The Open University Geological Society Wessex Branch Newsletter

Website http://ougs.org/wessex December 2012

WESSEX BRANCH REPORT 2012 2012 has been a good year for Wessex OUGS - increasing membership and well attended events. We started the year as usual in January with our AGM and Lecture Day in Wool near Wareham in CONTENTS Dorset with a record attendance of 79. The theme Branch Organiser’s Letter Page 1 was volcanics with lectures by Dave McGarvie, Alan Vallis Vale, 12 February 2012 Pages 2-3 Holiday and Mike Widdowson. Wessex OUGS covers Minerals guide no. 2 - Chalcopyrite Page 4 Dorset, South Wiltshire and Hampshire with some of us just over the border in Somerset, Devon and West , Day 2, 12 June 2010 Pages 4-7 Sussex so it is excellent that so many of you are able Wessex Branch committee Page 7 to get together to attend events. Kimmeridge Museum lottery success Page 8 Jeremy Cranmer produced a good and varied Hidden Treasures of Horseshoe Canyon Page 8 programme of day trips as well as being custodian of Notice of AGM, 26 January 2013 Page 9 our library books and maps, which you can order David Batty, Sandy Tolmay Page 9 from the website. Colin Morley and Rhiannon Rogers continued to work efficiently as our web-manager Subscription renewal reminder Page 9 and treasurer respectively. Hilary Barton took over Other organisations’ events Page 10 as Footnotes editor and has produced 5 really Forthcoming Wessex Branch events Page 11 interesting copies this year. Thanks to all of you contributing reports and sending her useful OUGS events listing Page 12 information. Colin and Linda Morley continue to take which is world famous [see page 8 for latest news. groups to explore the geology of Arizona including the Basin and Range area of Arizona in March as well Ed.]. Dr Ian West showed us coastal defence and as Colorado Plateau and Grand Canyon in November. processes at Hurst Spit and Hurst Castle at the Mark Barrett, our weekend trips organiser, arranged entrance to the Solent. We had real hands-on geology a whole week studying the Assynt this May staying at at Poxwell near Weymouth when we helped to clear Inchnadamph in the NW Highlands with leader John away undergrowth and the path to Poxwell Quarry, a Mendum ex BGS. It was fantastic, I know so much RIGS site, and then walked around the pericline. At more now about hard rocks and mountain building. I the end of September Prof Chris Wilson explained the was sorry to miss the winter weekend in Oxford Corallian from Osmington Mills to Ringstead Bay. Natural History in November with lectures by several The second introductory day to Worbarrow in PhD students on a fossil theme. Thanks to Mark for November with George Raggett showed the dipping organising these longer events. Mark is arranging Portland Jurassic Portland beds and Cretaceous weekends in South Devon and Shropshire in 2013 Purbeck plus the, Wealden, Greensand and Chalk and there is a suggestion of Northumberland and with many fossils and geological structures. Our maybe Southern Uplands in future years. final trip of the year is fossilling with Sam Scriven at Charmouth near Lyme Regis on 16th December. We held an introductory day in February at Vallis Vale in the Mendip Hills with Alan Holiday. This will Many thanks to all the committee for being so supportive to me and to the branch. Our theme for be run again for new and “old” students alike. The th De La Beche angular unconformity between the lectures on 26 January 2013 is Geology’s Role in Jurassic and Carboniferous really shows what Sustainable Energy at the D’Urberville Centre, Wool geology is all about. In March we were fascinated by so I hope to see most of you there. We look forward Prof Rory Mortimore at the Winchester Anticline, St to what promises to be another interesting year in Catherine’s Hill overlooking the M3 Twyford Down 2013. cutting. In May we combined human habitation and Sheila Alderman, Branch Organiser Wessex archaeology with geology at the Uffington White November 2012 Horse and Wayland Smithy with Dr Jill Eyers on the Ridgway in Oxfordshire. In June, Steve Etches took xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx us around Kimmeridge Bay and showed us his Tel. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (evenings only) amazing collection of fossils from the Kimmeridgian E-mail: [email protected] Wessex Footnotes December 2012 Page 1 WESSEX OUGS FIELD TRIP TO VALLIS VALE AND TEDBURY CAMP, SOMERSET Introduction to Geology II, 12 February 2012 Leader – Alan Holiday Report by Carolyn Dent On a cold frosty Sunday morning a group of us, led Another trip next year by Alan Holiday, set out to visit localities in the Vallis This trip, again led by Alan Holiday, will be Vale. The Carboniferous Limestone was formed repeated on 24 February 2013. It is some 350 ma ago before being folded and uplifted particularly suitable for OUGS students of during closure of the Rheic Ocean and associated S104, S276, etc but all are welcome. For Variscan Orogeny around 300 ma. Then the Triassic more information see page 11 of this newsletter. breccia was deposited 210ish ma, White Lias around

205 ma and the Inferior Oolite around 175 ma. This field trip was the second of two designed to complement learning on the OU S276 geology course, and the group was a diverse mix of students, ex-students, partners, and those who had come along to share their expertise. [Susan Graham’s report on the Part I trip to Worbarrow Bay on 26 November 2011 was published in the July 2012 edition of Footnotes. Ed] The first locality visited was along a rutted road marred by fly-tipping, behind which a low cliff gave us a taster of what was to come. There are three groups of rocks and two unconformities in this cliff. Layers of Carboniferous Limestone dipped towards us, above which the main angular unconformity, overlain by beds of the White Lias, was clearly visible. A parallel unconformity above the White Lias, overlain by beds of Inferior Oolite, was much less obvious to the casual observer. After walking through an industrial estate and squeezing along a wire fence past further evidence of fly-tipping we emerged in a pretty wooded river valley, the geology of which was to keep us Carboniferous limestone dipping enthralled for the rest of the day. As we followed Photo by Carolyn Dent the path of this river we passed several disused lime kilns, evidence of past exploitation of locally quarried limestone. Coal for the kilns was sourced from the nearby Somerset Coalfields at Radstock. Limestone is still being quarried from this area today. Large pieces of bright red Triassic breccia are visible by the path, a poorly sorted breccia containing a variety of sizes of angular clasts of limestone suspended in a red silty carbonate-rich matrix. This immature breccia was likely deposited during flash floods, and the red coloration is due to highly oxidised iron

as FeO3, an indicator of an Poorly sorted red Triassic breccia oxygen-rich arid environment Photo by Carolyn Dent during deposition. The next exposure of interest was steeply dipping beds of Carboniferous Limestone. These provided an opportunity for practice with compass clinometers, with which we determined dip to be approximately 45 degrees to the north, interesting as most of us had visually estimated dip to be more like 70-80 degrees Using a compass clinometer to prior to measurement. Raised nodules of chert had proven estimate dip Photo by Carolyn Dent Wessex Footnotes December 2012 Page 2 relatively resistant to erosion compared to the limestone. Alan Holiday explained that the chert was formed where organisms had been burrowing into the limestone, where they caused locally acidic conditions in which silica is relatively insoluble and therefore precipitated out as chert. We proceeded down the path to a locality where a fault plane perpendicular to the bedding was exposed above us. Slickensides visible on the fault plane indicated the last movement on the fault to be E-W. This suggests that tectonic compression must have occurred in both E- W and N-S directions, as the dipping bedding planes form part of an anticlinal fold resulting from N-S crustal compression. If there is pressure from multiple directions during folding a plunging fold will be formed, rather than a simpler cylindrical fold when pressure is from just two directions. Examination of the geological map for this anticline shows that it dips to the east, so it is indeed a plunging fold. Fault plane above bedding planes We then scrambled up a snowy slope to reach a cave Photo by Carolyn Dent above the path, with good exposures of Lithostrotion coral fossils. Corals are good environmental indicators of shallow tropical seas during deposition, but are poor indicators of age. A short walk from this site led to Tedbury Camp, where the Inferior Oolite has been stripped from above the Carboniferous Limestone (by man), revealing the natural erosion surface of the unconformity itself. That this erosion surface was once under the sea is shown by the presence of numerous burrows of bottom living animals. These are found on the Jurassic wave-erosion surface, rather than on the limestone bedding planes, showing that they date from when erosion was occurring during the Jurassic rather than from when the rock was being laid down in the Carboniferous. An exposure at the edge of this surface facilitated viewing of the Carboniferous Limestone perpendicular to the bedding planes. The 45 degree dip can be much more accurately estimated when viewed side on than at the earlier exposure where beds were dipping towards us. Chert veins occur within the limestone bedding, along with reddish-brown clay layers formed when beds moved against each other during deformation. Our final locality for the day was the de la Beche Unconformity, a classic angular unconformity where the dipping strata of Carboniferous Limestone can be seen very clearly overlaid by horizontal beds of Inferior Oolite. This is the site where Henry de la Beche made his observations of the existence of Jurassic fossils on the eroded Carboniferous Limestone surface, showing that it must have existed as an ancient sea floor in this orientation in Jurassic times. It is a sadly neglected site considering its importance, and I hope one day to have the chance to help clear it of brambles and ivy. It is also a good place to observe the difference between the actual dip of bedding viewed perpendicular to bedding planes, as opposed to ‘apparent dip’, when rocks are de la Beche unconformity viewed where the main direction of dip is Photo by Carolyn Dent back into the rock face itself, and therefore masked. To see such a clear illustration of what we had been reading in our texts was a fitting end to a most enjoyable day. I had enjoyed lively discussions about the rocks, fossils and features we had seen, and had also taken the opportunity to get to know and talk to other students at various stages in their paths through geosciences study at the OU. I would like to give my thanks to Alan, Jeremy, Sheila, and everyone else who attended and made this such an enjoyable and valuable day. Carolyn Dent

Wessex Footnotes December 2012 Page 3 SIMPLE GUIDE TO MINERALS 2 by Colin Morley

Chalcopyrite – CuFeS2 The second mineral in this series is a copper iron sulphide. It is similar to normal iron pyrite in many ways. They both leave a green-black streak on a ceramic streak plate. But as you will notice from the chemical formula at the top, it has copper in it. Normal iron pyrite is just FeS2. This copper content gives chalcopyrite a richer golden colour. Chalcopyrite changes colour over time. When it is first exposed it has a rich brassy yellow, but it develops that iridescent sheen (like petrol in a puddle) that displays a range of ‘metallic’ colours including purple. It is relatively soft (hardness 3.5-4) and has a metallic lustre. It can easily be mistaken for Bornite (CU5FeS4) but Chalcopyrite leaves the green-black streak and Bornite leaves a grey-black streak instead. The mineral chalcopyrite often forms in connection with Chalcopyrite in Morley Collection sulphide veins from volcanic hydrothermal activity. It can Photo by Colin Morley also form during the crystallisation of magma forming a part of those commonly called ‘porphyry copper ore deposits’. Chalcopyrite is fairly common in Arizona and throughout the American southwest. It is considered an important ‘copper ore’ and is sometimes known as ‘yellow copper’. If you’re looking at the photo in black and white, just go to the website to see its rainbow colours. Ed.

WESSEX OUGS WEEKEND FIELD TRIP TO SNOWDONIA, 11 - 13 JUNE 2010 Leader - Jonathan Wilkins (Fellow of the Geological Society and founder-chairman of the North Wales Geology Association) Day 2: Saturday morning, 12 June 2010 – AND CWM IDWAL Report by Gwenda Brewer We were very fortunate to have sunny dry conditions at Cwm Idwal enabling us to see the tops of the mountains. A comparatively complete sequence of the Volcanic Group (SVG) can be seen at Cwm Idwal and its surrounding area. To see it in situ we would have had to climb up to Twll Du (Devil’s Kitchen) - a walk/scramble that tests the most ardent walker! Ordovician volcanism, during the Caradoc (455-446Ma), occurred within two stages. The Soudleyan and Longvillian over approximately 2-3 Ma. In the Ogwen Valley two cycles occurred: the lower 1st Eruptive Cycle the Llewelyn Volcanic Group (LVG); the Conway Rhyolite Formation, seen on the Friday, was the start of this cycle and was followed by a long period of mainly marine sedimentation, inner to outer shelf deposits, Cwm Eigiau Formation (CEi). The SVG is the 2nd Eruptive Cycle. It was initiated by large volumes of two erupted subaerial ash-flow tuffs known as the Pitts Head Tuff Formation (PHTF) which are thought to have entered shallow sea water. The tuff was emplaced without substantial mixing, disruption or general cooling. The lowest of the PHTF lying at the base of the SVG volcanism is seen at Cwm Idwal. This rests conformably on the CEi, having an overall fine-grained structureless sandstone interlayered with siltstones and thin muds. Our first site was south east of Ogwen Cottage at what appeared to be a narrow gully. Jonathan, our leader, explained it was the remains of a quarry having been worked along a fault plane to produce hones for sharpening tools. A closer look at the lithology Quarry south-east of Ogwen Cottage revealed a coarse to medium grained volcaniclastic cross-bedded Note near vertical orientation of bedding sandstone with siltstones and fine-grained silicious tuffs. Possibly Photo by Lyn Relph from erupted distal air-fall and water-settled vitric dust from the Wessex Footnotes December 2012 Page 4 acidic PHTF. Chlorite and mica together with almost perpendicular cleavage in the slate and sandstones indicated the strata had been subjected to later metamorphism. Taking the designated path we walked towards the west side of Idwal Lake and PITTS HEAD TUFF FORMATION - LITHOLOGIES stopped at a sandstone knoll to look down the classic glacial valley profile of Nant Ffrancon. The smooth rounderface and sparse parallel striations on the knoll indicated it had been shaped during glaciation - a roche moutonnée. Further glacial features, the cwm with Idwal Lake, moraine deposits and col Twll Du between the peaks Y Garn and were noted. The striations on the knoll were directed towards Nant Ffrancon Welded tuff (fiamme) in Incomplete filling of cavity suggesting a tributary glacier joining pyroclastic ash-flow. from original deposition the main glacier that formed the U- Photo by Gwenda Brewer thought to be the result of shaped Nant Ffrancon. In this area upward streaming volatiles were found deposits of the PHTF with later infilled with silica. differing lithologies. Photo by Lyn Relph

Lower Rhylolitic Tuff Formation (LRTF); Bedded Pyroclastic Formation (BPF); Upper Rhyolitic Tuff Formation (URTF) are some of the later SVG found at Cwm Idwal. During the Caradoc the SVG developed within an extensional back-arc setting. After volcanism ceased and the Avalonia, Baltic and Laurentia plates collided, the Caledonian Orogeny was Siliceous segregation along initiated. Mid to late-Silurian there was welding foliation. Shards local deformation and uplift. Early to more resistant than the Siliceous nodules, thought to mid-Devonian the Welsh Basin was matrix, which is being have developed during inverted. Subsequent folding was weathered out. compactional welding. comparatively simple with low grade Photo by Lyn Relph Photo by Gwenda Brewer metamorphism. Later erosion and glaciation of some of the uplifted areas left resilient strata as peaks with the less competent being eroded. Numerous cwms and peaks are to be seen along the western side of the Nant Ffrancon Valley. Gwenda Brewer References Howells, M. F., Reedman, A.J. and Campbell S.D.G. Ordovicion (Caradoc) Marginal Basin Volcanism in Snowdonia (North-West Wales) London: HMSO 1991 Howells, M. F. British Regional Geology; Wales: BGS 2007

Day 2: Saturday afternoon, 12 June 2010 – CWM IDWAL AND NANT FFRANCON Report by Alan Holiday At our lunch stop on Saturday sitting on the west side of Llyn Idwal at G.R. SH643595 we had an excellent view of the lake and the surrounding glacial deposits. The lake is dammed by a ridge (rock step and debris dam of glacial till and large boulders). In front of us on either side of the narrow part of Llyn Idwal was a hummocky landscape of moraine which I confused with drumlins. Jonathan Wilkins, our leader, said they are deposits of till that have been bulldozed into ridges by the advance of a glacier that developed in Cwm Cneifion (the Nameless Cwm) high above and to the S.E. of Cwm Idwal during the Younger Dryas cold period (11,000-10,000 BP). Their shape became more obvious later in the afternoon when we were to the south of Llyn Idwal and the ridge-like form became clear rather than an elongated dome of a drumlin.

Wessex Footnotes December 2012 Page 5 Dotted around the landscape we saw large blocks of Lower Rhyolitic Tuff, material from the cwm side probably transported down slope by rock falls or rock slides. A number of debris cones are apparent, including one to the west of Idwal Slabs. Loose material from freeze thaw action would have cascaded down forming a fan at the base of the slope, which is now largely vegetated. At the southern end of Llyn Idwal we studied a peaty pool developed at the base of the rock fall. Around the pool were bog plants such as butterwort and sundew. Significant amounts of wood can be seen exposed by the erosion of the peat. The wood provides evidence of a warmer period about 5000 BP when trees would have grown widely in this now largely treeless area (not helped by grazing!). While looking at the peat deposits a large block of Lower Rhyolite Tuff was studied as it appeared to Possible trace fossil show evidence of trace fossil trails running across a bedding plane. Photo by Alan Holiday

Looking up the back wall of Cwm Idwal clear evidence of the synclinal fold developed in basalt (younger) and various tuff deposits (older) with the axis running NE/SW (Caledonian trend) and plunge to the SW can be seen. Another feature clearly Cwm Idwal syncline with rock falls seen are the vertical joints on Twll Du (Devil’s Kitchen) centre skyline the bedding plane surfaces Idwal Slabs eastern limb of Idwal formed during glaciation. Back wall of Syncline Acidic ash-flow tuffs of Lower Cwm Idwal exposes Lower Rhyolitic Tuff around Idwal Slabs, part of a Rhyolitic Tuff Formation. below the Bedded Pyroclasts (basaltic). regional pattern. Photo by Gwenda Brewer Photo by Lyn Relph

Walking along, a variety of interesting rock types can be seen in loose blocks/fragments, one of which was identified as crystal tuff, fine grained volcanic material with mm size white phenocrysts of feldspar. It is difficult to determine where the rock material came from as there is abundant evidence of rock falls including material that had been derived from Cwm Cneifion by ice transport or mass-movement. Later our walk brought us to some more large blocks close to where the stream exits from Llyn Idwal. This is thought to be the location where Charles Darwin stood and appreciated the likely glacial origin of the landscape and hence its importance in the history of geology. As a young man Darwin had gone to Edinburgh University to study medicine where he and some of his contemporaries collected material from the shores of the Firth of Forth. Darwin didn’t take to medicine and he transferred to Cambridge to study theology. While there he met Adam Sedgwick and John Henslow (who had previously written A synthesis on the Geology of Anglesey published in 1822 – Transactions of the Cambridge Philosophical Society). Darwin visited north Wales with Adam Sedgwick who was looking for the boundary of the Silurian and Old Red Sandstone. They visited Llyn Idwal looking for Ordovician fossils (probably unsuccessfully given the lithology of predominantly igneous rocks!). Darwin walked from Idwal to Barmouth where he received a letter from Henslow to join the Beagle expedition. Darwin saw currently functioning glaciers in South America so he could appreciate what a glacial landscape looks like. Subsequently Louis Agassiz visited North Wales and described the glacial landscape based on his knowledge from the Alps. In 1842 Darwin returned to the area and reappraised the landscape as being of glacial origin. The blocks where Darwin surveyed the landscape are erratics transport by the Idwal glacier. The broken nature of the blocks could be due to falling from height as the ice melted. Darwin’s visit in 1842 was his last field Darwin’s Rocks Photo by Lyn Relph trip due to failing health.

Wessex Footnotes December 2012 Page 6 We returned to Ogwen Cottage for a well-deserved ice lolly or cup of tea in my case. Down valley from the buildings are exposures of rhyolite associated with the Pitts Head tuff, the oldest rocks in the immediate area. It is a massive rock with a sub-vitreous splintery appearance and feldspar phenocrysts. There are cavities in the rock which are probably the result of hydrothermal activity and these have later been partially filled with quartz. Looking down the Nant Ffrancon valley there are debris fans at the exits of the cwms on the south west side of the valley. These would have had small glaciers in the Younger Dryas, being on the more shaded side of the valley. Subsequently freeze thaw would have resulted in debris chutes down the valley side. On the north side of the road there is a small exposure of siltstone and sandstone with brachiopods. There are very large numbers of moulds of the fossils which are disarticulated and clearly show the bedding which is dipping at around 20o to the S.E. The cleavage is also apparent with a dip of around 80o to the SW. The brachiopods are likely to have been killed by an influx of volcanic debris or may have been transported in by such an event. Conditions for some of time must have been quite favourable for such large numbers of mature brachiopods to have lived. The fossils also show evidence of compression in a face parallel to the pressure which has created the Compressed brachiopods in cleavage and gives an idea of shortening due to the regional stress. Cwm Eigiau Formation Photo by Alan Holiday

We then travelled down the SW side of the Nant Ffrancon valley to around GR SH 635639 where we could see Cwm Graianog with large ripple marks developed on a steeply dipping bedding plane developed in Cambrian sediments (a site called Atlantic Rocks). Down valley we could see the waste tips associated with the Penrhyn Slate Quarry at Bethesda. In the middle of the valley there is an excellent roche moutonnée with a smooth up-flow side and ice plucked down flow side. In the nearby dried up stream bed there was abundant slate some with pyrite, the result of anaerobic conditions when the rock was formed. Locally so much pyrite is developed that, in historical times, a pyrite mine was established with the mineral being used for the Roche moutonnée Photo by Lyn Relph manufacture of sulphuric acid. On the NE side of the valley above the main road is a large mass of loose rock material which has been identified as formed by frost-shattered debris accumulating on a snow bank on the valley side. Texts suggest that these are less than 10m in height and the one observed was very much larger than this. Perhaps the pro-talus rampart could be a landslip. There is a marked change in landscape down valley where the rocky Ordovician rock slopes give way to the well vegetated Cambrian rock slopes. Alan Holiday The report on the first day of the Snowdonia weekend appeared in the October 2012 edition of Footnotes. Ed.

WESSEX BRANCH COMMITTEE New look Branch Organiser Sheila Alderman [email protected] Treasurer Rhiannon Rogers [email protected] for the official Day Trip Organiser Jeremy Cranmer [email protected] Jurassic Coast website Newsletter Editor Hilary Barton [email protected] Weekend Trips Mark Barrett [email protected] http://jurassiccoast.org/ Website Manager Colin Morley [email protected] Note the new address and Librarian Jeremy Cranmer [email protected] have a look round the Ordinary members: new material. Gwenda Brewer, Lawrie Bubb, Mike Grover, Ian Hacker, Linda Morley

Wessex Footnotes December 2012 Page 7

LOTTERY GRANT FOR KIMMERIDGE MUSEUM Many congratulations to all at the Kimmeridge Trust on gaining a first-round pass from the Heritage Lottery Fund for the development of a museum at Kimmeridge to house Steve Etches’ fossil collection. Steve is a long-standing member of Wessex Branch and those who have visited his collection will know how fantastic it is. The Lottery grant of £300k means that the project now has up to two years to submit fully developed proposals to compete for a firm award of £2.5m. For more information, see http://www.kimmeridgeproject.org/.

THE HIDDEN TREASURES OF HORSESHOE CANYON

Report and photos by Colin Morley Horseshoe Canyon is located just to the west of Drumheller in Alberta, Canada. It used to be located on the western side of the ‘Bearpaw Sea’, which you may know better as the Great Cretaceous Seaway (fig 1). The shallow inland sea lasted for about 35 million years – long enough to leave us with some lovely fossils. The climate at Horseshoe Canyon was subtropical; the sea water temperature was 15-25 °C and it had a lush shoreline forest. Horseshoe Canyon boasted a wide variety of giant trees, flowering plants, mammals, birds and dinosaurs. Known, unsurprisingly as the ‘Horseshoe Canyon Formation’, the exposures consist of a mixture which tells the story of shoreline, rivers and riverbanks, and marine transgressions. The layers (seen in fig 2) are made up of silts, sandstones, mudstones, shales, thin Fig 1 North America during the Cretaceous coal seams, white muds, volcanic ash, ironstone nodules and silty- sandstone. Hidden within these layers are the treasures. There are clam beds, dinosaur bones and teeth from Hadrosaur and Tyrannosaurids (including Albertosaurous), turtle fossils, amber as well as fossil leaves in the sandstone. Bentonite clays, which formed from volcanic ash from the activity to the west, make up a significant part of the formation. The erosion rate is fairly high at about half an inch per year. The river that runs through the canyon shifts about two million tonnes of sediment per year. The fossils can deteriorate quickly once exposed. The Royal Tyrell museum has been established nearby Fig 2 Horseshoe Canyon Formation to conduct timely research. While at Horseshoe Canyon I met a couple called Steve and Sharon Wolchina who were very knowledgeable and enthusiastic about the fossils of the area and were very generous and willing to share that knowledge. It turns out that they run a business that supplies fossils and replicas to museums as well as private individuals (www. dinoclaw.com). They had made many specimen donations to the Royal Tyrell Museum. My thanks to them both for a lot of local information. The fossils found in this area are of fantastic quality (fig 3) and over 20 different dinosaur species have been found in this area. In fact the area is so rich that an area just to the southeast from here was created as a Provincial Park and declared a world Fig 3 One of the many Ornithiscia that developed amazing heritage site in 1980. ‘neck frills’ in the late Cretaceous Colin Morley Wessex Footnotes December 2012 Page 8 WESSEX OUGS AGM and DAY OF LECTURES GEOLOGY’S ROLE IN SUSTAINABLE ENERGY 10.15am to 4.00pm, Saturday 26th January 2013

Please note that the correct date is Saturday 26 January 2012, not 24 January as given on page 9 of the October edition of Footnotes.

DIRECTIONS COST D’Urberville Centre, Colliers Lane, Wool, Dorset AGM Free Postcode: BH20 6DL. Map ref: SY 843 865. Lectures £8 (incl. free lunch) Five minutes’ walk from the railway station in Wool. Non-members welcome, but please don’t vote Train times at: http://www.southwesttrains.co.uk/ at the AGM!

PROGRAMME WESSEX OUGS AGM AGENDA 10.30 - 11.30am Dr James Pyrah 1. Apologies for absence Carbon Recapture 2. Minutes of last meeting 3. Matters arising 11.45am–12.45pm Prof. Roger Falconer or Dr Reza 4. Agenda items received Ahmadian Tide Energy and the 5. Officers' reports: Severn Barrage  Branch Organiser (Sheila Alderman) 12.45 – 1.45pm Buffet lunch (free, courtesy of  Treasurer (Rhiannon Rogers) Wessex Committee and members)  Day Trips & Library (Jeremy Cranmer)  Newsletter (Hilary Barton) 1.45 – 2.30pm OUGS Wessex Branch AGM  Website (Colin Morley) (agenda at right)  Residential Trips (Mark Barrett) 2.45 – 4pm Prof. Rory Mortimore The committee will then stand down for: The role of geology in siting off- 6. Election of officers shore wind farms 7. Any other business Please contact Sheila Alderman if you plan to attend, also if you have a collection or display you would like to exhibit. E-mail [email protected] or tel. xxxxxxxxxxxx (evenings only).

DAVID BATTY SANDY TOLMAY We are sorry to let you know that two of our members, David Batty and Sandy Tolmay, passed away recently. Our thoughts are with their friends and families at this sad time. Sheila Alderman, Branch Organiser

Message from the Membership Secretary RENEWAL REMINDER TO MEMBERS FOR 2013 If you are a continuing member renewals should be made on 1st January each year. Please note the following: 1. If you joined after 1st July 2011 your subscription is now due 1st January 2013. 2. If you were late in renewing for 2012, as I have received some late subscriptions even in September, remember that you still have to renew again 1st January 2013. 3. If you joined after 1st July 2012 you do not have to renew until 1st January 2014. Thank you. Phyllis Turkington OUGS Membership Secretary A copy of the Renewal Form will be included with the January OUGS Newsletter. Alternatively you can download it from the website http://ougs.org where a Standing Order form is also available.

Wessex Footnotes December 2012 Page 9

OTHER LOCAL EVENTS – PLEASE CONTACT THE ORGANISERS DIRECT

DORSET GEOLOGISTS’ ASSOCIATION GROUP (DGAG) LULWORTH RANGE WALKS www.dorsetgeologistsassociation.com & TYNEHAM VILLAGE 8 Dec 2012 Christmas Workshop, Broadmayne Village Hall 12 Jan 2013 AGM and lecture by Bob Chandler on Dorset Opening times 2012-2013 ammonites, d’Urberville Centre, Wool Further information tel. 01929 404819 12-15 Apr 2013 Trip to Pembrokeshire. Leader: Alan Holiday OPEN EVERY DAY OVER HOLIDAYS: 22 December 2012 – 1 January 2013 OUGS members welcome but check beforehand that spaces are available. 29 March – 7 April 2013 Contact: Doreen Smith tel. 01300 320811 or 4-6 May 2013 [email protected] 25 May – 2 June 2013 27 July – 1 September 2013 21 December 2013 – 5 January 2014

Dorset Natural History & Archaeological Society OPEN EVERY WEEKEND EXCEPT: 19-20 January 2013 GEOLOGY LECTURES AT DORSET COUNTY MUSEUM 9-10 March 2013 High West Street, Dorchester DT1 1XA 20-21 April 2013 12 Dec 2012 Bill Verkaik Ignite 15-16 June 2013 28-29 September 2013 9 Jan 2013 Prof Michael The Colour of Dinosaur 16-17 November 2013 Feathers Benton 6 Feb 2013 Dr Paul Barrett Dinosaur Biology 6 Mar 2013 Richard Edmonds Monmouth Beach 10 Apr 2013 Steve Etches Kimmeridge Clay DIGS All welcome. Lectures start at 7pm. Dorset’s Important Geological Sites Group Donation of £3 suggested to cover speakers’ expenses. Contact and more details from Alan Holiday: Further information: tel. 01305 262735. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx http://www.dorsetcountymuseum.org/events Website at: http://www.dorsetrigs.org.uk

15 Jan 2013 7pm AGM at DWT HQ at Forston

BOURNEMOUTH NATURAL SCIENCE SOCIETY 39 Christchurch Road, Bournemouth BH1 3NS http://www.bnss.org.uk RUSSELL SOCIETY, SOUTHERN BRANCH The Society covers all the branches of natural science, http://www.russellsoc.org/sbranch.html including geology and palaeontology. It has an extensive, Gary Morse: [email protected], tel. xxxxxxxxxxxx. and very impressive, collection of fossils, rocks and For anyone interested in minerals, the Branch runs summer field minerals which can be viewed by appointment and also trips plus winter lecture meetings on the second Thursday of the has a full programme of lectures, study groups and field month at Wyvern Technical College, Fair Oak, Eastleigh, Hants. meetings. For further details, see the Society’s 13 Dec 2012 “Collecting in Devon”, David Aubrey Jones website. If you would like to attend a lecture or meeting, 10 Jan 2013 AGM and photographic competition tel. 01202 553525 or e-mail [email protected] 14 Feb 2013 “The mineral adventure of a lifetime - Morocco”, Liam Schofield SOUTHAMPTON MINERAL & FOSSIL SOCIETY http://www.sotonminfoss.org.uk SOUTHAMPTON GEOLOGY GROUP Gary Morse: [email protected], tel. xxxxxxxxxxxx Meetings start 7.30pm at the National Oceanography The Society runs indoor meetings, field trips and other Centre, Dock Gate 4, Southampton SO14 3ZH activities relating to the collection of minerals and 14 Dec 2012 AGM Annual General Meeting fossils, and the sites where they are found. Monthly 18 Jan 2013 Dr David Ellis Opening of the Atlantic evening meetings are held at The Friends' Meeting 15 Feb 2013 Dr Angus Best tba House, Ordnance Road, Southampton. The full Everybody welcome. For directions, please contact: programme, and more information about the Society, Lawrie Bubb tel. xxxxxxxxxxxx or can be found on its website or from Gary Morse. Tony Holmes tel. xxxxxxxxxxxx

DORSET BUILDINGS GROUP The Group aims to promote the preservation of Dorset’s building traditions and so takes a practical interest in building stones and local geology. The winter lecture series, which starts on 25 November 2012, is held in Holt Village Hall with a talk every month on a Sunday afternoon. For the full programme, contact John Imber, xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx tel. xxxxxxxxxxxx

Wessex Footnotes December 2012 Page 10 WESSEX BRANCH FIELD TRIPS – DETAILS

Vallis Vale and Tedbury Camp, Somerset Sunday, 24 February 2013 INTRODUCTION TO GEOLOGY II with Alan Holiday To book a place, contact: Jeremy Cranmer at [email protected] or tel. xxxxxxxxxxxx. Alan Holiday has taught geography and geology in Weymouth since 1971 and most recently has been working at Weymouth College. He is now retired but spends much of his time leading field trips! Over the years he has been involved in a range of OUGS activities as well as now being Chairman of the DGAG and Dorset RIGS group. The trip is aimed at S104 and S276 students. This site is a great location to extend the knowledge gained on the Introduction to Geology I field trip to Worbarrow Bay on 4 November. However while it is complementary it is not necessary to have attended the first one. We shall study the Carboniferous limestone and its unconformable relationship with the overlying Triassic and Jurassic rocks providing evidence for the effects of the Variscan Orogeny. The famous de la Beche unconformity is a classic and recent conservation work on Tedbury Camp has exposed the structures for all too see. The 2 km walk is mostly flat, with a slight incline to Tedbury Camp and a steep incline with steps to return to cars.

Chichester, West Sussex Sunday, 10 March 2013 BUILDING STONES OF CHICHESTER AND FOSSILS AT BRACKLESHAM with David Bone To book a place, contact: Jeremy Cranmer at [email protected] or tel. xxxxxxxxxxxx. David Bone lives in Chichester and has extensively studied the geology of Sussex. He is an experienced leader and has led the OUGS trips many times. He is a past Chairman of West Sussex Geological Society and is a member of the grant-awarding Curry Fund of the Geologists' Association. David received the Foulerton Award from the Geologists' Association in 2007. We shall look at the wide variety of building stones used in the city centre from Roman times to the present day following a stone trail in preparation by the leader. We shall then move on to Bracklesham for a fossil hunt as the tide falls (Eocene molluscs & sharks’ teeth).

Torbay area, South Devon Weekend, 26-28 April 2013 SOUTH DEVON WEEKEND with Dr Jenny Bennett and Prof John Mather To book a place, contact: Mark Barrett at [email protected], tel. xxxxxxxxxxxx The geology of Torbay and South Devon is fantastic so we are lucky to have been able to have arranged this at relatively short notice. Numbers are limited so we recommend booking soon to secure a place. Accommodation: Group booking at the Victoria Hotel, Torquay (dinner, bed and breakfast). For information about the geology of this area, see: Dr Ian West’s website http://www.southampton.ac.uk/~imw/Torquay.htm Kents Cavern website http://www.torbytes.co.uk/op/tm4/lv2/item236.htm

CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE NEWSLETTER Contributions from members are very welcome – without them, this newsletter would be much diminished! Please feel free to send anything you feel would be of interest to other members. This might be a report on a field trip, an item of geological news, a question about local geology, a particularly good photo, a book review or anything else you think relevant. I will try to include all submissions, subject to space constraints and copyright rules. (Please note that the author is responsible for obtaining any necessary copyright permission.) Please contact me if you would like advice on submitting material for publication. Alternatively, check the “Notes for Contributors” on the website at: http:/ougs.org/wessex Hilary Barton Newsletter Editor [email protected]

Wessex Footnotes December 2012 Page 11 THE OPEN UNIVERSITY GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY (WESSEX BRANCH) – FORTHCOMING EVENTS This listing covers events in the Wessex area and general Society events. However, members can attend events organised by any OUGS branch - the full listing is at http://ougs.org/events/index.php?branchcode=ouc Wessex Branch field trips Places are filled on a first come, first served basis. Non-members are welcome to attend events, but members will be given priority if places are short. Please contact the organiser to confirm details and to ensure there are spaces. Packed lunches, hard hats, strong footwear and waterproofs are usually required plus reflective clothing in working quarries. Please take note of the safety issues, which the leader will outline at the start of each trip. For day trips there is usually a charge of £1.50 per person to cover expenses. Events shown in italics are joint ones – please contact the host organizer as shown. Last-minute contact on the day, if you’re not coming or late: Jeremy’s mobile xxxxxxxxxxxx

DATE EVENT LEADER(S) CONTACT Jeremy Cranmer Sunday Fossil-hunting at Sam Scriven [email protected] 16 December 2012 Charmouth/Lyme Regis, Dorset tel. xxxxxxxxxxxx Wessex Branch AGM and day of Sheila Alderman Saturday lectures: Geology’s role in See programme on [email protected] 26 January 2013 Sustainable Energy page 9 tel xxxxxxxxxxxx evenings D’Urberville Centre, Wool, Dorset Introduction to Geology II Vallis Sunday Jeremy Cranmer Vale, Somerset Alan Holiday [email protected] 24 February 2013 (suitable for S104, S276, etc) tel. xxxxxxxxxxxx Sunday Chichester building stones and Jeremy Cranmer David Bone [email protected] 10 March 2013 Bracklesham fossils tel. xxxxxxxxxxxx 18 – 27 March Colin Morley Basin and Range, Arizona Linda and Colin Morley 2013 [email protected] 6 - 7 Apr 2013 OUGS AGM weekend, Chester Dorset GA Group Weekend in Alan Holiday, Alan Holiday 12 - 15 April 2013 Pembrokeshire xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Chairman of DGAG (open to OUGS members) tel. xxxxxxxxxxxx Mark Barrett Weekend in South Devon, Dr Jenny Bennett and 26-28 April 2013 Torbay area Prof John Mather [email protected] tel. xxxxxxxxxxxx INFORMATION ABOUT INSURANCE ON FIELD TRIPS AND EVENTS Each person attending a field meeting does so on the understanding that he/she attends at his/her own risk. The OUGS has Public Liability Insurance Cover for field and indoor meetings, but Personal Accident Cover and Personal Liability cover remain the responsibility and personal choice of the participant. There may be an element of appropriate cover included in house insurance or in travel insurance: although OUGS activities are not particularly dangerous, members are advised to check whether exclusions apply to activities in which they plan to participate in case they wish to arrange further cover. Annual travel insurance may be the best solution for any member who regularly attends field events: this again is a matter of personal choice. Please note however that all members participating in overseas events will be required to have travel insurance for the duration of the event: this is so that participants are covered for Medical, Repatriation and Personal Liability expenses. The Personal Accident element remains the personal choice of the member and again members are advised to check exclusions so that they can make an informed decision about the cover. Sheila Alderman, Branch Organiser Jeremy Cranmer, Branch Day Events Organiser

BGS GEOLOGY OF BRITAIN VIEWER

http://www.bgs.ac.uk/discoveringGeology/geologyOfBritain/viewer.html If you don’t have the geological map for an area in the UK, this is a very useful tool which can be accessed either via your computer or your smartphone. It allows you to explore the bedrock geology and superficial deposits for the whole of the UK. To find an area, you can either pan and zoom the map or search for a specific location (place name or postcode). The geological map is overlain on a basemap, for which various street map and satellite imagery options are available – even the 1815 William Smith map! The street map option is very useful when looking at the geology of built-up areas, especially as you can adjust the transparency of the overlay. Once you’ve landed on your chosen area, click on a formation to bring up a brief description of it; a “further details” link takes you to the relevant page of the BGS Lexicon of Named Rock Units. Hilary Barton

Wessex Footnotes December 2012 Page 12