The Open University Geological Society Wessex Branch Newsletter

Website http:/ougs.org/wessex December 2011

Branch Organiser’s Letter CONTENTS Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all in Branch Organiser’s 2011 Report Pages 1-2 OUGS Wessex. Peak District Part 1, 21 May 2011 Pages 2-4 Here is our Annual Report for 2011. News items Page 4 Welcome to our new members and thanks to Chicksgrove Quarry, July 2010 Pages 5-7 existing members for all your support The Badlands of Alberta Pages 8-9 Best Wishes Forthcoming Wessex trips & AGM Page 10 Sheila Alderman Branch Organiser (BOrg) Wessex Branch Committee Page 10

Other organisations’ events Page 11 E-mail: [email protected] OUGS events listing Page 12

WESSEX BRANCH REPORT 2011

We have had another brilliant year in Wessex OUGS, in the Quaternary, Age and Climate” by Dr Jenny thanks to our members for being so enthusiastic and Bennett and “Glacial History of Britain” by Professor to our leaders and lecturers for being so informative. Jim Rose plus a splendid buffet provided by the We have had a well-attended event at least once a committee and members. On the following day we month throughout the year. had an informative field trip to to look at coastal engineering for Portland with Nick Lyness. Jeremy Cranmer has produced an excellent programme of day trips and is also custodian of our We held introductory days in February at Worbarrow library books and maps which you can order from the Bay in with George Raggett and Vallis Vale in website. Colin Morley ably updates our website with the Mendip Hills in March with Alan Holiday. As the news and information plus links to other useful start date of S276 has changed we had a further sites. Mike Grover has produced some excellent Worbarrow visit session in November 2011. I Footnotes over a number of years and has now have been to these sites many times but handed over to Hilary Barton as acting editor always manage to find out more with each who is happy to stand for election as editor in visit. 2012. Rhiannon Rogers took over as In April and May we had our fascinating treasurer this year and thanks to her our books residential trips to Isle of Wight and Peak still balance. Colin and Linda Morley continue to District. Good geologically as well as socially. take groups to explore the geology of Arizona In June Angela Coe showed us sedimentary and have extended this in 2012 to a trip to the processes along the West Somerset Coast basin and range area. Gwenda Brewer with plenty of fossils (and mud). We hope that organised a wonderful weekend trip to the Peak she will take us to Northumberland once the new OU District with Kevin Church from OU and has now practical course is established which is based there. handed over residential trip organising to Mark Barrett, who took us to the Isle of Wight with leader Jenny Bennett and John Mather took us around Craig Hutton - a good time was had by all. Mark has Dawlish Warren to see the Permian deposits and arranged a Wessex week in the Assynt in May 2012 modern coastal defences in July. Rory Mortimore and is exploring an idea of a winter weekend later in explained the Chalk of Dorset at Ringstead in August. the year with Oxford Branch, possibly based in Oxford itself. Very many thanks to all on the A number of Wessex members ventured north of the committee for making Wessex branch what it is. border to Stirling Symposium later in August and went on a DIY trip to Ardnamurchan afterwards with 2011 started in January with 75 of us attending our support from OUGS member Rob Gill and Alan usual AGM and Day of Lectures with Quaternary as Holiday who helped us to work out the geology. Alan the theme “Yesterday, Today - and Tomorrow? The will illustrate what we found in his lecture at our AGM Quaternary in West Sussex” by David Bone, “Dating in January 2012. (Continued on next page.) Wessex Footnotes December 2011 Page 1 (Continued from previous page.) We look forward to what promises to be an excellent Our conservation day in September was at year of events in 2012 commencing on 21 January , clearing the Red Lane RIGS site followed 2012 with our AGM and Lecture Day on Volcanics by a geo-walk with Alan Holiday. In October Chris with lectures by Dave McGarvie, Mike Widdowson Wilson took us around to explore and Alan Holiday. We hope to see as many as extensional and compressional tectonics, the fossil possible of you during 2012. forest and the Cretaceous oil seep. Our final trip in 2011 on December 11th will be fossilling at Sheila Alderman, Branch Organiser Wessex with Sam Scriven. November 2011.

Wessex OUGS weekend field trip to the Peak District, 21 - 22 May 2011 Pennine Basins and Namurian Deltas - Part 1: Saturday, 21 May 2011 Leader - Dr Kevin Church (Earth Sciences, Open University) Reports by Marion Phillips and Lyn Relph During this weekend we looked at the 320 year-old carboniferous sandstone, shales and limestones which typify this part of Derbyshire. Here the delta sequence of Namurian shales and sandstones overlies Dinantian Limestone. It is said that the area in and around the Edale Valley contains probably one of the most complete sequences of the Lower Namurian in Britain. On the Saturday we explored aspects of the Namurian Kinderscout Deltaic sequence and its unconformable junction with the underlying Dinantian limestones. Mam Tor Mam Tor is a 517m hill near Castleton in the High Peak of Derbyshire. We began the morning’s investigation at the base of the south side of Mam Tor, close to the Blue John Cavern (grid reference SK131833). Here is an exposure of Edale Shales which form the base of the sedimentary succession of the Kinderscout deltaic sequence. The very fine-grained blue/black shales are heavily broken Mam Tor sandstone up and it was difficult to reach an unbroken rock face within the slipped area. Nevertheless fossils of goniatites and bivalves were readily found Edale amongst the shale debris. The friable, decayed shale shales are organic-rich (containing some 5% carbon) and pyrites are evident, suggesting that the muds which form the shales were laid down in deep water anoxic conditions. However the presence of Mam Tor Photo courtesy of Ian Hacker numerous fossils might also suggest an aerobic environment. It seems that within the 250 metres or so depth of these shales there are 12 goniatitie-bearing marine bands and it is suggested that these indicate cyclic changes from anoxic to aerobic condition perhaps linked to changes in relative sea levels during deposition. Some siderite concretions were found within the shale at the very top of this rock layer (near the junction with the sandstone). These showed clear laminations within the nodules indicating that precipitation and lithification of Goniatites in Edale Shale Photo Ian Hacker these nodules was post-depositional. The hill is capped by the Mam Tor sandstones (75m), produced by turbidite flows coming off the outer edge of the prograding delta. Lens examination revealed this sandstone to be texturally and compositionally immature. Grain size varied from coarse to fine and the rock contained small grains of mica, and in places was stained with oxidised iron. Within this rock layer lenses of shale (mudstone rip-up clasts) and numerous flute-marks from turbidite flows were clearly seen. Failure of the shale/sandstone slope has resulted in a large rotational landslip which is being added to continually, hence the local name of ‘Shivering Mountain’ for Mam Tor. The slipped mass of shales forms a glacier-like debris flow which moves at a rate maximum of approximately 0.5m/year and is 1000m long. The rate of flow is not constant, slippage is particularly evident after heavy rainfall.

Wessex Footnotes December 2011 Page 2 The dramatic effect of this movement which began 3000+ years ago can be seen in the demise of the old A625 (Manchester to Sheffield) road which was built in 1810 and which crosses the area of slip twice as it winds its way up the slope forming an upper and a lower road. The highway was repaired many times to compensate for the continued creep movements but was closed completely in 1979. Since then the creep has continued and the top road is in ruins as it slowly falls down the hill. Layers of tarmac and gravel up to 2 metres thick demonstrating repeated repairs could be seen. The bottom road shows lateral movement and has shifted 40 metres sideways since it was built. Rotational landslip of A625 built 1810 Marion Phillips closed 1979. Note many repairs to road. Windy Knoll SK126 830 Photo courtesy of Ian Hacker On the Saturday afternoon, we looked at the limestone platform that is older and originally below the Edale Shales (basinal) and Mam Tor sandstones (distal turbidites). On the approach to Windy Knoll (which lived up to its name!) is a small cave thought to be an erosional feature caused by glacial runoff. In the 1870’s Prof. Boyd Dawkins discovered the remains of late Pleistocene animals including fox, reindeer, bear, wolf, hare and bison. Windy Knoll itself is a bioclastic limestone with no good bedding and a blocky appearance. These are neptunian dykes-formation of clints and grikes during exposure of the carbonate platform during relative sea level fall. The fissures eventually become infilled during subsequent sea level rise. The infill between the blocks is finely laminated. Cave at Windy Knoll Photo courtesy of Lyn Relph. With careful inspection fossil remains of bryozoans, crinoids, ‘lithostrotion’ colonial coral, productus and a doubtful gastropod (or maybe a sideways on brachiopod) were found. Hydrothermal fluids from volcanism within the limestone platform deposited minerals consisting of calcite, galena and fluorite. The dark material coating the rock surface and the thick smelly, gooey, black layer at the top is hydrocarbon! Yes we struck black gold but not a get rich quick fix, it is a small quantity of bitumen. It is the organic remains from the source rocks of the Edale Shales, this is unusual because algal ooze material tends to form oil. Perhaps it did but it has all escaped, on a warm calm day the place stinks! The limestone is older, and above, the Mam Tor source rocks therefore the hydrocarbons appear to have travelled sideways through primary porosity (spaces between the grains), secondary porosity (fractures) and tertiary porosity (solution spaces). Hydrocarbon generation has ended but movement through the rocks continues today. Blue John Mine This mine is the only one in the world where these minerals are found. They formed in the voids between the limestone boulders of a scree, probably on the fore front of a reef and near the surface. The limestone boulders are full of crinoids remains and other fossils. Blue John is calcium fluoride (CaF2) that has hydrocarbons included within it. This has then suffered radiation damage from the ‘hot’ (radioactive) shales. These shales are high in uranium (which is precipitated from seawater) indicating that there was very little sedimentation at this time. Blue John forms dark cubic through to octahedral crystals. When it first comes out of the mine it is very wet with voids full of water thus making it a very fragile mineral. Before it can be worked into ornaments it is dried and the voids filled with resin. There are two shades, one blue and the other cream and blue.

Forming within the caves are flow stones that are grey if precipitated Blue John crystals from limestone or buff to orange if they are iron stained calcite. Photo courtesy of Lyn Relph.

Wessex Footnotes December 2011 Page 3 Winnats Pass SK136827 Here the reef front can clearly be seen with Winnats Pass cutting back into the reef. On both sides of the road the dipping clinoforms of the fore reef are well exposed. The horizontal beds at the top of the succession overlay the lower clinoforms therefore the reef was building out into the basin. We discussed the origin of the Pass, glacial, well not the usual U shape left by glaciers though it could have been glacial washout. If cave collapse there should have been a big pile of rubble in the bottom of the valley. It could also be of syn- sedimentry origin, where a current cut into the reef. In reality it is probably a combination of several processes but the cave collapse is unlikely. Dipping clinoforms of the fore reef at Winnats Pass Odin Mine SK134834 Photo courtesy of Lyn Relph. Hydrothermal fluids deposited lead, barite azurite, malachite, allophane and fluorite as they moved through a strike slip fault at the edge of the carbonate platform. The minerals were mined from the 13th century until 1864. Lyn Relph

DURLSTON CASTLE NOW OPEN

Durlston Castle, the Gateway Centre near , has just re-opened after a multi- million pound refurbishment. One of the highlights is the serpentine path from the car park to the castle, which has been designed as a geological timeline – to scale! Key

events in Earth’s history are inscribed in Portland stone panels set into the pathway and the dry stone walls that border it, as well as on freestanding stone plinths. It really is stunning and well worth a visit – as is the Rock Room inside the Castle (open 10am-4pm every day in winter, 10-5pm Apr – Oct). www.durlston.co.uk

STEVE ETCHES’ CRESTED PTEROSAUR FIND IS A NEW SPECIES

Members who have visited Steve Etches’ fossil collection in may have seen the stunning pterosaur skull which was thought to be new to science. The specimen has now been named by Dr Dave Martill of Portsmouth University as Cuspicephalus scarfi (Martill & Etches 2011)1. The name honours cartoonist Gerald Scarfe, who caricatured Margaret Thatcher as a pointy-nosed ‘torydactyl’2. References and further information Image from http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-11-pterosaur-species-political-cartoonist-gerald.html Further images at: http://www.reptileevolution.com/cuspicephalus.htm 1 The research is published in the journal Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. A pre-publication version of the paper is at: http://www.app.pan.pl/archive/published/app56/app20110071_acc.pdf 2 See: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-dorset-15816622 Dr David Martill, University of Portsmouth, has also published a scientific evaluation of Steve Etches’ collection which contains numerous photos, see http://www.kimmeridgeproject.org/assets/files/Etches_scientific_evaluation.pdf Wessex Footnotes December 2011 Page 4 WESSEX OUGS FIELD TRIP TO CHICKSGROVE QUARRY, WILTSHIRE 18 JULY 2010 Leader - John Needham Report by Hilary Barton

Eleven members assembled for Wessex Branch’s second visit to this quarry, which is an SSSI picturesquely sited in the Vale of Wardour anticline FORESTS OF THE DINOSAURS – within an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Wiltshire’s Jurassic Finale The first visit (in March 2010) concentrated on the commercial reason for the quarry’s existence – the £12.95 (incl. p&p) production of building stone, which is used in from Amazon or Hobnob Press Salisbury Cathedral. This time round the focus was Those of you who have enjoyed tours of on the fossils, and the stratigraphy. Chicksgrove Quarry with John Needham will want to know about his new book, which Our leader was John Needham, who has been a describes recent fossil finds from the Vale of stone mason for 30 years and has been exploring Wardour, including the most complete petrified the fossils in this quarry since 2002. He describes tree ever recovered in the UK. himself as an “amateur geologist” but that phrase John will have copies of the book available at needs to be prefaced with the word “gifted”. the AGM in Wool on 21 January 2012 and will Anyone who saw the BBC series “Museum of Life” happily sign them for you. He will also be earlier this year [2010] will know about John’s displaying some of the fossils illustrated in the magnificent find of a fossil tree 11.5 metres long, book, which will be a real treat. which is now in the Natural History Museum. But that is by no means the quarry’s only claim to fame – the rest of this report can cover only some of the highlights.

First, the stratigraphy. The quarry exposes a thick section of the Upper Jurassic, encompassing upper beds of the Portland Stone Formation and the lowest beds of the Purbeck Limestone Group. The first measured section of the quarry was commissioned by Etheldred Benett (1776- 1845), arguably the first female geologist1. The section was published in April 1816 by Sowerby - without her permission and apparently much to her annoyance!

A wealth of fossils has been found in the quarry: dinosaurs, mammals, reptiles, ammonites, fish, bivalves, fossilised trees and other plant remains. John led our tour of the quarry pushing a wheelbarrow full of his key finds so that as we examined each The complete succession, location he was able to produce superb with the laminated fish bed at the top The quarry is a conservation site for the geology so, when examples of the relevant fossil fauna. The operations cease, a full exposure of the complete sequence photos on the next two pages record the tour will be preserved. There is no blasting at this quarry, all the from the bottom to the top of the quarry – rock being extracted mechanically. though not necessarily in the right order! Photo: Rex Bale

Grateful thanks to John Needham for giving us such a fascinating day (and for commenting on a draft of this report), and to the quarry’s owner Will Collins for allowing us to see Chicksgrove’s treasures.

Hilary Barton

1 Cynthia V. Burek, “The first lady geologist, or collector par excellence?” at: http://chesterrep.openrepository.com/cdr/bitstream/10034/12138/1/burek-firstladygeologist.pdf

Wessex Footnotes December 2011 Page 5

Mini-cave with stalactites Note also the flowstone. Photo: Rex Bale

A puzzle The top of the measuring rod is resting on a chunk of The Tisbury Purbeck-type rock (detail at right), which is 8 metres Member contains lower than it should be! It is embedded in the rubbly- lenses of green looking Wockley Member, which in turn rests on the clay, the source of Tisbury member. The junction between the Wockley which has not yet and Tisbury members may be an erosional surface. been established. Photos: Rex Bale It might be derived from volcanic ash. Such ash might

also be the source of the silica which has preserved plant remains. Photo: Rex Bale

A large ammonite ?Kerberites sp, collected by John Needham. Photo: Rex Bale

Fish remains, note jaw with teeth One of John’s finds from the very base of the Purbeck. Photo: Rex Bale

Pterosaur bone – another of John’s finds Photo: Rex Bale

Echinoid spine (left)

The only one John had found at the quarry. Reptile bone (right) Photos: Rex Bale

Wessex Footnotes December 2011 Page 6

Stromatolite Further delights, and some splendid Plant roots – and a tiny piece of fossilised wood views, awaited us as the top of the This was the horizon where John Needham found the 11.5 metre long fossilised tree, which took him and quarry. This is just one of the stromatolites that John Needham has his daughter Izzy countless hours of painstaking work to extract. Not content to rest on his laurels (or his uncovered there. Photo: Rex Bale conifers), he started excavating a nearby area and found more plant remains. Photo: Rex Bale

Cycadophytes

John has uncovered five cycadophytes specimens; these have a strange structure, rather like a mushroom. The photo immediately on the right shows the top, that on the far right shows the underside.

Photos: Rex Bale

Fossilised wood – growth rings The bed yielding fossilised plant material at Chicksgrove has not been named but is considered equivalent to the Great Dirt Bed on the . The Chicksgrove material has patchy silicification but in this case (left) enough to allow the growth rings to be counted. Photo: Rex Bale

When John invited the group to have a go themselves, it became apparent just how much patience is required to find the fossils. The operation is akin to an archaeological excavation. Linda Morley triumphed by finding the pieces in the photo below, probably a plant root. Photo: Rex Bale

Wessex Footnotes December 2011 Page 7 PALAEONTOLOGY AT ITS BEST – IN THE BADLANDS OF ALBERTA Report and photos by Colin Morley After three hours of driving from Medicine Hat across the plains I arrived at Drumheller. The ‘Badlands’ that surround the town are a very rich source of fossils, especially dinosaur fossils. The badlands, while not as colourful as the painted desert of Arizona, are of a similar origin. They were created from sediment deposited by rivers that flowed between 84 and 65 Mya. Dinosaurs were roaming through the area, which had much in common with the Florida of today. When the animals died their remains were either scavenged or were buried in the muddy sediments to eventually become fossils. The rock layers that were deposited after the dinosaurs became extinct, were scraped away by glaciers. As the glaciers retreated at the end of the last ice age, the land was stripped Fig 1 Typical fossil hunting territory bare. The exposed rock is mainly soft mudstones and Southern Alberta’s harsh dry climate erodes the land quickly and exposes the fossils – if we are lucky. Just to the west of Drumheller, surround by countryside as in fig 1, is the Royal Tyrell Museum of Palaeontology. The museum has a fantastic display of (mainly) vertebrates. The majority of the fossils displayed are locally found. The field work is methodical and finds are often the result of hours and weeks working their way through the terrain with eyes firmly fixed on the ground. Once found they try to work out the orientation and size of the fossil. As they clear the area they dig a trench around the specimen and, after putting a layer of tissue to prevent it sticking, use sacking and plaster to protect it. Larger specimens as fig 2 are mapped using a grid to aid with reconstruction. After digging out underneath, the specimens are ‘flipped over’ so that the underside can be protected. Once back at the museum the work of preparing the Fig 2 partially specimen can start as in fig 3. The excavated fossil Fig 3 Preparing the fossil Royal Tyrell is the only place where three complete ‘T Rex’ skeletons are on display. The ‘T Rex’ known as ‘Black Beauty’ is shown in fig 4 below. Although I glibly talked of ‘flipping specimens over’ to protect the underside, some are, of course, rather large. Indeed last season’s field work started with lift of a block containing the skeleton of a small individual Gorgosaurus (a smaller relative of Tyrannosaurus Rex) that was excavated the season before. It was too heavy, and big, to lift by people power so a helicopter was used to lift it out and take it back to the Museum. In addition to the Gorgosaurus a number of other significant fossils were found. One of these is the partial skull of a crested Hadrosaur. The shape of the crest shows that this is Lambeosaurus lambei. The specimen will be useful for studies of the variation in crest shape in this species, as well as documenting their distribution. Some of the museum’s rarest specimens are kept in a secure vault. They have 317 ‘holotypes’ – a term to describe the first known of its kind world- Fig 4 The end result – Black Beauty wide. If better specimens are found later the holotypes are not superseded.

Wessex Footnotes December 2011 Page 8

While many of the specimens on display are spectacular there are obviously many that are scientifically valuable but lack that ‘wow’ factor that draws in the general public. For those of us who find the subject fascinating even small fragments are spectacular. The amazing detail on the specimen that I am holding in fig 6 would be most welcome in anyone’s collection. I had problems letting it go. Dr. David Eberth’s team opened and excavated an Fig 6 ‘fragment’ of turtle area on the north side of the Red Deer River. This site was found near the end of 2008, and is particularly exciting because it is only the second known bone bed yielding the remains of Styracosaurus canadensis, a relatively rare horned dinosaur with a distinctive array of hooks and smaller spikes on its frill. The crew collected more than 100 elements during the month-long dig, which is especially noteworthy because it is currently the youngest horned dinosaur bone bed known from the park, with an estimated Fig 7 The frill of a Styracosaurus age of 75.3 million years. Evidence from this new site supports the hypothesis that widespread coastal plain flooding was responsible for the deaths of these animals. Their presence in a bone bed configuration seems to confirm they were together in a herd at the time of death. The team fully expect new insights into this unusual dinosaur to come from this find. It may be a long way from home but I hope that I have shown that the ‘Badlands’ of Alberta are really very ‘good lands’ for palaeontology Colin Morley

WOULD YOU LIKE A BIT MORE COLOUR IN YOUR LIFE? Those of you who receive the printed copy of Footnotes may not realise that all the photos are actually in colour – and often this gives them an extra dimension. To see a full-colour version, you have two options:  Sign up for the electronic version of Footnotes, which will be e-mailed to you as a .pdf file of less than 1MB. E-mail me at the address below if you would like to be added to this distribution list.  Go to the Branch’s website at http://ougs.org/wessex and click on “Newsletter” in the list on the left hand side to reach a link to the current edition of Footnotes. Alternatively, go straight to the “Membership Services” area where, after signing in with your surname and membership number, you can access not only all editions of Footnotes from December 2006 but also lots of other stuff. If you don’t like reading text on screen, let Adobe read it to you (via the View menu) while you admire the photos! Over 10% of members now receive Footnotes by e-mail, which is not only more eco-friendly but also reduces our printing and postage bill. Hilary Barton (Acting Newsletter Editor) E-mail: [email protected]

CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE NEWSLETTER HELP NEEDED WITH NEW GEOLOGICAL DICTIONARY

Contributions are very welcome – please feel Fans of the BBC Radio 4 programme I’m Sorry I Haven’t a free to send me anything you feel would be Clue will be pleased to know that a geological edition of of interest to other members. the Uxbridge English Dictionary is in preparation. Here I will try to include all submissions, subject are a few of the planned entries. to space constraints and copyright rules. Intrusive rock loud popular music (Please note that the author is responsible Reverse fault backing into a lamp post for obtaining any copyright permission.) Doline a queue at the job centre Don’t hesitate to contact me for advice on Sedimentary I mistakenly referred to Tom and Dick submitting material for publication. Or check the “Notes for Contributors” on the News or Syncline tend towards wickedness Newsletter tab at: http://ougs.org/wessex Tectonic pick-me-up for specialists Hilary Barton Acting Newsletter Editor Contributions from Footnotes readers are welcome and [email protected] should be sent to the editor at [email protected]

Wessex Footnotes December 2011 Page 9 FORTHCOMING OUGS EVENTS IN WESSEX – FULL LISTING ON BACK PAGE

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 three years as the Earth Science Adviser to the Jurassic Coast team at . Needless to say Sam has an intimate knowledge of the Jurassic Coast and its fossils. He lives in Bridport. This is an annual event and this year the walk will start from Charmouth. The exact itinerary will depend to some extent on what the autumn storms have done to the cliffs. We shall either walk eastwards towards Stonebarrow or westwards towards Black Venn. We should be able to visit the Heritage Centre at lunch time. The total distance of the excursion is about 3 miles on varying beach material. Some 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].

Wool Saturday, 21 January 2012 WESSEX OUGS AGM AND DAY OF LECTURES ON VOLCANICS After registration at 10.15am, there will be two lectures on the theme of “Volcanics” - by Alan Holiday on Arnamurchan and Dr Mike Widdowson on the Pacific Shatsky Rise. A free buffet lunch will be provided before the AGM at 1.45pm. The final lecture, at 2.30pm, will be given by Dr Dave McGarvie (OUGS President) on Iceland. The charge for the whole day is £8 but attendance at the AGM is free. The agenda for the AGM was published in the October 2011 edition of Footnotes. Non-members are welcome but cannot vote at the AGM. Contact Sheila Alderman by e-mail at [email protected] if you plan to attend. Please also let Sheila know if you have a collection or display you would like to exhibit.

Vallis Vale And Tedbury Camp, Somerset Sunday, 12 February 2012 AN INTRODUCTION TO GEOLOGY II, WITH ALAN HOLIDAY Alan Holiday has taught geography and geology in Weymouth since 1971 and most recently has been working at Weymouth College. He is now retired but spends much of his time leading field trips! Over the years he has been involved in a range of OUGS activities as well as now being Chairman of the DGAG and Dorset RIGS group. The trip is aimed at S104 and S276 students. This site is a great location to extend the knowledge gained on the Introduction to Geology I field trip to on 27 November last year. However while it is complimentary it is not necessary to have attended the first one. We shall study the Carboniferous limestone and its unconformable relationship with the overlying Triassic and Jurassic rocks providing Evidence for the effects of the Variscan Orogeny. The famous de la Beche unconformity is a classic and recent conservation work on Tedbury Camp has exposed the structures for all too see. The 2 km walk is mostly flat, with a slight incline to Tedbury Camp and a steep incline with steps to return to cars. To book a place, contact: Jeremy Cranmer at [email protected]

WESSEX BRANCH COMMITTEE Branch Organiser Sheila Alderman [email protected] 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] Librarian Jeremy Cranmer [email protected] Ordinary members: Gwenda Brewer, Lawrie Bubb, Mike Grover, Ian Hacker, Linda Morley

Wessex Footnotes December 2011 Page 10 OTHER LOCAL EVENTS – PLEASE CONTACT THE ORGANISERS DIRECT

DORSET GEOLOGISTS’ ASSOCIATION GROUP (DGAG) LULWORTH RANGE WALKS www.dorsetgeologistsassociation.com 10 Dec 2011 Christmas Workshop & buffet lunch. Broadmayne Village Hall. & VILLAGE 14 Jan 2012 AGM at D’Urberville Centre, Wool. Speaker Pete Bath: Opening times 2011 - 2012 “Kingston Lacey: a geological gem” Further information tel. 01929 404819 26 Feb 2012 Weymouth Relief Road. Leader: Alan Holiday. OPEN EVERY DAY OVER HOLIDAYS: 9-11 Mar 2012 Possible weekend in West Cornwall. 17 December 2011 – 2 January 2012 OUGS members welcome if they check beforehand that spaces available. 31 March – 9 April 2012 Contact: Doreen Smith tel. 01300 320811 or [email protected] 5 – 7 May 2012 2 – 10 June 2012 28 July – 9 September 2012 SOUTHAMPTON GEOLOGY GROUP 22 December 2012 – 1 January 2013 Meetings start 7.30pm at the National Oceanography Centre, Dock Gate 4, OPEN EVERY WEEKEND EXCEPT:

Southampton SO14 3ZH 21 - 22 January 2012 10 - 11 March 2012 9 Dec 2011 AGM 21 - 22 April 2012 20 Jan 2012 The Wessex Formation of the Isle of Wight 16 - 17 June 2012 17 Feb 2012 Did the Americans land on the Moon? (geochemistry) 29 - 30 September 2012 Everybody welcome. For directions, please contact: 17 - 18 November 2012 Lawrie Bubb or Tony Holmes

Dorset Natural History & Archaeological Society

GEOLOGY LECTURES AT DORSET COUNTY MUSEUM, HIGH WEST STREET, DORCHESTER DT1 1XA 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.

DIGS - DORSET’S IMPORTANT GEOLOGICAL SITES GROUP Contact and more details from Alan Holiday.

BOURNEMOUTH NATURAL SCIENCE SOCIETY RUSSELL SOCIETY, SOUTHERN BRANCH 39 Christchurch Road, Bournemouth BH1 3NS http://www.russellsoc.org/sbranch.html http://www.bnss.org.uk The Society covers all the branches of natural science, Gary Morse: [email protected], tel. 01489 787300. including geology and palaeontology. It has an extensive, For anyone interested in minerals, the Branch runs summer field and very impressive, collection of fossils, rocks and trips plus winter lecture meetings on the second Thursday of the month at Wyvern Technical College, Fair Oak, near Eastleigh Hants. minerals which can be viewed by appointment and also has a full programme of lectures, study groups and field meetings. For further details, see the Society’s website. If you would like to attend a lecture or meeting, SOUTHAMPTON MINERAL & FOSSIL SOCIETY tel. 01202 553525 or e-mail [email protected] http://www.sotonminfoss.org.uk Gary Morse: [email protected], tel. 01489 787300 DORSET BUILDINGS GROUP The Society runs indoor meetings, field trips and other The Group aims to promote the preservation of Dorset’s activities relating to the collection of minerals and building traditions and so takes a practical interest in building fossils, and the sites where they are found. Monthly stones and local geology. Winter talks will be held at Holt evening meetings are held at The Friends' Meeting Village Hall, near Wimborne, on 8 Jan, 5 Feb and 4 Mar 2001, House, Ordnance Road, Southampton. The full starting 2.30pm. For further information, contact John Imber, programme, and more information about the Society, can be found on its website or from Gary Morse.

Wessex Footnotes December 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 or late at the last minute: Jeremy Cranmer DATE EVENT LEADER(S) CONTACT Jeremy Cranmer Sunday Fossil-hunting at 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) Jeremy Cranmer Sunday Professor Rory Chalk in the Winchester area [email protected] 18 March 2012 Mortimore

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) or e-mail [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) e-mail [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

IF YOU DON’T HAVE THE OS SHEET FOR A FIELD TRIP

Sometimes members have problems finding a location because they don’t have the OS sheet for the area – and they are expensive to buy for a one-off occasion. You can go to http://www.streetmap.co.uk and then:  click where it says “click here for the old site”.  click on “OS grid (enter as x,y)” and enter the grid reference as it appears on your OUGS risk assessment sheet.  use the plus and minus buttons below the map to set the zoom level you need.  click on “printer friendly version” if you want to print it out. I hope this helps, Jeremy

Wessex Footnotes December 2011 Page 12