|A journey from Lilliput to Brobdingnag | Shallow hazards and environmental change | Pterodactyls of the Sahara Desert | Environmental conditions during rebuilding of an Early Carboniferous ecosystem | Almost like being there: new approaches to deciphering animal behaviour from trace fossils | An update from Geology from your sofa (GFYS) | Real Urban Geology Walks near you | Hull Cemetery | The Quaternary exposed west of the Cuckmere, East Sussex | The Chilterns chalk dry valleys, not so dry? | The Smugglers Trail of Thanet | Orleigh Court | Volume 20 No.1March,2021 MAGAZINE OF THE ASSOCIATION GEOLOGISTS’

Published by: Magazine of the The Geologists’ Association. Geologists’ Association Four issues per year. ISSN 1476-7600 Volume 20, No. 1 March, 2021 The GEOLOGISTS’ ASSOCIATION does not accept any CONTENTS responsibility for views and opinions expressed by individual authors in this magazine. 4 From the President Editor: DR. LIAM GALLAGHER 6 Report from Council The Geologists’ Association

8 Evening Lecture April 2021: A journey from Lilliput to Founded in 1858 The Geologists’ Association serves the interests Brobdingnag: Bivalve molluscs body size trends across of both professional and amateur geologists, as well as making geology available to a wider public. It is a national organisation the end-Triassic mass extinction and recovery based in London, but is represented by local and affiliated groups By: Dr Jed W. Atkinson around the country. The GA holds monthly lecture meetings, publishes a journal and geological guides and organises field 8 Presidential Address May 2021: Shallow geohazards excursions both in the UK and abroad. and environmental change By: Dr. Vanessa Banks Subscriptions are renewed annually on November 1st.

9 Evening Lecture June 2021: Pterodactyls of the Sahara You can join the GA on-line on our website: Desert By: Prof David Martill www.geologistsassociation.org.uk/JoiningtheGA.html [email protected] 11 Evening Lecture December 2020: Environmental By phone 020 7434 9298 or by post to Sarah Stafford, conditions that existed during rebuilding of an Early Executive Secretary, The Geologists’ Association, Burlington Carboniferous ecosystem; Prof Sarah Davies; House, Piccadilly, London W1J 0DU. By: Lesley Exton

13 Evening Lecture January 2021: Almost like being Research Award Deadline there: new approaches to deciphering animal 15 November annually behaviour from trace fossils; Dr. Jon Noad; [email protected] By: Lesley Exton

15 News Item: An update from Geology from your sofa © The Geologists’ Association. (GFYS) By: Janet Smith & Alison Barraclough All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any 18 Circular means, without the prior permission in writing of the Geologists’ Association.

21 vFoG Walks: Real Urban Geology Walks near you LAST Copy dates for the Circular & Magazine: By: Diana Clements March Issue: January 20th June Issue: April 20th

22 vFoG Walks: Hull Cemetery By: Mike Horne September Issue: July 20th December Issue: October 20th Items should be submitted as soon as possible and not targeted on 25 Opinion Article The Quaternary exposed west of the these dates. We welcome contributions from Members and others Cuckmere, East Sussex By: Ed Jarzembowski & [email protected] Peter Austen

27 Opinion Article: The Chilterns chalk dry valleys, not so Curry Fund Dates for 2021 dry? By: Simon Cains Application deadline Committee date 29 News Item: The Smugglers Trail of Thanet May 20th June 10th By: Richard Hubbard August 19th September 9th November 18th December 9th

32 Opinion Article: Orleigh Court By: David Ward [email protected]

34 Rockwatch News Cover picture: “Learning in Lockdown” - a product from the Geology & Art II Workshop hosted by Emma Theresa Jude in January

2 Magazine of the Geologists’ Association Vol. 20, No.1 2021 COVID-19

Geologists’ Association - Interim Status Update (5) This is a further update on the Geologists’ Association response to government directives on the ‘Coronavirus (Covid 19) pandemic’.

Since December 2020 when we were pinned in to the latest period of ‘Lockdown’ - which largely ‘cancelled’ planned Christmas and New Years’ celebrations - the country has been waiting for signs of a credible way out of its enforced restrictions on liberty. The first ‘shoots’ have appeared, to a certain extent, with the roll out of viable vaccines across the United Kingdom and elsewhere which have progressed at an encouraging pace and with the government’s February 22nd 2021 announcement of the way markers toward June 2021 that will hopefully see a return to something approaching normality.

At the time of writing there remains (again...) considerable uncertainty in planning for the future, but GA Council will continue to do its utmost to provide its members with access to a quality range of varied geological enjoyment.

The Geological Society of London’s Burlington House headquarters remains closed other than strictly for business matters only in a ‘COVID-19 secure’ way, and with an occupancy that allows for strict social distancing, There is no reported prospect of opening for more general purposes before late Spring 2021 at the earliest. Currently the earliest conceivable time-scale for any public events taking place there remains mid 2021. Undoubtedly the opening will be gradual and phased.

As noted in the December 2020 edition of the GA Magazine, the Geologists’ Association has had to continually review its calendar for the first half of 2021 and beyond. GA staff and Council members continue with remote working using electronic media to facilitate business, including Council meetings.

We have continued to respond to our membership through the website, providing access to online Zoom-hosted lectures (encouragingly attracting record numbers of ‘attendees’), as well as regular updates to the Geology from your Sofa pages (https://geologistsassociation.org.uk/sofageology/), which has established itself as a veritable cornucopia of geologically themed resources which continues to be well received; don’t miss out!

In the coming months you can look forward to more Zoom-hosted lectures direct from the GA including the President’s Address and we encourage Local Groups and Affiliated Societies to share links to their content to as wide an audience within our community as possible. We also welcome write ups for the magazine of your innovative activities - we want to continue to engage in ways to communicate and ‘share’ during these difficult times and we welcome any ideas from members to increase the range of activities on offer – all ideas welcome.

Please keep safe and enjoy Volume 20 No. 1 of the Magazine of the Geologists’ Association.

Keep all that interesting content coming!

By: The Magazine Editor on behalf of the GA Executive

Magazine of the Geologists’ Association Vol. 20, No.1 2021 3 FROM THE PRESIDENT Vanessa Banks

For many a geology highlight of the Christmas 2020 festive off to fantastic start on 8th January with his thoughtful, fun, period was the first of the Royal Institution Christmas informative and well-illustrated talk titled Almost like being Lectures: Planet Earth a user guide, Engine Earth by Professor there: new approaches to deciphering animal behaviour from Chris Jackson. The talk focused on how the planet’s rocks trace fossils. This was one of those talks that comes to an and fossils represent climate change and how the earth’s end and leaves you wondering where the time has gone. Two tectonic system has controlled carbon dioxide levels, but Saturday evening workshops followed: Art and Geology II, anthropogenic influences are driving these an interdisciplinary fossil drawing workshop

towards tipping points. A parallel highlight MAGAZINE OF THE led by Emma Theresa Jude on 9th January for the Geologists’ Association was the rich GEOLOGISTS’ and Photography Workshop led by Dr Paul ASSOCIATION wealth of published geological information that Volume 19 No.4 December, 2020 Markwick on Saturday, 23rd January. appeared for us all to mull over during Both events were arranged the ongoing “Lockdown” through by Graham Hickman the Christmas holiday Earth Heritage and were period. well attended To this end, with good our thanks and effective to Dr Liam participant Gallagher for the engagement in excellent edition the virtual format. of the Magazine On 5th February Marine Protected of of sedimentology | Comparing the flintsof the Upper Cretaceous of England with the cherts/flints from the Eocene-Miocene at at Lyme Regis Museum | Raspberry Shake: A Saga of Seismic Scale | Is Deep Sea Mining the Key to a Zero Carbon Economy? | of the Geologists’ risks and consequences | The GA and coping with the ‘virus’ | The Etches Collection Museum | Ericdotes | My life in Geology / Areas and White White Limestone of Jamaica | Presentation of the 2020 Foulerton Award and Curry Fund Certificate of Excellence | Subsurface we enjoyed Dr. | Almost like being there: new approaches to deciphering animal behaviour from trace fossils | Tectonic plates, fossils | Tectonic mantle plumes, trace being there: newfrom like approachesdeciphering animal behaviour | Almost to and the importance of keeping good time | Earthquake chasing around the world | vFoG 2020 | The weird and wonderful world 2020 | The weird and wonderful world chasingthe world | vFoG time | Earthquake around keeping good of importance and the Geology Geology in my life | The Avon Gorge: Geology by photograph | Earth Science depictions on British Cigarette Cards pre 1940 | The

unusual case of a “hot” Micraster as a link between Palaeontology, Chemistry and Agriculture | Conservation of the “Landslip” Panel Geodiversity Association (Vol. 19 Lucía Pérez-Díaz’s

ISSUE Creating Charles Images from 54 Lyell’s World Online No.4). The wealth of the GA’s 2020 Winter 2020 clearly presented Photo EarthCompetition Heritage content is a credit to A new global overview of Tectonic geopark and Tributes to the diversity of interests NNRWinter 2020 Geoconservation plates, mantle plumes, champions of our membership and Earth Heritage 54 1 and the importance of Figure 1: those of Rockwatch. Thanks keeping good time, which A selection of “must read” to everyone who contributed! attracted a record number geological content! This was accompanied by Issue o f attendees (>270). The 54 of Earth Heritage, which virtual attendance, with which was packed with well-presented reports of geoconservation we have all become increasingly familiar to, has been more projects and of how groups have adapted to pandemic successful than anyone would have anticipated prior to the restrictions and kept in touch virtually. Our thanks to Dr Sue pandemic. This will be considered in future decision making Marriott, guest managing editor, the editorial team, all of the around lecture formats. Further to these deliveries, we have authors and Barbara Silva for her production of this engaging found that there has been increased uptake of the offer for magazine. For those that still had time, Janet Wright and post-lecture “socialising” in breakout rooms. Sarah Stafford Alison Barraclough ensured a bumper content from Geology arranges the breakout rooms to replicate as closely as from Your Sofa (Number 18), including links to talks, courses, possible the social aspects of the Burlington House meetings, virtual field trips, museum activities and fun, soon followed up with one room being named “The Bar” and the other given the by numbers 19, 20 and 21 as the winter fortnights slipped by. name of a Burlington House meeting room. If you have not All well received and much appreciated. Members were also experimented with the breakout rooms, please do not be shy! treated to a diverse range of articles in Volume 131, Issue 6 of Come and share some of your thoughts and experiences in a the Proceedings of the Geologists’ Association. Prof. Malcolm friendly environment with or without your glass. Hart again worked tirelessly, in challenging circumstances, Council has focused on the usual course of business, which to ensure that this volume was published before the end of has been effectively delivered through virtual meetings and the year. As we move into 2021 it is hoped that Elsevier’s workshops supported by email correspondence. Professor new typesetters will enable us to return to the publication Tony Doré has successfully led an exercise to prioritise GA standards that everyone had come to expect of this journal. risks to business in the risk register. This is a governance As well as thanking Malcolm for his huge efforts we would also activity that was initiated by Adrian Champion as guided by like to thank all of the editors and authors that contributed the Charities Commission. Currently Tony is working with Janet to making this a success. If for any reason you have not yet Wright to ensure that the mitigation measures are defined and immersed yourself in this issue, please do, articles range from implemented. The Festival of Geology group reported back on citizen science to archaeology, new dating of cave mammal lessons learnt from the virtual event in November 2020 with bone assemblages, palaeontology, sedimentology and mantle suggestions on how improvements could be made for future plumes and hot-spots. events. Susan Brown reported that there were 1081 visitors Dr Jon Noad, presenting from Canada, got the GA 2021 calendar to the website and of these, 1019 were first time users.

4 Magazine of the Geologists’ Association Vol. 20, No.1 2021 Visitors were from the UK and 34 other countries. In the days. The afternoon of Thursday 20th May and the morning order of 10% of the visitors arrived via social media channels, of Friday 21st May 2021 are the dates for your calendar! so our thanks to John Cooper, Tom Phillips, David Pedreros Towards the end of January Dr Michael Daly, the current Bastidas and Amy Edgington for contributing to this. During President of the Geological Society of London (GSL), informed January there was considerable activity pertaining to the the GSL membership about the situation regarding the nominations for Council and the Awards. These are significant Burlington House Apartments. The letter sets out the situation pieces of work for Council. Perhaps surprisingly in the current regarding rising rents and a 3-5 year timescale for action. In situation there are some new initiatives being formulated. the short term, the GSL proposes to work with other Courtyard One such initiative, led by Lucia relates to GA merchandising, societies to launch a final campaign for Government support more of this to come in the near future. Looking forward, to remain at Burlington House and to consider options for Nick Pierpoint has worked hard to collate reporting on how alternative premises and re-location. Dr Richard Hughes, the the Geologists’ Association has responded to the pandemic. Executive Secretary of the GSL kindly attended our Council Undoubtedly, this will be a valuable document for the meeting on 5th February and took questions on this situation. archives. Decisions have yet to be made, in the context The GA has responded by offering support for the lobbying of Government Covid Guidance, regarding the Geologists’ exercise. In parallel we will arrange a working group to Association Annual Conference in Edinburgh and this year’s consider options for the GA should the need arise for us to Festival of Geology. This year’s GA Student Symposium move. We will keep the membership informed as the situation (GASS) will be a virtual event taking place over two half evolves.

We welcome the following new members to the Geologists’ Association: Elected November 2020 – February 2021

Richard Arthur Ross Baker Holly Chubb Giles Clifton

Roger Cornish Stephen Crittenden Simon Cuthbert Adam Dargan

Jonathan Davey Lia D’Heldt Miriam Fox Geoff Gilbert Mary Gill

Chris Grew Simon Guscott Laura Hemmingham Thomas Horseman

Matthew Johnson Hugh Johnson Elena Jones David Lewis Peter Lincoln

John Madigan Adrian Marsh Robert Maurer Miles Mayall

Patrick Moore Matthew Newell Judy Oppe Martha Papadopoulou

Andy Pedrick Daniel Reid Hilary Robinson Wayne Sayer Isam Shendi

Howard Siddle John Stanbridge Mike Streetly Simon Webster

Sharon Wheeler Gerry Withers

Deaths During the past three months we have been made aware of the death of the following members:

Dr Ieuan David Professor Graham Evans Mr John Stanley

Please notify the office if you become aware of the death of a GA member. We are always open to receipt of short obituaries and/or a photograph - so if you would like to write one please get in touch.

Magazine of the Geologists’ Association Vol. 20, No.1 2021 5 REPORT FROM COUNCIL By: Diana Clements

It is the time of year when we write about the AGM in the necessity for a Marketing post-holder. This was agreed at May. You may remember that last year the AGM was an our December meeting. One of our Council members, David early casualty of the Covid pandemic and we were forced to Ward, has made a number of suggestions and we hope he conduct the AGM via written communications. This year we will formally take up this post after our May AGM. We also will hold it live via Zoom. The Annual Report will be sent out agreed to form an Education sub-committee, as a sub-group in advance as usual but you will be asked to vote live via of the External Relations Committee. This will allow invited election buttons on the Zoom screen on 7th May, starting at guests and organisations to participate without the need 6pm. The Agenda can be found on p.17. The GA Prizes will to be involved with the other matters relating to External be announced but we will be unable to hand over Medals and Relations. We welcomed the Scottish Geological Trust as a cheques on the day. As last year we plan to distribute those new Affiliated Society. in person over the summer months. Our President, Vanessa Tony Doré, our Governance post-holder has been working Banks will deliver her address following the AGM, also via hard to update our risk register in light of the new risks to Zoom but unfortunately we will the GA identified since it was not be able to hold our annual last looked at in February 2019. dinner again this year. His updated details of the 10 The full colour Annual Report top risks will be uploaded on the will be circulated electronically About the GA page shortly. to all those for whom we have The annual GA Student emails. You will be sent the Symposium will be held virtually new password for the Members in 2021, scheduled for Thursday Page on the website in the afternoon 20th May and Friday letter accompanying the Annual morning 21st May. The theme Report. It will change on Friday of the symposium is Geoscience 7th May 2021, AGM day. A in wider society: What difference paper copy will be sent through does your research make. This the post where we have no email address. If, in the past, will be a great opportunity to watch a series of presentations you have received notifications from the office via post but from our future geoscience pioneers which will cover an you now have an email address, do please notify the office eclectic range of subject matter. The presenters are also in advance as it saves the GA money. Alternatively should potential speakers to your local groups or societies. The you wish specifically for a black and white paper copy of the modest registration fees are £5/£10 half/full day and the Annual Report when you normally receive notifications by event will be conducted over two half-days with the aim of email, please let Sarah know and she can send it via post. preventing Zoom fatigue. A set fee of £30 per Local /Affiliated There are some members (and some groups) who have Group/Society for unlimited access for their members should clicked the button on our Mailchimps to members to opt out persuade folk that getting together for the day is well worth of receiving information from us. Particularly now, when face it! The closing date for abstracts is 26th March 2021 and by to face communication is still so limited, we do urge you to mid April we hope to have a programme which will help us reconsider and if you would like to receive our fortnightly further promote the event. As always support from the GA notifications from Geology from your Sofa and other events, membership will be most welcome and appreciated. Abstracts get in touch with Sarah and she will re-instate you. Others can be submitted now via the GA website or direct to GASS@ have not completed the Data Protection Form giving us geologistsassociation.org.uk. permission to circulate you with this sort of communication. The most up-to-date information on GA events is listed in This is available to download from the website: www. the Circular and other pages in this issue of the GA Magazine. geologistsassociation.org.uk/about. The GA will never pass as well as on the website. During January our UK Field Trip your details to a third party. Organiser, Graham Hickman organised two excellent Zoom In my December report from Council I reported on the Workshops. The first was give by Emma Jude, a follow up Groups’ meeting in November and the request to ensure that from her very successful workshop on Geology and Art last Earth Science, and particularly specimens, remained on view summer, and the second was a photographic Workshop given in any upgrades of geological exhibits. Our geoconservation by Paul Markwick. Both were fully booked and very well post-holder, Colin Prosser, has agreed to take this up so if received. As a result he has added more workshops. Please you know of any instances where specimens are no longer regularly visit the GA website for further updates in this on view do please get in touch with him with the details at fast-moving scenario. There you will also find links to other [email protected]. We are also keen geological events via Geology from your Sofa. Our February to learn of any particular links that our groups have with meeting attracted a record number of Zoom attendees and it museums. is good to see that our talks are so popular. Hope to be able One of the outcomes of our Workshop in January 2019, to see many of you either via Zoom or even in the flesh at with the aim of retaining and increasing GA membership, was one of our meetings in the not-too-distant future.

6 Magazine of the Geologists’ Association Vol. 20, No.1 2021 GA COUNCIL March 2021

OFFICERS President: Dr Vanessa Banks [email protected]

Senior Vice-President: Nicholas Pierpoint (Chair of External Relations)

Vice Presidents: Dr Lucía Pérez Díaz (Awards Panel Secretary & Chair EDI sub-committee) [email protected] Dr Michael Oates (Meetings Secretary)

Honorary Treasurer: Dr Graham Williams [email protected]

Honorary General Secretary: Diana Clements

POSTHOLDERS Chair of Curry Fund & Awards Committee: Dr Haydon Bailey

Education: Alison Barraclough

Chair of Publications Committee: Prof. David Bridgland

Chair of Rockwatch & Festival of Geology: Susan Brown [email protected]

Governance: Prof. Tony Doré OBE

Council Minutes Secretary: Dr Sandy Colville-Stewart

GA Magazine Editor: Dr Liam Gallagher [email protected]

UK Field Meetings Secretary: Graham Hickman [email protected]

Curry Fund Secretary: Dr Jonathan Larwood [email protected]

Awards Panel Secretary: Dr Lucía Pérez Díaz [email protected]

Chair of Geoconservation: Dr Colin Prosser [email protected]

Overseas Field Meetings Secretary: Dr Ian Sutton

ORDINARY MEMBERS OF COUNCIL Peter Jones, David Ward, Janet Wright (website liason)

Retiring Members May 2021: Nick Pierpoint steps down as Senior Vice-President but will remain as Chair of External Relations. Mick Oates will have served his term as Vice-President but remains as Meetings Secretary. Diana Clements will retire as General Secretary. Dr Rebecca Bell and Sara Osman left Council during the year and David Ward’s 3-year term as an Ordinary Member comes to an end. The roles of Geolab co-ordinator will continue as a non-council role. There are six vacancies on Council to be filled.

NON-COUNCIL ROLES Proceedings Editor-in-Chief: Prof. Malcolm Hart Guides Editor: Prof. Susan Marriott Archivist: Dr Jonathan Larwood Earth Heritage: Prof. David Bridgland Librarian: Dr Sandy Colville-Stewart SchoolRocks!: Dr Haydon Bailey, Alison Barraclough, David Ward Geoweek: David Ward Geology from your Sofa: Alison Barraclough, Janet Wright Geolab: Nikki Edwards Photo competition, calendar & fliers: Gerald Lucy Facebook/Social Media: John Cooper / Tom Phillips Student Representative: David Pedreros Bastidas Legal Matters: Richard Trounson

Executive Secretary: Sarah Stafford [email protected]

Magazine of the Geologists’ Association Vol. 20, No.1 2021 7 Evening Lecture: A journey from Lilliput to Brobdingnag: 9th April 2021 Bivalve mollusc body size trends across the end-Triassic mass extinction and recovery

By: Dr Jed W. Atkinson School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds

Lemuel Gulliver (Gulliver’s Travels, Jonathan Swift) encountered lands of both the extremely small (Lilliput) and the gigantic (Brobdingnag). His fictional travels gave their name to the Lilliput Effect, a phenomenon encountered in the wake of mass extinction when a great many of the organisms are small, just as though we were studying the fossilised inhabitants of Lilliput. The Effect, in its original and strictest sense, is a temporary reduction in body size following a mass extinction, but expressly in a species that survived from before the extinction event. This is therefore a rare occurrence yet populations of small individuals are common after many of the worst ecological crises throughout Earth’s history. There are several possible causes behind these observations, including preferential Figure 1: Plagiostoma; size variation loss of large species during the extinction or origination of small species in the immediate post- extinction interval. An organism’s environment can few million years the Lilliputians had been overtaken by impart a control on body size - factors such as temperature Brobdingnagians. Comparative giants of the same species and oxygen availability are known to do this and are major that evolved to fill the vacated early Jurassic seas. Here I players in many extinction events. shall discuss the journey many species took from Lilliput to The end-Triassic mass extinction event (c. 201 million Brobdingnag and explore the possible reasons behind such years ago) left behind a “Lilliput World” although within a dramatic changes in body size.

Presidential Address: Shallow geohazards and environmental change 7th May 2021

By: Dr. Vanessa Banks British Geological Survey

Later this year, the 26th United Nations Climate Change diversity. Consideration will also be given to the application Conference will be hosted in Glasgow. It is, therefore, of new technologies to shallow geohazard characterisation timely to consider research on shallow geohazards, e.g. and monitoring for the development of forecasting capability. landslides, sinkholes and problem materials, which are susceptible to climate change. Whilst some of these hazards are a consequence of Quaternary climatic conditions and processes imposing a natural meta- stability in the landscape, comparable states of metastablility can also result from human modification to the landscape. Other natural shallow geohazards are related to material properties and changing hydrological or moisture conditions. As well as being sensitive to climate change impacts, they are susceptible to human- induced environmental change as a consequence of urban development, changing land-use and demands on resources. Shallow geohazards are globally extensive with impacts that are measureable in terms of loss of life and or insurance value. Their research is important for human resilience. This talk will address the classification and distribution of shallow geohazards, as well as their relative significance in terms of impact. It will describe the way in which their assessment requires the integration of contributions from Figure 1: The A83 at Rest and Be Thankful, 2018 a range of geoscience specialisations that reflects their

8 Magazine of the Geologists’ Association Vol. 20, No.1 2021 Evening Lecture: Pterodactyls of the Sahara Desert 4th June 2021

By: Prof David Martill School of the Environment, Geography & Geosciences, University of Portsmouth

This talk examines the pterosaur assemblage of an ancient river system represented by the famous Kem Kem Group strata of south eastern Morocco, and summarises the discoveries of an international team of scientists working for more than a decade in the Tafilalt border regions of Morocco and Algeria. Achievements of the team include the discovery of eight genera of pterosaurs and they have excavated the most complete skeleton of the aquatic dinosaur Spinosaurus. The Cretaceous Kem Kem Group strata have become famous for the iconic theropod dinosaur Spinosaurus, victim of World War II and star of Jurassic Park 3!, as well as giant sauropods, crocodiles, turtles, saw sharks and bony fishes. The huge size of much of the assemblage has led to the Kem Kem Group being named the River of Giants. The abundance of fossils, especially the teeth of dinosaur has resulted in a thriving fossil trade and a proliferation of fossil mines spread across more than 200km of outcrop from Zguilma in the south to Tadighoust at the foot of the Atlas Mountains in the Figure 1: A fossil mine in the Kem Kem Group at Begaa, SE Morocco

endemic, and include Afrotapejara, Alanqa, Apatorhamphus, Leptostomia, and Xericeps. The nature of the pterosaur assemblage is highly unusual. Skeletal remains of edentulous pterosaurs are considerably more common than those of the tooth-bearing ornithocheirids. Of these skeletal remains, by far the commonest elements are the tips of the jaws of both the edentulous and tooth- bearing forms. Not a single specimen has been found of the rear of the skull, and neither have any wrist bones been found… the latter likely the strongest element of the entire skeleton. Reasons for the strange bias of skeletal elements are unknown, but I will speculate why this might be. The Kem Kem pterosaur fauna is unique in Africa, and has the highest diversity of any pterosaur locality for the entire continent. Despite the fragmentary nature of the material, its three-dimensional preservation makes it some of the best Figure 2: A typical tagine-hill landscape of Kem Kem preserved material known. Group capped by Akrabou Formation (Turonian) limestone. north, with vertebrate fossils plentiful along the entire outcrop. Pterosaur remains in the Kem Kem have revealed a diverse assemblage of forms, from tiny juvenile individuals to considerable giants with wingspans of 6 or more metres. Both toothed forms and edentulous pterosaurs are present, with isolated teeth of ornithocheirids being the most frequently occurring remains. Skeletal remains are dominated by the toothless azhdarchids and more rarely tapejarids and possible chaoyangopterids. The ornithocheirids share similarities with pterosaurs from the Cambridge Greensand of the UK, and include forms such as Coloborhynchus, Anhanguera and Ornithocheirus, Figure 3: Palaeoartist Davida Bonadonna’s restoration of but endemic forms, such as Siroccopteryx also occur. Alanqa saharica flying overs an abandoned channel of the Presently, the edentulous pterosaurs all seem to be Kem Kem river system

Magazine of the Geologists’ Association Vol. 20, No.1 2021 9 GEOLOGICAL AND CULTURAL TO UR TO ANNAPURNA REGION AND MUSTANG - NEPAL HIMALAYA W HA T A Small Group Tour led by Dr Danny Clark- Lowes WHE N now scheduled for 25 September to 10 October, 2021 WHE R E London • Kathmandu • Pokhara • Tatopani • Jomsom • Syanboche • Lo-Manthang • Chhuksang • Jomsom • Pokhara • Kathmandu • London COST 16 Days from £3700 per person based on twin/ double sharing, includes International and Internal flights inclusive all taxes, accommodation and most meals Dr Danny Clark-Lowes will lead this tour to Nepal. He is a geologist, educated at Cambridge and London universities, who has given industry training courses on geology at locations throughout the world. As well as publishing scientific papers and books on geology, he is a mountaineer who has climbed in the Swiss Alps and in the Himalaya. He has been leading Himalayan trips for some five years now. This tour will look at aspects of the geology and geography of the spectacular Himalaya, and will help participants achieve an understanding of how mountain belts and their associated rock types are created through plate movements. The tour takes us north up the Kali Gandaki river on the Annapurna Circuit to Jomsom and on to Mustang, a region more Tibetan than Nepalese in character, for which special permits are required. Our visit to this remote Shangri La-like valley, high up in the rain shadow of the Himalayan Mountains, will be a highlight of the trip.

For a detailed day to day itinerary and booking form please visit: www.indusexperiences.co.uk/special-interest Go to the ‘Special Interest’ tab and look for 'Geology' email: [email protected] or Call 020 8901 7320

We are currently looking to work with Geology trip leaders to create and lead memorable field trips. Please contact us for further details

10 Magazine of the Geologists’ Association Vol. 20, No.1 2021 Evening Lecture: Environmental conditions that existed during rebuilding December 2020 of an early Carboniferous ecosystem

By: Prof. Sarah Davies School of Geography, Geology & the Environment, University of Leicester

The talk was based on a research project Then, the UK was just south of the equator, (2012-7) the TW:eed Project which was on the margins of a shallow seaway to the a huge group effort led by the late Jenny south of a large continent. Looking at the Clack from the University of Cambridge. regional palaeogeography, to the north is The Hangenberg Event at the end of the Highland Boundary Fault, with high the Devonian marks a major change ground to the west, the Southern Upland in the ecosystems. It was a first-order and Cheviot Massifs. The main river input mass extinction, with an early main would have been to the north, flowing phase of marine extinctions, including southwards and into the Midland Valley many ammonoids, trilobites, conodonts, area. Further south in the Northumberland brachiopods, ostracods and foraminifera. Solway Basin were marine environments This was associated with black shale with some evaporites. In addition to the deposition and anoxia. Then a few river systems there were lakes. hundred thousand years later there was One of the step changes during the a mass terrestrial extinction, affecting project was the technology available to the the vertebrates (fish, tetrapods) and land group. So rather than breaking the rock plants. up to the fossil, a CT scan was made of Data from plant stems show there was the rock to show the fossil inside it. During a complete loss of diversity. There was extinction of more this stage of the project five new Tournaisian tetrapods were than four major spore groups that dominated the spore identified, three taxa stem tetrapods and two taxa stem assemblage. The post-extinction VI spore assemblage was amphibians and at least seven other distinct taxa which as yet remarkable for its simplicity. The recovery vegetation was are undiagnosed. So right from the start the group knew there dominated by small simple land plants. There was major were more tetrapods than Romer had originally thought. Also, ecosystem disruption, including the collapse of the structured they were finding a range of tetrapods, some with primitive forest community that had existed at that time. features similar to Devonian forms and stem amniotes e.g. It is still not totally clear what caused the Hangenberg Ossirarus kierani and others with derived features such as Event. At the end of the Devonian there was the final glacial enlarged eyes e.g. Koilops herma. cycle of the ice age, a lot of low-latitude continental aridity, At Burnmouth there is a near vertical succession from near significant marine transgression probably related to climate the base of the Carboniferous. It is a marvellous section as warming and ocean anoxia. However, you don’t see planetary you get the wave cut platform and also the much cleaner scale volcanic eruptions or asteroid impacts. One slightly cliff successions. Do have the base of the Ballagan Formation controversial suggestion is there could have been significant which is the base of the Tournaisian here. Summary logs show ozone loss during the rapid warming. Evidence for this comes alternation of different lithologies and environments but no from deformed spore spikes thought to be due to ultraviolet systematic facies pattern. The fluvial systems vary in thickness damage of DNA. This is seen in many spores from this from 3 m to 36 m, with a range of different lithologies. So period. This is the latest theory, however, as with many mass what we were looking at is a meandering channel body and extensions it is probably a combination of different factors. what we could see is lateral accretion surfaces. A variety of The project was partly triggered because of a period of time in these meandering systems and other types of system were the Tournaisian called Romer’s Gap, where there was a lack of found throughout the Burnmouth succession. They examined a fossil record for vertebrates. In the Late Devonian there were some of the very isolated bodies on the wavecut platform, tetrapods which were very fish-like, often with webbed feet, some of which occur at a particular height and think they up to seven digits and fish-like heads and tails. Then, the next have identified some fixed river systems, ‘anastomosing river time tetrapods were identified was in the Early Carboniferous systems’ which are kept in place with very cohesive banks, and these looked like the tetrapods we would recognize today. don’t tend to shift very much and can be cut and fill. Also, some of the known specimens from this period didn’t fit This is important as Gibling & Davies (2012) suggested onto the evolutionary tree, so there was clearly a problem. the evolution of river systems is linked to plant evolution. Our understanding of this time-period and the importance As plants diversified the river system changes, you go of the rocks in northern England and the central belt of from channelized braided into meandering systems and Scotland is down to two people, fossil hunter Stan and Tim then by the later Devonian probably had trunk meandering Smithson. Between the two of them they kick-started this systems. They suggested you didn’t have fixed channels until project. The work focused largely on the eastern area of the the Pennsylvanian. However, if this project has identified Ballagan Formation in Scotland, and the talk concentrated on anastomosing river systems, then they formed earlier than Burnmouth and data from a borehole drilled 500 m inland. thought. This bit of geology doesn’t have an economic value, so people We then moved 383m above the base of the Tournaisian hadn’t looked at it before. It is also quite hard to work with. section to examine the channel system at the end of which is

Magazine of the Geologists’ Association Vol. 20, No.1 2021 11 bed 383, which has some of the richest assemblies of • Tropical, highly seasonal climate: wetland floodplains vertebrates from the whole of Burnmouth. Looking down onto but with gypsum forming in lakes the wavecut platform could identify multiple channelbodies; dolostones which were probably lake deposits, fluvial • Importance of ‘sandy siltstones’ for vertebrate fossil systems, a lake, another fluvial system downcutting, a series preservation of nested channels sitting above a lake horizon and lateral accretion surfaces. Bed 383 can be linked into the channel In conclusion: body but doesn’t extend very far onto the wavecut platform. • Does Romer’s Gap exist? No – new Tournaisian It is essentially a conglomerate, green and red clasts, a range tetrapods (with a mixture of primitive and more derived of woody and carbon debris, and fossil material, including characteristics) refute low oxygen and no change in tetrapod rib and jaw, lungfish skull bone and tooth plates, microcharcoal distribution across the Devonian-Carboniferous Rhizodont tooth, Chondrichthyan tooth and Gyracanth pelvic spine. Examination of the microfossils suggested • What were the early Carboniferous depositional Actinopteryglan were underrepresented in the macrofossil systems like? Long-lived mosaic of aquatic and terrestrial data. environments. Alternation of river channels, vegetated and A fluvial system like this gives a window into the ecosystem. forested floodplains, freshwater lakes, saline lakes (closed Probably seeing it from the deepest part of the channel, and more open) and short-lived marine transgressions. Sandy perhaps run-off from fire-devastated floodplains that is being siltstones are key taphafacies, transported by flooding into channelled through some of these river systems and has shallow lakes and across floodplains. Mississippian wetlands been preserved at the base of this particular river channel. with evaporites. Then things become a little more organized and you get the lateral accretion surfaces and migration of the river system. • Did environments change over 12 Ma? No systematic So, the richness of a single small channel-fill conglomerate pattern of facies (e.g. repeated progradations) but palaeosoils demonstrates diversity of vertebrate taxa and potential and palynology indicate vegetation changes. abundance in previously understudied Tournaisian non-marine fossil localities. Large-bodied taxa, in some cases larger Why are the tetrapods preserved here? And why then? Opening than those from later in the Carboniferous, lived about 9 Ma of the Carboniferous basins across Europe and into eastern after the end of the Devonian. Large forms appear to have Canada: major change in the tectonic configuration. Did this, recovered more quickly following the Hangenberg extinction in conjunction with moving towards equatorial latitudes, allow event than previous estimates have suggested. monsoonal conditions to be established? Change from the A reconstruction of the Tweed Basin suggests a range of Devonian drylands to the Mississippian wetlands experiencing different palaeosols, including, vertisols, gleysols, inceptisols a seasonal climate. Wide variety of habitats, range of food for and entisols. The vegetation was also looked at by examining tetrapods. the spores found in the core. Two different lycopod faunas were identified, arborescent and creeping. They often did What next? A new proposal involving more than 30 not coexist which indicated changes in the environment. researchers from 27 institutions in 8 countries to look at The sandy siltstone deposits suggest river-derived floods Biological Innovations and the Origins of Modern Ecosystems which eroded floodplains redistributing material to elsewhere (BIOME) which aims to resolve mode, timing, and locations on the floodplain and into shallow lakes. Dolostone facies of interactions between Carboniferous life and Earth Systems suggest different lake environments existed. There were to understand origins of biodiversity in a world where it is also evaporites, the majority of which represent ephemeral now rapidly being lost. This will radically transform our brine pans to semi-permanent hypersaline lakes or salinas understanding of Earth history. on a floodplain that periodically experienced storm surges introducing marine waters. This contrasted with all the other evidence suggesting a tropical seasonal climate. The closest By: Lesley Exton modern analogue is the Tigris-Euphrates river marshes, Iraq.

In summary:

• Long-lived mosaic of aquatic and terrestrial environments

• River channel systems, vegetated (and forested) floodplains, lakes

• Potentially have oldest anastomosing channel sandstone bodies

• Mosaic? No systematic pattern in the Tweed Basin

• Large variety of lakes: freshwater and saline

• Many cryptic marine incursions/transgressions

12 Magazine of the Geologists’ Association Vol. 20, No.1 2021 Evening Lecture: Almost like being there: new approaches to deciphering 8th January, 2021 animal behaviour from trace fossils 2020

By: Dr. Jon Noad Sedimental Services

The talk would be interweaving fossil traces the riverbed, then a big flood covered them with and modern traces (neoichnology). We can 30 cm of sediment. They climbed out as they use ancient traces to inform us on how feed at the riverbed, could see the escape animals behaved in the past and use structures or fugichnia, but then the modern traces as templates to look water level fell and they were left high for fossil traces. Traces are structures and dry, and died. Fresh water bivalves produced in rocks and sediments make a variety of traces. A few by the life processes of organisms years ago at Cochrane, Alberta the and are often more interesting speaker found an inverted block with than physical fossils as they show craters on it. There were Unionids behaviour rather than just a thing. sitting inside the craters. The bivalves Types of traces include, footprints, had, created the crater like traces by scratch marks, resting traces, feed fluidizing the sediment around them traces, coprolites, gastroliths, burrows in order to dig down into the sediment. and nests. Neoichnology is the fun stuff, This is a new species. as you can see the traces being made. Next was insects. Insect boring have The speaker started with the small and been found in petrified wood in Arizona. Insect simple. ‘Worm’ burrows are the classic trace fossil, burrows may reach a metre in length. You can look many types of burrows are recognized e.g. Gryrolithes, at modern borings to get a sense for what to expect. Also Teichichnus, Chondrites, Thalassinoides. They can be used to get bivalves that bore into wood e.g. Teredo, known as determine depositional setting, usually represent dwelling or the ‘shipworm’ they were the reason hulls were eventually feed traces and are abundant, so useful when logging core. covered in copper, and then made out of iron and steel. The example shown was a Gyrolithes or helter-skelter, spiral Taenidium burrows, or adhesive meniscate burrows are trace probably made by polychaete worms or arthropods and thought to be made by beetles. What is nice about them is commonly found in marginal marine environments. They look the beetle would stop going down when it got to the water like bunches of grapes in core, but in outcrop you can see table, so you can map out these burrows and use them to them in 3D and if you look carefully you can see claw marks trace the movement of the water table through time. Another along the inside, indicating an arthropod made them rather fossil trace are Tiger beetle burrows, these are like straws than a worm. and the beetle lives within them, modern traces are exactly Deep water traces are very esoteric. So rather than being the same as the fossil traces. simple tubular or U-shaped burrows, feeding strategies at A modern abandoned termite nest was found in Brazil. depth include meandriform burrows, to process as much Ten tonnes of concrete were poured into it and then it was sediments as possible. Also find farming traces: Paleodictyon, excavated. The nest was 50 m2 and 8 m deep, with a series which are unusual hexagonal shapes. Each one is a small of burrows and rugby ball like chambers. The termites had meadow which has been populated with algae which is then removed 40 tonnes of soil in its construction. Not sure if you harvested by the animal concerned. They were discovered by saw this in the fossil record you would immediately think deep sea vessel Alvin around the Mid Atlantic Ridge. Although termite burrow. There is an example of a Jurassic termite they also go back into the fossil record, we still don’t know nest which is much more tubular. Termites are responsible what creature is responsible. for some enormous structures compared to their size. Size is a very important thing with traces. Diplocraterion, a Termites also make ‘fairy circles’. They munch away the meniscate feed trace, is found in shallow marine conditions. grass roots, making the soil less dense and more porous and However, spectacularly large burrows have been found in creating a sandy doughnut hole cleared of plant life. This is Borneo, this was due to very strong tidal currents. So, the able to retain more water than vegetated areas. The resulting creatures were larger as they had to hold themselves in the reservoir of water that builds up allows the surrounding ring tidal channels. of vegetation to flourish in the form of perennial grasses, Moving on to molluscs, there are some famous rolling which in turn provide the termites with food. Might we see traces which look a little like a car tyre track. They are these in the fossil record? Maybe we would interpret them actually made by an ammonite scudding along the seabed. as footprints or fish nests. Some gastropod traces are more like art, including sinuous Moving onto arthropods, all of us have probably seen a lot trackways, which are particularly common in mangroves and of these burrows. Thalassinoides is responsible for a lot of coastal settings and traces created by a radula, a rasping the flint structures you see. They make their burrows and device for feeding on algally imbued sediment which creates some of them use organic material to line the burrows e.g. beautiful shapes. The next fossil trace told a tragic tale of Ophioimorpha which uses its own faecal waste as ‘wallpaper’. freshwater bivalves. These Unionids were happily loving on If there is any silica in the sediment it nucleates on the faecal

Magazine of the Geologists’ Association Vol. 20, No.1 2021 13 waste and eventually builds up to make the flints we see in bird footprints which lack a hallus (rear claw) which suggest chalk today. that they were made by a member of the plover family, Also see crab and crayfish burrows. An example of the latter the Killdeer. The rock also contains prod marks as well as can be seen in Arches National Park, Utah. The burrows enigmatic zigzag traces. These occur as ‘sand in sand’ style occur in mottled Triassic palaeosols, but why would you trace and it was suggested they were bird feeding traces. have crayfish living in ancient soils? Probably had standing Then while in South Africa the speaker found similar traces water for several months a year, so that allowed the crayfish and the prod marks made by modern day Blacksmith plovers, to come and colonise. Shrimps are also good at walking which fed by dragging their beaks through the sediment in a about and leave distinctive tracks, so trackways have been zigzag fashion. Since then, he has found better examples so found from the Silurian onwards. There is a huge variety of is confident it is a bird feed trace. He then went through some sizes from tiny shrimps to 6 foot eurypterids. You can use other modern bird feeding traces that we could look for in the the mangrove lobster trackways to define fossil mangrove fossil record, including a bivalve or snail drop trace. deposits, and can even recognize when a lobster was limping! There have only been two examples found in the fossil Each animal makes thousands of traces in its lifetime so there record of fossil nests, one probably from the Pleistocene was is a much better chance of finding tracks than the body. preserved in tufa. However, there is a huge variety of bird Then onto fish. Rays feeding on the bottom use their fins nests and they probably just haven’t been recognized as such to waft water, creating pits in the seabed and exposing so we need to look in the record for more of them. crustaceans which they eat. So, the fill in these pits will Ice and snow are great for studying traces. They provide be different to the background sediment. Fish also make ground for trainee trackers and interpreters to learn and may burrows e.g. fossil lungfish burrows have been found in record behaviours that would otherwise be lost i.e. goose Redonda Formation, Chinle, Triassic, New Mexico. Another resting traces, where the goose had sat long enough on the trace fossil made by fish is an Undichna, a sinusoidal pattern ice to melt the ice below them. So they have left an oval which includes feeding marks and drag marks made by the outline and some even have foot impressions. Potential to pectoral and caudal fin ofNotogoneus osculus (one was found look for dinosaur equivalents. at the end of the trackway in the Green River Formation). There are so many examples for mammals, including all They may occur where it is very deep or where ponds are sorts of footprints showing many types of behaviour and drying out. beaver drag marks and gnaw marks. There are some iconic A recent trace found around Amami-Oshima Island, Japan images of human traces, from the earliest human tracks looks like a crop circle. It is created by a small male pufferfish made 3.2 My ago by Australopithicus afarensis, the oldest that uses his body to create peaks and valleys in the sandy European footprints found here in Britain are 900 000 years bottom around a central circle of smooth sand. He then old to the footprints left on the moon. forms irregular patterns in the fine sand particles of the The speaker finished by a brief look at coprolites and wee. central circle and decorates the peaks of the outer portion There are a huge variety of coprolites, although they are with shell and coral fragments. It takes him around 10 days often difficult to identify. They are commonly mineralised. and if satisfied a female will lay eggs in the centre. This only Some are spiralled or contain bone fragments or plant happens about 5% of the time, so most males must swim off material. What is much rarer are the wee traces or ‘urolite’. and try again with a new nest. In conclusion the speaker left us with a lot to think about, Dinosaurs and reptiles were next. Starting with some clearly the study of neoichnology is very much alive. There classic dinosaur footprints from which you can gain a are some fascinating modern traces to study and a lot lot of information not just the type of dinosaur, i.e. to learn. Interpreting modern traces is great practice for weight from track depth, speed from spacing, and possibly interpreting ancient ones. There are many modern traces individual behaviour and herding dynamics. Although you we see today that have never been recognized in the fossil must remember that the tracks might not have been made record, but they are undoubtedly there. Every time you see all at the same time. However, you are likely to miss many something in the rock that is difficult to explain, remember it prints, especially when they aren’t perfect, they occur in may be a feeding trace, a nest or even a goose resting trace! cross-section or trample zones (where the dinoturbation Finally, hopefully every time we how see an interesting piece of the sediment occurs). You also get scratch marks from of animal activity, we will think about what traces it may be fingernails, Karoo footprints from large amphibians, squelch leaving behind. prints and slip faces. Dinosaur nests have also been identified in Alberta, Canada, France, China, etc. The eggs are laid in Many thanks to the speaker for another very interesting a particular pattern. They also found scrapes in the ground talk. associated with some nesting sites, this may have been part of a ceremonial scraping as part of the mating ritual. This type of behaviour is seen in some birds today, e.g. plover. Another new discovery is that dinosaurs created burrows e.g. By: Lesley Exton Oryctodromeus. Other modern reptiles create burrows and tracks e.g. snake tracks can be variable, from slitherer to sidewinder, but would you recognize these as such in the fossil record? Other examples include, alligator tail drag, lizard and turtle tracks. The speaker then moved on some work he had done on bird tracks in fossil mangrove deposits in Miocene rocks from eastern Borneo. They contain previously unreported

14 Magazine of the Geologists’ Association Vol. 20, No.1 2021 News Item: An update from Geology from your sofa (GFYS)

By: Janet Wright & Alison Barraclough

more bimonthly updates. The result of a membership survey back in May 2020 told us that bimonthly was the right frequency of updates. Early on Alison and I decided that GFYS would present its recommendations in four categories: YouTube and Podcast Lectures, Online Courses, Virtual Field Trips and GeoFun. We also set ourselves the aim of only featuring dynamic content i.e. content that visitors could either watch or listen to from their sofas. We don’t pretend this has been easy to achieve, you may have noticed that we have featured a number of GeoTrail leaflets in the Virtual Field Trip category. This is because many are lovingly put together by GA members, and/or local and affiliated groups. We are certain that when we can roam the Figure 1: The GFYS icon by Barbara Silva, the GA’s website designer landscape again these will be useful

Geology from your Sofa first appeared on 10 April 2020. The idea developed from discussions that Alison Barraclough and I had. Alison is the GA’s current Education Representative and member of the excellent SchoolRocks! team. Alison was bemoaning the fact that there was an ever growing abundance of geological content on the internet and how was anyone expected to keep up with it. The answer was simply that you can’t! Like any good researcher you use due diligence, searching and identifying those you consider to be reputable sources, stimulating and informative content that you believe you will enjoy. You won’t always get it right but you can refine your sources and searches to address that. We agreed that, during lockdown, having access to that stimulating, informative and, probably most importantly, enjoyable content was going to be an important factor in sustaining a positive mental wellbeing as lockdown restrictions began to hit. Why wasn’t there a GA guide that could offer a short cut, taking our members directly to some of that geological resource and also spotlight specific Figure 2: GFYS Website data as of 30 January 2021 content? We also wanted to highlight just Upper: number of recipients growing steadily & over 50% of how much excellent content was generated recipients open their email by our own Local and Affiliated Groups. And Lower: on average GFYS website PageViews exceed email click so, Geology from your Sofa (GFYS) was born. throughs from email - linked to local & affiliated Groups forwarding Since the first GFYS there have been twenty emails to members? Magazine of the Geologists’ Association Vol. 20, No.1 2021 15 that doesn’t work please let us know.

We are getting a steady stream of positive comments appreciating GFYS, e.g.:

You’ve probably all heard of ‘Geology from your Sofa’, which is treasure trove of geological resources. Each time I look a it I find so many things of interest, and I don’t have time to do them all. Elaine Butler (Membership Secretary, Berkshire Geoconservation Group)

We had only intended GFYS to be a short-term project which would not be required once the pandemic was over. However the pandemic is still Figure 3: Nick Zentner teaches geology at Central Washington University, USA with us and we believe that and has been sharing his knowledge of Washington State and its surrounding there is a longer term future geology through a series of highly entertaining YouTube video playlists for GFYS. While Alison and (http://www.nickzentner.com). I will continue to strive to find the best content your in planning our first field trips. recommendations will help We’ve been keeping an eye on webpage visits, both from enormously and we need you to suggest future content for our regular GYFS update emails to members and from GFYS to spotlight. Thank you and please keep these coming.. other, non-member visitors. Although it would be nice to see a stronger correlation between member’s visits and our GFYS emails, visits are growing. We believe this growth is due to member’s and other visitors going to GFYS directly. So, we are delighted with the uptake. A highlight in these challenging times was the GA’s Virtual Festival of Geology (vFoG) at the beginning of November 2020. GFYS had a stall and we were privileged to be able to feature specifically designed vFoG content from two of our regular GFYS contributors: JurassicGirl, Dr Anjana Khatwa and Nick Zentner. Both have been educating us in entertaining ways throughout the Pandemic. GFYS is only as good as the content we feature Figure 4: JurassicGirl, Dr Anjana Khatwa and her daughter so over the Christmas Sarita, also known as MiniJurassicGirl, have been capturing the period we reviewed and attention of our young, and not so young, GeoFun visitors https:// refreshed all the links www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBWIqdqxEctQOU6tfP8bq ZezkzG9vezzu listed on our webpage. However if you spot one

16 Magazine of the Geologists’ Association Vol. 20, No.1 2021 GEOLOGIST’S ASSOCIATION ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

Friday 7th May 2021 18:00hrs

GA annual general meeting will be held via Zoom before the Presidential Address. The Annual Report 2020 with colour photographs will be available in March when it will be emailed to Members. If you would like a paper copy please contact Sarah email: [email protected] or phone 020 7434 9298

THE GEOLOGISTS' ASSOCIATION ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING AGENDA 7th May 2021 at 18:00hrs

1. Minutes of the 2020 AGM 2. Introduce and approve Annual Report for 2020 3. Election of Proposed Officers for 2021/22 4. Election of Proposed Council Members for 2021/22 5. Expression of thanks of the Association to retiring Council Members

Awards will be presented to winners individually through the summer but the following will be announced:

6. Presentation of the Foulerton Award 7. Presentation of the Halstead Medal 8. Presentation of the Halstead Award 9. Presentation of the Stopes Award 10. Presentation of the Richardson Award 11. Presentation of the Curry MSc and UKOGL Awards 12. Curry Fund Certificates 13. Research Awards 14. Long serving Members 15. Presentation of the President's Medal

Presidential Address for 2021 Dr Vanessa Banks: Shallow geohazards and environmental change

Magazine of the Geologists’ Association Vol. 20, No.1 2021 17

Circular No 1028 MARCH 2021

THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC has dictated that we continue to postpone GA trips until it is possible to run them safely. Decisions will be made nearer the time but we have listed our intentions for 2021. Please consult the GA website for updates which will also be circulated by Mailchimp to members. Those already signed up for trips will be notified individually. A generic Risk Assessment relating to Coronavirus can be found on the GA website: www.geologistsassociation.org.uk/ukfield. In the meantime you may like to sample some virtual fieldtrips and lectures and short courses on the GA’s website Geology on your Sofa: www.geologistsassociation.org.uk/sofageology.

BOOKINGS AND PAYMENT: These should be made preferably through the GA website or, if necessary through Sarah Stafford by email: [email protected] phone 020 7434 9298 (messages will only be picked up once a week).

SAFETY IS TAKEN VERY SERIOUSLY should you be unsure about either the risks involved or your ability to participate safely in any of our events, you must seek advice from the GA office before booking. Please make sure that you study any risk assessment or safety briefing and that you have all the safety equipment specified. You must declare, at the time of booking, any disabilities or medical conditions that may affect your ability to safely attend afield meeting. You may be asked to provide further information on any prescription drugs etc that you may use whilst attending a field meeting. In order to ensure the safety of all participants, the GA reserves the right to limit or refuse attendance at field meetings. EMERGENCY CONTACT if you are lost or late for the start of a meeting, an emergency contact is available during UK field meetings by calling the GA mobile phone 07724 133290. The mobile phone will only be switched on just before and during field meetings. For routine enquiries please call the GA office on the usual number. TRANSPORT is normally via private car unless otherwise advertised. If you are a rail traveller, it may be possible for the GA office to arrange for another member to provide a lift or collect you from the nearest railway station. This service cannot be guaranteed, but please ask before booking. Please indicate when booking, if you are able to offer a lift. PUBLIC LIABILITY INSURANCE for field meetings is provided but personal accident cover remains the responsibility of the participant. Further details are available on request from the GA office. TRAVEL REGULATIONS are observed. The GA acts as a retail agent for ATOL holders in respect of air flights included in field meetings. All flights are ATOL protected by the Civil Aviation Authority. Field meetings of more than 24 hours duration or including accommodation are subject to the Package Travel Regulations 1992. The information provided does not constitute a brochure under these Regulations. Graham Hickman arranges UK field meetings and Ian Sutton is responsible for overseas excursions. Website for further details www.geologistsassociation.org.uk/ukfield; www.geologistsassociation.org.uk/overseasfield.

GA UK FIELD MEETINGS 2021 Most of the 2021 field trips listed are the outdoor meetings that have been postponed from 2020. Paid up participants from 2020 will have priority. Details will be on the website with updates as to whether the trips are able to proceed depending on Covid 19 regulations at the time. Given the ongoing uncertainty Field Trips may be cancelled for a variety of reasons; please take this into consideration when booking travel and accommodation the GA is not responsible for these costs. Indoor meetings (eg to Museums) have not yet been rescheduled due to continued uncertainty. Refunds will be offered to those who have already signed up.

New Event Details on how to join the virtual meeting will be Cost: £5 GA members, £10 non-members Saturday 6 March 7-9 pm communicated to participants upon booking. GA Geology and Art ZOOM Field Sketching Maximum group size will be 20. Date tbc Workshop GA field trip to Charnwood Forest, Leader: Emma Theresa Jude Cost: Leicestershire. Following Emma’s Zoom workshop on £5 GA members / £10 non-members Leader: Dr Michael Howe, BGS drawing fossils in January, she has offered This trip will examine the Neoproterozoic another field sketching workshop that was so Saturday 10 April and Sunday 11 April (Precambrian) and Cambrian rocks around successful last summer. Emma is a practicing GA Weekend Field trip to North Somerset Charnwood Forest. The morning will be spent fine artist and geologist, and she will Leader: Dr Jonathan Turner viewing the Maplewell Group and Whitwick demonstrate how simple drawing techniques The field excursion will focus on magnificently Volcanic Complex around Mount St Bernard taught in fine art classical traditions can exposed cliffs and the extensive foreshore Abbey, with a possible visit to the Bomb improve field sketching confidence and between Blue Anchor Bay and Hinkley Point Rocks, before examining the older Blackbrook accuracy. This online workshop will look at power station, north Somerset. This section Group in Morley Quarry. In the afternoon we tricks and techniques for improving field provides some of the best outcrops of Triassic will visit Bradgate Park, and if there's time, sketching. The workshop is suitable for (Sherwood Sandstone and Mercia Mudstone hunt Tychichnus in Newtown Linford complete beginners and non-artists. It will Groups) to Lower Jurassic ‘Blue Lias’, Churchyard. include exercises for participants to draw including the transitional Penarth (‘Rhaetic’) Meeting points and further details will be along with and include a Q&A/discussion Group recording one of the major marine communicated to participants nearer the time. session. A short talk on the influence of transgressions of the rock record. It is also one Contact details and emergency contact geology on the practice of a number of 20th- of the best places anywhere to examine faults, required at booking. century and contemporary artists will close fractures and compressional deformation, Cost: £5 GA members, £10 non-members the session. which in this area was responsible for uplifting Zoom details will be emailed to registrants the margin of a major Triassic rift basin – the Note change of date once booked. Bristol Channel graben. Saturday 4 & Sunday 5 September Maximum group size will be 20. Favourable tides will allow plenty of time to GA Weekend Field Trip to Dorset Cost: £5 GA members / £10 non-members examine the evidence for ancient depositional Leader: Prof John Cope environments, tectonic structures, oil-related This weekend trip will examine the upper half New Event fluids, and a spectacular mud volcano. We of the Lias Group, the Middle and the Upper Title: Making Sense of Geological Maps should even be able to sneak in a cream tea. Jurassic, with bits of Cretaceous and Tertiary Date: Saturday 20 March 2021 Note: hard hats, wet & warm weather gear, thrown in. Attendees are to arrange their own Time: 4pm-6pm walking shoes/boots are essential. The accommodation. Bridport is recommended. Place: Virtual Zoom Workshop excursion leader is a fully qualified first aider. Meeting points and further details will be Cost: £10 GA members, £15 non-members communicated to participants nearer the time. The complexities of real geology displayed on Contact details and emergency contact maps and sections may seem daunting. The aim Saturday 18 July 6.30-8.30 pm required at booking. of this online workshop is to provide basic rules ZOOM talk/workshop on the Wealden. Cost: £10 GA members, £15 non-members and techniques than can be applied to interpret Leaders: Peter Austen & Ed Jarzembowski geological maps and appreciate geology in three Peter and Ed have led annual trips to the Saturday 11 September dimensions. It will include exercises for Wealden over recent years and this Zoom Geology of Denbies vineyard, Lecture and participants to solve and include a Talk/Workshop will aim to fill the gap that arises wine tasting. Sussex. Q&A/discussion session. The workshop will be from the uncertainties of getting into Smokejacks Leader Emeritus Prof. Richard Selley directed by Norman Dutton and is suitable for for 2021. During the workshop they plan to show This trip to Denbies winery, near Dorking, will beginners and anyone wishing to refresh their some of the fossils finds over the years. include: a lecture on ‘Geological & Climatic geological map reading skills. Zoom details will be emailed to registrants controls on two millennia of English viticulture’, a once booked. Winery tour and a tutored tasting of 3 different 18 Magazine of the Geologists’ Association Vol. 20, No.1 2021 wines. After lunch we will take a Vineyard Tour Earth Science Teachers’ Association Mineralogical Society providing spectacular views of Box Hill, the North www.esta-uk.net www.minersoc.org Downs, Mole Valley and the Weald. Maximum East Herts Geology Club Mid Wales Geology Club group size to be confirmed. Meeting points and www.ehgc.org.uk www.midwalesgeology.org.uk further details will be communicated to Midweek Geology Club participants nearer the time. East Midlands Geological Society http://mwggyorkshire.org.uk Cost: £20 per GA members, £25 non-members. www.emgs.org.uk The price includes tea, coffee, soft drinks & Edinburgh Geological Society Mole Valley Geological Society (LG) biscuits on arrival, use of the Denbies Suite for www.edinburghgeolsoc.org www.mvgs.org.uk the talk, the winery tour, with 3 glasses of wine, Essex Rock and Mineral Society (LG) Newbury Geological Study Group and the vineyard tour with a glass of sparkling www.erms.org www.ngsg.org.uk wine (NB Lunch is not included but can be Farnham Geological Society (LG) Norfolk Mineral & Lapidary Society purchased in the restaurant). www.farnhamgeosoc.org.uk norfolkminandlapsoc.homestead.com March 12 Zoom Investigating Precambrian Norfolk Geodiversity Forum OVERSEAS FIELD MEETINGS 2022 Glaciations from Bottom Up, Subglacial www.norfolkbiodiversity.org Geomorphology from China and USA – Dr North Eastern Geological Society This overseas trip has been postponed until Thomas Vandyke www.negs.org Thursday 6 - Monday 10 October 2022 April 9 Zoom Climate archives of Caves and North Staffordshire Group of the Geologists Madrid Geo-museums Stalagmites – Dr David Mattey Association (LG) Leaders: David and Anne Bone, and Roger May 14 Exceptionally preserved Cambrian https://nsgga.org Dixon Arthropods and their role in understanding Open University Geological Society Visit to geological museums in Madrid. The trip is arthropod Evolution – Dr Greg Edgecombe www.ougs.org fully booked (deferred from 2020) but June 11 Ammonite Extinction and K-Pg Oxford Clay Working Group expressions of interest welcome. Boundary in the Gulf Coasta – D r James Witts Email: [email protected] Friends of the Sedgwick Museum, Cambridge Oxfordshire Geology Trust In 2022 we hope to be able to offer the trips to www.sedgwickmuseum.org/activities/friends.html www.oxfordshiregeologytrust.org.uk Kazakhstan, Turkey and Morocco which have GeoEast Peak Lapidary & Mineral Society had to be held back due to the Covid pandemic. www.geo-eastevents.org.uk www.dannatt.org.uk/PLMS GeoLancashire (LG) Peterborough Geological and GROUPS (LG) & AFFILIATED SOCIETIES www.geolancashire.org.uk Palaeontological Group With the continued uncertainty Geological Society of Glasgow http://peterboroughgeology.org/ surrounding Covid many Groups have not www.geologyglasgow.org.uk Phoenix Geological Club yet committed their plans for the next 3 Geological Society of Norfolk Email: [email protected] months, where none indicated, please www.norfolkgeology.co.uk Plymouth Mineral & Mining Club refer to the individual websites for Harrow & Hillingdon Geological Society (LG) www.denul.net/pmmc information www.hhgs.org.uk Reading Geological Society (LG) March 10 The effects of stratigraphy on the www.readinggeology.org.uk Amateur Geological Society London Underground – Dr Jonathan Paul Rotunda Geology Group http://amgeosoc.wordpress.com April 14 Quaternary Rivers and Glaciers in www.rotundageologygroup.org Association of Welsh RIGS Groups Royal Geological Society of Cornwall www.wcva.org.uk/members-partners/nvo- Midland and Eastern England – conflicting views Kowethas Riel Dororiethel Kernow- search/detail?id=906675 and observable evidence – Prof Jim Rose Hastings & District Geological Society Royal Geological Society of Cornwall 1814 Avon RIGS www.geologycornwall.com http://avonrigsoutcrop.blogspot.co.uk www.hastingsgeology.btck.co.uk The Russell Society Hertfordshire Geological Society (LG) Bath Geological Society www.russellsoc.org www.bathgeolsoc.org.uk www.hertsgeolsoc.ology.org.uk Scottish Geological Trust Bedfordshire Geology Group History of Geology Group www.scottishgeologytrust.org www.bedfordshiregeologygroup.org.uk https://historyofgeologygroup.co.uk Shropshire Geological Society Belfast Geologists’ Society Horsham Geological Field Club www.shropshiregeology.org.uk www.belfastgeologists.org.uk www.hgfc.org.uk Sidcup Lapidary and Mineral Society Black Country Geological Society Huddersfield Geology Group www.sidcuplapminsoc.org.uk www.bcgs.info www.huddersfieldgeology.org.uk Southampton Mineral and Fossil Society Brighton & Hove Geological Society Hull Geological Society www.sotonminfoss.org.uk www.bhgs.org www.hullgeolsoc.co.uk Bristol Naturalists’ Society The Jurassic Coast Teme Valley Geological Society www.bristolnats.org.uk/geology www.jurassiccoast.com www.geo-village.eu British Micromount Society Kent Geologists’ Group of the Geologists’ Tertiary Research Group http://britishmicromountsociety.homestead.com Association (LG) www.trg.org Bucks Geology Group www.kgg.org.uk UK Fireball Alliance www.bucksgeology.org.uk March 16 Annual General Meeting followed by: www.ukfall.org.uk Cambridgeshire Geological Society Ecclesbourne Glen – Ken Brooks Ussher Society www.cambsgeology.org www.ussher.org.uk Mine Waste: Environmental Problem or Carn Brea Mining Society April 20 Warwickshire Geological Conservation Group www.carnreaminingsociety.org.uk Untapped Resource? – Prof Karen Hudson- www.wgcg.co.uk Cheltenham Mineral and Geological Society Edwards Welsh Stone Forum http://cmgs.yolasite.com/society.php May 18 Stratigraphy and Sedimentology of www.museumwales.ac.uk/geology/welshston Croydon Natural History and Scientific European Chalks – Dr Haydon Bailey eforum/about-the-welsh-stone-forum Society June 15 The Geology of Herne Bay – Geoff Westmorland Geological Society https://cnhss.co.uk Downer www.westmorlandgeolsoc.co.uk Cumberland Geological Society Kingston Lapidary Gem & Fossil Society West of England Group of the GA (LG) www.cumberland-geolsoc.org.uk www.wega.org.uk Email: [email protected] Cymdeithas Daeaeregwyr Grwp De Cymru: West Sussex Geological Society (LG) The Kirkaldy Society - Alumni Queen Mary (LG) South Wales Geologists’ Association (LG) www.wsgs.org.uk www.swga.org.uk Contact by e-mail: Mike Howgate The Woolhope, Hereford [email protected] Cymdeithas Y Daeaereg Gogledd Cymru: www.woolhopeclub.org.uk North Wales Group Geologists’ Association (LG) Leeds Geological Association Yorkshire Geological Society www.ampyx.org.uk/cdgc/cdgc.html www.leedsga.org.uk www.yorksgeolsoc.org.uk Devon RIGS Group Leicester Literary & Philosophical Society www.devonrigs.org.uk (Geology) Devonshire Association (Geology Section) www.charnia.org.uk www.devonassoc.org.uk Liverpool Geological Society Dinosaur Society www.liverpoolgeologicalsociety.org.uk www.dinosaursociety.com Manchester Geological Association Dorset Group (LG) www.mangeolassoc.org.uk https://dorsetgeologistsassociation.org/ Medway Fossil and Mineral Society Dorset Natural History & Archaeological www.mfms.org.uk Society Milton Keynes Geological Society [email protected] http://mkgeosoc.org/

Magazine of the Geologists’ Association Vol. 20, No.1 2021 19 SPECIAL EVENTS 2021 October 8 – 17 (Geology Day October 9) Sidmouth Science Festival www.sidmouthsciencefestival.org

May 1 – 11 October 15 – 17 GeoWeek GA Annual Conference www.bgs.ac.uk/ Edinburgh geoweek www.geologistsassociation.org.uk/conferences

May 20 (pm) and May 21 (am) November 6 – 7 GA Spring Conference Festival of Geology Virtual Geologists’ Association Student University College London Symposium - see Back Cover www.geologistsassociation.org.uk/festival www.geologistsassociation.org.uk/gass

From the Archives...

20 Magazine of the Geologists’ Association Vol. 20, No.1 2021 vFoG Walks: Real Urban Geology Walks near you 8th November, 2020

By: Diana Clements

Geology Walks in their areas. The take-up, as far as we are aware, was rather low with just three groups responding directly – hardly surprising with the continued uncertainty as to Back in May 2020 GA Council which way the virus was going. made the decision to hold our GA The Dorset Group of the GA took a sensible approach by Festival of Geology (FOG) virtually in offering self-led building stone walks around Weymouth November in view of the uncertainties following their new guide. The idea was to set off groups at surrounding the Covid 19 pandemic. sufficient intervals with just six in each group, six being the However, at that stage we felt fairly maximum number of people who could meet at that time. confident that the Sunday walks would still be able togo By then it was becoming clear that a trip to Central London ahead and with that in mind we organised three trips in the may not be the best of plans. Instead, Matt wrote up his London area with the overall title: Real Urban Geology Walks building stone walk from FoG 2019 which was made available near you. freely to all and is still available on the London Geodiversity As in recent years Matt Loader offered to lead a building Partnership website under Building London. We altered the stones walk in bookings for the other Central London trips in accordance and Ruth Siddall with the “Rule of 6” volunteered an and were prepared to Urban Geology walk run them twice in the in Waltham Forest. day if necessary. Teme I had been working Valley Geological with John Henry Society were proposing of the History of to run a building Geology Group stones walk around (HOGG) to present the town of Bromyard a field trip around and Mike Horne had Kensington Green offered to lead two Cemetery where trips around Hull for there is a memorial the Hull Geological to George Bellas Society, focussing on Greenough. HOGG building stones on the had intended to hold Saturday and grave a conference in May stones on the Sunday. 2020 to celebrate In the event the only 200 years since trip that was able to the publication take place was Mike’s of Greenough’s Hull Cemetery Walk Geological Map of Figure 1: The aborted Geology & Urban Geology in Walthamstow Forest which he agreed to England & Wales but trip, devised by Ruth Siddall. We hope to be able to offer it in again do with just the first that was postponed 2021 punter on the list in until 2021. John order to be Covid- and I had combined compliant. His write- forces to work out a route that embraced the work of up is elsewhere in this edition of the GA Magazine. Greenough and his rival map-maker William Smith, whose map had been published five years earlier. When the HOGG We thank all our leaders for the time they took to put their walk was cancelled we offered it to FoG as a third Urban walk trips together and particularly the GA webmaster, Barbara in the London area. Silva, for her patience in coping with the constant updates. With the help of our GA UK Field trip secretary, Graham We hope that those trips that were unable to take place may Hickman, we drafted a Covid 19 Risk Assessment and decided be offered again for FoG 2021. to increase the number of walks available on Sunday 8th November by suggesting to our Local Groups and Affilliated Societies that they might like to organise Real Urban Magazine of the Geologists’ Association Vol. 20, No.1 2021 21 vFoG Walks: Hull Cemetery 8th November, 2020

By: Mike Horne

Photographs By: Mike Horne; long shots by Mike’s wife, Anne - walking in the same area but at a safe distance

stands proud and then falls out, whereas the “copper plate” style inscriptions on the Welsh slate is still impressive, if it has not been vandalised. The inscription of one headstone made of red sandstone is now totally unreadable whereas the adjoining York Stone memorials can still be read, even though York Stone itself is very prone to frost shattering especially in the lower parts of memorials, due to there being no damp proof course. Two parts of Western Cemetery have been designated as RIGS (Regionally Important Geological Sites) for the educational potential. We then wandered into the older General Cemetery. There are many mature trees in this cemetery and it is quite dark

Figure 1: Hull’s Western Cemetery. Mike with one member of the public – Bryony

Several walks had been planned for the Festival of Geology (FoG) at the start of November in the Hull area. They were to be limited to a maximum of six people because of the government’s Covid Pandemic guidelines. However just before the festival was due to take place England went into a second lockdown and that included a rule that only two people in total from different households were allowed to meet outside. Mike Horne decided to go ahead with one of his planned walks for the first person to book ... Bryony. The FoG walk took place on the morning of Sunday 8th November 2020 in two adjacent cemeteries in Hull. Mike and Bryony met in the Western Cemetery, which is the newer of the two (Figure 1). Here Mike demonstrated the different varieties of rocks used for memorials: igneous rocks represented by various granites and Larvikite; sedimentary rocks in the form of “York Stone” and various other sandstones, as well as Portland Stone (limestone) used for War Graves; metamorphic rocks represented by Carrara Marble from Italy and Welsh slate. As we walked around we were able to observe the effects of weathering on the memorials. Figure 2: Bryony points to a slate memorial. The white Carrara Marble turns black and acquires a rough texture, and the lead lettering of the inscriptions eventually 22 Magazine of the Geologists’ Association Vol. 20, No.1 2021 IN DUS EXPERIENCES GEOLOGY TOUR S

F IEL D TRIP S LED B Y DR DANNY CLARK-LOWES JORDAN-16 to 25 April, 2 02 1 (dates subject to Covid rest r ictions) Jordan is rich with geological and cultural interest, all set in dramatic desert scenery. We will visit the exquisite ancient Nabataean capital of Petra, hewn out of sheer rock faces of beautifully banded sandstone and explore the temples. Our tour will also take us to the stupefying desert ‘Mesa’ landscapes of Wadi Rum, through which Lawrence of Arabia travelled during the early nineteen hundreds. M OROCCO - 10 to 19 Septe m ber, 2021 We will commence our tour in Marrakesh and travel southwards into the Atlas Mountains. We will visit locations famous for Devonian fossils and marbles and glimpse the Great Sahara to the south. In doing so we will be travelling on ancient trade routes that crossed the Sahara north to south.

NE PA L - Annapurn a region a n d Musta ng 25 Septe mber to 10 October, 2 021 This tour takes us from Kathmandu to Pokhara and on northwards into the mountain scenery of the Annapurna Range along the Kali Gandaki river, the 'deepest gorge in the world', and on to the culturally Tibetan Mustang.

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Magazine of the Geologists’ Association Vol. 20 No.1 2021 23 when the trees are in leaf. The volunteers from the Friends of Hull General Cemetery have been clearing the brambles, creating some clearings and improving the footpaths in the last couple of years. The Friends’ Burial Ground is in this cemetery with identical graves for the Quakers. Nearby is a listed monument to the 700 people who are buried in the cemetery who died during the 1849 Cholera epidemic; the new plaque informs us that 1,860 of Hull’s inhabitants (more than 2% pf the population) were killed by the disease that year – something to think about as we experience a worldwide pandemic ourselves (Figure 3). There are some impressive memorials in this cemetery and many draped urns so typical of Victorian mourning. Some tell quite detailed stories about the deceased or how they died, such as the memorial to Captain John Gravill (Figure 4) (also a Grade II listed building).

Figure 3 (above & left): The Cholera monument and plaque in Hull’s General Cemetery

There is a self-guided walk in another part of Western Cemetery written by Mike & Annie available on the Yorkshire Geological Society website as a pdf document: www.yorksgeolsoc.org.uk/virtualfieldtrips.

Figure 4 (below & right): The grave of John Gravill – with the grim description of his demise – a reminder that life in the whaling and later trawling fleets was extremely hazardous – the Triple Trawler Tragedy of 1968 is still very much remembered in Hull

24 Magazine of the Geologists’ Association Vol. 20, No.1 2021 Opinion Article:  The Quaternary exposed west of the Cuckmere, East Sussex

By: Ed Jarzembowski, Biddy Jarzembowski & Peter Austen

head and colluvium (Figure 4) from the downland slope, probably dating from the Pleistocene (Late Devensian) to Bronze Age. It comprised mainly loam and flints, extending down from the nearby Early Devensian or older Short Cliff Formation (curiously mapped as storm beach on British Geological Survey Sheet 334) and its head capping (Figure 5). Below, and continuing on to the shore, was soft coombe rock with a geliflucted top. This also revealed a sizeable dissolution pipe (Figure 7) caused by the acidic loam derived from the loessic brickearth on Short Cliff as suggested in the other GA’s [Geographical Association’s] Classic Landforms booklet (Castleden, 1996), and shown on the public noticeboard at Hope Gap (another dry valley). On a historical note, the black submarine cables above the Pleistocene pipe date from the early twentieth century, but were disconnected during the war some eighty years ago, a line (to Russia) being restored just a few years later.

Figure 1: The Seven Sisters Cliffs viewed from west of the Cuckmere

The popularity of exercise walks in the Lower Cuckmere Valley had never been greater when Lockdown returned at the turn of the year and the days got longer. The famous view of the Seven Sisters (or six truncated dry valleys), from near the Coastguard Cottages or Hope Gap (Figure 1), decorates computer screens across the globe. These Sussex White Cliffs are maintained by the force of the sea and Atlantic Lows from as far away as the Caribbean. Looking the other way, however, revealed disconcerting erosion of the superficial rocks on the Seaford side of Cuckmere Haven (Figure 2). As the bottom of the public path to the beach which was washed and fell away after Storm Bella, dark soil (with polythene to help date it) appeared from under the shingle of the storm beach (Figure 3). Underneath lay brown and orange

Figure 2: Sea defences on west side of Cuckmere Haven

More interestingly, on the shore, periglacial stripes were revealed in the combe deposits, trending West-East/East-Northeast, i.e. along the slope, as might be expected. The tide washed out a small sarsen stone, a residue of the Paleogene Lambeth Group, the latter being better preserved along the coast at Newhaven. Earlier this century, archaeologists Michael Allen and thirteen others, writing in the journal Antiquity, excavated stripes on the Wiltshire Downs near the sarsen stones of Stonehenge. The periglacial alignments with the two solstices

Figure 3: Small, filled run-off/tidal channel buried under shingle

Magazine of the Geologists’ Association Vol. 20, No.1 2021 25 Figure 4: Upper Pleistocene to recent sequence, Figure 5: Short Cliff looking up at Quaternary sequence Cuckmere Haven, with feet on archaeoslope a fan deposit according to Murton and Ballantyne (2017) and their stone-age significance aroused considerable in volume 28 of the Geological Society’s Lyell Collection. discussion of thermokarst geology. After Storm Bella, the scattered war-time concrete on the Take care as you go, and keep well. beach was carefully put back before the spring gales (Figure 2, centre). The public path has been diverted somewhat . inland. Although inaccessible, the Short Cliff formation may be viewed from the foreshore. The diverse gravels and brickearth straddling the twenty-metre contour line, a probable Wolstonian terrace on a chalk bench, can be traced from Cuckmere to Hope Gap. There, they resemble

Figure 6: Flint point, probably Neolithic Figure 7: Solution pipe and old telegraph cables, Cuckmere Haven

26 Magazine of the Geologists’ Association Vol. 20, No.1 2021 Opinion Article:  The Chilterns chalk dry valleys, not so dry?

By: Simon Cains

Readers of this magazine in 2. Rapid snowmelt the far future may remember causing flooding over a few that 2020/21 was the year days. This may be accompanied of a global COVID pandemic. by heavy rainfall from a warmer In the UK at times we were airmass which has moved in, only allowed a one hour walk causing the rapid melt, and/or out each day, so we became the runoff may also be flowing very familiar with our local over still partly-frozen ground. landscape. Many geologists, 3. Flash floods from as I did, will have had time to cloudbursts in a few minutes. ponder exactly how and when Historical examples of these the local landscape was formed. occurring on the Chilterns and I live in a dry chalk valley in the other chalk escarpments are Chilterns, in Piddington near described below. West Wycombe. Some present-day features The Chilterns, as Figure 1: Lidar image of the south-central Chilterns, multi-azimuth of rivers were formed with other chalk hillshade. All of the normal watercourses are marked. Image in the most recent escarpments, are cut by copyright Beacons of the Past/Chilterns Conservation Board. extreme flood to have dry valleys, some steep- happened on the river, sided. There are some not by the slow day- “wind-gaps”, low level valleys which cut right through the to-day processes, for example the “Muckle Spate” floods crest of the Chilterns escarpment, with various explanations of 1829 in Aberdeenshire changed the course of the River for their formation. Findhorn to its current position, and did much else across the In this article I just consider the dendritic drainage coming region (Press and Journal, 2016), and in 2015 the River Dee from the crest line, running broadly south-east down the removed a stretch of the A93 road, west of Ballater during a dipslope, with small misfit streams emerging at springs a flood (Douglas, A., 2015). long way downdip along these valleys. The valleys are clearly Extreme river floods are dated by estimating the growth of shown on a recent Lidar survey (Figure 1). lichens on large boulders which have rested unchanged since These dry valleys are not “winterbournes” with flowing water the flood event which brought them down. in most winters, they are dry for many years. The usual So some of the present-day chalk dry valley landscape explanation for the formation of these dendritic dry valleys is may also be partly due to erosion during rare severe weather that they could only be eroded in periglacial times, when there events. If flood size is proportional to the log of the average was deep permafrost so that rain and melted snow was unable return period, then the 10,000- or 100,000-year floods would to drain into the porous chalk. (Although wasn’t there much be truly destructive. And there will be on average 100 of these less precipitation during the glacial periods?). 1-in-10,000 events occurring in 1 million years. However, the whole chalk section in the Weald anticline I found historical examples of all three severe weather was removed (“unroofed”) after the Miocene Alpine inversion, types producing flowing water on the Chilterns and other leaving the North and South Downs escarpments. This deep chalk escarpments :- erosion is not believed to have happened just during the recent 1. In the winter of 2000/1 there was extreme rainfall glacial periods, but over a longer time scale in temperate over England following after a wet summer. This raised the climates. Chalk can be removed by solution (leaving a clay- water-table within the chalk aquifer to perhaps its highest with-flints solution residue), but the erosion over the Weald level in 100 years, so springs formed much further updip than was concentrated on the highest elevations, and left steep normal. A team surveyed all the Chilterns chalk rivers at escarpments, so is likely to be due to river erosion, not the end of this wet period (Morris et al., 2018), and found solution. The Weald analogue suggests rivers can sometimes the River Wye emerging from various springs to the west of flow over and erode chalk. The “missing” chalk section to Radnage, only 2km downdip from the crest of the Chilterns, the north-west of the Chilterns escarpment has also been 5.5km upstream from the normal source. So almost three removed. quarters of the normally “dry” valley length was flowing water. Rare catastrophic weather events in temperate climates The other Chilterns stream behaved in the same way during such as the present day can allow flowing water and erosion the 2000/1 winter. And in April 2020 I saw water flowing of these dry chalk valleys, above the usual level of the from 2km updip of the normal source of the Wye. (It might water table. There are at least three ways to have surface be thought that aquifer groundwater levels and hence spring water flowing over chalk in a temperate climate, on different levels were higher in the historical past, due to less water timescales :- extracted by agriculture and water companies, or by climate 1. A very wet season or year raising the water-table change. But the earliest accurate map of Buckinghamshire in the aquifer.

Magazine of the Geologists’ Association Vol. 20, No.1 2021 27 from 1770 (Jeffery) shows Chalk is usually not suitable the Wye source at a similar for building stone, except location as today.) the rare harder layers. After 2. As an example of rapid weathering near the surface, snowmelt, there was a sudden even badgers can break it up thaw in the spring of 1947 and tunnel through, leaving a causing rivers across England large debris mound of chalk to flood. It produced a “roar around the setts. The hollow- of water running through the ways across the Chilterns are valley” at Beacons Bottom, believed to be simply formed which is near the head of by cattle breaking up the chalk a chalk dry valley, 5km under their hooves, which upstream from the normal was then washed down the source of the Wye. (Jones, slope by rainwater, creating M., 1992). Figure 2: Chalk debris carried down a narrow gully by a gullies which can be up to There was similar rapid flash flood. (Bucks Free Press, 1936) 8m deep. So even this man- snowmelt, with heavy made erosion of chalk over a rainfall, around the 21st of January 1841, which caused huge geological instant was very efficient. flooding in the normally dry chalk valleys upstream ofthe In conclusion, it seems possible that soft weathered chalk source of the River Till in Wiltshire. At Tilshead, 2km updip of can be eroded in normally dry valleys by surface water flowing the normal source, there was a flood of up to 48m3/s through during rare severe weather events, in a temperate climate, the valley, which destroyed buildings and left up to 2ft not just in periglacial periods. (0.6m) thickness of stone debris in places, so this was clearly LiDAR image provided courtesy of the National Lottery erosional in the upper valley (Clark, C., 2004). Tilshead is Heritage Funded Beacons of the Past Project based at the only 2km downstream of Chilterns Conservation the watershed, but there is Board. a network of valleys giving References a total drainage basin of Clark, C. (2004) ‘Estimating 41km2 into Tilshead. extreme floods - NS 3. Flash flooding can also Energy’: https://www. be very destructive. There nsenergybusiness.com/ is a remarkable photo from features/featureestimating- 18th May 1936 (Figure extreme-floods/ 2) close to the hamlet of (Accessed:10/11/ 2020). Piddington on the A40, of Douglas, A. (2015) a debris flow which seems ‘North-east village to be mostly chalk and reportedly flooding and flints, showing the erosive being evacuated’, Press effect of a cloudburst. The and Journal: https:// debris has already been www.pressandjournal. cleared by workman from co.uk/fp/news/ one carriageway, but was aberdeenshire/791893/ perhaps initially 50m3 or north-east-village- more. This debris was flooding-evacuation/ washed down a narrow gully (Accessed:10/11/ 2020). from the right of this picture, Gov (2020) Learn more some 4m wide and deep, about this area’s flood risk: down a length of 750m on a https://flood-warning- 5° slope. Figure 3: Areas of low risk (infrequent) of surface water information.service.gov.uk/ So perhaps we should with flood velocity > 0.25m/s in black (Gov, 2020) long-term-flood-risk/p?easti regard these chalk uplands ng=480941&northing=1939 as semi-deserts, normally dry, but with ephemeral streams 58&map=SurfaceWater (Accessed:10/11/2020). which could cause some erosion. Following the 2000/2001 Jones, M. (1992) ‘The Hamlets’, in Stokenchurch in perspective. flooding, Defra commissioned an investigation into the causes High Wycombe: Starey + Viccars, pp. 85–98. and extent of flooding by Jacobs Engineering. The Environment Morris, S. E. et al. (2018) ‘Modelling and mapping groundwater Agency flood risk mapping service now shows “low risk” i.e. flooding at the ground surface in Chalk catchments’, Journal of possible rare events, of flowing water throughout the length of Flood Risk Management, 11, pp. S251–S268. all the Chiltern dry valleys (Gov, 2020) (Figure 3). Press and Journal (2016) ‘Life after the floods: “This was the Chalk before surface weathering can be very competent, e.g. Muckle, Muckle Spate” says expert’, Press and Journal: https:// the vertical chalk cliffs on the south coast of England standing www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/news/aberdeen/874198/life- up to 160m high before they are undercut, and drilling through floods-muckle-muckle-spate/ (Accessed:10/11/2020 chalk can be a demanding task during North Sea hydrocarbon Viccars, P.G. (1992) ‘Roads’, in Stokenchurch in perspective. exploration. High Wycombe: Starey + Viccars, pp. 73–84. However, chalk becomes very weak after surface weathering. 28 Magazine of the Geologists’ Association Vol. 20, No.1 2021 News Item:  The Smugglers Trail of Thanet

By: Richard Hubbard

If you are looking for a great day yellow ‘Margate Sand’ beaches. out on the coast, why not visit Chalk is the skeletal remains of Thanet? Located on the NE corner minute marine algal plankton known of Kent, there are some wonderful as coccolithopores which were sandy bays and what is more, you very abundant in surface waters of will find the longest stretch of coastal the Cretaceous warm seas. As the chalk anywhere in the country. There plankton died, their minute shells are many attractions; the old town sank to the seabed and accumulated of Broadstairs with Dickens House, as an ooze that accumulated on the Ramsgate with its picturesque The Smugglers Trail seabed creating a ‘soft and soupy’ harbour and Margate with the Turner environment where life forms adapted Geology of the Thanet Coastline from Contemporary. And that is before we to avoid sinking into the ooze. Broadstairs to Cliftonville get to the beautiful beaches backed Indeed, the tiny calcium carbonate by chalk cliffs and tales of times Richard Hubbard and Geoff Downer coccolith plates that created ooze past. The Smugglers Trail is a 4.5 km were individually so small that in a walk along the foreshore from Stone lump of chalk picked on the beach, Gap in Broadstairs to Friend’s Gap there might be 7 billion coccoliths – in Cliftonville. Suitable for the whole one for every inhabitant of the world! family, you should allow yourselves a Chalk seas contained many unusual full four hours to complete the walk. creatures such as giant shell crushing And please pick a day when low tide sharks, giant clams, exotic sea urchins is in the middle of the day so you will and beautiful sea lilies. Their remains be sure to reach the low water areas accumulated in the ooze which over of interest around North Foreland, geological time become the white Kingsgate Bay and Foreness Point. If chalk rock we see today. Chalk is you only have a couple a remarkable rock, a of hours to spare, then Figure 1: Front Cover of the Smugglers Trail Guide Book form of limestone (pure try the Highlights Tour calcium carbonate), from Kingsgate Bay to brilliant white in colour Botany Bay. Low tide is still necessary so please check the and extremely soft and porous. It is a near perfect aquifer tide times and the weather forecast before setting off. storing large volumes of underground water supply. Four rock types tell a colourful story. Flints are jet black and although they only represent c.1% What is to be seen along of total rock volume, The Smugglers Trail? they seem much more Well, quite a lot really. because they preserve By reading the rocks so well. Flint occurs as we are able to imagine strange-shaped nodules the wonders of the with a distinctive black Cretaceous world as it colouration and are looked 85 million years often concentrated in ago. A strange tropical distinct layers. Made seabed evolved at a of microcrystalline time when the world silica it formed just was much warmer than below the chalk seabed today and seas flooded as the result of a large continental areas. chemical reaction which At this time, Thanet lay substituted silica for in about 100m of water, limestone grains. Flints as deep as St Paul’s are hard and resistive Cathedral (London) is to weathering. Cobbles high. Four rock types are common on the tell a colourful story— beach and through pure white chalk cliffs, Figure 2: The Cretaceous chalk of Kingsgate Bay on an early summer knapping, they were jet back flint nodules, morning. Kingsgate Castle to the left and Holland House in the centre used by our prehistoric rusty orange fossil of the bay. Photo courtesy of Tina Hubbard forefathers to shape sponges and golden- tools whilst today, they

Magazine of the Geologists’ Association Vol. 20, No.1 2021 29 are seen everywhere as Thanet’s traditional building stone. You will also see many fossil sponges within the chalk which have a distinctive rusty-orange-colour. And you will almost certainly enjoy the beautiful golden- yellow Margate Sand on seven of Thanet’s beautiful beaches spread out along The Smugglers Trail. Joss Snelling and his cutlass wielding, contraband brandy smugglers Back in the 18th century, smuggling was big business in Thanet. It seems the whole of Broadstairs (Bradstow) was in on the scam. The clergy helped finance the shipping and local farm hands could earn more in one night’s smuggling than a month working the land. The most famous of the cutlass-wielding, contraband brandy smugglers was Joss Snelling (1741–1837) who is much popularised in these parts. Figure 3: A scanning electron microscope (SEM) image of coccoliths on a He took his name from Joss Bay which is human hair for scale. Note the scale bar of 20 microns. Image courtesy one of the stops along the Trail. of Peter Frykman, Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland The coastline was remote and unpopulated in this part of Thanet and given the high import duties on spirits, tobacco, tea and a rather different way. We now appreciate that the minute lace and proximity to mainland Europe, there was a good coccolithopores that form chalk are vital cogs in the wheel of life contraband business to be had. The secluded and cave-ridden feeding and regulating the biosphere. In fact, coccolithophores bays helped to make smuggling a way of life for many and have been major calcium carbonate producers in the world’s Bradstow’s smugglers openly carried arms, defied authority oceans for the past 200 million years and today they account and bullied locals. Smuggling gangs were far superior in both for about a third of the total marine CaCO3 production. At the numbers and fire power to the revenue men. The combination bottom of the food chain, these are the microscopic marine of the isolated bays with gently sloping beaches backed by plankton that convert carbon dioxide to chalk. Then, as chalky chalk cliffs cut by caves and storage tunnels made it an ideal sediment is progressively buried on the seabed, carbon is place to land contraband at night. In the morning, farm sequestered into the underground rock cycle and taken out hands, ostensibly collecting seaweed, used barrows to conceal of harm’s way. contraband and carry it to the cliff top or to storage tunnels. With increasing acidification of oceans in response to rising

The smugglers dug a veritable warren of caves through the atmospheric CO2 levels, it was widely expected to reduce chalk from the coast to the village of St Peter’s, two miles calcification (photosynthesis of calcium carbonate) by marine inland! organisms. Carbon dioxide and chalk However, laboratory evidence suggests that calcification Today, geologists look at the brilliant white chalk cliffs in and net primary production in the coccolithophore species Emiliania huxleyi is significantly

increased by high CO2 levels. Today, Emiliania huxleyi is the most common coccolithophore and can occur in such high numbers that coccoliths must rank amongst some of the most abundant organisms on the planet. Blooms of E. huxleyi can even be seen from space and in fact, much of the calcareous sediment on the ocean floor is made of coccoliths. Hence, it seems that coccolithopores will continue to play an essential role in removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and helping to moderate global warming. In the laboratory experiments, as carbon dioxide levels reached 750 ppm (well above today’s Figure 4: The smugglers caves of Whiteness Bay. Nestled between Kingsgate atmospheric levels), coccolithopore Bay and Botany Bay, the only escape to the cliff top at high water was through calcification rates doubled compared the caves. Photo courtesy of Tina Hubbard with calcification rates at pre-

industrial CO2 levels of 280ppm. 30 Magazine of the Geologists’ Association Vol. 20, No.1 2021 Smugglers Trail is therefore able to ‘stand on the shoulders of all these giants’ who have walked before us.

Richard Hubbard and Geoff Downer have published the guidebook for The Smugglers Trail and their aim is to enthuse as wide an audience as possible. The geological story is told by the continuous chalk cliffs and foreshore reefs and the authors very much hope that visitors will see more in the cliffs than they might have imagined. As well as seeing unusual seabed creatures, giant ammonites and the teeth of the shell crushing sharks, they will see how the Victorian geologists first used distinctive marker beds of black flint and orange sponges. They will even walk up and down Thanet’s mini alpine mountain! In addition to enjoying the natural environment we hope they will also learn a little about the colourful social history and a brandy smuggler or two! The Smugglers Trail is suitable for the whole family and a great way to see seven of Thanet’s beautiful bays. The ninety minutes Highlights Tour will visit three of these bays; Kingsgate Bay Whiteness Bay and Botany Bay. The trail guide is available in the new guidebook published by Richard Hubbard and Geoff Downer entitled, The Smugglers Trail. Geology of the Thanet Coastline from Broadstairs to Cliftonville. References 1. Hubbard & Downer, (2021). The Smugglers Trail. Geology of the Thanet Coastline from Broadstairs to Figure 5: The Biological carbon pump. As long as there Cliftonville. Pub. Geoconservation Kent are plankton. Image credit – Ocean-Climate.Org 2. Mortimore, (2021). The Chalk of Sussex and Kent, Geologists’ Association Guide 57 (revised). The coming century could see atmospheric carbon dioxide 3. The Interactions between Ocean and Climate. 6 fact levels rise to 600 ppm and beyond – which is unprecedented sheets for the general public. Ocean-Climate.Org. in terms of the human timescale on this planet. This is why the question of how marine plankton will cope with increased 4. Rodriguez et al. (2008), Phytoplankton Calcification

in a High-CO2 World Iglesias-Rodriguez atmospheric CO2 is critical in terms of allowing the ocean to act as a carbon sink. The last time the Earth experienced large et al. Science, 2008, 320 (5874), p. 336 increases in the levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide was 55 5. Bull, (2019). Secret Broadstairs, Amberley million years ago during a period known Publishing as the Palaeocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, a time when coccolithophores were abundant. Standing on the shoulders of giants Rolling the years back to 1905, the Geologists’ Association ‘excursion’ gathered at Hereward House in Cliftonville for their Whitsuntide field trip to visit The Smugglers Trail we describe today. The excursion leader was none other than the top chalk expert in Great Britain, Dr Arthur Rowe, a surgeon at Margate’s Royal Sea Bathing Hospital. The senior party member was William Whitaker, President of the Geological Society and the Father of Hydrogeology, the scientist who determined where to tap underground chalk aquifers to make clean drinking water available for millions of people. Today’s chalk experts are scientists from many disciplines of Earth Science, such Figure 6: Creataceous chalk in Kingsgate Bay looking toward Whiteness as Dr Rory Mortimore, Dr Andy Gale, Dr Arch on an early summer morning. The arch is eroding rapidly in winter Ian Jarvis and Dr Haydon Bailey, each storms and may only be with us for a few more years. Enjoy it while it lasts of whom is internationally renowned in and before it collapses to form a sea stack like those in Botany Bay. Photo their field of expertise. The visitor to The courtesy of Tina Hubbard Magazine of the Geologists’ Association Vol. 20, No.1 2021 31 Opinion Article:  Orleigh Court

By: David Ward

gravel, up to 6m thick and extending about 200 m in each direction. The soil is the typical red sandy soil of Devon. The nearest exposure of flints is at Haldon Hill, 60km to the SE (assuming that there are none in the Bristol Channel, which may be a possibility) so two studies offered themselves – to understand the structure at Orleigh and to consider how the flints may have arrived there. With the blessing of the farmer (Mr, appropriately named, Beer) and the Residents Committee at the Court we made many visits to the site, walked the fields, dug trial pits with spades, hand augered to 1.8m – Chris Fone’s speciality – and eventually had an excavator which allowed us to sample to 3.5m – not bad for the RGS! Five pits were dug, very approximately in a ring 100m from the centre of the Court, with exciting results. Pit 1 showed flints in the soil to 10cm, then white, grey and lilac clays to the bottom of the pit. Pit 2 exposed yellow/brown soils with flints, then yellow sand to 3.5 m Pit 3 showed brown topsoil to 1 m, then yellow clay with flints, then red and grey clays to 2.6m Figure 1: Map of Orleigh Court with locations of Trial Pits Pit 4 showed topsoil without flints, then yellow sand, clay and large sandstone blocks.

The RGS have a deep affection for Devon and we have made many visits to Dartmoor, Exmoor and the north and south coasts. In the late ‘90s we had a project to explore the Sticklepath Fault, which runs from Torquay to the north coast near to Bideford. This was to be a different sort of visit – instead of observers listening to a leader, we would be the investigators, a move from being lead, to leading ourselves. A number of delightful visits took place, usually combined with trips to other geological sites. At the northern end of the Fault, about 3 miles south of Bideford, the Fault passes close to Orleigh Court, a medieval house set on a small hill. The hill is in Carboniferous sandstone which outcrops all around the hill and is exposed locally with the Fault cutting Figure 2: Trial Pit #1 Left to Right: Mr Beer, John Hurst, Ailsa Davies, David Ward, through it in several places. David Riley & Caroline This hill has a cap of flint

32 Magazine of the Geologists’ Association Vol. 20, No.1 2021 I favour the development of a graben on the fault, with Haldon flints captured here while the whole of the SW peninsular is swept clear, followed with the reversion of the graben to give a horst, bringing the flints back to the surface – but that’s imagination running away with itself. Answers on a postage card to the local landowner, King Arthur, c/o Tintagel Castle. When we were considering looking at Orleigh Court, Roland Goldring, long time friend of the RGS and our president at one stage, encouraged us – as a youth, he and his brother had had holidays in the area and had augered to 14 feet at the Court, discovering lilac clays. Roland planned to join us on the first expedition, but sadly died immediately before the visit.

A great many RGS members helped and I hope, enjoyed these visits, although I can recollect struggling with surveying staffs in pouring rain and digging holes in flint beds, this was the RGS at its best.

Compensation by way of visits to Morte Point, Hartland Quay and Westward Ho! pints of Doom Bar and great evening dinners overcome the challenges of the day and are remembered with great pleasure, by me.

Thanks, Chaps!

Figure 4 (below): Trial Pit 2 – yellow and brown sands to 3.5m

Figure 3 (above): 1.5m trial pit by garage – shows flints in red, becoming purple with depth, clays

Pit 5 showed mottled red and grey clay, purple sandy clay, a band of flints in red clay, then grey clay to 2.15m. These sands and clays are very similar to the Oligocene ball clays seen at Bovey. Petrockstow areas have been worked for ball clays, but not the Dutson so perhaps, as Prof John Cope has suggested, Orleigh Court could be a fourth member basin, albeit a small one. Mr Beer said he had never seen purple and lilac clays, nor yellow sands in his fields before and the distribution of flints only in the soil and upper horizons wasa surprise as a BGS geophysical survey had predicted them extending to 30m. The Sticklepath Fault has associated with it several Oligocene basins – the Bovey and flints to consider. The BGS UK geology map viewer has named the deposit here as “Tower Wood Gravel Member” since our work was undertaken. But we cannot conceive that the flints were surface transported from Haldon, without there being residues along the path. So we also visited a number of sites between Haldon and Orleigh, including Riverton, Coleford, Cadham Farm, Beckamore Bridge and Upton Deer Farm where a local soil scientist had reported flints, but only Coleford had more than a very minor quantity. As ever, the hand of Man transporting materials can confuse and was probably the explanation for this scatter. There are major faults in the Bristol Channel which may bring the Upper Cretaceous to the surface such that Orleigh would only be about 10km from this potential source. Magazine of the Geologists’ Association Vol. 20, No.1 2021 33 Rockwatch News

By Susan Brown

As I write this report, the world is still in the grip of the during the trip. Coronavirus (Covid 19) pandemic, though the development Our field trips are a valuable learning resource for the and production of a number of effective vaccines has achieved youngsters and we aim to promote good practice in the field great success in protecting many people against this awful as often as possible. A parent or guardian must accompany illness. But, there’s still a way to go before normal life, in their offspring on all our trips, so there is the opportunity for whatever shape or form, can safely be resumed throughout “added value” in that the accompanying adults can also benefit the world. As a result, we are not yet able to predict just from the knowledge and skills their children are acquiring. when it will be safe to resume our popular Rockwatch field And, of course they are our country’s current taxpayers, trips. so it’s a valuable bonus to garner much information about For readers of this magazine who are new to the GA, I geology, its importance to the nation’s economic health and should explain that Rockwatch is its very successful junior welfare and how geologists help to manage environmental club. We have a range of benefits for our members, including risk and predict reserves of resources, for example. a programme of field trips. Normally we run these from We produce a members’ magazine three times a year. about March to October, including an annual weekend trip to Articles are written by practising geologists, academics, South Wales and a week-long residential trip to the Jurassic museum curators, students, former members and often Coast of Dorset and East Devon. Our day trips cover as Rockwatch members themselves. Our marvellous science much of the varied geology of the country as possible and editors and members of the Rockwatch Management are normally suitable for youngsters from age 7 to 18 yrs. Committee also contribute articles to the magazine, so we Occasionally the lower age limit is raised to ensure that the always have a wonderfully wide-ranging selection for our children can manage any conditions that are likely to be met readership to enjoy and, there is something to suit everyone.

Figure 1: Rockwatchers checking quiz answers at our BGS special day workshop with Phil Wilby (2013)

34 Magazine of the Geologists’ Association Vol. 20, No.1 2021 We also have an annual competition which is open to the public and to our members as part of our charitable activities. Entries can be about anything geological, in any format - short videos, art work, needlecraft, a range of electronic media, games, poems and much more. The entries are very wide- ranging and the judges are constantly amazed at the sheer variety and quality of the entries. Many are published in the Rockwatch magazine, and the winning entry of the Rockwriter section of the competition for 16 – 18 year olds, is always published in the GA magazine (see the December 2020 Vol.19 No.4 issue for the most recent winner). Our website is just about to Figure 2: Dorset weekend 2018 undergo some essential updating to ensure that its templates sparked this off and I’m delighted that he has agreed to host are all still supported and the that section. As with all new electronic ventures its gestation website remains healthy. This is only necessary about every is somewhat time-consuming, but it is on its way and our five years to keep abreast of technological updates. Once this website manager and designer are both busy making sure it’s has been completed you may see some small changes to the completed as soon as possible. website layout but it should not interrupt the way you engage with the site. We are very excited to be currently in the This is an opportune time to invite the GA’s local groups and throes of developing a fossil, mineral and rock identification affiliated societies to get in touch with us if you would like to section on the site. It was a suggestion by Michael Oates that host a field trip for our young Rockwatch members, once we are “back to normal”. Although we have an excellent network of colleagues who support and help with our field trips it’s always a pleasure to expand that. So, if your group would like to join our team of volunteers, please do get in touch and we can sort out what’s possible for the future. I look forward to hearing from you. You can contact us at: hello@ rockwatch.org.uk Until we can all meet again in person, keep safe, keep an eye on the website and our Facebook & Twitter feeds and get in touch with us with your queries, ideas, or anything interesting you’d like Figure 3: Geoboard game from the 2011 competition to share.

Magazine of the Geologists’ Association Vol. 20, No.1 2021 35