved.
Prof Dewey says a rational dialogue between environmentalists and scientists about these and other problems is the only way they will be resolved. He sees little sign of it happening.
Although he describes most environmentalists as "sensible people", he is scathing of those who adopt extreme positions and refuse to listen to anyone else.
"I'm afraid there is also an entrenched position by some scientists who say, `all science is good, and we should be entitled to do as we damn well please. Modern science demands modern technology, modern technology demands raw materials, those raw materials have to be found, and it doesn't matter where they come from', " he says.
"Those are the two absurd extreme positions. I think you need a dialogue between the scientists and the lawyers, the politicians, the environmentalists, the people - what do the people want? What do the local people around here want? That seems to me to be one of the most important aspects of the debate."
He says it is time for "a serious, non-emotional debate" about the Cregganbaun gold deposits. The debate should include a rational assessment of the social and environmental impact of a gold mine on the valley.
Prof Dewey lists a number of questions which should be answered before any prospective gold mine is allowed to go ahead. "How much is it going to make for the local economy? How many people is it going to employ, over how long? Where are the profits going: are they staying in Ireland or are they going abroad?
"All those questions have to be answered. What effect is it going to have on the environment in terms of dust, chemicals, road transport? What is the social cost?"
Unfortunately, any potential debate about mining in the west has been compromised by earlier mining attempts, according to Prof Dewey.
HE adds: "The cutting of a road up Croagh Patrick was a fairly insensitive kind of thing to do. That has produced a scar on the north-west flanks of Croagh Patrick which will take hundreds of years to vanish.
"I was very upset when I saw that: I'm sure the local people were also upset. That has muddied the waters in terms of making people more resentful about further gold exploration.
"Also, you could argue that the Cregganbaun locality is an environmentally sensitive area. It is one of the last, certainly one of the very beautiful, unspoiled glens in the west of Ireland. When you look from Cregganbaun down into Doo Lough it is one of the most exquisite views in the world. I think that even a little heap from a gold mine might substantially spoil it."