A Registered Charity No. 220014 September 2020 / Circular 630 YORKSHIRE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY President: Paul Hildreth
VIRTUAL GEOLOGY SEPTEMBER TO NOVEMBER 2020
VERY IMPORTANT – COVID-19 EMERGENCY: PLEASE KEEP CHECKING THE YGS WEBSITE FOR THE LATEST PROGRAMME AND OTHER INFORMATION https://yorksgeolsoc.org.uk NON MEMBERS WELCOME: FREE OF CHARGE CONTENTS
Latest News from Council 3 Andy Howard
President’s Word, May 2020 and August 2020 5 Paul Hildreth
New Editor-in-Chief for the Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society 8
Yorkshire Geology Month 2020 9 YGM Cancelled but Hull Geological Society’s YGM Cemetery Walk Mike Horne
Virtual Field Trips 11 Real Geology: a review of YGS resources Patrick Boylan
Golfing with Dinosaurs: A Lockdown Geology Story 12 Andy Howard
Review 15 Introductory Guide to the Geology of the Great Whin Sill and Hadrian’s Wall, by Caitlin Leverett Andy Howard
Pathological Ammonites in the Peter Robinson Collection 18 Richard Maddra
Getting close up during Lockdown 20 Paul Hildreth
Book Review 23 An excursion guide to the geomorphology of the Howgill Fells by Adrian Harvey Michael Roberts
2 https://yorksgeolsoc.org.uk YGS 2020 LATEST NEWS FROM COUNCIL: COVID-19 CONTINUES Andy Howard, General Secretary
Covid-19 continues to severely curtail the activities of societies like YGS, though there are some encouraging signs that outdoor geological walks for small parties are being restarted by businesses and charities in line with social distancing and Covid-Secure guidelines. We can give some indications on our current intentions, but anything we arrange may be subject to postponement, cancellation or change at very short notice. In the case of local lockdowns, this can be less than 24 hours. KEEPING YOU INFORMED We will provide regular updates on Society events in our Circulars, on our website News and Events pages, and by regular email newsletters every 2-3 weeks. We shall circulate digital (pdf) editions of the Circular and newsletters to all members who have provided us with an up-to- date email address (you can unsubscribe from email newsletters at any time). ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 2020 Council is currently carrying out a risk assessment for our planned AGM and President’s Day on 5th December, and we are in contact with the venue (Weetwood Hall Leeds) with regard to Covid-Secure hosting arrangements. If it’s necessary to proceed with an ‘online’ AGM we will most likely de-couple it from the President’s Address, Medal Presentations and Dinner and hold those events in 2021. We will confirm our intentions in the next Circular 631, due November. Regardless of format, we will follow last year’s precedent of circulating our draft Annual Report and Accounts in advance of the AGM, and taking them as read at the event. INDOOR MEETINGS The Government’s roadmap target remains at 1st October for permitting indoor public meetings and live performances with more than 30 participants. Guidance was relaxed on 15th August to allow business meetings of up to 30 people in Covid-Secure venues. Due to the ongoing uncertainty and our reliance on availability of Covid-Secure public venues, we regret that we cannot give a firm date for resuming indoor meetings at the present time, but Council continues to keep the situation and opportunities under review. FIELD TRIPS A small task force of Council members is drawing up plans for a series of mini-field trips in the autumn, strictly following social distancing guidelines. Subject to a favourable risk assessment by wider Council we will post information and registration details of these trips on our Events webpage and notify members of up-and-coming opportunities by email. ONLINE LECTURE AND WEBINARS Our first online lecture ‘Analogous Mudstone Successions from the Yorkshire Coast and the USA’ by Professor Kevin Taylor was held on 8th July. It was a very successful event enjoyed by 78 participants on Zoom and YouTube. News of further online events will be posted on our https://yorksgeolsoc.org.uk YGS 2020 3 LATEST NEWS FROM COUNCIL: COVID-19 CONTINUES Andy Howard, General Secretary
Events webpage and notified in our email newsletters. Some of our corresponding societies are also holding online lectures too, a selection of events that are freely open to YGS members will be posted on our new Community Events webpage and noted in our email newsletters. VIRTUAL FIELD TRIPS In our last Circular, Mike Bowman introduced our plans for building a portfolio of Virtual Field Trips (VFTs) and we are pleased to report that these are progressing well, with several examples uploaded onto our new VFT webpage. At the time of writing these include a four- part narrated video guide to the Geology of Flamborough Head by our President Paul Hildreth, and Google Earth Guides to the Geology and Poetry of Widdop Moor and Staithes to Port Mulgrave compiled by General Secretary Andy Howard. More guides are in various stages of preparation. GEOLOGY ONLINE We have compiled a new webpage listing some of our favourite ‘rainy day’ online geological resources, including online lectures, geological videos, virtual field trips and online field guides, geology courses, online 3D geological models and even some tongue-in-cheek ‘geology’ from film and TV. Just go to our new Geology Online webpage to enjoy. YGS GEOLOGY BLOGS Covid-19 may be making it hard for us to meet up in the field, but many of you will still be enjoying fieldwork alone or in small groups. Why not share your exploits or burning science questions in a ‘Blog’ for our web pages? These can be very informal and chatty, with no need to push back the boundaries of science. Blogs can simply be sent to us in a MS word or similar word processor file, with some good quality images, and we can then upload onto our YGS Blogs web page – just go to that page for some examples. You can send any Blogs to our Web Editor at [email protected] GRANTS – FEARNSIDES AWARD Our Fearnsides Award provides grants up to £500 for conference travel, fieldwork or small earth science projects. Applications remain open until 30th September, visit our Grants webpage for information and application forms. WEBSITE LINKS YGS News: https://www.yorksgeolsoc.org.uk/news YGS Events: https://www.yorksgeolsoc.org.uk/events Community Events: https://www.yorksgeolsoc.org.uk/community-events Virtual Field Trips: https://www.yorksgeolsoc.org.uk/virtualfieldtrips Geology Online: https://www.yorksgeolsoc.org.uk/geology-online YGS Blogs: https://www.yorksgeolsoc.org.uk/ygs-blog YGS Grants: https://www.yorksgeolsoc.org.uk/grants
4 https://yorksgeolsoc.org.uk YGS 2020 PRESIDENT’S WORDS Paul Hildreth, President
MAY 2020 As I write this, May is coming to a close and we are still unclear about when we are likely to be able to hold our ‘normal’ type of indoor and outdoor meetings nor to commit to anything more than a provisional skeleton programme. The month of May is of course by tradition Yorkshire Geology Month (YGM) with its wealth of activities and talks aimed at the general public as well as experienced geologists. I am pleased to learn that YGM went ahead this year despite social-distancing (candidate for word of the year?), self-isolation and lockdowns. The intrepid Mike Horne of the Hull Geological Society, and a founding member of the YGM initiative, made sure that at least one activity took place. In the spirit of the start of my article in Circular 629, he and his wife Annie visited Hull Cemetery on a field-trip-for-two and made sure that ‘the show went on’. Yesterday, Thursday 28th May, would have been my 67th day of voluntary self-isolation, leaving the house and garden only for my daily walk or cycle ride around the residential area of Brigg. However I decided to take advantage of the good weather and the government’s relaxation of rules about movement to spend an afternoon on Flamborough Head. After raiding my wife’s purse for change for use at the Humber Bridge toll and for the car park at Selwick’s Bay I set off on the 1.5 hour journey. All of the change came back with me; the bridge toll booths are unmanned (but you have to pay on-line) and charges at the lighthouse car park have been suspended. Thrilled with this latter bonus I prepared for my Selwick’s Bay investigations: hard hat, boots, hi-viz waistcoat, notebook and pencil, hammer (for scale on photographs), water bottle and sandwiches and descended the many steps down to the beach. It was not long before I had drawn in several youngsters, and one or two less-shy adults, who wanted to know what I was doing. Thankfully, they kept their recommended distance and I was able to tell them about the ‘crystal cave’ (a wave-cut notch with walls and roof lined with calcite crystals), show them a cave that it’s possible to pass through, assure them that I wasn’t working for the government and identify marine life that I could hear later had transformed from sea anemone to ‘sea enemy’. My own ‘investigations’ proved fruitful. Inspired by the pilot videos set up by Andy Howard and Mike Bowman’s article in Circular 629, I have been working to produce a virtual geology field trip around Flamborough Head and needed to revisit Selwick’s Bay to check out one or two details of stratigraphy and take some relevant photographs. All in all it turned out to be a wonderful day and I arrived home refreshed and with an overwhelming feeling of https://yorksgeolsoc.org.uk YGS 2020 5 PRESIDENT’S WORD Paul Hildreth, President
Selwick’s Bay, Flamborough (Paul Hildreth)
both satisfaction and freedom; it certainly provided much-appreciated variety from my 66-day ‘around Brigg’ perambulations. With the news that some youngsters and secondary school students are able to return to school next week let’s hope that we are beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel (and that the tunnel has been built by experts following expert advice). I should like to end my ‘unusual’, perhaps ‘unique’, term as YGS president by delivering my second address to a full audience rather than rely on modern communications technology no matter how effective and useful it has proved to be.
AUGUST 2020 Since my last contribution to the pages of the Circular there have been many changes to our social lives but alas no real progress towards knowing when ‘normality’ can resume. This has made it extremely difficult for Council to plan ahead with any certainty but, as in any time of hardship, innovation emerges. The Society has been fortunate to have individuals who provided the technical know-how to utilise the facilities available on-line so that virtual meetings of Council and small working groups could take place.
6 https://yorksgeolsoc.org.uk YGS 2020 PRESIDENT’S WORD Paul Hildreth, President
As a result, society business has been regularly conducted, the YGS website has been updated and a team of Council members has taken responsibility for overseeing the more popular branches of social media such as LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. To replace the annual programme of outdoor activities, though I would like to add here that Yorkshire Geology Month was represented in 2020 by Mike and Annie Horne’s visit to Hull Cemetery, a link with YouTube provided a channel for the Society to launch virtual field trips. My own contribution has been the series of four narrated presentations on the geology of Flamborough Head and I thought that some information about the making of these might be useful to members with similar aspirations. I began preparing a single PowerPoint slideshow but soon realised that to cover what I had in mind would make it far too long. Plan B was to cover the north (Filey Bay) side of the headland in one video then the south (Bridlington Bay) side in a second. This was around the time that I needed some more photographs and to log one or two chalk sections and, as travelling restrictions were more relaxed, I managed three trips to gather the material needed. As is usually the case I came back with more than I had planned and wanted to include much of it so the two-part series became a four-part series. After editing photographs, constructing diagrams, maps and sections the presentations were finalised and I then began to write a script ensuring, by inserting (in bold red capitals) the word CLICK where a slide change or effect had to be made during the narration. Rehearsals revealed errors or places where improvements could be made and eventually it was time to record. Thanks to Andy Howard, with whom I had a virtual lesson in recording using ‘ZOOM’ so that I could share my presentation and not be seen, I began the recordings. Because I have no idea of how to edit the video produced through ’ZOOM’, the recording had to be made in one continuous take. Errors meant starting again and I did so many times though they were not all of my own doing. Recording coincided with my next door neighbours’ installation of a new bathroom and en suite so once or twice recording had to stop for hammering or drilling; they also have a dog and two small children! I found 2am to be a convenient recording time. Transferring the recordings to YouTube is simple and gives you control over when to release. There are some errors and one or two ‘stumbles’ in the narration but you may spot that they are late in the take and it was probably about 3am by then! So what next? I hope to put together a virtual tour of York City Centre’s building stones soon but there is the little matter of finishing my second President’s Address just in case normality resumes in time for the AGM and President’s Day on 5th December. Paul Hildreth, President
https://yorksgeolsoc.org.uk YGS 2020 7 NEW EDITOR-IN-CHIEF FOR THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE YORKSHIRE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY
I am delighted to inform members that Professor Paul Wignall, Professor of Palaeoenvironments at the University of Leeds, has accepted my formal invitation to take over the post of Chief Editor for the PYGS from Dr. Stewart Molyneux with effect from the AGM scheduled for 5th December 2020. In the meantime, Paul will liaise with Stewart and Lucy Bell, Journal Manager at the Geological Society Publishing House, to effect a smooth handover of the relevant responsibilities. Paul will be well-known to many members, not least for his term as President in 2009-10, but for those less familiar the following information, taken from the University of Leeds website, will undoubtedly prove the significance and value of this appointment. Paul Hildreth President
PROFESSOR PAUL WIGNALL Specialist knowledge: Mass extinctions; extinctions; black shales; anoxic environments; basin history; large igneous provinces. Lectures in palaeontology and sedimentology. He obtained his first degree at the University of Oxford and his PhD at the University of Birmingham under the supervision of Professor Tony Hallam and has been a lecturer at Leeds since 1989. He has collaborated with numerous colleagues both nationally and internationally, especially at the China University of Geosciences (Wuhan), during his wide- ranging field expeditions. Paul has published over 200 research articles and 3 books, most recently: The Worst of Times" How Life on Earth Survived 80 Million Years of Extinctions, published by Princeton University Press. He enjoys investigating a very broad spectrum of topics that range from flood basalt eruptions to palaeoecology. He has supervised nearly 30 PhD students and received several awards including the Jean- Baptiste Lamarck Model of the European Geological Union and the Wolfson Merit Award from the Royal Society. He has served on the UK’s REF (Research Excellence Framework) Panel. Paul has been Editor of several geological journals, President of several geological societies, including our Society, and has appeared in over a dozen science documentaries.
8 https://yorksgeolsoc.org.uk YGS 2020
YORKSHIRE GEOLOGY MONTH 2020: GEOLOGY WALK IN SPRING BANK CEMETERY, HULL LEDVirtual BY MIKE field HORNE trip to ONSpring SUNDAY Bank 10TH Cemetery MAY 2020 in Hull Mike and AnnieBy Horne, Anne Hull and Geological Mike HorneSociety
CommonlyNote: additional known illustrations as Spring are Bankfound Cemeteryin the Cemetery, the Walk site isVirtual really Field two Trip on cemeteriesthe YGS website. The General Cemetery was opened in 1847 and now has many mature trees. The Western Cemetery opened in 1889 and is now dividedThis was bya strange Chanterlands walk! Originally Avenue. planned For and this announced virtual as geological a Yorkshire fieldGeology trip Month we arepublic going walk, dueto visitto the a Coronavirus part of the Lockdown western imposed half of on Western 23rd March Cemetery. the number of people attending had to be limited to two people from the same household for a maximum of one hour. Also, after about 5 weeks of dry sunny weather there was a cold northerly wind with drizzle on the day.
General view of Western Cemetery. (Mike Horne)
Although the area is known to locals as Spring Bank Cemetery it is actually two cemeteries, one of which is split by a road. We wandered through the eastern part of Western Cemetery Theinto the cemetery older and wewilder are General visiting Cemetery. is at the The south leader end pointed of Chanterlandsout some interesting rocks Avenue,to the audience near (his the wife) level and crossing we stopped on to Springview the Bankeffect ofWest. weathering It is roughlyon different a rock thirtytypes. minute walk from the Hull Interchange (bus and train station) or the UniversityAn area containing of Hull, a varietywalking of atmemorials a casual was pace. designated a RIGS (Regionally Important Geological and Geomorphological Site) in 2004 as an educational resource to illustrate how weathering affects different rock types. The red sandstone memorial to someone called Marmaduke is unreadable, whereas the York Stone memorial beside it is still readable and the one on the other side, probably marble, has attracted lichens. These are all roughly the same age of around 1877. Near these are monuments of purple slate which still exhibits sharp “copper plate” lettering, dated 1862. Within the General Cemetery is the Quaker Burial Ground where the memorials are all of https://yorksgeolsoc.org.uk YGS 2020 9 YORKSHIRE GEOLOGY MONTH 2020: GEOLOGY WALK IN SPRING BANK CEMETERY, HULL LED BY MIKE HORNE ON SUNDAY 10TH MAY 2020 Mike and Annie Horne, Hull Geological Society
the same simple design. Nearby is the memorial to 700 people who died during a cholera epidemic in 1849 and who are buried in a mass grave nearby. 1860 people died of cholera in Hull that year (Hullwebs UK 2004). It made us pause for thought as we experience a new pandemic in 2020. Further into General Cemetery are two cast iron memorials (one if not both are listed buildings) near what looks to be a memorial made of concrete with inserted red granite tablets, which we had not noticed before. At the end of the walk the leader announced that he was thirsty in the hope that the audience might offer to buy him a drink (a Yorkshire Geology Month tradition) but his favourite bar and all other bars were closed because of the Coronavirus lockdown. We had a good time, spotted some memorials and geology that we had not seen before and ensured that in the future we can say that Yorkshire Geology Month has taken place every May since 2005! This is a very good short walk with both geological and local history interest which we hope to run again as a public event in happier times. We are also working to create a Virtual Field Meeting based on this interesting city centre location.
REFERENCE Hullwebs UK 2004 – Victorian Cholera Epidemic [accessed 14 May 2020] https://www.hullwebs.co.uk/content/k-victorian/disaster/cholera.htm
No 36 NGR TA 07133 29658Henry – two Pettymemorials d. 1905 -– Henrycarving Petty of railway d. 1905 0-6-0 – carving of railway 0-6-0 loco noloco. 1420no. 1420 in Yorkin York Stone Stone.. This (Mike is Horne) next to William Gawthorpe d. 1905 in Carrara Marble, which is losing its lead lettering due to weathering by acid rain. We hope you have enjoyed this self-guided walk. There are some more
self-guided walks on the websites of the Yorkshire Geological Society
Albert Ovel 1973 – red and black gneiss.and (Mike the Horne) Hull Geological Society. Mike also leads geological walks from (Three rows behind)– Albert Ovel d. 1973 – red and black gneiss. (Three rows behind)– Albert Ovel d. 1973time – red to and time black in Hull, gneiss Beverley,. Driffield and other locations; details can be seen on the HGS website. (Copyright 2020 Yorkshire Geological Society and the authors.)
10 https://yorksgeolsoc.org.uk YGS 2020 VIRTUAL FIELD TRIPS... REAL GEOLOGY Patrick Boylan
While the Yorkshire Geological Society’s normal activities and indoor lectures and field meeting have had to be suspended indefinitely through the Covid-19 crisis, the Council and other members of the Society have remained very active exploring alternative ways of communicating and exploring our region. We have now digitised our long-established and popular field guides and made these available free of charge on the YGS website in the Online Field Guides page. As Mike Bowman explained in the last YGS Circular we are actively working on our completely new YGS Virtual Field Trips, which can be enjoyed from the comfort of your home, perhaps on a rainy day. But equally their intended purpose is to encourage you to visit these fabulous geological localities for real when conditions permit this. Many of the guides describe places that have recently been visited by YGS field trips. If you would like to help the YGS by adding to these new resources by preparing a Virtual Field Trip, or by proposing and leading a field trip in the future when circumstances permit, or even both, please get in touch via our Contact Us page or contacting a member of the Council directly.
YGS VIRTUAL FIELD TRIPS AVAILABLE THROUGH LINKS ON THE PUBLICATIONS SECTION OF THE YGS WEBSITE • Widdop Moor Geology and Poetry Walk. Google Earth tour. • Staithes to Port Mulgrave - A Geological Excursion. Google Earth tour. • Cayton Bay and Yons Nab. Annotated pdf slide show with 3D models – coming soon • Geological Walks around Graves Park Sheffield. Google Earth tour – coming soon • A Virtual Geological Field Trip in Spring bank Cemetery, Hull, by Mike and Annie Horne (Hull Geological Society)
NARRATED VIDEO VIRTUAL FIELD TRIPS: LINKS FROM THE PUBLICATIONS SECTION OF THE YGS WEBSITE • The Geology of Flamborough Head in Four Parts: Paul Hidreth
YGS FIELD GUIDE PUBLICATIONS NOW AVAILABLE FROM THE PUBLICATIONS SECTION OF THE YGS WEBSITE • Yorkshire Rocks and Landscape Field Guide • Northumbrian Rocks and Landscape Field Guide • Guide to the Geology of Bempton Cliffs, created by the YGS for the RSPB Bempton Reserve
FURTHER VIRTUAL FIELD TRIPS AND GUIDES UNDER DEVELOPMENT – PLEASE FOLLOW THE YGS WEBSITE
https://yorksgeolsoc.org.uk YGS 2020 11 GOLFING WITH DINOSAURS – A LOCKDOWN GEOLOGY STORY Andy Howard, General Secretary, Yorkshire Geological Society
In my May 2020 email newsletter to YGS Members, I rashly promised to prepare a virtual field trip to the Triassic of Edwalton Golf Course. Fortunately the lockdown is easing and demand (if there ever was any) is declining, so I’ve written this blog instead as a blast from the past, an ‘ex-President’s Word’. Unlike many, if not most retired British Geological Survey geologists, I haven’t moved to Yorkshire, instead staying in the East Midlands and helping to run the YGS from there. So no fascinating Yorkshire geology and stunning scenery for me on my one hour Corona-lockdown walk. Edwalton is an outlier of West Bridgford on the southern outskirts of Nottingham, part of the borough of Rushcliffe. It’s handy for Trent Bridge cricket and second tier football at Forest’s City Ground, the theatre of dreams gone by from the days of Brian Clough. As a place to live, Rushcliffe has a lot going for it, but it’s not a mecca for geological tourists, and no-one is working on a geopark application. But many geologists live there, because BGS Keyworth is just down the road. Donkey’s years ago, when I had time, I used to play golf. Edwalton has a municipal golf course, owned by Rushcliffe Borough Council, so it was recently left open for local lockdown walkers
Ludlow Hill brick clay quarry, West Bridgford, Nottingham, photographed in 1908. Image number P200719 from the British Geological Survey Geoscenic collection.
12 https://yorksgeolsoc.org.uk YGS 2020 GOLFING WITH DINOSAURS – A LOCKDOWN GEOLOGY STORY Andy Howard, General Secretary, Yorkshire Geological Society to enjoy. It’s just a nine-hole course, and I was once one of a small group of BGS colleagues who met up after work for a round, which would take about an hour and a half. Three of us are still YGS members. Although short on holes, Edwalton Course is long on difficulty – it’s punishingly tough, partly because of its geology. More on that in a minute. The bedrock below Rushcliffe is mainly Triassic Mercia Mudstone, ascending up to the Penarth Group and early Jurassic Lias Group on the borough’s south-eastern fringes. Much of Edwalton is underlain by the eponymous Edwalton Member (of the Sidmouth Mudstone Formation, Mercia Mudstone Group MMG). The MMG forms a distinctively red and very heavy soil, very hard to plough without modern agricultural machinery. BGS mapping geologists used to call it the ‘Merciless Mudstone’ because it accumulates on one’s boots, kilograms of it, when the ground is wet. During droughts (as we experiencing during the lockdown in May) it sets as hard as bricks. The good people of Nottingham knew this, and dug brick pits into the MMG all over the area in the 19th and early 20th century to build their city.
Medieval ridge and furrow preserved on the dip slope of the Arden Sandstone Formation, Edwalton Golf Course, near Nottingham. Photo: Andy Howard April 2020 https://yorksgeolsoc.org.uk YGS 2020 13 GOLFING WITH DINOSAURS – A LOCKDOWN GEOLOGY STORY Andy Howard, General Secretary, Yorkshire Geological Society
Nowadays there is only one working brick clay quarry near Nottingham, to the north of the city in Arnold. Most of the old brick pits are overgrown and exposures of MMG are few and far between. But there is one pit in my one hour lockdown walk radius that still has an exposure, albeit very overgrown. This is the Ludlow Hill brick clay quarry, now occupied by housing and small industrial units, and formerly home to the BGS Keyworth core store back in the 1980s. This exposes the Cotgrave Sandstone (see photo, page 12), which is early Carnian in age, and the first manifestation in the East Midlands Triassic succession of a major climatic episode that was to change life on Earth for ever. During my time as President, YGS was fortunate to enjoy talks from Alastair Ruffell and Mike Benton, two of the UK-based geologists who have led international research on the global environmental and biotic changes that took place in the late Triassic Carnian stage, around 230 million years ago. With colleagues, they are uncovering a growing body of evidence that a major atmospheric perturbation, perhaps driven by the eruption of Large Igneous Provinces associated with rifting and the break-up of Pangaea, led to a major episode of global warming, climatic instability and both faunal and floral taxonomic turnover during the Carnian stage. In the interior of Pangaea, previously arid climates fluctuated back and forth to humid, leading to extinction of many long established terrestrial taxa and replacement by others that could take the opportunities presented by major changes in global flora distribution. This ‘Carnian Pluvial Event’ saw the ‘explosion’ of new taxa of dinosaurs, that were to rule the earth for another 170 million years to the end of the Cretaceous. Most importantly, the same episode saw expansion of the ancestors of modern and familiar tetrapod groups, such as crocodiles, lizards, turtles and mammals. What has all this got to do with Edwalton Golf Course, and why is it so difficult? Much of the course is constructed on the dip slope of the Arden Sandstone, a distinctive and mappable formation of fluvial sandstones and alluvial mudstones in the Midlands, quite different from the red, ‘arid sabkha’ mudstones of the beds above and below. The Arden Sandstone marks the top of the Carnian stage, and the approximate end of the late Carnian Pluvial Event. In the Nottingham area the Arden Sandstone is a heterolithic unit of interbedded sandstone and mudstone, and gives rise to a much lighter, loamy soil than is typical of the MMG. It was easier to till with medieval hand ploughs and oxen, so the dip slope of the Arden Sandstone on the golf course still preserves extensive medieval ridge and furrow, often crossing the fairways at an oblique angle (see photo, page 13). The course also meanders up and down a low scarp formed by the Sandstone, creating blind summits on many of the holes. Golfers therefore have to hit many of their shots over these summits, so even the straightest of shots down the middle of the fairway can hit one of the furrows at an angle and go flying off unseen into the deep rough (so I’m told, I always took the more direct route straight out of bounds). It’s all a bit unfair, and quite a golfing challenge.
14 https://yorksgeolsoc.org.uk YGS 2020 GOLFING WITH DINOSAURS – A LOCKDOWN GEOLOGY STORY Andy Howard, General Secretary, Yorkshire Geological Society
The (par five) first hole at Edwalton can be used as a proxy for geological time. Firstly, you tee off in the early Carnian, a little way above the Cotgrave Sandstone, in the company of primitive reptiles. You then chase your small ball up the scarp of the Arden Sandstone and through the global change of the late Carnian Pluvial Event. Eight shots later (if you’re as bad at golf as I was), you putt out on the 1st green in the late Carnian, at the dawn of the age of dinosaurs. Now that Yorkshire is slowly returning to business for solo or family fieldwork, I hope to get back there soon and see some classic geology again. But every place on Earth has a geological story to tell, even where it’s hidden from view. That’s what makes our science so fascinating, even when times are ‘ard.
FURTHER READING:
Ruffell, A., Dal Corso, J. & Benton, M., 2018. Triassic extinctions and explosions. Geoscientist 28 (8), 10-15 (2018). Download the pdf here: https://doi.org/10.1144/geosci2018-007 Andy Howard, 2006. From the archive. Ludlow Hill Brick Clay Quarry. Mercian Geologist 16 (3), p.15.
REVIEW INTRODUCTORY GUIDE TO THE GEOLOGY OF THE GREAT WHIN SILL AND HADRIAN’S WALL Caitlin Leverett
Covid-19 resulted in the widespread cancellation of geological field courses and projects in our universities nationwide, and their replacement with desk-based dissertations. When the UK lockdown was announced in March, the University of Newcastle tasked their first-year Earth Science students to produce some field guides to classic geological localities in the Northumberland National Park and adjacent areas. Their brief was to use detailed information already published in the Northumberland National Park Geodiversity Audit, the YGS Field Guide to Northumbrian Rocks and Landscape and other online publications and convert this into a geological guide aimed at a general public readership. The standard of output was very high, and we are delighted to report that the University chose to award two years’ student membership of the YGS as a suitable prize for the highest marked project. With the kind agreement of the author, Caitlin Leverett, and the University of Newcastle, YGS is pleased to feature the highest marked guide as a download on our website at https:// www.yorksgeolsoc.org.uk/virtualfieldtrips. Caitlin’s guide presents a geological walk following the Pennine Way National Trail along Hadrian’s Wall and the Great Whin Sill, visiting Cawfield Quarry, Crag Lough and Sewingshields Crags, and including the iconic Sycamore Gap, one of https://yorksgeolsoc.org.uk YGS 2020 15 REVIEW INTRODUCTORY GUIDE TO THE GEOLOGY OF THE GREAT WHIN SILL AND HADRIAN’S WALL Caitlin Leverett the UK’s most photographed countryside locations. The guide can be downloaded and viewed online, or printed out as a small booklet to take out in the field with you. The guide is an excellent piece of work, do give it (and the walk!) a try. Andy Howard
Caitlin Leverettt, Newcatle University
ABOUT MY PROJECT – BY CAITLIN LEVERETT Starting in 2019 I have just completed a highly enjoyable first year of a 5 year MSci degree in Earth Science at Newcastle University. I have always loved STEM and physical geography. I love to watch documentaries and read about the physical world around us and our relationship with it. I am very new to Geology and am learning all the time. I decided to study Earth Science as I felt it best covered all of my varied interests in science and geography. Newcastle University has an excellent reputation and ranked highly for this course. I chose this particular course because it offers a year in industry in my third year, which will give me valuable experience and help me to build a career path. In my spare time I am a keen archer and a member of Riverside Archery Club and have also joined the Newcastle University Archery Club. 16 https://yorksgeolsoc.org.uk YGS 2020 REVIEW INTRODUCTORY GUIDE TO THE GEOLOGY OF THE GREAT WHIN SILL AND HADRIAN’S WALL Caitlin Leverett
Screenshot from Great Whin Sill and Hadrian’s Wall by Caitlin Leverett.
Students in our year group were tasked with producing a geological guide of an area within Northumberland National Park - I chose the Whin Sill and Hadrian’s Wall because both are such iconic parts of our landscape. I also felt that, while most people know of their existence, they tend to focus on the history of the wall and the Romans. I wanted to direct their attention to the amazing geology of the area and its influence. As lockdown eased I was able to test out my walk and had the opportunity to take most of my own photographs to illustrate the guide. I really enjoyed learning how the local geology and landscape influenced the building of Hadrian’s Wall, particularly how the nearby natural resources were used, and producing this guide also helped me to develop my GIS, research and desktop publishing skills.
https://yorksgeolsoc.org.uk YGS 2020 17 PATHOLOGICAL AMMONITES IN THE PETER ROBINSON COLLECTION Richard Maddra, email: [email protected]
Ammonites with characteristic semicircular marks indicating predation have been described from the Lower Jurassic of Germany (Klompmaker et al. 2009) and Dorset (Andrew et al. 2010), and the Lower and Upper Jurassic of Yorkshire (Maddra 2015; Wright et al. 2014). Following the publication of my Yorkshire paper, Peter Robinson invited me to study his collection of ammonites, as he thought that some may have been the victims of similar predation. (Since Peter’s death the collection is in the care of the Hull and East Riding Museum in Hull.) Ammonites are often found damaged: several abiotic processes – post-mortem crushing, implosion, collision (both pre-burial and post exposure) – can all cause damage to the ammonite's shell. Parasitism, predation and post-mortem scavenging can also cause damage. Failed predation attempts are easier to identify as damage to the body chamber can be repaired. Successful predation attempts were fatal for the ammonite and therefore show no healing. The difficulty for the palaeontologist is separating taphonomic damage from damage caused by successful predation. Examples of predation damage, taphonomic damage and healed injuries can all be found in the Robinson collection, although only one specimen showed the characteristic semicircular damage (see below). Predation thought to be by coleoid cephalopods leaves a characteristic
Maddra Fig 1: PCR182, Pseudolioceras lythense, showing Maddra Figure 2: PCR156, Dactylioceras semicelatum, the characteristic damage of coleoid predation at the showing erosion damage. Scale bar in cm. rear of the body chamber. Scale bar in cm. This and subsequent figures drawn from photographs. Solid grey areas indicate matrix.
18 https://yorksgeolsoc.org.uk YGS 2020 PATHOLOGICAL AMMONITES IN THE PETER ROBINSON COLLECTION Richard Maddra, email: [email protected] semicircular damage pattern, located towards the rear of the body chamber where an attack would sever the muscles attaching the body to the shell (Klompmaker et al. 2009). In the Robinson collection, there is only one specimen that unambigously fits this pattern: PCR182, a specimen of Pseudolioceras lythense. In Pseudolioceras, the body chamber occupies about ½ of a whorl (Howarth 1992, plates 26 & 27). The damage to PCR182 fits the criteria described above: a semicircular mark located towards the rear of the body chamber, in this case 180° from the aperture (Fig. 1). Previous Yorkshire specimens of similar predated ammonites belong to the commune Subzone, bifrons Zone of the Toarcian. This specimen extends that range to the thouarsense Zone. Dactylioceras semicelatum (PCR156) is an example of taphonomic damage that, superficially, resembles the semicircular damage described above. Careful examination reveals that the curve of the damage continues on the same arc into the surrounding nodule, suggesting this was caused by erosion post-exposure (Fig. 2). PCR 160, a specimen of Harpoceras serpentinum (Fig. 3), which shows evidence of shell breakage and subsequent healing: a pathology known as forma substructa, caused by withdrawal of the mantle to the point of injury causing a mismatch in the ribbing pattern (Hengsbach 1996). A specimen of Porpoceras vorticellus (PCR118) has an area of bulbous, malformed shell (Fig. 4), a
Maddra Figure 3: PCR160, Harpoceras serpentinum, Maddra Figure 4: PCR118, Porpoceras vorticellus, showing forma substructa (arrow indicates point of showing forma inflata (arrow indicates area of damage). Scale bar in cm. malformed shell). Scale bar in cm.
https://yorksgeolsoc.org.uk YGS 2020 19 PATHOLOGICAL AMMONITES IN THE PETER ROBINSON COLLECTION Richard Maddra, email: [email protected] pathology known as forma inflata, thought to be caused by parasitism in life (Hengsbach 1996). Although only one specimen (PCR182) showed the characteristic damage indicating predation, the identification of it and the two pathological specimens shows the value of studying museum collections.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Thanks are due to Dr Paula Gentil, Hull Museums, for facilitating access to the Peter Robinson collection.
REFERENCES Andrew, C., Howe, P., Paul, C.R.C & Donovan, S.K. 2010. Fatally bitten ammonites from the lower Lias Group (Lower Jurassic) of Lyme Regis, Dorset. Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society, 58, 81–94. Hengsbach, R. 1996. Ammonoid pathology. In Landman, N.H., Tanabe, K. & Davis, R.A. (eds): Ammonoid Paleobiology, 581–605. Plenum Press, New York. Howarth, M.K., 1992. The Ammonite Family Hildoceratidae in the Lower Jurassic of Britain. Part 2. Monograph of the Palaeontographical Society London: plates. 26–27. Klompmaker, A.A., Waljaard, N.A. & Fraaije, R.H.B. 2009. Ventral bite marks in Mesozoic ammonoids. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 280, 245–257. Maddra, R. 2015. Bitten ammonites from the Upper Lias Group (Lower Jurassic) of Saltwick Bay, Whitby, North Yorkshire, UK. Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society, 60, 153–156. Wright, J.K., Bassett-Butt, L. & Collinson, M. 2014. Fatally bitten ammonites from the Lower Calcareous Grit Formation (Upper Jurassic) of NE Yorkshire, UK. Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society, 60, 1–8.
GETTING CLOSE UP DURING LOCKDOWN Paul Hildreth
Last year I suffered the blow that leaves us with, at least temporary, dread; my trusty PC had died and I feared the worst. Were all of my digitised images (which we used to call photographs) lost? Had I backed up important files and records? In something of a panic I contacted my reliable mobile saviour, ‘PC Doc’, who, after only a few minutes, confirmed my diagnosis that the computer was no more. Yet he remained relaxed and informed me that he could test the hard drive to see if it was still functioning. Ten minutes and a cup of coffee later we were both smiling, the hard drive was intact and for a few pounds I was informed that I could buy a gadget called an enclosure which would house my old hard drive and attach to my next purchase as an external storage device.
20 https://yorksgeolsoc.org.uk YGS 2020 GETTING CLOSE UP DURING LOCKDOWN Paul Hildreth
Fig. 1 Fig. 4
Fig. 2 Fig. 1. Echinoid spine boss, Flamborough Chalk, Danes Dyke. Fig. 2. Inexpensive PC or Laptop microscope. Fig. 3. Marsupites plate from Flamborough Chalk, Sewerby. Fig. 4. Microchlamys sp. on sponge from Flamborough Chalk. (All images (c) Paul Hildreth)
A few days later PC Doc was installing my new desktop computer and during the procedure he noticed my binocular microscope. He asked if I used it regularly and during the short conversation that followed he told me of a USB microscope that would plug into my PC and bring up images on my computer screen which, if thought worthwhile, could be captured (= photographed) and saved. As soon as he was gone I was logged into Ebay and ordering one of these gadgets, and at under £25 it has proved to be good value especially during the ‘lockdown’. My model (Fig. 1) is simple but with a good range of Fig. 3 magnification and its own light source. Videos as well as still images can also be captured. Far better ones are available and could appear on my next Birthday and/or Christmas lists. So far I have spent a few hours taking a look at some specimens from my personal collection of chalk fossils, particularly sponges and crinoids from the Flamborough Chalk Formation. It was during an examination of a specimen of the sponge Pachinium https://yorksgeolsoc.org.uk YGS 2020 21 GETTING CLOSE UP DURING LOCKDOWN Paul Hildreth
Fig. 5
Fig. 8
Fig. 6 Fig. 5. Serpulid worm tube on sponge from Flamborough Chalk. Fig.6. Simbirskites sp. from the Speeton Clay. Scale bar in cm. Fig.7. Detail from oral surface of modern sand-sifting starfish showing mouth angle plates. Fig.8. Parasimilia sp. from loose block of Flamborough Chalk, South Landing, Flamborough. (All images (c) Paul Hildreth)
scriptum that I made an interesting discovery. One side of the specimen, a rougher and more ‘reddened’ surface, showed evidence of accretion by other organisms. The microscope allowed me to look at and Fig. 7 photograph on it a tiny bivalve (Fig. 2), Microchlamys sp. and a serpulid worm tube (Fig. 3). My conclusion is that these attached themselves to a sponge lying on the seabed post mortem. The underside is free of such attachments and is less ‘altered’. It helps to provide a picture of the marine environment at the time of the Flamborough Sponge Bed. Some other images (Figs. 4-8) are shown to demonstrate the value of this easy-to-install and user- friendly gadget. One of the most pleasing is the tiny coral (Fig. 8) found in a boulder of Flamborough Chalk at South Landing which I have tentatively attributed to Parasimilia sp.
22 https://yorksgeolsoc.org.uk YGS 2020 BOOK REVIEW AN EXCURSION GUIDE TO THE GEOMORPHOLOGY OF THE HOWGILL FELLS BY ADRIAN HARVEY Michael Roberts
Publisher: Dunedin Academic Press; Illustrated edition 2017, Paperback, 128 pages £14.99. (ISBN-10: 1780460708; ISBN-13: 978-1780460703)
With no roads or even significant tracks across them in either direction the Howgill Fells must be the most isolated and least visited area of any part of the Pennines. However, the recent addition of the Howgills to the Yorkshire Dales National Park, linking this to the Lake District National Park, is bound to increase interest in this remarkable though little known area of Northern England. Apart from Ordovician in the Rawthey Valley and the Dent Fault, the Howgill Fells are not a magnet for geology fieldtrips. They could be described as a series of parallel whalebacks with few outcrops and draped with post-glacial soliflucted sludge which occasionally overlies glacial till! Rock exposures are rare. This guidebook to the recent geomorphology by Andrew Harvey, Emeritus Professor of Geomorphology at Liverpool, could very well make you change your mind. The focus of this excursion guide is on the post-glacial geomorphology of the Howgills, as before that a static ice sheet could not do much geomorphology! They have neither the more dramatic geomorphology of the Lakes or the Dales, but geomorphology they have, and Harvey brings it to life. The book is in two parts. Part one deals with the general geomorphology and part two on the excursions. The introduction is a general overview with a brief summary of the geology, and a mention of glaciation which is limited to the cwm above Cautley Spout and probable cwms west of the M6 south of Tebay. That much will be familiar to most geologists. The next two chapters are on what has happened and is happening since the glaciers retreated. When I say “what is happening” I mean that as Harvey has been visiting the Howgills for half a century, we are introduced to changes he observed almost year by year. I found this fascinating and enlightening. Chap 2, Holocene Landform Evolution deals with the sequence of events during the last 10,000 years. This began with the thawing of permafrost which resulted in slope instability and the solifluction of reworked glacial till or head, which in turn resulted in the fells being draped with reworked till. Much later were waves of hillslope gullying, which give the Howgills their characteristic aspect today. There was a major wave in the 10th century when Norsemen were rearing sheep. This slowed a century later due to William’s Harrying of the North, with a resurgence then a respite during the Black Death. This was a fascinating tying in of geomorphology to human history. Reflecting on this in the field should lead to good questions on the effect of us humans on the environment. Less historically, but more geomorphologically, he deals with gully structures and alluvial fans. A section on vegetation describes how, from https://yorksgeolsoc.org.uk YGS 2020 23 BOOK REVIEW AN EXCURSION GUIDE TO THE GEOMORPHOLOGY OF THE HOWGILL FELLS BY ADRIAN HARVEY Michael Roberts pollen data, the fells were wooded or partially wooded before the Roman invasion. Gully formation was favoured by extreme wet conditions and human activity, especially sheep rearing. Chap 3 The modern Geomorphic System deals with the more recent erosional activities. Here Harvey uses his nearly half a century of field work in the Howgills to great effect. All the active gullies are identified and some given special attention, often giving a sequence of events, with photos, of the last 50 years. Carlingill and Grains Gill’s Gullies get pride of place. As well as that he describes the extreme events of July 1982 and December 2015. Both events reactivated gully erosion, affected the rivers and changed gully to channel coupling effects. The maps and photos make the events very clear. Part Two is on the field sites. First is a reconnaissance road trip round the Howgills to bring out the salient features. It is the only trip which can be carried out by car. The route of some 40 to 50 points gives a fine overview and locates the stopping places. Venturing safely into the interior calls for good map reading, aided by Harvey’s frequent National Grid References supplemented by GPS coordinates. Secondly, the main part is a series of lengthy trips into the heart of the Howgills along various valleys. To the west are Grain’s Gill and Carlingill. To the north are Langdale, Bowderdale and Weasdale and to the south Cautley, the Gills above Sedbergh and Chapel Beck. I followed the routes on Carlingill, Bowderdale and Cautley. Harvey’s routes are detailed and easy to follow, but involve crossing rivers without bridges and the top of Carlingill by the Spout is serious. They are not for the faint-hearted but are magnificent routes in remote areas. Carlingill is the highlight of all the excursions and is on tough terrain. I confess I went right up to the spout in Carlingill and had a challenge to get there.
Carlingill Spout and alluvial fan at Blakethwaite from Greencomb Gully and the fan from the 1982 flood. Knowles. The gorge below the spout is difficult to escape from by climbing with a choice of rock or very steep grass!
24 https://yorksgeolsoc.org.uk YGS 2020 BOOK REVIEW AN EXCURSION GUIDE TO THE GEOMORPHOLOGY OF THE HOWGILL FELLS BY ADRIAN HARVEY Michael Roberts
Top left: Hazel Gill with the more vegetated fan for the 1982 flood.
Top right: View from the bridge of the River Rawthey of the Cautley glacial cwm; Cautley Spout is to the right.
Left: View from top of Cautley Crags looking down Bowderdale. The steep line of trees shows the route of the Cautley Holme Beck.
Harvey’s description of the gullies, alluvial fans etc in each of these routes is very clear and informative. The route up Bowderdale is easier – if you can keep your feet dry – but the various gullies and fans are expounded in clarity and detail. The route to Cautley Spout and beyond is one of my favourite hillwalks, where I once saw a Brocken spectre. Harvey gives safety warnings!! The river capture at the col to Bowderdale is explained. It is an open question whether the cirque at Cautley Crags is due to the Loch Lomond advance or is earlier. Whether or not you stop at the foot of the Spout, you are treated to a range of geomorphology from glacial cirques to later solifluction. This is a gem of a place which can be tailored to the group’s ability and agility. By stopping near the foot of the Spout enables one to see most of the salient features of Howgill’s geomorphology in one visit. Much more can be seen if one continues to the top of Cautley Crags. The best two excursions are to Carlingmill and Cautley, and Harvey succeeds in making the geomorphology come alive. This excursion guide has distilled half a century of field work in the Howgills and has made it accessible for those, like me, with an indifferent grasp of Holocene geomorphology. The maps, photos and descriptions are very clear and make you ask with Thomas Huxley, “why didn’t I think of that?” This guide is a model of what a geo-excursion guide ought to be. https://yorksgeolsoc.org.uk YGS 2020 25 CORRESPONDING SOCIETIES Please contact the society representatives and/or websites shown for the latest information, and if you would like to attend a particular meeting as a guest
CRAVEN & PENDLE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY http://cpgs.org.uk Venue for indoor meetings: St. Joseph’s Community Centre, Bolland Street, Barnoldswick BB18 5EZ at 7.30pm. CUMBERLAND GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY http://www.cumberland-geol-soc.org.uk (Contact form on the website) EAST MIDLANDS GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY [email protected] http://www.emgs.org.uk Usual meeting place: School of Geography, Nottingham University. EDINBURGH GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY [email protected] http://www.edinburghgeolsoc.org/ Lectures are held in the Grant Institute of the University of Edinburgh, West Mains Road, Edinburgh, at 7:30pm, except where stated otherwise. GEOLOGISTS’ ASSOCIATION http://geologistsassociation.org.uk HUDDERSFIELD GEOLOGY GROUP http://www.huddersfieldgeology.org.uk/ Indoor Meetings at Greenhead College, Huddersfield, at 7.15pm unless otherwise stated. HULL GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY http://www.hullgeolsoc.co.uk/org Usual meeting place for indoor lectures: Department of Geography, University of Hull, at 7.30 pm. N.B. for security reasons the door is locked at 7.40pm. LEEDS GEOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION [email protected] http://www.leedsga.org.uk/ Usual meeting place for indoor lectures: Rupert Beckett Lecture Theatre (Michael Sadler Building) Leeds University at 7.15pm) LEICESTER LITERARY & PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY – SECTION C GEOLOGY http://www.charnia.org.uk/ Usual meeting place for indoor lectures (unless otherwise stated): Lecture Theatre 3, Ken Edwards Building, University of Leicester, Thursdays at 7.30pm, refreshments from 7.00pm. MANCHESTER GEOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION [email protected] http://www.mangeolassoc.org.uk Usual meeting place for indoor lectures: Williamson Building, Department of Geology, University of Manchester MID-WEEK GEOLOGY GROUP IN YORKSHIRE http://www.mwggyorkshire.org.uk Email: [email protected] Informal mainly amateur and retired group that organises monthly field meetings or museum visits on Tuesdays, Wednesdays or Thursdays. NORTH EASTERN GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY http://www.negs.org.uk Lectures are at 7.30pm in the Arthur Holmes Lecture Room, Science Laboratories Site, University of Durham.
26 https://yorksgeolsoc.org.uk YGS 2020 CORRESPONDING SOCIETIES Please contact the society representatives and/or websites shown for the latest information, and if you would like to attend a particular meeting as a guest
NORTH STAFFORDSHIRE GROUP OF THE GEOLOGISTS ASSOCATION http://www.esci.keele.ac.uk/nsgga/ Usual meeting place for indoor meetings: William Smith Building, University of Keele at 7.30pm. ROTUNDA GEOLOGY GROUP (SCARBOROUGH) http://www.rotundageologygroup.org/ The Education Room, Woodend, The Crescent, Scarborough YO11 2PW. WESTMORLAND GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY [email protected] http://westmorlandgeolsoc.co.uk/ Meetings are on Wednesdays and start at 8 pm (unless otherwise stated) and are held in the Abbot Hall Social Centre, Kendal. YORKSHIRE PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY GEOLOGY GROUP https://www.ypsyork.org/groups/geology-group/ YORKSHIRE REGIONAL GROUP OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON http://www.geolsoc.org.uk/yrg Secretary: Mark Lee [email protected] Usual meeting place: The Adelphi Hotel, Leeds, 6pm for 6.30pm.
NEXT YGS CIRCULAR 631 – NOVEMBER TO DECEMBER 2020: DEADLINE: 27th OCTOBER 2020
Please send all copy including your texts, illustrations and ideas for short articles, plus updates on Corresponding Society programmes, to the Circular Editor, Patrick Boylan: email: [email protected] or by post to: 2a Compass Road, Leicester LE5 2HF.
KEY YORKSHIRE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY CONTACTS http://www.yorksgeolsoc.org.uk
Paul Hildreth, President: [email protected] Andy Howard, General Secretary: [email protected] David Blythe, Membership Secretary: [email protected] John Holt, Treasurer: [email protected] Patrick Boylan, Circular Editor: [email protected] Rick Saville, Web Editor: [email protected] https://yorksgeolsoc.org.uk YGS 2020 27 VIRTUAL GEOLOGY SEPTEMBER TO NOVEMBER 2020 VERY IMPORTANT – COVID-19 EMERGENCY: PLEASE KEEP CHECKING THE YGS WEBSITE FOR THE LATEST PROGRAMME AND OTHER INFORMATION
Please Note: Articles and abstracts published in the YGS Circular reflect the views and opinions of the individuals writing those parts of the Circular and do not necessarily represent the views of Council or of the Society as a whole.
Hazel Gill with the more vegetated fan for the 1982 flood. (Michael Roberts).
Front cover: Screenshot of Chalk cliff view and section at Sewerby – from Part 4 of Paul Hildreth’s Virtual Field Trip: The Geology of Flamborough Head in Four Parts.