Soft Rock Soft Rock

South East Branch Newsletter The Open University Geological Society

BranchBranchMicrosoft Website: Web Site: http:// www.members.aol.com/ougsebougs.org/southeast July 2011

Branch Organiser's Words Issue 3/11

irst a welcome to two new residential event for the whole society, Inside this issue: F members, Claire Oakley of Becken- the “Winter Weekend” to be held at ham and Glen Beale of Hove. Also a Hothfield near Ashford in November. welcome to the South-East branch for The various members of the South-East Branch Organiser’s Helen Doyle who has transferred from branch committee are working hard and Words 1 London branch following her move to enthusiastically on the preparations, Robertsbridge. leaving me now mainly to co-ordinate Notices 2 and to act as liaison with the society as a whole. Please see the advertisement on There have been a number of changes page 2, which gives the provisional Brightling Mine 1 3 recently in the central management of programme of activities. Prior booking OUGS. At the AGM in April a new is required, using the form to be found Brightling Mine 2 6 Treasurer was elected: John Gooch, in the OUGS newsletter and on the previously Treasurer of North-West website. Branch fieldtrip to branch. At that time there were still no Turkey 2012 candidates for the vacant post of 10 Information Officer, but I understand The day visitor fee of £20 includes the that Taryn Clements from South-West cost of a field trip in the morning and a Branch Committee 12 branch has recently been appointed. programme of talks in the afternoon, Another recent change is that Stuart together with a buffet lunch and mid- Swales, East of Scotland Branch afternoon refreshments. Everyone is Organiser, is now Webmaster, in welcome to the special private buffet succession to Gavin Mair who resigned dinner on the Saturday evening (£25), earlier in the year. followed by a quiz. As well as the field trips and talks, there will be plenty of time for meeting old friends and making As I mentioned in the April newsletter, new ones, and there is no compulsion to this year I am going through a new experience for me, organising a (Continued on page 12) See page 2 for OUGS Insurance Statement. Events Diary Note: a small charge

(usually £2 per 19th August—21st August person) is made for all 2011 Symposium at Stirling: North of the Suture. fieldtrips unless other-

wise stated. Saturday 10th September - with David Bowler Dryhill, and (See page 8) Please provide a mobile phone number Friday 18th—Sunday 20th November Winter Weekend at Hothfield, Ashford, (See page 2) at the time of booking a fieldtrip. This will April 21st to 28th 2012 ensure you are kept Archaeological and Geological trip to the Ancient Lycian region in the Teke Peninsula updated with any late of southern Turkey. (See page 10) changes Please contact Alison for all the above on [email protected] See also page 12. for reasons of space. Any lengthy or detailed changes I will Notices endeavour to check with the author first.

Future Newsletter Dates While the timetable will be slightly flexible I will aim to publish OUGS Insurance Statement as follows: Each person attending field meetings does so on the under- Issue 4-11 September standing that they attend at their own risk. The OUGS has Public Liability insurance cover for field and indoor meetings, Issue 5-11 December but Personal Accident cover and Personal Liability cover I would appreciate copy by the 20th of the previous month at remain the responsibility of participants. Members with house the latest. The earlier I receive contributions the greater the insurance will probably find this included. Members should chance of entry into the next Newsletter. also note that they will be required to take out appropriate travel insurance for any overseas events; an annual travel insurance may be the best form of cover for any member who Contributions Welcome regularly attends field events. This is your Newsletter. Articles, notices, fieldtrip write-ups, holiday snaps (preferably with some in) are all e -copies welcome. email contributions to me with photos. I can open most formats. If you are not yet electronic put your article and Electronic copies of Soft Rock can be obtained through the photographs in the post. I may need to make minor changes Branch Organiser.

Winter Weekend

Friday 18th to Sunday 20th November 2011 Based at the Holiday Inn, Hothfield, Nr Ashford Provisional Programme of Events

A weekend of Kentish geology, including cliffs, fossils, coastal change, landslips, erosion, sea defences, including special buffet dinner on Saturday evening followed by a quiz.

Fieldtrips Lectures The hotel is situated on the Lympne and introduction to of the A20, only 4 miles from Ashford Ragstone Quarrying Cliff End International Station, served by Eurostar trains from London Geology and Flora of Kent Warren and the Continent. Possible English Heritage Ragstone Survey Hermitage Quarry pick-up service by local Fossils of the North Kent Coast Folkestone Leas members from the station. Hothfield Common Activities and Displays St Margaret’s Bay See the National Newsletter or Microfossil workshop the OUGS website under Building Stones of GeoConservation Kent “Society Events” for the Loose Valley / Quarry booking form. Fossil and Mineral Society Canterbury Building Stones Day Visitors Welcome Kent Geological Book Sales

All this and plenty of time to relax with your friends in a comfortable hotel or in the separate on-site pub.

Page 2 Soft Rock chemical processes mostly the desulphurisation of flue Travel 250 Metres down gases but gypsum and anhydrite continue to be mined at Brightling, although output has fallen over the years from the Brightling Graphic Log 1 million tonnes to 150,000 tonnes pa, it still supplies the cement manufacturing industry and small quantities go to Visit: 24th March 2011 the plasterboard factory The mine has been in continuous operation since 1963. The discovery of 4 seams of gypsum (See Litho- By Marilyn Besford stratigraphic diagram below) in the Upper Purbeck from a deep borehole carried out in 1876 south west of Mountfield led to the set up of the Sub-Wealden fantastic field trip, this was one not to be missed, Gypsum Company and eventually this company became A whether you were an amateur or professional part of British Gypsum owned by Saint Gobain S.A. The participant. The OUGS visit to Brightling mine on the original Mountfield mine has since closed after its stocks th 24 March 2011 was expertly led by British Gypsum‟s of gypsum were depleted. chief geologist, Noel Worley, and mining engineer and manager David Partridge. Nine members of OUGS were After the presentation we were briefed on the use of the treated to an informative and extremely interesting visit self-rescuer: a small vital device essential while under- both above the mine and 250 metres below the beautiful ground providing a life saving breathing apparatus used east Sussex countryside. A resounding success, it proved in emergency if oxygen levels fall or air is contaminated to be an exhilarating and unforgettable experience. with, for example, carbon monoxide. The self-rescuer can provide oxygen for 90 minutes allowing miners to reach a Travelling to the mine in the glorious spring sunshine „safe point‟. These are survival areas where miners muster highlighted the area‟s outstanding natural beauty. The in emergencies with food, water and shelter. There they mine, its site office and working buildings are cleverly can remain for 24 hours or longer, depending on the concealed within the forests and the surrounding natural numbers involved, until the crisis has past or indeed a undulating hills causing relatively little visual impact on the environment. All materials mined are transported by the carefully hidden conveyer (the longest in the UK, installed in 1986), which winds its way like a giant millipede to the plaster plant at Robertsbridge (Figure1). We arrived around 8.45am and were greeted by trip organiser, Alison Ure and manager David Partridge. A very lively, excited and slightly apprehensive group (affectionately dubbed the „A‟ team — Figure 7) met one another and broke the ice by discussing the various exhibits on display in the site office, which consisted of gypsum, anhydrite, Portland , underground plans of the mine workings and rules and regulations concerning safety when in the mine. One rule stood out: don‟t get lost! Cue nervous chuckling from the group. The introductory presentation by David Partridge high- lighted the history, production and the excellent safety record and standards adopted at the mine. After answering many questions posed by the group, he handed over to Noel for a detailed presentation involving the history of the mine, analysis of gypsum, production methods, its uses, stratification, structure, and its deposition and formation in the surrounding area of the Mountfield and Brightling anticline. (Figure 2: awaiting the briefing) What surprised many were the numerous uses of gypsum, including less well known sectors such as agricultural, automotive and aviation. The fact too, that it is utilised in the food, brewing, pharmaceutical and medical industries served to further underline the human value of gypsum.

Calcium sulphate can be manufactured today by many Above diagram courtesy of Noel Worley & British Gypsum

Issue 3/11 Page 3 rescue has been executed. overtime! This underground monster was quite imaginable as it was audible, not visible. Kitted out in our „high-vis‟ jackets, miner‟s helmet complete with miner‟s lamp, belt carrying our battery Joining the other group with David Partridge, Noel packs and self rescuers we were eager and ready to guided us through the cavernous rooms and pointed out depart for the mine. Just before clambering onboard one various mine faces with good exposures of stratified of the two designated Land Rovers, we switched our gypsum, mudstone, anhydrite, nodular chert, algal mining lights off and was each given two metal identity stromatolites in , and nodular anhydrite with discs, a major part of the procedure on entering the gypsum prophyroblasts. Noel discussed the deposition tunnel leading down to the mine and at your arrival at and the relevance of the aquifer to the many visible beds the seam. Our driver David Dunk, with over 30 years of gypsum and anhydrite and reasons why the gypsum mining experience, placed one disc from each person on layer at the base of Seam 4 was very large, due to the a board just before entering the mine tunnel. The long high water content in the Portland Sandstone below and bumpy drive down the tunnel, with about a 1 in 6 very thin in Seam 1, hydrated by only small amounts of gradient, to Seam 1 (nearest to the surface) was just high water draining through from the surface. The middle and wide enough for the vehicle and was shored-up by layers were „metamorphosed‟ and dehydrated, while iron or steel supports. Turning a sharp right and with nodular anhydrite could be seen with gypsum porphyro- only light from the Land Rover headlights we entered an blasts. Veins of satin spar with vertical crystals could be eerie underground world of rooms and tunnels. distinguished growing within. Other rock faces showed thin layers of mudstones, small chert nodules and algal The mine is operated using a square set duplex room stromatolites embedded in . David Dunk and pillar method and has a huge network of these large guided us to another face, walking through several rooms supported by massive pillars of stratified gypsum, rooms in the dark lit only by our lamps (Figure 4) by anhydrite and mudstone, with veins of satin spar and criss-crossing many of the underground roads used by occasional nodules of chert. Seam 1 is nearest the scaling and drilling machines. surface while Seam 4, at the base of the mine, overlies the Portland Sandstone. The honeycomb of rooms and The evaporite resources at Brightling occur within the tunnels stretches for over 3 km. and the mine advances Upper Jurassic Lulworth Formation (140MA ) of the westerly along the axis of the anticline to a maximum Purbeck Limestone Beds that rest conformably upon depth of 300m. Portlandian age calcareous sandstone (Figure 5). The Purbeck limestones outcrop in a series of faulted inliers, Small amounts of methane were detected, possibly from the two largest being at Brightling and Mountfield. the high carbon content of the shale associated with the Deposition occurred in the northern part of the shallow gypsum beds; the mine acquired flame safety lamp status sedimentary Wealden basin that covered most of south- after a small ignition occurred in the late 1960s.The long east . The evaporites are not exposed at the distance from the entrance to the face of the mine meant surface due to their solubility in groundwater. The that two ventilations shafts were built in 1979 (Figure 3). underlying Portland Sandstone, with well-sorted David Dunk and Noel answered several questions from cemented sand and ammonite/bivalve fauna (Figure 6), our group as we made our way deeper underground, was deposited in a shallow warm open sea which crossing a normal fault with a 6m throw, increasing the followed the erosion of the northern margins of the gradient substantially through what seemed a maze of basin. The Portlandian conditions changed to more rooms and tunnels. It was at that point we remembered marginal shallow environments where deposition was the „don‟t get lost‟ warnings from earlier! We finally dominated by evaporites, carbonates and mudstones in came to a stop at Seam 4‟s Land Rover park after about the intertidal zone on a shelf margin slope. Thinner a one and half kilometres drive (yes they do have a car bedded sequences of limestones and shales during the park 250 metres underground, luckily no pay meters), latter part of the Purbeck demonstrate varying water where we switched on our mining lights, set foot salinity and depositional depths. These include tidal flat gingerly down on the uneven rocky floor of the mine deposits with algal stromatolites, limestone with and placed our 2nd identity disc on the board at Seam 4. abundant gastropods, lignite and ironstone beds. I felt strangely comfortable in this gloomy underworld. The thickest bed of sulphate is Seam 4 and it is extracted Unidentifiable noises were heard and areas were at working heights of more than 3m. Seam 1, however, is completely black and other areas were dimly lit by our thinner but has been worked more due to its higher lamps and machinery lights as they thundered backwards gypsum content. The evidence from boreholes of a and forwards in distant tunnels and rooms. One of my series of east south-east trending tensional normal faults colleagues likened the ghastly noise of the Load Haul with southwards throws suggests that the original beliefs Dump machine on its way to pick up the newly blasted that the Purbeck inliers were the eroded core of the rock to load on the conveyer, to a fire breathing dragon. Wealden Anticlinorium are maybe not the case. At those dark depths, our creative minds were working While Noel and David Dunk discussed the geology of a

Page 4 Soft Rock Figure 2

Figure 1

Figure 5 Figure 3

Above - Figure 4: Noel Worley (second from right) explains the geology of Figure 6 gypsum illuminated only by hard hat flashlights.

Issue 3/11 Page 5 newly mined face, David Partridge took us to the area of our journey to the surface. The steep low-gear ride to the the crusher and conveyer and explained the various stages surface twisted and turned through the many rooms and of crushing the rock on route to the surface thereby tunnels until we reached the main tunnel to the surface at reducing the size of the mine rock. Following David seam 1. Turning into the tunnel we saw a huge ammonite down yet another tunnel and room to where the electro- fossil, possibly a half metre across, that the miners had hydraulic drilling machine was drilling blast holes in the retrieved and placed by the roadway Figure 6). David heading rock we witnessed the angular drilling system Dunk told us this was probably one of many to be found in action (Figure 16). The holes drilled are then charged in the Portland Sandstone which is no longer mined at and the blasted rock is removed, thereby advancing the Seam 4. Carrying on to the surface and the entrance we headings. The roofs and walls are made safe by the state- returned to the welcoming glorious sunny day we had left of- the-art scaling machine, scraping any loose rocks from behind earlier and regained our 2nd ID disc which we the surfaces. The rooms are generally 6.5m in width placed back in the site office. separated by 8m pillars left intact - more than adequate to A photograph of the „wannabe‟ OUGS miners (alias the support the roof. The drilling process is then repeated „A‟team) and our leaders, Noel Worley, David Partridge advancing the headings typically of around 15 to 20 and David Dunk was taken outside the mine entrance headings wide of the production face. David also showed (Figure 7) and then we returned to the site office for a the huge scaling machine and explained how this work is de-brief and vote of thanks. A very pleased and satisfied carried out with the aid of computerised hydraulic picks group of OUGS members departed, hugely enlightened and scalers. Our OUGS members kept all our leaders and enriched after their visit to the Brightling mine. busy with questions on geology and mining and were rewarded with a wealth of expert knowledge and Marilyn Besford information. After a thrilling and informative underground trip we References and photographs kind permission of Noel returned to the underground car park and picked up our Worley, British Gypsum. ID disc (Figure 9) and boarded the Land Rover again for

Paris and as an additive in medicines and cosmetics as well Brightling Mine as for moulds in ceramic work etc. Of particular interest was the process of 'Burtonising' in the brewing of beer in the south-east. There is little sulphate in our local water Visit: 9th June 2011 and, therefore, this is added in the form of gypsum during the brewing process. By Toni Pearson Dr. Noel Worley, President of the Yorkshire Geological Society, was again present. He gave us a fascinating intro- n Thursday 9th June 2011 a second group of duction to the mine. Of particular interest was the history O enthusiastic OUGS members met for a visit to the of the foundation of the mine. The British Association for Brightling Mine run by British Gypsum (Figure 8). As the Advancement of Science held a meeting at Brighton in with the first visit in March, we received a very warm 1872 where it was decided to see if a borehole could be welcome from the staff there, including a hot drink which put down to reach the Palaeozoic rocks beneath the was much appreciated. Dave Partridge gave us an Weald. A company, the Sub-Wealden Exploration introductory talk about the company and its history. Company, was formed and funded by private gentlemen including Charles Darwin. It was hoped that seams A full and detailed description of the geology and might be found. The borehole did not reach the workings of the mine has already been given by Marilyn Palaeozoic rocks as hoped but, although no coal was (Besford) who was on the first trip. In most respects, the found, four gypsum seams were discovered which have second trip was almost identical. been worked in the area since 1876 (when the Sub-Wealden Gypsum Company was formed). We too were surprised at the number of processes gypsum is used for and also the importance of the company in the No 1 evaporite seam also contains some shale gas. world wide distribution of the mineral where it has 60% of Dr. Worley explained to us that this is the production of the world market. The special properties of gypsum make hydrocarbons from source rather than host rocks and will it useful in the manufacture of plasterboard and, be very important in the production of hydrocarbons in surprisingly, Portland cement where the addition of 4% the future. The United States of America may have gypsum to the limestone helps to give a smooth finish as it sufficient resources to be recovered in this way for the dries. It is used in agriculture, in hospitals as plaster of next 200 years thus lessening its dependence on other

Page 6 Soft Rock Figure 9

Figure 7

Figure 8 Figure 10

Figure 10: gypsum porphyroblasts in a block brought to the surface (lens cap for scale). Figure 11: a 3-D surface drawn on the base of the number 4 gypsum seam. Figure 12: The number 4 seam showing algal stromatolites and dolomitic limestone exposed in the walls of the mine.

Figure 11

Figure 12

Issue 3/11 Page 7 countries for oil and gas. water' (Worley).

We were shown a map of the large evaporite basins and Like the first group, we saw excellent examples of the this included the Zechstein, the European Permian Basin different types of gypsum and discussed the relationship of which runs from the east coast of England to Poland and these rocks to the heating and dehydration of the parent, includes the area. gypsum rock. We were allowed to collect samples and took home some beautiful specimens to admire and examine at Following the introductory talks, we watched a video and our leisure. The large ammonite was also much admired as had to fill in a questionnaire to ensure we had fully under- we left. stood what we had watched. We all passed the test with flying colours! We were then kitted out with hard hats, Having never known too much about evaporite deposits (a high-vis jackets, lamps and a self-rescuer. We were couple of lectures at university) I was amazed at how instructed in how to use the latter should high levels of interesting and varied they were and how much they could carbon monoxide build up. We picked up our two metal tell us about the palaeoenvironment they were formed in identity tags and were transported by land rover into the and what had happened to the rock during its geological mine (Figure 9). history. The story was brought alive by Dr. Worley who has such a keen interest in this type of deposit. It was The evaporite deposits occur within the Upper Jurassic equally interesting to learn about the importance of these Lulworth Formation of the Purbeck Limestone Beds and minerals to the local history and industry of the Weald. occur in a series of faulted inliers. It is suggested that This is a trip I would fully recommend to anyone who is these inliers represent the eroded core of the Weald interested in the geology of our area. anticline and as such represent east-west Alpine folds evidence for which can be seen throughout the Weald. After the visit, we had lunch at a local hostelry where it Many of us have seen similarly orientated folds of the was good to enjoy the company of fellow geologists and same age at Dryhill Picnic Park in Kent. As we drove into discuss what we had seen. the mine our guides pointed out areas where the faults can be seen and discussed the mining problems that these Toni Pearson June 2011 produce. Ref: Brightling Mine, British Gypsum. Dr. Noel Worley. On leaving the land rovers, we were standing on Portland sandstone. Dr. Noel Worley took us to a large face and The South East Branch of OUGS would like to record its explained the formation of the evaporites we could see. thanks to Dr. Noel Worley, David Partridge, David Dunk We learnt how the different rock types found in the mine for their time and expertise and to Saint Gobain SA for indicated a change in palaeoenvironment going from the permission to visit. shallow, warm, marine, coastal environment of the Portland Beds to the gradual emergence of a freshwater, Photocredits: more terrestrial environment in the overlying, younger 1,3, 5, 8, 11 Dr. Noel Worley & British Gypsum beds. The presence of the four evaporite seams indicates cyclic events were occurring and we discussed the 2 Marilyn Besford possibility that they were linked to Milankovitch cycles. 6, 12 Mandy Bird

4, 9, 10, 13, 14, 16 Geoff Downer Another indication of cyclicity was seen in the presence of mudstones with stromatolites alternating with beds of 15 Alison Ure nodular sulphate. These are interpreted as 'subaerial 7 Staff member at Brightling Mine sabkhas deposited during periods of low humidity and A Further trip to Brightling Mine is planned for Spring 2012. hyper-salinity produced by the evaporation of sea Dry Hill, Sevenoaks leader David Bowler September 10th 2011 The aim of the trip is to develop skills in the use of field observation and to make preliminary interpretations of sedimentary processes and depositional environments. Includes a visit to Dry Hill Quarry and Moorhouse Sandpit. The latter is a working quarry where hi-viz clothing is required. Contact Alison (page 12).

Page 8 Soft Rock Figure 13

Figure 13: Two veins of fibrous gypsum (satin spar) with vertically arranged fibres, which may have formed sub-parallel with the bedding. They probably grew under pressure in water- filled horizons.

Figure 15

Figure 14 Figure 15: The 4-5 feet high Brightling to Robertsbridge overland curved conveyor. This was installed in 1986 to replace an aerial ropeway and is one of the longest single conveyors in the country. Gypsum is moved by conveyor to the processing plant at Robertsbridge to make plasterboard.

Figure 14: Several crystalline gypsum porphyroblasts that have formed when anhydrite has come into contact with ground water.

Figure 16: A drilling machine hard at work in the Brightling Mine.

Figure 16

Issue 3/11 Page 9 Geological and archaeological trip to the Teke Peninsula, South Turkey April 21st to 28th 2012. he ancient region of Lycia is full of archaeological and T geological wonders and thousands of years of history. Our aim in this trip is to visit some of these. Here is a taster of what they will include: 1) Chimera: the fire mountain where a small area of mountainside has perpetual fires which self reignite even if they are put out. 2) Xanthos: This ancient city was the capital of Lycia and has a history of battles conflicts and sieges. The Nereid Monu- ment and Harpy Tomb were removed from Xanthos in 1838 Above: Kas, overlooking the new marina by Sir Charles Fellow and now reside in the British museum. 3) Boat trip to Kekova, a city that sank after two large earthquakes 100 years apart. 4) The ancient city of Myra, with its magnificent rock tombs and amphitheatre, whose bishop was the real Father Christmas, St Nicholas. It was here the myths began around the real man, whose church and its frescoes are an ongoing restoration project. 5) Saklikent gorge, a 12km limestone gorge which allegedly has adjacent cave systems used by Alexander the Great. 6) The ancient fishing market town of Kas, which 40 years ago one could only reach on horseback or by 4x4, will be our base for 3 nights as all the above are within an hours's drive. 4,000 years ago Kas was the port for Phellos, now in ruins way up in the mountains The latter half of the week we will stay in Kaykoy, the Greek ghost village where the book „Birds without Wings’ by Louis Bernier (of Captain Corelli’s Mandolin fame) was based. This village was deserted in 1922 after the Greek / Turkish conflict arose and the inhabitants fled. Add into this the wonderful hospitality of the Turkish people, tasty food, beautiful scenery and clement weather and you‟ll have a terrific trip! The leader is still to be confirmed but hopefully will be from Antalya university so will have local knowledge. The price will be around £420 per person and includes bed and breakfast in hotel accommodation and some meals but not all. Flights are not included but these should be around £120 to £150 return and should be bookable from August/September this year. If you wish to know more, Dr Jill Eyers, an OU tutor has written a booklet on the subject: „Archaeology and geology of Lycia, southern Turkey’ in the Rocks Afoot field guide series. ISBN 1-904898-06-8 Copies are available from OUGS sales. For information on Chimera: http://www.olymposturkmentreehouses.com/olympos/ olympos.htm For information on Xanthos: http://www.lycianturkey.com/lycian_sites/xanthos.htm For information about Kekova:http://www.lycianturkey.com/lycian_sites/ kekova_simena.htm For more information about Myra:http://www.lycianturkey.com/lycian_sites/ myra.htm For more information on Saklikent: http://www.lycianturkey.com/saklikent- gorge.htm For more information on Kayakoy: http://travelmag.co.uk/?p=1064 For more information on Kas: http://www.turkeytravelplanner.com/go/med/kas/ LIMITED PLACES AVAILABLE Contact Alison (page 12) Above: Saklikent Gorge

Page 10 Soft Rock FOR SALE

his illustrated booklet describes the building his illustrated booklet describes the geology of T stones used in the two nationally important T the Country Park, a classic coastal scheduled monuments at Reculver: the wall of section on the north Kent coast. The sedimentary beds the Roman Fort of Regulbium and the remains of exposed in the cliffs are detailed, together with the local St Mary‟s Church. „drift‟ deposits. The landscape of the Country Park is

The booklet includes a walk along the surviving explained, with the silting of the Wantsum Channel to perimeter wall of the Roman fort identifying the various the east, marine erosion to the north and the impact of stones you can see as well as some of the building numerous historical landslips on the coastline. techniques employed. There is also a review of the The booklet includes a circular walk for the geological historical background on the coastal defences and an beginner from Reculver to Bishopstone Glen high- illustrated survey of the principal stones to be found in lighting many of the geological and landscape features the sea defences in the Country Park. 41 pages. to be seen. 53 pages.

Published June 2011 Copies can be ordered from: Each booklet can be purchased separately for £4.50 GeoConservation Kent including postage and packing or both booklets for 6 Manor Close the combined price of £8.00 including postage and Canterbury, Kent packing. Kent CT1 3XA GeoConservation Cheques payable to: Kent RIGS Group

Issue 3/11 Page 11 go on a field trip if you do not feel like it or the weather is bad. with the microscope workshop, to be run both mornings, or just Sunday, in which, among other things, you can prepare your own slides of microfossils and identify seeds, fruits and sharks‟ teeth. Resident guests will mainly arrive on the Friday evening. Following a welcome to guests at about 8 p.m., there will be a talk at 8.30 p.m., giving an overview of the geology of Kent and Please contact me if you think you can help. Telephone 01634 Sussex. Local members are welcome to come to that without 847561. E mail [email protected]. charge. We have arranged for the hotel to offer a special buffet meal at £7.50 a head on the Friday evening, before the welcome With all this about the November event, don‟t forget that David and the talk. This would be available for non-resident members Bowler is leading a trip in the Sevenoaks and Westerham area on as well, payment being direct to the hotel. Alternatively, meals 10th September. Another new venture for the South East are available in the restaurant, the hotel lounge or the Hop branch is a trip abroad, to Turkey in April next year. Lots of Pickers pub. information about this on page 10.

I mentioned in the April edition of “Soft Rock” that we need some volunteers to help on the weekend. A few are needed on Finally, on another tack altogether, many of you may know Friday afternoon, from about 5 p.m., to welcome guests and to Museum and its collections relating to natural help set up displays of information about local geology. On the history. Maidstone Council has decided that one of their cost Saturday and Sunday mornings we need a volunteer to look after cutbacks will be the relatively small saving achieved by making each field trip, all of which will start from the hotel at 9 a.m., the internationally respected curator and all his staff apart from one on the Saturday that will start at 8.30 a.m. owing redundant. A museum apparently can be run remotely by to the distance to the site. The appointed volunteer will make people who know little about its collections or the subjects they sure that everyone knows which car they are going in and that cover. This seems to me to be a recipe for the museum to lose drivers know the route, will handle any admin, such as the usual its academic standing and its worth very quickly. A petition Event Attendance Sheet, hold a mobile phone, a list of calling for the reinstatement of Dr Ed Jarzembowski can be emergency numbers and a First Aid kit, and will ensure that the found at http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/maidstone- field trip party leaves the site after the visit in time for everyone museum-needs-dr-ed---bring-him-back/ to get back to the hotel for lunch. Helpers may also be needed Elizabeth

South East Branch Committee: