The Open University Geological Society Wessex Branch Newsletter

Website http:/ougs.org/wessex October 2011

Branch Organiser’s Letter CONTENTS

Dear All Branch Organiser’s Letter Page 1 Field trip to Isle of Wight, Apr 2011 Pages 2 – 5 On behalf of all of us in OUGS Wessex I would Boscombe Chine Page 5 like to thank Mike Grover for all his excellent work as newsletter editor of Footnotes since Note from Acting Editor Page 5 2005. He has decided to stand down because Field trip to Watchet, Part 1 Pages 6 - 8 of pressure of work, meaning he frequently Forthcoming Wessex field trips Page 9 has to work at weekends. I am sure you will Wessex Branch Committee Page 9 all agree that we have appreciated all Mike Other organisations’ events Page 10 has done. Footnotes is second to none, very many thanks to Mike. Notice of AGM, 21 January 2012 Page 11 OUGS events listing Page 12 Hilary Barton has been supported by Mike to

get to grips with Footnotes editing and I am sure all of you wish her well. Some of us went DIY to Ardnamurchan after

Welcome to our new members. I look forward the Symposium with support from Alan to meeting you on forthcoming trips. Also Holiday and local geologist Rob Gill to help us good luck to those of you about to take exams work out the geology. It’s fantastic there. I and fingers crossed for those who are awaiting look forward to Alan’s lecture on results! Arndnamurchan at our AGM and lecture day st Since our July newsletter we have had an on 21 January 2012. The other lecturers are energetic and very worthwhile study of the by our OUGS President Dave McGarvie on his Chalk of Dorset with Rory Mortimore at Iceland Research and OU stalwart Mike Ringstead and look forward to him showing us Widdowson on his research of the underwater the Chalk near Winchester next year. We basaltic mountain range in the north west have also had a very productive conservation Pacific, the Shatsky Rise. morning at Abbotsbury followed by an Let Hilary Barton know on exploration of the geology of the area. [email protected] if you would like to It was good to see so many Wessex members have your Footnotes electronically to be more at the Stirling Symposium in August. The eco-friendly and to cut costs and also to have National events are AGM in April (Nottingham it in glorious colour. Also remember trips are in 2012) Symposium in August (Northampton advertised first on the website so do keep in 2012 ) and Winter weekend in November checking: ougs.org (Ashford in Kent this year). These are really Enjoy your geology. good social occasions as well as providing Sheila Alderman Branch Organiser (BOrg) good geology so I commend them to you! Those of you with access to Facebook may have seen shots of our day trip organiser whirling round the dance floor at the E-mail: [email protected]

Symposium, daunting to say the least…...

Wessex Footnotes October 2011 Page 1

Wessex OUGS weekend field trip to the Isle of Wight, 1 - 3 April 2011

Leaders - Dr Craig Hutton & Andy Harfoot

Report by Mark Barrett

Location 1 - Limerstone Down (Saturday 2 April 2011)

We began our field trip with a short brisk walk from the National Trust car park to the viewpoint at Limerstone Down, which affords a panoramic view of the entire island. We were stood upon the Chalk ridge that runs from east to west through the middle of the island and from this viewpoint. Andy and Craig were able to point out most of the salient features of the island’s topography, notwithstanding some low level hazy cloud which obscured the more distant hill tops.

Using a 1:625 000 terrain map, Andy and Craig were able to relate the topographical features to what we could see on the ground, thereby giving us a good broad brush overview of the island’s geological narrative. The island’s rocks become older as you move from the south to the north, with a narrow prominent chalk and greensand ridge running from Whitecliff Bay in the east to Alum Bay in the west. This ridge thickens north of Brighstone, where we were located, and the reason for this is still subject to debate.

The oldest beds are the Cretaceous Wealden Beds which are located on both the east and west coast south of the ridge, which is known as the Isle of Wight monocline. These beds contain the remains of dinosaurs, insects and plants. The basin south of the monocline consists of younger Lower Greensand Beds. To both the north and the south of the Lower Greensand, but south of the monocline, is the Gault Clay, which is the main cause of the landslides on the south coast. The Upper Greensands are next in the sequence and they form part of the monocline and cap the Gault Clay on the southern coast. This in turn is overlaid by the chalk. North of the monocline there is a series of Tertiary deposits. In the south Simplified geological map of the Isle of Wight of the island, the beds follow the contours by kind permission of Dr Steven C Sweetman of the land, indicating that they tend to be horizontal.

Immediately north of the monocline, the beds rapidly change from a horizontal orientation to being practically vertical on the monocline itself. The beds then fold to a more horizontal aspect to the south. The monocline lies on a thrust fault that occurred during the Variscan (Hercynian) orogeny in the Carboniferous 300-350 Mya. This fault is not expressed at the surface, and during the Cretaceous, extension of the land reactivated the fault as a normal fault. The fault was moving whilst the Wealden Beds were being deposited, this syndeposition causes the Wealden Beds to thicken as you approach the monocline and forming a half graben. Around 25 Mya, the Alpine orogeny reactivated the fault as a thrust fault thereby forming the very steep and localized monoclinal ridge. The ridge is offset north of Brighstone and in this offset area the dips are far shallower and are much wider. There are small faults each side of the offset, within which chalk was deposited during a time of limited tectonic activity.

Wessex Footnotes October 2011 Page 2 Location 2 St Catherine’s Point (Saturday 2 April 2011) On arrival, we enjoyed our lunch in the pleasant spring sunshine and looked at the Gore Cliff. The cliff itself consists of pervious Upper Greensand which is underlain by impervious Gault Clay. Consequently water collects and lubricates the base of the Upper Greensand which dips slightly seawards. This causes rotational slumping making the section beneath the cliff stratigraphically complex. We examined a bloc of Upper Greensand that formed part of the undercliff, within which we were able to discern different beds indicative of a changing and dynamic Gore Cliff Photo courtesy of Helen Phythian environment. There was a bed of well sorted glauconitic sands containing shelly fragments of Exogyra oysters, indicative of a high energy, offshore environment. Bands of chert show that, periodically, high organic sediment input into coastal seas facilitated the formation of massive radiolarian and diatomic algal blooms. These toxic blooms would result in siliceous ooze forming on the seabed which ultimately forms the chert. Chert bands could also be clearly seen in the top of Gore Cliff. Bands of pinkish and orange sands are indicative of well oxygenated shallow marine or sub aerial coastal environment. Nodular calcium carbonate growths within these sands are due to diagenesis. Interpretation of the changing environments is complex; the change from glauconitic to pink and orange sandstones could be indicative of a lateral transfer from a marine to a more coastal environment as well as a change in sea-level.

As we worked out way down the succession towards the beach, we came to the Lower Greensand. This represented a more stable marine environment, and probably represented a pro delta front. The presence of serpulid worms evidenced an oxygenated environment and there was also organic material that had been washed in from the land. Ammonite fossils were found, and their unusual hook-like shape enabled them to be identified as Hyphantoceras. We were very much indebted to George Raggett’s expertise when it came to identifying the fossils that we found. On the beach we found a ‘death assemblage’ consisting of Exogyra oysters and the bivalve Nithea gibbosa. George pointed out that the thick interlocking ribs on these bivalves indicate a high energy environment. He also explained how these ribs could interlock in order to prevent them being prised open by predators. Location 3 Shepherds Chine & Barnes High Cliff (Saturday 2 April 2011) In the late afternoon, we made our way to west coast in order to examine the beds of the Wessex and Vectis Formation which form part of the Wealden Group. On the foreshore we found a large sandstone block with bifurcating symmetrical ripples, indicative of a beach environment. Within the sandstone beds in the cliff face, we found excellent examples of herring bone cross stratification. There were also mud drapes, indicative of a low energy inter tidal environment. Interspersed within the herringbone cross stratification were fine planar beds. Craig suggested that this planar bedding could indicate quiescent, possibly a low energy lagoon or deltaic Mud drapes Photo courtesy of Helen Phythian environment and that the cross stratification could evidence where storms have breached the lagoon and initiated a higher energy tidal regime. Within the sandstone were iron siderite nodules, which tend to form around organic remains. There was also evidence of secondary post glacial groundwater moving through the sandstones. This formed liesegang banding, which are patterns of orange, black and brown staining caused by iron compounds moving through the rock.

Wessex Footnotes October 2011 Page 3 Eventually we found the Hypsilophodon Bed at the base of the Barnes High Cliff. This is a friable podsol which was pink and off white in colouration. This podsol presents a low lying monsoonal riverine plain, with the pink clay on representing wet conditions and the white evidencing arid conditions. Within the Hypsilophodon Bed there were dark bands of organic material, which evidenced the frequent flash floods that struck the area. After an unsuccessful but concerted effort to find some dinosaur bone, we called it a day and returned to our hotel.

Location 4 Dinosaur Isle Museum, Sandown (Sunday 3 April 2011) Following a leisurely breakfast, we reconvened at the Dinosaur Isle Museum which is a striking building located next to a picturesque lake and reed bed. Before you get to the main gallery, you are able to see a number of fossil exhibits that describes the flora and fauna of the Isle of Wight from the Mesozoic to the Pleistocene. Within the gallery itself there are a number of life-size dinosaur exhibits, some of which contain bones found on the Island. The main ones represented were a replica skeleton of the brachiosaur Eucamerotus, the allosaur Neovenator Neovenator, a life size Iguanodon and the coelurosaur Eotyrannus, an ancestor of Tyrannosaurus rex. The duty manager that day was kind enough to let us see behind the scenes where a recently discovered sauropod was being prepared. What were of interest were the gastroliths recovered from the site, which consisted of igneous rocks that originated from Cornwall. This proved that these dinosaurs had roamed from as far afield as Cornubia, an ancient highland land mass to the west of the Isle of Wight. During the Early Cretaceous the Isle of Wight fauna was similar to that of mainland Europe and North America, as the northern landmass Laurasia had only recently started to break up as the Atlantic Ocean began to form. Simultaneously the Tethys Ocean started to close, its modern day remnants being the Mediterranean Sea, the Black sea and the Caspian Sea. The Iguanodon has been found in all three areas whilst Baryonyx, a spinosaur, has also been found in Europe. On leaving many of us visited the well-appointed shop, and I was able to resist the impulse to buy a colouring book! I would recommend this museum to anybody visiting the Island. Location 5 Yaverland (Sunday 3 April 2011)

After lunch, we visited the nearby beach at Yaverland on a falling tide. This consisted of the same Wealden Beds that we had visited the previous day. The duty manager had advised us that dinosaur remains had been found here as well as teeth from crocodiles and sharks, particularly in the Perma Beds. We spent an enjoyable afternoon looking for fossils. I tried to turn a lump of siderite into an Iguanodon tooth, but George Raggett disabused me of this flight of fancy! Alex Willatt showed us all how it is done and went to Yarmouth after our trip and found two fossil bones. They were examined by palaeontologists at Dinosaur Isle who identified them as either coming from a shark or a Fossiling at Yaverland Photo courtesy of Helen Phythian pterosaur.

Wessex Footnotes October 2011 Page 4 Location 6 Whitecliff (Sunday 3 April 2011) Those of us that remained went further up the coast in order to see the monocline. The National Trust car park at Culver Cliff afforded us spectacular views towards Bembridge. On reaching the bay, Craig and Andy were able to indicate how the Tertiary Beds go from almost horizontal to vertical within 400 metres due to the formation of the monocline. We were also able to see the unconformable K/T boundary between the Reading Beds and the Chalk Beds. The vertical Barton Beds were organic rich and contained sulphur deposits. They were geologically similar to the Cretaceous Upper Greensand Beds. Within these beds, George identified a Vernacadia shell bed within glauconitic sands. These fragmentary shell remains evidenced a high energy environment. Before we made our way Vernacardia Photo back to the car park, some of us were able to enjoy the sight of a pair of courtesy of Hilary Barton peregrine falcons patrolling this beautiful bay.

The trip was a great success and we are very grateful to both Dr Craig Hutton and Andy Harfoot, without whom it would have not been possible.

Mark Barrett

BOSCOMBE CHINE ON 18 AUGUST 2011 The flash floods which swamped Bournemouth in August must have made the chines feel quite nostalgic.

Photos courtesy of Paul Godier

A NOTE FROM THE ACTING EDITOR Sheila Alderman has already paid tribute to the fantastic job Mike Grover has done as editor and I would like to add my own thanks to him not only for all he has done to make Footnotes such an excellent newsletter but also for the help he has given me in getting to grips with everything. I now realise it’s not nearly as easy as he’s made it seem!

I would also like to thank the branch committee for their unfailing support and, most importantly, everyone who has provided contributions to the newsletter, without those Footnotes would be much diminished – please keep them coming!

This is your newsletter so please submit anything that you feel would be of interest to other members. I will try to include all contributions, subject to space constraints and copyright rules. (Please note that the author is responsible for obtaining any necessary copyright permission.) Feel free to contact me if you need any advice on how to submit material, or if you have any comments or suggestions on the newsletter.

Hilary Barton Acting Newsletter Editor E-mail: [email protected]

Wessex Footnotes October 2011 Page 5 WESSEX OUGS WEEKEND FIELD TRIP TO WATCHET, SOMERSET 4 - 5 JUNE 2011

Leader - Dr Angela Coe

Report by Helen Phythian Day 1 (4 June 2011): West Quantoxhead Quarry, St Audries Bay and Blue Anchor

The trip began to unfold as we stood on the edge of the Quantock Hills (Somerset), overlooking Watchet, Minehead and the Bristol Channel. Such was the visibility that even the Brecon Hills were clearly visible. Dr Coe introduced us to the weekend with this stunning view point - setting the scene to examine special features of the Triassic- Jurassic border.

We moved on to the now disused West Quantoxhead Quarry to examine red beds of Devonian sandstones quarried for road stone. These thickly bedded sediments are fluvial sandstones evidenced by cross stratification and dune structures. Phil Rogers said that plant fossils have previously been found here.

The Hangman Grits are mixed facies and here on the Quantocks consist of sandstones and limestones arising from the fluctuations in sea level during their deposition in river deltas in the Devonian. During this time ice-house conditions were starting, creating dramatic changes in sea levels of hundreds of meters. Purple rhododendrons around the quarry hinted at the acidic soils derived from these sandstones. Lunch stop at St Audries Bay; examine and ponder over the spectacular Upper Triassic to Lower Jurassic succession. Why are there varying bands of red and greenish grey rocks? Having surveyed the scene from the beach we moved up to the cliff face to examine the features, noticing the cave- like hollows once filled by evaporites in these lacustrine mudstones. These being the Upper Triassic Branscombe Mudstone Formation (Mercia Mudstone Group) - once very large lakes in an arid environment. Red bands contain oxidised (Fe3+) iron compounds and more clay minerals than the carbonate-rich green bands containing St Audries Bay: Upper Triassic to Lower Jurassic succession, striped red reduced (Fe2+) iron compounds. The and green beds. Photo courtesy of Alan Holiday banding is a primary feature ie not diagenesis . Recent research has revealed the interesting events of the late Triassic and early Jurassic. Glass spherules of impact ejecta (“fish eggs”) have been found in lenses with large-crystalled feldspars and shocked quartz, indicating a late Triassic meteorite shower (208 Ma). A number of impact craters of around a kilometre in diameter, contemporaneous with this date, have been identified in France and Canada, suggesting the meteorite broke up and landed in different places. It is postulated this meteorite was one of the factors in the extinctions of the late Triassic and Early Jurassic. The harder, green- carbonate rich bands stand out on the beach as ledges adding to the dramatic appearance of this coast. Dr Coe used a Munsell colour chart to show how this can be used to characterise and define the exact colour of the rocks in all their different shades of green, grey and red.

Wessex Footnotes October 2011 Page 6 Why are the colours important? They help us to understand the cyclical nature of these deposits giving some idea of time scale, there being few fossils available here for dating purposes. Fourier analysis was used to see if certain thicknesses come out as a dominant cycle. “We suggest that a similar water–level control may have been responsible for the alternations in the redox-sensitive Fe2+/Fe3+ balance during deposition of the Branscombe Mudstone Formation, and that the regularity of these alterations, as determined from time series analysis is indicative of an astronomical control of the primary composition of these deposits.” [Kemp D. and Coe A. L. (2007) p 993] Astronomical parameters include precession (21k.y.), obliquity (38 k.y.) or eccentricity (100 k.y. or 404 k.y.) [Kemp D. and Coe A. L. (2007) p 993] known as the Milankovitch cycles. Dr Coe kindly did a 3D model of Earth’s changing orbits right there on the beach-using a trekking pole in her hand to represent the Earth’s tilted axis and Pat as the central sun (a demo well worthy of being ‘You Tubed’). Green mudstones indicate drier times when evaporites and calcium carbonate predominate - with red bands resulting from moister climatic times. These lake sediments were tied to the Newark Basin deposits in Canada using magnetostratigraphy (black being used to represent normal magnetism and white for reversal). The point about astronomical parameters, ie Milankovitch cycles, is that these controlled global temperatures and climates and thus sea level changes. They also influenced oceanic productivity eg cocolithophore blooms which gave rise to more organic matter resulting in the medium, greyish, more marine beds of the Jurassic at the top of the cliffs resting on the red Triassic beds. After lunch on the rocks we examined the grey rocks of the Westbury formation. These are shaley mudstones, thin limestone bands with sandstones and ‘bone beds’ with monospecific shell layers. Beef calcite and cone-in–cone crystals were found. These are due to later diagenetic changes. The best example of a dog tooth spar being picked up by Alan Holiday. We then turned our attention to the Cotham Member, a sparsely fossiliferous mix of variously green and varying shades of grey calcareous mudstones with mudcracks and stromatolitic- limestones. (G. Warrington and H.C. Cook, 1995.) In places the contorted beds provided evidence of sediment slumping. Several hypotheses have been put forward to explain the mudcracks and slumping famously found here: earthquake? dessication? uplift? However C isotope analysis indicates a large increase in marine organic matter immediately above the Cotham Member leading to the suggestion that methane hydrates produced by methanogenic bacteria were involved. The currently accepted hypothesis is that there was a catastrophic release of methane from submarine methane hydrates, possibly precipitated by earthquakes or climate change. It is known from palaeo proxys that there was a change in climate from arid evaporites to more humid times. This too is probably due to precession (21k.y.cycle). Hummocky cross stratification and slumpy layers may be evidence of storm conditions which may have generated a tsunami and possibly caused by the release of gigatonnes of methane from the methane hydrates. The hummocky layers forming as methane gas was trying to escape upwards.

We then examined the Jurassic/Triassic boundary. In the Blue Lias facies we found plenty of evidence of the marker ammonite Psiloceras planorbis, Psiloceras planorbis which marks the base of the Photo courtesy of Phil Findlay Jurassic. The rocks here include laminated mud rocks in shades of beige and greys. The fine grained carbonates are probably due to abundant cocolithophores resulting from climate change which in turn affected the amount of run off. Organic matter gave rise to the banded shales. It is in these rocks that the characteristic marine fossils such as P planorbis, brachiopods and belemenite species are found. P planorbis is about 4 cm in diameter and very smooth with no ribs. Another indicator of the organic origins of these beds it the characteristic smell of these bituminous shales when Brachiopod at Blue Anchor they are broken open. Photo courtesy of Alan Holiday Wessex Footnotes October 2011 Page 7

Our final stop for the day was at Blue Anchor. Here orangey patches of nodular gypsum are found. Walking over the beach eastward from Blue Anchor we examined boulders with grey and peachy steaks consisting of gypsum lenses interspersed with clay layers. The boulders had broken off from the cliffs where oblique layers of gypsum had formed where the gypsum had been forced up cracks in the rock. On the beach we examined outcrops of the Rhaetic bone beds (top of the Triassic). A few bone fragments were seen but nothing significant.

Lenses of gypsum evaporites Photo courtesy of Alan Holiday

Oblique layers of gypsum in shales Ian Hacker among gypsum Photo courtesy of Alan Holiday Photo courtesy of Alan Holiday Further discussions and refreshments were had later at The Wellington Hotel in Minehead. This report is a fragment of the notes taken; full details were in the 40 page hand out supplied by Dr Coe which included copies of research papers on this fascinating locality. [Also see June 2006 write up in Wessex footnotes for previous account and pictures.] Our gratitude and great pleasure were expressed to Dr Coe for such a fascinating update on the geology of the area.

Helen Phythian WINTER WEEKEND IN KENT References Friday 18th to Sunday 20th November 2011 Kemp D. and Coe A.L., 2007, Based at the Holiday Inn, Hothfield, Nr Ashford, Kent A nonmarine record of eccentricity forcing through the Upper Triassic of southwest Fieldtrips Lectures England and its correlation with the Newark Lympne and introduction to Sandstones of the Weald Basin astronomically calibrated Romney Marsh Ragstone Quarrying geomagnetic polarity time scale from North Cliff End Geology and Flora of Kent America: GEOLOGY, November 2007 Folkestone Warren English Heritage Ragstone

Hermitage Quarry Survey Warrington G. and Ivimey-Cook H.C. 1995 Folkestone Leas Fossils of the North Kent Coast The late Triassic and Early Jurassic of Hothfield Common Activities and Displays coastal section in west Somerset and South St Margaret’s Bay OUGS Merchandise and Mid-Glamorgan: Field Geology of the Building Stones of Canterbury GeoConservation Kent British Jurassic. Geol Society, London. P 9- Loose Valley / Quarry Medway Fossil & Mineral Soc 30 Hotel-based Microfossil Canterbury Building Stones workshop Kent Geological Book Sales

Booking form in the National Newsletter or the OUGS website

Wessex Footnotes October 2011 Page 8 FORTHCOMING OUGS EVENTS IN WESSEX AREA – FULL LISTING ON BACK PAGE

Joint trip with the London Branch Wednesday, 19 October 2011 BATH STOKE MINES - GUIDED TOUR OF A WORKING MINE Bath Stone Mines, Stoke Hill Mine, Limpley Stoke, BA2 7GP Meet at 11 am for a guided tour of the working mine. Stoke ground Bath Stone is an oolitic limestone formed in the middle Jurassic period some 135 million years ago. Numbers limited and only able bodied people will be allowed. This is all to do with Health and Safety! Contact: Jenny Parry. Tel. 02087776034 E-mail [email protected]

Worbarrow Bay, Dorset Sunday, 27 November 2011 AN INTRODUCTION TO GEOLOGY 1, WITH GEORGE RAGGETT

George Raggett gained an OU degree in Geology and Earth Sciences between 1979-1990. He has always been an active member of OUGS and was Wessex branch organiser 1993-2002. He is also an active member of Dorset GA Group and, as well as studying geology in Dorset, has visited Arizona, Portugal and Romania. He particularly enjoys giving his knowledge to young people and kindling their interest in geology. He is especially interested in palaeontology. George started running the annual “Introduction to Geology” field trip for the OUGS in 1993. Worbarrow Bay is a fascinating area demonstrating an abundance of classic sedimentary features and structures of the Jurassic and Cretaceous in the World Heritage Site. A trip not to be missed. Those who repeat the visit always see something new too! There will be a follow-up trip, Introduction to Geology 2, to Tedbury Camp and Vallis Vale on 12 February 2012. To book a place contact: Jeremy Cranmer at [email protected]

Lyme Regis Sunday, 11 December 2011 FOSSIL HUNTING WITH SAM SCRIVEN

Sam Scriven was born in Weymouth and studied geology at the University of Plymouth to gain a M.Geol. He spent four years as the geologist at Charmouth Heritage Centre. He has now worked for threeDIGS years as the Earth Science Adviser to the Jurassic Coast team at Dorset County Council. NeedlessDorset’s toImportant say Sam Geological has an intimate knowledge of the Jurassic Coast and its fossils. He lives in Bridport. Sites Group This is an annual event and this year the walk will start from Charmouth. The exactContact itinerary and more will dependdetails to some extent on what the autumn storms have done to the cliffs. We shall either walkfrom eastwardsAlan Holiday towards Stonebarrow or westwards towards Black Venn. We should be able to visit the Heritage(Chairman Centre atDIGS lunch Group): time. The total distance of the excursion is about 3 miles on varying beach material. [email protected] slippery conditions must be expected - a walking pole can aid stability. Hammer and hand lens should be brought. To book a place contact: Jeremy Cranmer at [email protected]

WESSEX BRANCH COMMITTEE Branch Organiser Sheila Alderman [email protected] Who’s who? Treasurer Rhiannon Rogers [email protected] Day Trip Organiser Jeremy Cranmer [email protected] Acting Newsletter Editor Hilary Barton [email protected] Weekend Trips Mark Barrett [email protected] Website Manager Colin Morley [email protected] Ordinary members: Gwenda Brewer, Lawrie Bubb, Mike Grover, Ian Hacker, Linda Morley

Wessex Footnotes October 2011 Page 9 OTHER LOCAL EVENTS – PLEASE CONTACT THE ORGANISERS DIRECT

DORSET GEOLOGISTS’ ASSOCIATION GROUP (DGAG) www.dorsetgeologistsassociation.com Lulworth Range Walks & Tyneham Village 1 Oct 2011 Field trip: Lulworth to Durdle Door. Leader: John Chaffey. OPENING TIMES 2011 - 2012 2-6pm, 6 PowerPoint presentations on Canada and Australia, plus tea For further information phone 01929 404819 Nov 2011 and cakes. Broadmayne Village Hall, Dorset. OPEN EVERY DAY OVER HOLIDAYS: 10 Dec 2011 Christmas Workshop & buffet lunch. Broadmayne Village 17 December 2011 – 2 January 2012 Hall, Dorset. 31 March – 9 April 2012 14 Jan 2012 AGM at D’Urberville Centre, Wool. Speaker Pete Bath: 5 – 7 May 2012 “Kingston Lacey: a geological gem” 2 – 10 June 2012 OUGS members welcome if they check beforehand that spaces available. 28 July – 9 September 2012 Contact: Doreen Smith tel. 01300 320811 or [email protected] 22 December 2012 – 1 January 2013 OPEN EVERY WEEKEND EXCEPT: 1 -2 October 2011 SOUTHAMPTON GEOLOGY GROUP 12 – 13 November 2011 Meetings held at the National Oceanography Centre 21 - 22 January 2012 Dock Gate 4, Southampton SO14 3ZH 10 - 11 March 2012

7.30pm, 21 Oct Landslides in the Hampshire Basin 21 - 22 April 2012 7.30pm, 18 Nov A Study of Mt Vesuvius, Italy 16 - 17 June 2012

7.30pm, 9 Dec AGM 29 - 30 September 2012

Everybody welcome. For directions, please contact: Lawrie 17 - 18 November 2012

Bubb tel. 02380 898008 or Tony Holmes tel. 02380 472166

Dorset Natural History & Archaeological Society

GEOLOGY LECTURES AT DORSET COUNTY MUSEUM, HIGH WEST STREET, DORCHESTER DT1 1XA 7pm, 12 Oct 2011 Dr Mike Barr Building Stones: their contribution to the landscape of the Jurassic Coast 7pm, 9 Nov 2011 Dr Malcolm Bray Shingle Wars – Chesil Beach 7pm, 14 Dec 2011 Dr Mark Mavrogordato CT-scanning and geological material science 7pm, 11 Jan 2012 Richard Edmonds What is fossil collecting worth to the economy of the Jurassic Coast?

7pm, 8 Feb 2012 Dr Sam Rose What has the Jurassic Coast done for us? 7pm, 14 Mar 2012 Prof Hugh Torrens Lessons from the search for mineral wealth in Dorset

1690 - 1901 7pm, 11 Apr 2012 Dr John Willows Water in, under and out of Dorset

All welcome. A donation of £3 is requested to cover the expenses of visiting speakers. Further information: tel. 01305 262735.

SOUTHAMPTON MINERAL & FOSSIL SOCIETY DIGS - Dorset’s Important Geological Sites Group http://www.sotonminfoss.org.uk Contact and more details from Alan Holiday The Society runs indoor meetings, field trips and other [email protected] activities relating to the collection of minerals and fossils, Forthcoming geo-conservation sessions: and the sites where they are found. Monthly evening 30 Oct 2011 Crack Lane, Langton Matravers meetings are held at The Friends' Meeting House, 26 Nov 2011 Holt Farm, Melbury Osmond Ordnance Road, Southampton. The full programme, and more information about the Society, can be found on its website (address above) or contact Gary Morse, e-mail BOURNEMOUTH NATURAL SCIENCE SOCIETY [email protected], tel. 01489 787300. 39 Christchurch Road, Bournemouth BH1 3NS

http://www.bnss.org.uk The Society covers all the branches of natural science, RUSSELL SOCIETY, SOUTHERN BRANCH including geology and palaeontology. It has an extensive, and very impressive, collection of fossils, http://www.russellsoc.org/sbranch.html rocks and minerals which can be viewed by For anyone interested in minerals, the Branch runs summer appointment and also holds lectures, study groups and field trips and also winter lecture meetings on the second field meetings. For further details, see the Society’s Thursday of each month at Wyvern Technical College, Fair website (address above). If you would like to attend a Oak near Eastleigh, Hampshire. For further information, lecture or meeting, tel. 01202 553525 or e-mail check the Society’s website (address above) or contact Gary [email protected] Morse, e-mail [email protected], tel. 01489 787300.

Wessex Footnotes October 2011 Page 10

WESSEX OUGS AGM and DAY OF LECTURES on Volcanics (Titles to be confirmed) Saturday 21st January 2012 10.15am to 4.00pm D’Urberville Centre, Colliers Lane, Wool, Near Wareham, Dorset BH20 6DL Map reference SY 843 865 (near the mainline railway station).

Charge £8.00 for the day or part of day. AGM attendance free.

Morning Programme 2 lectures in the morning after 10.15 registration

Alan Holiday Chairman of Dorset Geologists Association Group Talk on Arnamurchan

Dr Mike Widdowson The Open University Talk on the Pacific Shatsky Rise

12.45-13-45 Free buffet lunch courtesy of Wessex committee and members

Afternoon programme from 13.45

13.45 Wessex OUGS AGM

1 Apologies for absence 2 Minutes of last meeting 3 Matters arising 4 Agenda items received 5 Officers reports:  Branch Organiser  Treasurer  Day Trips and Library  Newsletter  Website  Residential Trips The committee will then stand down for: 6 Election of officers 7 any other business

3rd Lecture at ~ 14.30 at end of AGM

Dr Dave McGarvie President OUGS Talk on Iceland

Finish by ~ 16.00

Please contact Sheila Alderman [email protected] if you plan to attend. Non Members welcome but don’t vote at AGM!

If you have a collection or display you would like to exhibit please let Sheila know.

Wessex Footnotes October 2011 Page 11 THE OPEN UNIVERSITY GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY (WESSEX BRANCH) – FORTHCOMING EVENTS

This listing covers events in the Wessex area and general Society events. However, members can attend events organised by any OUGS branch - the full listing is at http://ougs.org/events/index.php?branchcode=ouc Wessex Branch field trips Any member can attend any event and places are filled on a first come, first served basis. Non-members are also welcome to attend events, but members will be given priority if places are short. Please contact the organiser to confirm details and to ensure there are spaces. Packed lunches, hard hats, strong footwear and waterproofs are usually required plus reflective clothing in working quarries. Please take note of the safety issues, which the leader will outline at the start of each trip. For day trips there is usually a charge of £1.50 per person to cover expenses. Events shown in italics are joint ones – please contact the host organizer as shown. Late contact on the day (if you’re not coming / late at the last minute): Jeremy Cranmer

DATE EVENT LEADER(S) CONTACT Field trip to Lulworth Cove Jeremy Cranmer Sunday Professor Chris and Mupe Bay, Dorset [email protected] 9 October 2011 Wilson WAITING LIST ONLY Wednesday Bath Stone Mine Jenny Parry [email protected]

19 October 2011 Bath tel. 02087776034 10-day trip to Arizona, USA 3 - 13 November Linda and Colin Colin Morley (Geology of N. Arizona and S. 2011 Morley [email protected] Colorado plateau) Weekend Residential weekend in Kent OUGS Via OUGS website http:/ougs.org 18 - 20 Nov 2011 (field trips, lectures, social) (Sue Mills) Worbarrow Bay Introduction to Geology I 27 November 2011 George Raggett Purbeck, Dorset (suitable for S104, S276, etc.) Jeremy Cranmer Sunday Fossil-hunting at Lyme Regis Sam Scriven [email protected] 11 December 2011 Dorset

Theme: Volcanics Wessex Branch AGM, Speakers: Sheila Alderman Saturday d’Urberville Centre, Wool Alan Holiday [email protected] 21 January 2012 Dorset Dr Mike Widdowson Dr Dave McGarvie Introduction to Geology II, Jeremy Cranmer Sunday Vallis Vale, Somerset Alan Holiday [email protected] 12 February 2012 (suitable for S104, S276, etc) 11-day trip to Southern 22 Mar – 1 April Linda and Colin Colin Morley Arizona (Geology of Basin 2012 Morley [email protected] and Range) OUGS AGM and social OUGS via OUGS website http:/ougs.org 13 – 15 April 2012 weekend, Nottingham (Chris Arkwright) Chris Arkwright [email protected] 7-day trip to Assynt, NW Mark Barrett 5 – 11 May 2012 Dr John Mendum Scotland 17 - 19 August 40th Anniversary Symposium, OUGS via OUGS website http:/ougs.org or 2012 Northampton (Don Cameron) [email protected]

INFORMATION ABOUT INSURANCE ON FIELD TRIPS AND EVENTS Each person attending a field meeting does so on the understanding that he/she attends at his/her own risk. The OUGS has Public Liability Insurance Cover for field and indoor meetings, but Personal Accident Cover and Personal Liability cover remain the responsibility and personal choice of the participant. There may be an element of appropriate cover included in house insurance or in travel insurance: although OUGS activities are not particularly dangerous, members are advised to check whether exclusions apply to activities in which they plan to participate in case they wish to arrange further cover. Annual travel insurance may be the best solution for any member who regularly attends field events: this again is a matter of personal choice. Please note however that all members participating in overseas events will be required to have travel insurance for the duration of the event: this is so that participants are covered for Medical, Repatriation and Personal Liability expenses. The Personal Accident element remains the personal choice of the member and again members are advised to check exclusions so that they can make an informed decision about the cover. Sheila Alderman, Branch Organiser Jeremy Cranmer, Branch Day Events Organiser

Wessex Footnotes October 2011 Page 12