Geology of the Conserving WGCG Hidden wonders Warwickshire’s in the landscape Action Plan of Warwickshire M6 Geological Area ● Nuneaton ● Coleshill M69 Heritage M42 M6 ● Coventry Solihull ● Rugby ● M45 Kenilworth● Warwick Royal Leamington Spa ● ● Legend M40 rivers major roads Stratford-upon-Avon ● JURASSIC GREAT OOLITE GROUP INFERIOR OOLITE GROUP LIAS GROUP TRIASSIC MERCIA MUDSTONE and PENARTH GROUPS Shipston-on-Stour SHERWOOD SANDSTONE GROUP ● PERMIAN HOPWAS BRECCIA WARWICKSHIRE GROUP CARBONIFEROUS WARWICKSHIRE GROUP PENNINE MIDDLE COAL MEASURES 01015205Km PENNINE LOWER COAL MEASURES DEVONIAN OLDBURY SANDSTONE FORMATION CAMBRIAN-ORDOVICIAN STOCKINGFORD SHALE GROUP incorporating ORDOVICIAN INTRUSIVE ROCKS A Geodiversity Action Plan contributing CAMBRIAN to the enrichment of the environment HARTSHILL SANDSTONE FORMATION NEOPROTEROZOIC of Warwickshire, Coventry and Solihull CALDECOTE VOLCANIC FORMATION through conserving and managing its Derived from BGS DiGMapGB-625 bedrock data, British Geological Survey © NERC. All rights reserved. IPR/127-65CY. geodiversity – landscapes, rocks, fossils, Ian Fenwick Design from The Drawing Room The Design from Drawing Ian Fenwick minerals and soils . WGCG Hidden wonders in the landscape of Warwickshire © images Cover for the benefit of all provide the framework for life on Earth. on life for framework the provide Registered Charity Number XXXXXXXXXXX Number Charity Registered www.wgcg.co.uk rocks, minerals, fossils and soils which which soils and fossils minerals, rocks, and processes that make the landscapes, the make that processes and Warwick CV34 4SA CV34 Warwick It is the variety of geological phenomena phenomena geological of variety the is It Market Place Market c/o Warwickshire Museum Warwickshire c/o landscape, people and their activities. activities. their and people landscape, Conservation Group Conservation Geodiversity Warwickshire Geological Geological Warwickshire is the link between between link the is Geodiversity is the link between landscape, people and their activities. It is the variety of geological phenomena WGCG and processes that make the landscapes, Hidden wonders rocks, minerals, fossils and soils which in the landscape provide the framework for life on Earth. of Warwickshire Warwickshire Geodiversity Action Plan Objectives The Warwickshire Geodiversity Action Plan is being developed for the County of Warwickshire, the City of Coventry and the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull. The objectives of the Warwickshire Geodiversity Action Plan are to: 1 identify and audit the geodiversity resource 2 conserve, manage and monitor Warwickshire’s geodiversity 3 embed the geodiversity concept, its significance and the need to conserve local geodiversity, throughout the planning system. 4 conduct research on Warwickshire’s Warwickshire Museum Warwickshire geodiversity © Quarries enable investigation of the area’s geodiversity 5 increase awareness of and support which would otherwise be hidden underground. One for Warwickshire’s geodiversity such location is Cross Hands Quarry (a Site of Special with reference to professional Scientific Interest) which allows amateur and museum- bodies, conservation practitioners, led groups to collect fossils and learn about sedimentary landowners, the education sector, rocks in a safe, accessible environment. The quarry and the general public exposes limestones of Middle Jurassic age. The rock beds have yielded significant research findings including 6 initiate, support and conduct a new species of dinosaur and the fossilised remains educational initiatives concerning of a diverse Jurassic sea-life. local geodiversity Alan Cook Alan 7 integrate geoconservation with © bioconservation and landscape quality initiatives 8 measure our progress The value of quarries to the study of geodiversity can be extended if owners manage the features of interest, especially where working has ceased. Grants from the Aggregate Levy Sustainability Fund (ALSF) have en- abled recommendations to be made for geoconservation at sites such as Griff Hollows (Local Geological Site 74) through the development of Site Management Plans. These identify the main features of the sites, record them accurately, suggest possible management strategies and set the sites in their environmental, biodiversity and historical contexts. John Ball John Warwickshire Museum Warwickshire © © Detailed work on rock exposures enables continued Geodiversity does not exist in isolation. The meanders auditing of and research into the area’s geodiversity. of the River Arrow at Studley (Local Geological Site The photograph shows a new variety of trace fossil - 49) lie within a historic landscape. The meanders Solusichnium southamense - attributed to a and evidence of the former the river channels tell shrimp-like crustacean that became buried beneath much about the geomorphological processes at work a layer of silt in the Early Jurassic sea. It was first now and in the past. But the river is surrounded by decribed by Lorna O'Brien of the University of Bristol evidence of early medieval farming practices now in 2009. It comes from a thin layer of siltstone near seen as ridge and furrow strips in the fields. The the base of the Lias Group exposed near Southam in Church of St. Mary, in its circular enclosure, dates eastern Warwickshire. The brown, nodular structure from the 12th century and there are the degraded adjacent to the trace fossil is an aggregate of pyrite remains of a Norman motte and bailey castle to the ('fool's gold'). The pyrite formed in the stagnant north (right in the photograph) of the church. sea-floor mud on which the silt was deposited. The lead organisation in implementing the plan is the Warwickshire Geological Conservation Group (WGCG) whose objectives are compatible with and complementary to those of the Action Plan. Membership of WGCG is open to all and through its activities with members, the public at large and other Ian Fenwick © organisations it aims to: In many areas the bedrock of Warwickshire is masked by sands and gravels, which have been extensively ● Increase the understanding of the worked as a building resource. Intensive study of these science of geology sands and gravels by Professor F. W. Shotton and his ● Conserve the geological heritage successors has revealed much about the geological of Warwickshire history Britain during the Ice Age. He named a cold ● Show the importance of geology period the Wolstonian after the village of Wolston. for understanding landscapes and This work is commemorated by an interpretation board biodiversity installed on the village green of Wolston and ‘unveiled’ ● Demonstrate how geology influences in the presence of Professor Shotton’s daughters. many aspects of human activity WGCG Hidden wonders in the landscape of Warwickshire Geodiversity is the link between landscape, people and their activities. It is the variety of geological phenomena WGCG and processes that make the landscapes, Hidden wonders rocks, minerals, fossils and soils which in the landscape provide the framework for life on Earth. of Warwickshire Local Geological Sites in Warwickshire Local Geological Sites are important Local Geological Sites are selected in Currently there are at least 3500 Local places for geology and geomorphology Warwickshire by a panel comprising Geological Sites designated in Great that underpin and complement Sites of representatives of the Warwickshire Britain, nearly 90 of which are in Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). They Geological Conservation Group, Natural Warwickshire. Although the geology were established in 1990 by the Nature England and Warwickshire Museum. of Warwickshire is extremely varied, Conservancy Council and continue obvious exposures of the underlying to be actively supported by the UK They are selected using four geology are rare due to the general statutory conservation agencies. nationally agreed criteria: ‘flatness’ of the county. The designated sites are very important, therefore, in Their designation helps to recognise ● The value of a site for educational providing a record of where rocks from and protect important Earth Science purposes in life-long learning; most of the geological periods can and landscape features for future ● The value of a site for study by be examined. generations to enjoy. both professional and amateur Earth Scientists; Information on each designated site is Unlike Sites of Special Scientific Interest, ● The historical value of a site in made available to the public from the Local Geological Sites have no legal terms of important advances in Geological Localities Record Centre protection. The landowner has no Earth Science knowledge, events at Warwickshire Museum and on the obligation to conserve them and the or human exploitation; internet at www.wgcg.co.uk. general public have no right of access, ● The aesthetic value of a site in unless they are on a public right-of-way. the landscape, particularly in relation Many landowners do, however, grant to promoting public awareness and permission for visits by interested parties. appreciation of Earth Sciences. Colin Frodsham © Purley Quarry LGS 41 GR 303 962 The LGS is in a disused road aggregate quarry. The quarry is being backfilled and reinstated but, Brian Ellis Brian Ellis © © with a grant from the Aggregate Levy Sustainability River Avon, Stratford Racecourse Baginton Garden Centre LGS 43 GR 339 750 Fund, a section has been cleaned, preserved and LGS 51 GR SP 184533 The LGS is an old quarry conserved and then fenced off because