January 2020 news and update - Teme Valley Geological ...
←
→
Page content transcription
If your browser does not render page correctly, please read the page content below
January 2020 news and update
1. Conserving Herefordshire’s Ice Age Ponds
I am delighted to announce that “Conserving Herefordshire’s Ice Age Ponds” is one of 15 projects
that has been awarded a share of £.7.4 million from the National Lottery Heritage Fund to take
action for nature.
Initial Lottery Funding enabled a development phase to take place last year when ponds were
mapped and surveyed, allowing the project team to see exactly what was needed to go ahead
with restoration. The development phase also provided an opportunity to engage with local
communities and an army of enthusiastic volunteers were trained in pond survey techniques,
supported by visits to local schools and other community events.
Celebrating the successful conclusion of the development stage are team members Richard
King (Herefordshire Amphibian and Reptile Team, HART), ecological consultants and HART
members Giles King-Salter and Will Watson, Ian Fairchild, Andrew Nixon (Herefordshire Wildlife
Trust, HWT), Project Manager David Hutton (based at HWT) and our own project officer Beth.
Photo: Ian Fairchild
1
This project is a partnership with Herefordshire Wildlife Trust, Herefordshire and Worcestershire
Earth Heritage Trust and Herefordshire Amphibian and Reptile Team. The successful bid was the
result of a team effort and wouldn’t have been possible without the hard work of many
wonderful volunteers. So a huge thank you to everyone who helped.
The project will officially start in the next couple of months and will open with the launch of the
Ice Age Herefordshire exhibition at Hereford Museum in April.
We will be in touch soon with more details of what we are doing and how you can get involved.
Many thanks for all your help so far.
Beth Andrews - Ice Age Ponds Project Officer
2. Champions Booklets now freely available on the Champions website
The written legacy of the Champions project amounted to an excellent website, a considerable
number of information panels, and leaflets or booklets for all the Champions sites. Pdf's of the
information panels and all the free leaflets were added to the website some time ago, but there
were 3 booklets which were for sale only. These could be obtained from the relevant Champions
groups or from the EHT and were offered for sale at EHT and certain Champions events, but were
not otherwise widely publicised.
For some time it had occurred to me that it was perhaps about time to add the 3 booklets to the
Champions website in pdf format, to make the valuable information they contain more readily
available. All the Champions concerned have agreed, and the EHT has approved the decision.
Copies will still be sold as before while stocks last for those who prefer a hard copy.
You can now view or download the booklets for Bewdley, the Lickey Hills or the Malvern Hills
from the relevant web page. The Malverns booklet covers 4 sites: Tank, Dingle, Westminster
Bank and Gardiners quarries. As the booklet is a large file, it has been sub-divided into parts 1
&2, and the double page trail map is a separate pdf. The booklet can be downloaded from any
of the 4 Malverns site pages.
If you haven't seen these booklets go to the Champions website and enjoy!
ehtchampions.org.uk
Julie Schroder (EHT Champions Co-ordinator)
2
3. Deep Time - Wren’s Nest Voyage added to Voyager App
Explore the fossil rich rocks formed in warm Silurian seas when the Dudley area was 30 degrees
south of the equator.
The Wren’s Nest is internationally renowned for superbly preserved fossils of marine creatures
that lived in an environment similar to that of the Great Barrier Reef of the present time.
You will also see the extent of the quarrying of limestone that occurred here in the heartland of
the Industrial Revolution. The Voyage takes place on well-marked level (mainly gravelled) paths,
with some flights of wooden steps. The Voyage is 1.6km (1 mile) long.
3
4. Deep Time Project content available on the Web
If you do not have access to a smartphone or tablet, or simply find reading off small screens
uncomfortable, you might wish to browse the Voyages and Field Trips of the Deeptime project
using your web browser. Just go to deeptime.voyage and follow the links to Voyages and Field
Trips.
4
5. A note on Ox Hill and Pool Brook, near Malvern.
Between the south-eastern outskirts of Malvern and the River Severn (Image 1) lie some
interesting geomorphological features which appear to have received little attention in the
geological literature. Carly Tinkler, a local environmental and landscape architect, recently raised
the question to EHT, what are these features? This note offers some initial thoughts, which are
shared in the hope that others may contribute.
Ox Hill (image 2) is an east-west trending ridge standing some 30-35 metres above the
surrounding terrain which in bedrock terms is composed of Sidmouth (Triassic) siltstones and
sandstones. There is no indication on the local BGS map of any structural or lithological variation
in this bedrock which might readily explain the existence of this ridge. However, the ridge is
capped by a layer of Quaternary gravels, mapped as ‘head’, and this capping appears to have
been significant in giving the ridge some measure of protection from erosion.
5
Currently, small exposures of these gravels occur at base of some of the larger trees lining Wood
Street (sometimes known as the ‘salt way’) running along the apex of the ridge, but the gravels
are best seen at SO80354443 in the public footpath (image 3) running from the Guarlford Road
over the ridge towards Hanley Swan.
These gravels are dominated by subangular clasts derived largely from the rocks of the
Precambrian Malverns Complex which form the Malvern Hills, c.3.5km to the west, but there are
also some sandstone and limestone clasts, probably of Silurian origin. The gravels are part of the
remains of large sheets of soliflucted material found on both sides of the Malvern Hills and which
were laid down under periglacial conditions during the cold stages of the Quaternary Ice Age.
Since then, these sheets which are generally 1 – 2m in thickness, have become broken up by
subaerial erosion, particularly in places where local streams have cut down through the gravels,
and erosion of the relatively soft underlying bedrock is likely to have been fairly rapid. This readily
explains the situation at Ox Hill, which is flanked by two of the headwater streams of the Pool
Brook, leaving it as an isolated ridge. There are also similar erosional ridges, although perhaps
not quite as pronounced as Ox Hill, lying to the south in the Welland and Castlemorton areas,
and these too, have cappings of head.
Exactly when the solifluction sheet was deposited, and when the Ox Hill ridge and similar areas
became to be eroded, raises a number of questions. The solifluction deposits in this local area
must postdate the Anglian glaciation (c.450ka) as any superficial deposits preceding that are
likely to have been eroded by the ice sheet which occupied the Severn valley at that time. There
have been several cold stages within the Quaternary since then.
In Colwall and Mathon on the west side of the Malvern Hills, there are well documented
geological records of head immediately overlying Anglian till, and the solifluction sheets have
probably been added to in each of the subsequent cold stages. In the last of these, the Devensian
stage (c. 115,000 to 12.000 ka), although there was no glacial ice in the Malverns area, there is
considerable evidence of extensive permafrost conditions, which is strongly conducive to
solifluction on hillsides. If the valleys on either side of Ox Hill had existed before then, one would
expect to see extensive soliflucted materials within those valleys. This does not seem to be the
case, which leads to the conclusion that the erosion of the valleys must be a post-glacial
phenomenon, i.e occurring within the past 12,000 years.
6
Turning to the Pool Brook, this is one of several stream courses on the eastern side of the
Malvern Hills which flow from west to east directly into the River Severn. However, within c.500
metres of the Severn in an area known as Rhydd Green, the eastwards-flowing Pool Brook turns
to flow south, and only finally enters the Severn just short of Upton, about 5km away. Quite why
this diversion has occurred is not immediately clear. It may be a simple ‘levee effect’ at some
time in the past whereby the alluvial sediments deposited by the Severn in times of flood have
caused the immediate ground on either side of the main channel to be raised, and in this case,
sufficiently high enough to have diverted the Pool Brook. However, there does not now appear
to be any sedimentological evidence of a levee built by the Severn at this locality, and in any case,
the Pool Brook at this point now lies some 8/9m above the elevation of the current flood plain
of the Severn.
Perhaps more intriguingly, there is a small isolated area mapped as head by the BGS in a position
through which one might expect the course of a pre-diverted Pool Brook to have passed (as
indicated on image 1). Currently, this area of head is devoid of exposures, and would certainly
merit closer investigation. The ground surface of the head here lies at about 21m O.D., which is
some 25m below the deposit on Ox Hill, and it may not be part of the original soliflucted sheet.
The term ‘head’ tends to be a rather generalised term, and head found at lower elevations in
some localities in the Malverns, for instance in small stream valleys close to Colwall Green,
appears to have been redeposited by later downslope movement or fluvial action.
Finally, there is also the possibility that the diversion is man-made, although there is no obvious
surface evidence of this, but it thought that there some minor rearrangement of stream courses
may have taken place in the 18th century on the Blackmore Park estate. However historical maps
dating back to this period show that the course of Pool Brook in the Rhydd Green area was the
same as today. Nevertheless, some further documentary research and field investigation is called
for.
Finally, it is interesting to note than the unusual course of the Pool Brook is replicated in the
Laugherne Brook at Worcester. This has an eastward flowing course but then turns south at
Hallow, about 1km from the Severn, to join the Teme at Powick, c.6km away. One possibility is
that these north-south sections of local streams represent the remnants of abandoned braided
river channels emanating from the Devensian glacier far to the north and are associated with the
outwash terraces deposited elsewhere along the length of the lower Severn.
My thanks to Carly Tinkler, John Payne, and Moira Jenkins for comments and additional
information. Dick Bryant, January 2020.
6. New Geopark Way Wardens required
We are looking for 2 new Geopark Way Wardens to look after Section 3: Highley to Kinlet and
for Section 15: Newent to Huntley.
It is not an onerous task as we simply require wardens to walk their stretch of the Geopark Way
in Spring and Autumn and to report details of their findings back to Sue Knox, Geopark Way
Project Officer who will happily meet any prospective wardens to discuss the role. All information
and markers required to undertake the role will be supplied and your assistance very much
appreciated!
If you think you might like to take on either Section 3 or Section 15, please contact Sue at
s.knox@worc.ac.uk
7
7. Request for Articles: H&W Earth Heritage Trust Annual Review
We would be very interested in receiving articles about projects relating to the work of Earth
Heritage Trust for the H&WEHT 2020 Annual Review publication from volunteers, members,
consultants, trustees or affiliated groups.
If you have an idea for an article which could be included in the Annual Review, please contact
Sue Knox at s.knox@worc.ac.uk with an outline and proposed length for your article. Please note
that photographs, diagrams or images will also be required to illustrate the article.
The deadline for completed articles with images is 1st April 2020.
8. Earth Heritage Magazine 52
Earth Heritage is produced twice yearly to stimulate interest in geodiversity and a broad range
of geological and landscape conservation issues within the UK and further afield. It is free in pdf
format from the Earth Heritage past issue section of their website: www.earthheritage.org.uk
The latest 2019 Winter issue is available by following this link:
http://www.earthheritage.org.uk/wp/wp-content/uploads/EH-52_Final.pdf
9. Support EHT at Smile at Amazon
If you are a regular Amazon shopper and would like to support your charity, please log into your
amazon account via www.smile.amazon.co.uk and select the Earth Heritage Trust as your charity.
We will then receive 0.5% of net purchase price on qualifying purchases excluding VAT and
shipping fees – thank you.
10. Support EHT through the Worcester Lottery
The Worcester Community Lottery has recently been launched by Worcester City Council and
the EHT is one of its good causes. Half of the value of tickets sold through our page comes directly
to us, with another 10% distributed to other local causes. One in 50 tickets wins a prize, with a
prize maximum of £25,000.
So if you feel like a flutter on the lottery, please support the EHT by visiting our web page on the
Worcester Lottery site:
https://www.worcesterlottery.org/support/herefordshire-worcestershire-earth-heritage-trust
You are invited to buy tickets on a weekly basis at one pound each, with a minimum commitment
of one month (five tickets) and can cancel at any time after that. Good luck!
8Upcoming Events
11. Countrytastic – Thursday 9th April 2020 – Call for Volunteers
The 2020 Countrytastic show at the Three Counties Showground will take place this year on
Thursday 9th April 2020. If you would like to come and visit us and / or volunteer to help out on
the day for an hour or two please let Allison know in the office. All help will be much appreciated.
Many thanks.
12. Tiddesley Wood Open Day 2020 – Call for volunteers
The 2020 Tiddesley Wood Open Day will take place on Sunday 3rdth May 2020. The EHT have a
stand at this annual event with rock specimens, selling merchandise and trail guides and
children’s activities. If you would like to come and visit us and / or volunteer to help out on the
day for an hour or two please let Allison know in the office. It would be great to see you there.
Many thanks.
13. Extreme Geological Events
I want to bring to your attention a free online course called Extreme Geological Events from
Cardiff University. The course explores some of the largest floods, tsunamis, earthquakes and
volcanic eruptions. We also consider the impact they’ve had and will continue to have on our
dynamic planet.
Extreme Geological Events begins on 27 January, and the course takes three weeks to complete.
It is self-paced and appeals to a wide range of ages and interests. The course is open for
enrolment up until 29 March.
Find out more and enrol on the course. (By clicking here or using the link below)
https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/extreme-geological-
events?utm_campaign=cardiff_university_extreme_geological_events_january_2020&utm_medium=or
ganic_email&utm_source=newsletter_broadcast
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me.
Neil Mosley, Centre for Education Support and Innovation, Cardiff University.
14. WGCG Lecture Programme: 2020
Meetings are held on Wednesdays (usually 3rd of the month) and start at 7.30 p.m. in St Francis
Church Hall, 110 Warwick Road, Kenilworth, CV8 1HL unless otherwise stated. Tea / coffee and
biscuits are available beforehand from 7.00 p.m. Please check the WGCG website for any late,
unforeseeable changes at http://www.wgcg.co.uk/talks/
• Wednesday 19th February 2020: Geology & Wine in Southern France
• Saturday 22nd February 2020: Workshop: Making Sense of Geological Maps at Kenilworth
Senior Citizens Club 9.45 am – 3.15 pm.
• Wednesday 18th March 2020: Talk on “The Anthropocene – Man’s impact on our planet”
• Sunday 29th March 2020: Visit – Nottingham Caves Tour
915. The Woolhope Club Meetings
The Woolhope Club Geology Section meetings to be held in the “Woolhope Room” of the Library
in Broad Street Hereford at 6.30pm for 7pm until 9pm. For further information of the Woolhope
Club please visit www.woolhopeclub.org.uk
• Friday 24th January 2020: Dr Sue Hay on The Canaries Part 2: El Heirro and magmatic
pluming problems.
• Friday 21st February 2020: Members Dinner and possible speaker at The Bunch of
Carrots.
• Friday 27th March 2020: Dr Pete Jeanes on " What makes an Oilfield".
16. Malvern U3A Geology Group
The Malvern U3A Geology Group meets on the 2nd Wednesday of the month at the Cube,
Malvern, from 10.00 – 12.00 am. The entrance price is: £2.00. All lectures are at 10.00am in the
Cube, Malvern except the 3 noted below.
The new winter lecture programme is based on a series of lectures on the following:
The evolution of the British landscape: geological and archaeological perspectives.
Date: Talk: Speaker:
January 20 Lecture Series No7 (Note: this is a Monday afternoon Richard Edwards
at 2.00pm)
The Iron Age: a landscape of hillforts and farms
Human activity has now transformed the landscape so
that the forests are much reduced and farming is
widespread. Rapidly rising population and the
development of a hierarchical society led to increasing
tribal conflict. Hillforts were constructed in a range of
environments and for differing purposes and remain a
feature in the landscape.
February 12 Ice Age in Worcestershire Prof Ian Farchild
(Birmingham
University)
March 11 Danger! Cornish Mining Engineer at Work Stephen Lay
(Retired Mining
Engineer)
April 8 Metallic Mineralisation of the Mantle & Dr Hannah
Crust/Cratons Hughes (Exeter
University)
For further information please see website: www.malvernu3a.org.uk/geology3/
1017. Teme Valley Geological Society (TVGS) Talks
Please find details of forthcoming TVGS evening talks held in Martley Memorial Hall (MMH). Talks
commence at 7.30pm, fees are £3 for non-members and £1 for members.
• Monday 20th January 2020: Prof. Ian Fairchild – Caves, Caves’ Atmospheres and Caves
Climates.
• Monday 10th February 2020: Dr Joel Davis - ExoMars – Planetary Geology.
• Monday 16th March 2020: Richard Edwards - The Japanese Island Arc: Perspectives on
the Malvern Complex and Warren House Formation.
• Monday 20th April 2020: Prof. Donny Hutton - The Visit of TVGS to the SW French Alps.
For further information of the TVGS please visit www.geo-village.eu
18. The Black Country Geological Society (BCGS) Programme
BCGS indoor meetings are held at the Dudley Archives, Tipton Road, Dudley, DY1 4SQ with a 7.30
for 8.00 pm start unless stated otherwise. Visitors welcome, but there will be a charge of £1.00.
For further details please see the website: http://bcgs.info
• Saturday 18th January 2020: (Geoconservation Day): Wren’s Nest.
• Monday 20th January 2020: Jurassic Brain Teasers'. Stephan Lautenschlager (Lecturer in
Palaeobiology, University of Birmingham).
• Saturday 8th February 2020: (Geoconservation Day): Saltwells Local Nature Reserve.
19. Severn Side OUGS Winter Events
This is an early notification about our second Winter Event, which I hope will be of interest.
• Branch AGM and Members’ Talks
This will take place on Sunday 9th February 2020 at Langstone Village Hall, near Newport, South
Wales. The AGM will include a short presentation describing the various events we held during
2018, and will be followed by a buffet lunch. Tea and coffee will be available throughout the day.
Please note that there is no charge for this event.
After the AGM and a break for lunch, we plan to have a number of short talks given by branch
members about their own visits to places of interest, for example whilst on holiday. Please let
me, Norman Nimmo-Smith, know if you would like to give a talk and share your geological
experiences with other members. Your talk can be quite brief and ideally should not exceed 15-
20 minutes. I very much look forward to hearing from you.
Further details of the event are available from the Severnside events page on the OUGS website
at: https://ougs.org/severnside/events/popup/2181/severnside-branch-agm/
If you have anything you would like to include in our next monthly update please forward to
eht@worc.ac.uk by 7th February 2020.
Herefordshire and Worcestershire Earth Heritage Trust, Geological Records Centre,
University of Worcester, Henwick Grove, Worcester, WR2 6AJ.
Tel: 01905 855184 Email: eht@worc.ac.uk
11You can also read
