ON the ROCKS Newsletter of the Yorkshire Branch of the Open University Geological Society December 2018

ON THE ROCKS Newsletter of the Yorkshire Branch of the Open University Geological Society December 2018

Wast Water reflection, in the Lake District. Looking northeast from Grid Ref. NY 15130 05376. From left to right, the mountains are Great Gable (899m), Lingmell (807m), Scafell Pike (978m) and Scafell (964m), all in the Borrowdale Volcanic Group. Scafell Pike is the highest mountain in England, Wast Water is the deepest lake (76m) – the bottom is 15m below sea level. Peter Roberts 15.10.18

Editor’s piece CONTENTS Welcome to the last On The Rocks of 2018. We have a report by Peter Vallely on 2. Rick’s musings two of this year’s field trips, a light-hearted dig at two Branch Organisers who 3. Spot the unconformity attended the recent Blencathra week (no offence intended!), details of the 4. Geological cakes forthcoming AGM in Leeds in January, an invitation to those of you who still receive 5. Two visits to the see a black and white copy in the post to join the rest of us who receive it via email in Carboniferous rocks 13. 2019 AGM details full colour, and finally a plea for contributions to the newsletter. I would like to thank 14. 2019 mapping course those members who have sent in items, including Peter Vallely for his reports, and 16. A plea for articles Peter Roberts for the stunning photo above. I hope you all have an enjoyable festive season and look forward to seeing some of you at the AGM.

Peter Ellenger

The Yorkshire Branch of the OUGS December 2018

Branch Organiser’s Musings

Dear Members

Welcome to the fourth newsletter 2018, a year in which we had six absolutely amazing field trips, two of which are reported in this issue.

In November we again visited Blencathra, with the trip being enjoyed by 16 members, and saw us visiting all areas of The Lakes. Over the years I have been to Shap Wells on numerous occasions but have never been lucky enough to see the famous unconformity, so imagine my delight to be able to go there and the river not be in full flood. Geoff Downer (South-East BO) and myself had a debate as to where it was. Neither of us were right and had to be corrected by our geology tutor from the FSC – Blencathra Centre (see page 3, ed). At least I have now seen it with my own eyes.

Our trip to Norber and Crummackdale unfortunately had to be cancelled as I had hurt myself at work and was unable to lead the trip or find an alternative leader at short notice. I am planning to re-run the trip in March or April next year. It will be based on the Ramblings of Alan Stollery.

The Branch AGM is coming up and I will shortly be emailing you with details of the four talks I have arranged following the AGM. While I am prepared to stand again as Branch Organiser, 2019 will definitely be my last year. I will have been Branch Organiser for eight years. With national membership falling the Society is looking at amalgamating branches as a cost saving measure and while no branch will be forced to join another it will be sure to happen if there is no Branch Organiser or no Treasurer. So, what I am saying is if you want to stay as the Yorkshire Branch, we need members that will step up to take the branch to a new era. In short, your branch needs you!! We would have two choices, join with Northumbria Branch or join with the North-West Branch and start the War of The Roses again!

At present, I am trying to organise next year’s events, so that we again have a busy and successful year. More of them will be based on the Ramblings of Alan Stollery which is no hardship as his works are extremely well written and entertaining.

As it is the run up to Christmas, I would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a Merry Christmas and prosperous New Year. I hope that many of you get geologically-themed presents. For me Christmas will be spent writing a TMA for the Environmental module I am now undertaking.

Finally, can I remind all members to keep your details up to date and to keep the Membership Secretary informed of any changes. Can I also remind you that we have a Facebook group and are also on Twitter. @openunigeolsoc & @YorkshireOUGS

Best wishes

Rick Savage

Yorkshire OUGS Branch Organiser 07761 409807

Blencathra 2018 group photo taken by Rick Savage

The Yorkshire Branch of the OUGS December 2018

How many Branch Organisers does it take to spot an unconformity?

During this year’s YOUGS Blencathra week Yorkshire’s BO Rick Savage and the South East BO Geoff Downer took time out to visit the unconformity upstream of The Shap Wells Hotel, which will be well- known to hundreds of OU students who attended a Durham Summer School. There was a little uncertainty as to exactly where it was until assistance came from Pippa, our guide for the day from the Blencathra Field Study Centre where we were staying. I’m not certain what was actually being said, so I can’t be sure that the captions beside the two photos are entirely accurate!

Geoff is saying “No Rick, it’s about two metres above the water-line”

And Pippa is saying “Actually, you’re both wrong, it’s only about 50 centimetres above the water-line”

The Yorkshire Branch of the OUGS December 2018

This might be of interest to any member who likes cakes

A few years ago, the Geological Society of London (GSL) ran a geologically-themed cake baking competition, which has now become an annual event. A number of different classes are available with points being awarded depending on the difficulty involved and the imagination used.

Competitors can enter as many classes as they wish with the winner being the person who accumulates the highest aggregate score.

Giant’s Causeway biscuits. Photo from GSL website Mid-Atlantic ridge. Photo from GSL website

The ingenuity shown by competitors is remarkable and two entries are shown above. Further examples are available here.

Inspired by the competition, my daughter baked me one for a recent birthday. The photo shows me explaining a reverse fault, while the cake demonstrates a normal fault.

If you have baked a geologically-themed cake I will be pleased to share any photos that you may have.

The editor explaining a reverse fault to his family.

Do you receive this newsletter by post?

If you do, why not consider switching to receive it via email. Not only will you be able to enjoy the photographs in full colour, but you will also be saving the Branch’s printing and postage costs and be able to access the embedded links to the various websites mentioned in the text. To switch, send me an email at [email protected].

The Yorkshire Branch of the OUGS December 2018

Beyond the edge…….

Two field trips looking at the Carboniferous off the edge of the Askrigg Block.

You are probably all familiar with the classic landscapes of the Yorkshire Dales such as the vertical limestone cliffs of Malham, Gordale and Kilnsey; and the stepped topography of the Yoredale Series in Wensleydale. But are these really typical landscapes of the Lower Carboniferous in Yorkshire? Well yes and no! These were all deposited in fairly shallow water on the Askrigg Block. Away from the block, the water was deeper, the sediments were muddier, and so the scenery is less spectacular. This article covers two of last summer’s field trips which look at the geology beyond the Askrigg Block. The first is on the very edge of the Askrigg Block, at Scaleber near Settle. The second is much deeper into the basin in the Forest of Bowland. Both trips explore rocks of the Visean Stage (the upper part of the Lower Carboniferous – see Table 1.).

Tectonic Background

Before the Carboniferous Period (which began about 360 million years ago), we had the Caledonian orogeny. This was when the Iapetus Ocean closed and the continents of Avalonia, Laurentia and Baltica collided - causing a great deal of deformation all the way from eastern USA to Scandinavia. Or in simple terms: England collided with Scotland along the line of the Solway Firth and Hadrian’s Wall. Following the Caledonian Orogeny, much of what is now Northern England was subjected to extensional forces, and in early Carboniferous times it developed into a series of fault-bounded ‘blocks’ separated by subsiding ‘basins’. During the Visean, the blocks became flooded by shallow seas which deposited mainly limestones; whereas in the basins the seas were much deeper and deposited mainly mudstones with thinner limestones. Paleo-magnetic evidence shows that Northern England was just South of the equator in the Carboniferous, which explains the abundant limestones and coral reefs.

The Yorkshire Branch of the OUGS December 2018

Date 7th July 2018 Leader: Bill Fraser

Location: Scaleber Bridge. North Yorkshire (2 Km east of Settle) (SD 841 625)

OS 1:25000 map OL2 (Yorkshire Dales Southern and Western area)

Eight members met up with Bill Fraser at Scaleber Bridge on a very hot July day. Bill has led a number of interesting trips for YOUGS over the past few years including: The Dent Marble, Roundhay Park, and Thorner.

Bill began by explaining the tectonic setting. The sediments in the Scaleber area are transitional between the Askrigg Block to the North; and the Craven Basin to the South. They are separated by the Craven Fault System, a series of roughly E–W trending faults which were probably initiated during the Caledonian Orogeny. The Askrigg Block remained buoyant as it had been intruded by the relatively low density Raydale Granite. Scaleber lies between the Mid Craven Fault and the South Craven Fault. Much of this transitional zone is covered by uninspiring Bowland Shales, but in the Scaleber area, streams have cut deeply to expose the older Visean rocks.

Location 1. Scaleber Force (SD 841626) Scaleber Force Limestone

From the car park, we crossed the bridge and descended steeply to Scaleber Force. Here the Scaleber Force Limestone – which consists of limestone bands interbedded with mudstones - forms a series of rapids (fig 1). The rapids were formed in the usual way - the stream erodes the mudstones more easily, thus undercutting the limestone bands which collapse to form the vertical steps of the waterfall.

Interestingly, the Scaleber Force Limestones are the same age as the very thick Kilnsey Limestones about 10 miles to the North West. The Kilnsey Limestones formed in shallow water of fairly constant depth which provided stable conditions for shelly invertebrates, whereas the Scaleber Force Limestones where formed in slightly deeper water with fluctuating depth – giving rise to less favourable conditions for invertebrates.

Fig 1 Bill looking for fossils in shale bands at Scaleber Force

L oc. 2 Scaleber Beck (SD 839624) South Craven Fault

We climbed back to the bridge and walked 300m southwards, high above the beck, to a good viewpoint. Bill indicated two side gullies on the east side of Scaleber Beck which showed where the South Craven Fault has split into two branches.

Bill is not someone who lets a bit of health and safety get in the way of a good exposure and soon we were sliding down steep grass to view one of the best exposures of the South Craven Fault (Fig. 2).

Fig 2. An interesting descent to Scaleber Beck Fig 2. The South Craven Fault. The fault plane is in the centre of the picture. The Pendle Grit (Namurian) on the left has been downfaulted. The Bowland Shales (late Visean) on the right appear to be lower because the shale erodes more easily 6

The Yorkshire Branch of the OUGS December 2018

Loc. 3 Scaleber Quarry (SD 841627) Scaleber Quarry Limestone

We returned to Scaleber Bridge and continued to Scaleber Quarry, which exposes 12m of grey, well-bedded limestones (the Scaleber Quarry Limestones). The lower beds contain black chert in bands and in nodules – which were probably deposited by hydrothermal fluids. The upper beds become paler and more thinly-bedded and here we found many good examples of the coral Lithostrotion in growth positions (Fig 3).

Fig 3. Lithostrotion in Scaleber Quarry

Loc. 3a High Hill (SD 837634) Reef Limestones

We went back to the cars for a picnic lunch. Bill pointed out High Hill, a prominent reef knoll, about a mile to the NW with its steep south face rising for 100m. It is made up of unbedded limestone of variable nature and was formed shortly after the Scaleber Quarry Limestones. There are number of similar reef knolls on the edge of the Askrigg block. They grew up where the shelf sea met with deeper water to the south. The situation is comparable with modern reef development in the Bahama Banks.

Loc. 4 Scaleber Beck (SD 841627–841629) Limestone Conglomerates

After lunch, we explored the outcrops further upstream in Scaleber Beck to the NE. Here, the Scaleber Quarry Limestone is overlain unconformably by the Limestone Conglomerate. This consists of pebbles and blocks set in a mudstone matrix derived from the Reef Limestones and from the Yoredale Group. Some of these blocks are steeply inclined (Fig 4). It seems that reefs, such as High Hill, became eroded when sea levels changed and the debris tumbled down slope to form the Limestone Conglomerate. Some blocks are partly dolomitised and weather to a brown colour due to their iron content. The dolomitisation occurred in late Carboniferous times from low temperature hydrothermal fluids. These fluids also produced the silification seen in Scaleber Quarry, as well as nearby mineral deposits of sphalerite, chalcopyrite, azurite and smithsonite

Fig 4 Two sheep discuss the origin of large blocks of the Limestone Conglomerate – note the near vertical dips of the blocks on the right.

The Yorkshire Branch of the OUGS December 2018

Loc. 5 Scaleber Beck (SD 841630) Upper Bowland Shales

A bit further along, Bill indicated an outcrop of grey micaceous Bowland Shales infilling an erosional hollow in the Limestone Conglomerates on the eastern side of Scaleber Beck. The shale dips northwards at around 25° so it rests unconformably on the Limestone Conglomerate, indicating uplift and erosion of the Askrigg Block at the end of the Visean Stage (Fig 5).

Fig 5. Bowland Shales infilling an erosional hollow

Loc. 6 Black Gill Beck (SD 845624) Upper Bowland Shales

A little further upstream, we found a thick sequence of black shales in the deeply eroded valley of Black Gill Beck. Just above stream level is a 5m thick lens of conglomerate made up of limestone boulders belonging to the Wensleydale (Yoredale) Group, which are highly fossiliferous (Figs 7 and 8). These are of similar age to the Upper Bowland Shales and must have been dislodged from land at least a mile away to the north of the Mid-Craven fault.

Fig 6. Limestone conglomerate lens in Upper Bowland Fig 7. Large crinoid fossils in limestone boulder - indicating Shales at Black Gill beck. stable conditions

We returned to Scaleber Bridge. Bill pointed out the line of the Mid Craven fault which was clearly visible one mile to the north as a well-defined fault scarp formed from limestones of the Malham formation and of the Wensleydale Group. Bill told us that erosion had removed much of the Bowland Shales in this area to reveal how the submarine topography may have looked in Late Dinantian times.

We all thanked Bill for an excellent trip, and he happily ran off back to Settle – undeterred by the 30°C temperatures.

Article and all photos by Peter Vallely

The Yorkshire Branch of the OUGS December 2018

Date: 21st May 2018 - Leader: Paul Kabrna - Location: Hodder Valley, Forest of Bowland.

OS 1:25000 map OL41 (Forest of Bowland and Ribblesdale) SD 633512)

One fine morning in May, we were welcomed by Paul Kabrna at Langdon Brook near Dunsop Bridge (the geographical centre of the British Isles). Paul runs the Craven and Pendle Geological Society (CPGS). He is very much an expert on the geology of the area and has written a book about it (see References). He has previously led YOUGS on trips to Nick of Pendle, Salthill Quarry, and Todmorden.

When I first went on a field trip with Paul, all the Carboniferous rocks that he showed us seemed completely wrong! The CPSG had deliberately rearranged strata in the middle of night just to confuse us Yorkshire geologists – and they probably caused those Lancashire earthquakes which everyone blames on the fracking. Only later, did I find out that the rocks were different because they were basin deposits and I was familiar with shelf deposits.

Paul explained that we would be looking at exposures in the Hodder Mudstone Formation, which was deposited at about the same time as the Kilnsey and Scaleber Force Limestones but at greater depth. Much of the sequence would be mudstones which settled out of fairly deep water, with some limestones usually formed from turbidity currents.

Location 1. West Sykes Quarry (SD 627519) Hetton Beck Limestone

We walked a few hundred yards to West Sykes Quarry (Fig 1) – which exposes around 85m of the Hetton Beck Limestone (part of the Hodder Mudstone Formation). Paul asked us to decide whether or not the limestone was deposited in-situ. Well, it looked like a typical limestone, but looking closer, we found that some of the beds became finer upwards and the beds had sharp erosive surfaces. We found plenty of silicified fossils including: crinoids, bryozoans and corals: especially Syringapora (Fig 2), but none of these were in life positions.

Fig 1. West Sykes quarry. Note the adits made by lead Fig 2. Silicified fossil of the coral: Syringapora at West Sykes miners at the top. quarry.

W e climbed higher up the quarry to inspect a slumped bed. This provided an opportunity for Rick to test his new camera-phone by throwing it 100 feet down a cliff – it survived. Paul explained that Hetton Beck Limestone is a limestone turbidite. In other words, it was deposited by a density current (a kind of sediment slurry) that flowed down a submarine slope at great speed. The quarry lies at the core of the Sykes Anticline and was mined for galena and sphalerite in the 18th century. As in the Scaleber area, mineralisation was probably caused by expulsion of hot fluids from deeply buried mudstones during the Variscan Orogeny. 9

The Yorkshire Branch of the OUGS December 2018

Locality 2. East Sykes Quarry (SD 629519) Hetton Beck Limestone

We ran back down to the bottom of the quarry and crossed over to the neighbouring East Sykes Quarry. It was a bit overgrown but we found a good example of a slump (Fig 3).

Slumps superficially look like tectonic folds but they can easily be distinguished because the beds below and above them are not deformed. They are often formed when sediments are deposited on a slope, but then move when they are still only partially-lithified.

Fig 3. Slump at East Sykes quarry

Locality 3. Ashnott Knoll. (SD 693481) Coplow Limestone

We headed back to the cars and had lunch - making use of the strategically placed butty van. Afterwards we drove a few miles to park near New Laith Farm on the slopes of Waddington Fell. Here we had a good view of the Waulsortian mud mound known as Ashnott Knoll (which currently has access problems). Waulsortian mud mounds form prominent features in the Craven area –notably the hill underlying Clitheroe Castle. They are mounds of lime-mud which have been colonised and somehow stabilised by crinoids and other invertebrates. They differ from the true reefs which have a framework built by corals and other living organisms, such as the reefs we saw at Scaleber. Ashnott Knoll is highly fossiliferous and belongs to the Coplow Limestone (Tournaisian). It forms a core of an anticline and has been mined for lead in the past.

Locality 4. Bonstone Brook (SD 6955 4868) Rain Gill Limestone

Paul warned us that to get to the Bonstone Brook we needed to cross a “gamekeeper’s stile”. I assumed this was a local euphemism for an eye-watering stride across a barbed wire fence, so was pleasantly surprised when it turned out to be ….a stile. We descended the brook which was well- exposed and reasonably easy-going in the current semi-drought conditions. The first thing we noticed was a spectacular slump in the Rain Gill Limestone (Fig 4), which suggested that this formation was gravity-fed into the basin.

Fig 4 Spectacular slump in the Rain Gill Limestones at Bonstone Brook

The Yorkshire Branch of the OUGS December 2018

Locality 5. Gravity slide. (SD 6953 4874) Rain Gill Limestone

We descended further down the brook. Thinly- bedded and very crumbly mudstones and siltstones are well-exposed all the way and because of their significant downstream dip, they counter-intuitively got progressively younger as we descended. We eventually came to a dramatic feature which looks like a tectonic fault but Paul said that the steeply dipping mudstones were caused by a gravity slide (Fig 5), which can be triggered by earth tremors. They differ from slumps in that the sediment would have been fully-lithified prior to the movement.

Fig. 5 Rick indicates the location of the gravity slide

Locality 6 Dunbarella bed (SD 6917 4876) Chaigley Mudstone

Further downstream near the junction with the Crag Beck, we crossed into the Chaigley Mudstone member. Within this member there is a 20 cm calcareous bed known as the Dunberella Bed which contains many bivalves - including (unsurprisingly) Dunbarella with its distinctive flat profile which is the symbol of the CPGS (Fig 6). Unfortunately, the stream has moved in recent years and the Dunbarella Bed now seems to be underwater. Paul spots a Dunbarella (Fig 7), but unfortunately falls into a stream while chasing after it (note that the stream bed follows a bedding surface) (Fig 8).

Fig 6. Dunbarella. Photo Paul Kabrna

The Yorkshire Branch of the OUGS December 2018

Fig 7. Paul spots a Dunbarella. Fig 8. Paul falls in jumping back Photo Rick Savage Photo Rick Savage

After an unsuccessful search we scrambled back up the brook to the cars. We all thanked Paul warmly for another excellent trip, and headed off to enjoy the rest of the hot afternoon.

Article and photos by Peter Vallely (except Bowland 6-8)

With thanks to excursion notes from Bill Fraser and book by Paul Kabrna.

References: Kabrna, Paul (2011) Carboniferous geology Bowland Fells to Pendle Hill. Published by Craven & Pendle Geological Society

The Yorkshire Branch of the OUGS December 2018

Agenda

1. Apologies

2. Welcome

3. Minutes of the last meeting held on 27th January 2018. These appeared in the June 2018 Newsletter. This can be seen by logging into the Members section on the YOUGS website here then continuing to the Members Information Pages.

4. Matters arising from those minutes

5. Correspondence

6. Officers’ reports; Branch Organiser, Treasurer, Newsletter Editor, Event Officer

7. Thanks to existing committee

8. Election of Officers; Branch Organiser, Treasurer, Newsletter Editor, Event Officer

9. Alan Stollery update

10. Any Other Business

11. Date, time and venue of next meeting

Following the AGM there will be four talks, one before lunch and three after. Entry to the AGM and the first lecture is free, but to cover the afternoon-speakers’ expenses a small charge will be made. It is anticipated the last talk will finish at approximately 3.45pm. Full details of the talks have not yet been finalised but will be emailed to members by the Branch Organiser shortly. Although we will have facilities for making tea and coffee, unfortunately the Centre’s café will not be open on the day and we are not certain whether nearby cafés will be either, so members are advised to bring along a packed lunch.

There is a free car park nearby at Joseph’s Well (first left after the Swarthmore building) for use by the general public at weekends, but it does get full. However, it should still have spaces at the time of the meeting. The nearest charging car park is on the left just before the zebra crossing as the road veers right, otherwise the multi storey across from the university is only 5 mins walk away as you head for the Leeds General Infirmary (LGI) and walk along in front of the LGI, over the footbridge over the ring road and you’re there.

The train station is not far away and details of buses to the Centre are on the Centre’s web site here.

The Yorkshire Branch of the OUGS December 2018

Yorkshire OUGS – Mapping in the Lake District – 19th June - 23rd June 2019

YMCA National Centre, Lakeside, Newby Bridge, Ulverston, Cumbria LA12 8BD, https://www.lakesideymca.co.uk/

For the past six years the Yorkshire Branch of the OUGS has been visiting the Lake District, which is generally accepted to contain some of the UK’s best geology.

I have always believed that geology is a field science and the best geologists are those with a wide variety of field skills, one of most important of which is how to create a geological map from scratch.

As a change from Blencathra, this time we will be staying at the YMCA National Centre for outdoor learning in Newby Bridge. The centre of excellence at Lakeside was established here over 60 years ago and is hidden within 400 acres of private woodland along the south western shores of Lake Windermere as you can see from fig. 1. The views from here across the Lake and beyond to the Cumbrian mountains will take your breath away.

Fig 1. The YMCA National Centre

Our leaders for this mapping trip are Dr Simon Drake and his wife Shira, who also has a geology degree. Simon graduated from Birkbeck and then completed a PhD in relation Silicic ignimbrites from the Isle of Skye, something he will be giving us a talk on during the week.

Simon now teaches and supervises Birkbeck’s undergraduate mapping projects in both the Lake District and Isle of Skye, and in 2014 won Birkbeck’s Distinguished Teaching and Scholarship Award, so in short, Simon is the best person to teach this subject.

During this mapping course, which will be centred around the flanks of Coniston Old Man, you will learn one of the geologist’s most important skills, how to create a geological map from scratch. This will include; locating oneself using compass and GPS, use of GPS and Knox protractor for rapid location, strike and dip taking, contact and feature mapping, marking in contacts and outcrop, outcrop and exposure, identification of pyroclastic and sedimentary rocks both clastic and non-clastic, mapping in of superficial deposits, introduction to logging and an introduction to 1:10,000 field slips and permatrace.

You will need a plastic clip board to serve as a map board, 0.5 HB or H pencil, hand lens, compass clinometer if you have one (fig. 2), and ideally GPS, Knox protractors, and a field notebook. You should also bring a selection of non-waterproof coloured pencils for work in the field including dark and light blue, yellow, green, brown, grey and possibly a pink. Field slips, mapping tape and Knox protractors (if you need one) will all be provided. There is no need for hammers.

This fantastic week at Lakeside YMCA is suitable for all levels from newcomers to geology through to those with degrees.

Fig. 2 compass clinometer

The Yorkshire Branch of the OUGS December 2018

So, what’s included? Tutors, a comfortable bed to rest your weary head and a fantastic view to wake up to, breakfast, a packed lunch and a three-course evening meal with wine every night.

Participants are responsible for their own transport arrangements to and from the centre, and should remember to pack suitable clothes for the Lake District, despite the course being held in June.

Use of all the facilities is free, including; the drying room, library, TV room, Wi-Fi and lecture rooms. We will have an evening lecture on one of the nights and on the other evenings there will be tutorials relating to our next day in the field so it will feel like a traditional OU summer school. Finally, we have the use of the centre’s bar so no walking two miles to the pub!

Costs £367.50 per person in single rooms. Early booking advised. Maximum of 15 participants.

Please contact me for a booking form at: [email protected] or give me a call on: 07761 409807

Ricky Savage – Yorkshire Branch Organiser

YOUGS field trips for 2019

Rick is still is the process of finalising the trips for next year and hopes to announce them at the AGM, or shortly after.

Field Trip Insurance

Each person attending field meetings does so on the understanding that they attend at their 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 participants. There may be an element of appropriate cover included in Members’ own household or travel insurance. Members should also note that they will be required to take out appropriate travel insurance for any overseas events; annual travel insurance may be the best form of cover for any Member who regularly attends field events.

Other excursion and meeting opportunities

There are many geology trips/lectures in Yorkshire, and elsewhere, which could be of interest. Details of these can be found on the various society websites, below: OUGS https://ougs.org/events/ LGA http://www.leedsga.org.uk/ YGS www.yorksgeolsoc.org.uk/ Down to Earth https://www.geosupplies.co.uk/ HGS www.hullgeolsoc.org.uk/ Mid-week Geology Group http://mwggyorkshire.org.uk/ Friends of Settle Carlisle Line https://www.foscl.org.uk/

The Yorkshire Branch of the OUGS December 2018

YOUR NEWSLETTER NEEDS YOU!

Do you have a photo of something you saw on holiday which you think members might find interesting, or have a photo of a particular rock, mineral or fossil you would like identified? If so, why not send it in and it could appear here in the next issue.

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Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year to all YOUGS Members