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 Society Newsletters for 2000

E-newsletter no. 10 - 25th January 2000

Many thanks to all those who replied to my question about the Pocklington Canal. Also, thanks to those who replied to the query about the Bridlington Crag, I have passed on the information. If anyone finds exposures at Bridlington or Dimlington, please let me know, Nick Hall is looking for samples to study the gastropods.

University Science Club - Saturday May 20th 2000 at Mappleton. The Society will be leading a rock, mineral and fossil collecting trip for the University Science Club (mostly aged 8 to 16); would you like to help? Transport will be available if required

Dr David Drewry, the new Vice-Chancellor of the University of Hull, will be giving an Open Lecture on "Global Climate Change and its Impact: A Polar Perspective" on Thursday 30th March, at 6 p.m. in the Middleton Hall of the University. Admission is free.

E-newsletter no. 11 - February 2000

 Jonathon Allinson of the Geologists' Association will be coming to the Roadshow, on Saturday 18th March in the 'Live Art Space' of the Ferens Art Gallery (11-00 a.m. until 3 p.m.). He will bring a display and will be selling copies of the new edition of the GA Guide to the Yorkshire Coast which is about to be published.

Saturday 8th April - visit to Rifle Butts SSSI to clean the site in the morning, followed by East Yorkshire RIGS Group visits to RIGS in the area, after lunch. Please e-mail Mike for further details and to book a place.

 Other events that may be of interest:  ... Yorkshire Geological Society ... Other meetings planned for the year include an Ansell Dunham Memorial Meeting in Leicester on 7th October and the AGM in York on 2nd December. As well as a joint meeting with the Hull G S on 'Caves and Karst' at Hull University on 4th November.

 Thursday 8th April: talk by Ray Wallis 'Walking the Minster Way' in the Business and Technology Library in the Central Library, Hull at 7-30pm. Cost 2 pounds includes a glass of wine or soft drink.

E-newsletter no. 12 - March 2000

March looks like a busy month for the Society - we have planned special events for Science week. I hope that you can attend some of them and please tell others about them. I would like to thank you all for supporting the Society's events in the last year and hope to see some of you at the AGM, where we look forward to meeting our good friend and urban geology enthusiast Eric Robinson.

To coincide with our Public Lecture last month [at the Ferens Art Gallery ny Martin Whyte]  Nigel donated a dinosaur footprint to Hull Museums. The Yorkshire Post, Hull Daily Mail, local radio and the television (well Teletext) covered this bit of news! For those who missed it here is the press release from the Museums:

RARE DINOSAUR FOSSIL MAKES TRACKS FOR HULL AND EAST RIDING MUSEUM
A rare fossil footprint, one of the few dinosaur remains ever found in Yorkshire coastal region, is to be donated to the Hull and East Riding Musuem.
The fossil dates back to the late Jurassic period approximately 130 million years ago, when dinosaurs splashed among the area's tropical deltas and swamps. It fills a significant gap in the museum's fossil collection, which largely consists of marine animals and plants.
The fossil was discovered towards the end of 1999 by Hull Geographical Society member Nigel Whittington near Scalby Bay, North Yorkshire. The area is one of the best sites in the world for Jurassic plants, but evidence of dinosaurs in the region is confined to a small number of dinosaur footprints embedded in the rock. Unusally, the fossil was found in a loose block and would have been swept out with the tide had it not been discovered and saved for posterity. It is of added scientific interest becauses it is a natural cast and as a result, the soil and mud in which the dinosaur walked is also preserved.
The fossilised footprint measures around 20cm across and has three toes, suggesting it comes from a theropod dinosaur - a family which includes the Tyrannosaurus Rex and Velociraptor. The Scalby Bay dinosaur was a much smaller relative, however, measuring between 1 and 2 metres as it stood on its hind legs. Most theropods were meat-eaters.
Mr. Whittington decided to donate the fossil to the museum in the interests of science, as well as a desire to see it on public display: "It is such a good specimen that I felt it was important that it is there for science, rather than just sitting on a collector's shelf. I want it to be available for study and hope that it would encourage more people to develop an interest in geology.'
Matt Stephens, Assistant Keeper of Natural History at the Hull and East Riding Museum, commented: "I am really grateful to Mr. Whittington for this donation. During the Jurassic much of this area was covered by the sea so we don't see much evidence of dinosaurs. Footprints like this can give us lots of information about the dinosaurs that were around at this time. It is really important that new finds of this sort are brought to the attention of local musuems so that they can be recorded."

And this is what Teletext said on page 342 on 17th February: "Museum receives dinosaur fossil. A 160-year-old [sic] fossilised dinosaur footprint has been donated to a Hull Museum. The fossil, which was discovered at Scalby Bay, North Yorkshire, is thought to come from a dinosaur up to 1.5m tall. It was found by geology enthusiast Nigel Whittington, who has donated it to the Hull and East Riding Museum."

From the Independent on 14th February: "Seasiders turn back the tide of indifference to shrinking Yorkshire, by Ian Herbert. Along the windswept coast of East Yorkshire, the inhabitants of a string of villages have long been threatened by the ravages of the North Sea. Each year, up to six feet of land is swept away by erosion, leaving farms and homes along the 32-mile stretch ever-closer to the waves. But after six years of acquiescence, East Riding council is to abandon the advice of consultants who concluded in 1994 that nothing should be done. The council has bowed to public pressure, abandoning a "do-nothing" policy for one which compels it to continuously monitor and review erosion along the entire coast and fund studies into its economic effects on business..... Defence strategies will be formulated for six villages where the peril is greatest: Barmston, Atwick, Aldbrough, Tunstall, Holmpton and Easington....."

E-newsletter no. 13 - April 2000

Tuesday 20th June - 112th Anniversary Dinner at the West Bulls - informal dinner  at the West Bulls, Bricknall Avenue. 7 p.m. for 7-30 p.m. The cost will be about £12 and there is a choice of vegetarian dishes or a carvery.

Ryedale and Scarborough RIGS Group will be launched on Friday 28th April, Mick Stanley will represent the Hull G S at the launch.

 Science Week Report, March 2000.

Last year we had about 40 enquiries at the Roadshow and 50 people on the walk - perhaps because the events were also advertised as part of the Hull Festival. 

 We have had a letter of thanks from the British Association and Lord Sainsbury, the Minister for Science. Next year Science week will be from 16th to 25th March, so if you have any ideas for events please let me know.

 Request for information - Stephen Thompson of Glasgow University writes:- "I am trying to find as many borehole records of the region as possible, in an attempt to trace the depth of the intrabeds of sand and gravels with are stung throughout the glacial till stratigraphy in Holderness. And also to find the true extent of the Withernsea Till from the coast inland. I would be very grateful if you could tell me if there is anyone who would be able to provide me with some borehole information....I am planning to spend most of the summer (June to September) doing fieldwork in East Yorkshire so any people that you could suggest that you know from your geology background who have an interest in the glacial history of East Yorkshire then I would be willing to hear what opinions they have on the subject".

 If you are going web-surfing this holiday, why not have a look at some the new articles for Humberside Geologist.

Exhibition : "Valley of the first iron masters: landscape and archaeology in the Foulness Valley, East Yorkshire" at the Brynmor Jones Library, University of Hull until the end of April.

 E-newsletter no. 14 - May 2000

Please note - for safety reasons the plans for the beach walk for the University of Hull Science Club have been changed. It will still be on Saturday May 20th, but will be at Withernsea and start at 11 am. There will be a coach leaving the University at 10 am, please contact me if you would like to book a place. We will meet at the "Old Castle" on the sea front and will be walking south along the beach. The meeting will end at about 2 pm. If you are coming please let me know and bring a packed lunch and a drink.

I have not had many bookings for the field meeting to South Ferriby on Friday 2nd June. If you would like to come please contact me soon, because I will need to let the quarry know numbers about a week in advance. Also, there area few spare seats on the minibus to Derbyshire to search for Blue John on 10th June. And I will need to know if you wish to go to the Annual Dinner on  20th June, by 12th June.

Our trip to Dimlington was attended by 8 members. We did not find any clean and un-slumped sections of cliff to measure. There was an extensive beach exposure of till at low tide, but we were unable to find any patches of blue 'Basement Clay' or any 'rafts'. We did record 32 different types of erratics.

I went to Speeton the day before and it is more of a mess than last year - it was not possible to get close to the C or D beds because of mudflows.

"Treasures of the Earth" - a behind the scenes tour of the Geological collections at the Hull and east Riding Museum with Matt Stephens. Thursday 25th May at 1 pm. Admission free,  

The 3rd UK RIGS conference will be held at Newton Rigg, Penrith, Cumbria for Wednesday 30th August to Saturday 2nd September.

E-newsletter no. 15 - June 5th 2000

 Mick Stanley is unable to lead the field meeting to see the Blue John of Derbyshire this Saturday, but the trip will still go ahead - Terry Rockett has kindly agreed to lead and organise the meeting as well as driving the mini-bus. There are still a couple of places available so if you would like to go (or meet up with them in Derbyshire)  

You may have read in the Hull Daily Mail that we are doing a history walk around Spring Bank Cemetery on June 12th - please note that the actual date of the walk is Wednesday 12th July at 7-00 pm meeting at the Princes Avenue/Spring Bank corner.

The walk for the University Science Club was quite successful. It was attended by about 60 Club members and seven members of the Society led groups of the young scientists and helped identify specimens. Not many fossils were found, but there were plenty of different minerals and rocks. Everyone seemed to enjoy it apart from complaints about the (low) temperature; one person asked if we could organise it in the spring next time!

 Clare Heyes has resigned from the Society, as she finds it hard to get to meetings now she lives in Northallerton. She joined the Society in 1987. On behalf of the members I have sent her the Society's best wishes for the future.

Mick Stanley has moved to Ripon. We wish Mick and his family every happiness in their new home. We also congratulate William Stanley who has won the Earth Science Photographer of the Year (Children's category) competition with a picture of a 'Tor on Dartmoor'.

Simon Mitchell, in Jamaica, has published a paper about the Welton Chalk Formation at Speeton and its implications for our understanding of the Market Weighton Structure, in the latest Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society (vol. 53 pp 17-24).

 Tim Langdale-Smith says that "Transco are about to start a pipeline from Wawne across to Elloughton. A 1.5m deep cut across Alluvium, Glacio-Fluvial (inc. Ipswichian cliff), Boulder Clay and Chalk.... At the moment only boreholes are being done and the logs should be available for inspection - I may get a chance to visit some holes."

Ken Mannion has published a new catalogue of meteorites (including slices and micromounts)

E-newsletter no. 16 - 6th August 2000

Please note: The field meeting to May Beck on Saturday 2nd September has been cancelled.

Our next meeting will be on Sunday 1st October - a field trip to the Lincolnshire ironstone and limestone quarries led by Paul Hildreth. (booking required)

There is also be an East Yorkshire RIGS Group field meeting to the Weedley Springs area, organised by Barrie Heaton on Saturday 16th September

Trevor Sands has updated his web site. Gordon Binns has started a "fossils" web site and would welcome help, particularly with information about the Oxford Clay.

 The July walk around Spring Bank cemetery attracted over 250 people - is that a record for a Society field meeting?

E-newsletter no. 17 - September 2000

 Dr Lewis Penny, a Honorary Life Member of the Society, died on August 10th. He was a lecturer at Hull University from 1949 to 1980. Lewis gave several lectures to the Society during those years and participated in field meetings. He was elected as a Life member of our Society in 1977. He will be remembered for his contributions to Quaternary research, including the Ice Age in East Yorkshire. Members are invited to write about their memories of Lewis for inclusion in Humberside Geologist.

Lawrence Sherrington wonders if anyone would be interested in an extra field meeting to South Ferriby Quarry in the next month or two. Please let me know if you are an I can compile a list.

South Ferriby Cement Works have sent me the following details of their Charity Open Day. "It is on Sunday 10th September and starts at 10.00am until 4.30pm. We have approximately 30 charities coming on the day and they will all have a stall in the marquee. There will be the usual guided walking tours around the works (these take approximately 1.5 hrs). We run a couple of busses up to the quarry for people to have a look at the big hole (sorry no fossil hunting allowed!!!!). We also do train tours around the works which last year we found were really popular - especially with the children. Some of the other attractions on the day are: Vintage Tractors, Kit Cars, Gymnastics Display, Line Dancing, Donkey Rides, Childrens Entertainer, Disco Dancing, Tombola, Irish Dancing, plus many more. Our star attraction this year is to be a fly past by the Battle of Britain Lancaster scheduled for about 4-45 p.m. "  Thee Hull G S will probably be there too, with a display of fossils. If you have not gone around the works before, I do recommend it - you will find out what they do with all that chalk and clay!

E-newsletter no. 18 - 27th September 2000

The Charity Open Day at South Ferriby Cement Works was very enjoyable. There was plenty of interest in the Society's (= Felix's) display of fossils. Felix also sold some spare fossils and raised  L 11-98 for local charities.

Charlie Underwood writes : "... what I really want to know is: IS THERE ANYONE OUT THERE WHO HAS/KNOWS OF SPEETON CLAY FISH REMAINS?, especially if they are different to, or from different levels to, ones in the publications. Globally, there is almost nothing known of Berriasian to Berremian sharks (about 5 papers I know of!), so anything would be useful, as this is a period of intense evolution. Also, there is a complete gap in the knowledge of chimaeroids during this time period. Their jaw plates will appear as flattish irregular pieces of bone, 2-15 cm long with oval rough or porous patches on the surface. To show you the importance of the site, my preliminary sampling of the Speeton Clay has yielded (among others): The oldest stingray (by over 25 My), the oldest triakid (smooth-hound shark) by about 20 my, the oldest anacoracid (major Upper Cret. Shark group) by 10 My, the oldest etmopterid (deepwater dogfish) by 20 MY etc."
 
New rock boulder sea defences at Whitby are making geological visits are difficult at present. Nigel Whittington reports that "The blocks so far extend about 30-50 m from the large cave just by east pier. The cave is full of blocks. More blocks are scattered in the harbour area near the pier, presumably awaiting placement. The blocks are piled against the cliff about 5m high, with others a little distance from the cliff. It makes access to the cliff at these points impossible as well as making it difficult to pass until some time after high tide. This is a serious safety concern for anyone making a traverse from Saltwick as it will increase the chances of parties being cut off by the tide. The mudstone on the foreshore near the east pier is pretty churned up by heavy plant but nowhere near as the mess that has been made at Robin Hoods Bay."

 

I wrote to Mary Penny on behalf of the Hull Geological Society expressing our condolences on the death of Dr Lewis Penny. She has sent a lovely card in reply saying that the family has "been overwhelmed by the tributes to Lewis by his old students, ex-colleagues and friends geological and others." She asked me to pass on her appreciation to the Society. We have delayed the publication of Humberside Geologist so that we can include tributes to Lewis.

E-newsletter no. 19

Margaret De Boer, the wife of Honorary Life Member George de Boer died at the end of September after a long illness. Lynden Emery has sent the Society's condolence's to Mr de Boer. Lynden, Felix Whitham and John Neale attended the funeral.

 The Yorkshire Geological Society's Leicester meeting was a tribute to Professor Ansel Dunham. It was well attended, including many of Ansel's friends and colleagues and members of his family. The talks were very interesting and a reminder of Ansel's varied geological interests. It also provided the chance to meet up with Norman Angus, Michael House, John Neale and Peter Scott, all former lecturers at Hull and good friends of the Society.

 The next Yorkshire Geological Society meeting is in Hull - a joint meeting with the Hull Geological Society.  Admission is free. ...Displays:

 Gordon Binns and Chris Blackhurst  - Fossils collected from the Yorkshire coast and quarries.

 "Chalkoholics Anonymous"  by Paul Hildreth - The display will include:  over 200 specimens from the chalk of North Lincolnshire,  precise stratigraphical locations of specimens,  specimens displayed in stratigraphical order,  photographs,  lithostratigraphical logs of sections in North Lincolnshire still available for study [and]  correlation between sections.

'A new Chalk ammonite from Selwicks Bay' by Mike Horne. Fossil ammonites in the Yorkshire Chalk are rare. A specimen found in flinty Chalk (Burnham Chalk Formation) on the wave cut platform of Selwicks Bay, Flamborough, East Yorkshire, U.K. has been provisionally identified as Texanites texanus. This is the zonal ammonite for the Lower Santonian. If the identification is correct this ammonites provides evidence that the Coniacian-Santonian boundary is below the base of the flint-less Flamborough Chalk Formation. The fossil also appears to have lappets.

'Echinoid display' by Terry Rockett

A display to show the morphology and characteristics of Echinoids, mainly from the Jurassic and Cretaceous. Several specimens are preserved in flint.

 'Windy Pits' by Scarborough Caving Club - A general overview of Windy Pits and the areas in which they form, a detailed look into two different Windy Pits (- 'Antofts' and the Club discovery 'Old Fat And Past It Pot') and a quick look at Kirkdale Cave or Bog Hole Rising.

Felix Whitham - A collection of Jurassic and Cretaceous fossils from Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire.

 Nigel Whittington - poster display - Caves and caving in Eastern Europe

'Castleton Limestone Fossils and Blue John Fluorite' by David Hill - Castleton lies at the western end of the Hope Valley in North Derbyshire. It is about 16 miles west of Sheffield and 32 miles east of Manchester.
The limestones around Castleton are of upper Dinantian (Visean) age and were mainly deposited during the Asbian stage (336-339 m.y.). At Treak Cliff the top of the hill is composed of an algal reef and the hill slope the fore-reef with deeper water shales in the valley at the bottom. Both the algal reef and the fore-reef contain a wide variety of different fossils which tend to be very well preserved.
Before the deposition of the Namurian, uplift occurred and boulders eroded off the reef crest and slid down the fore-reef into the contemporary sea. The Castleton area then resubmerged and Namurian shales and sandstones were deposited on top.
At the end of the Namurian the limestone massif rose and the Edale Gulf continued to subside. These inversion tectonics produced faults into which mineralising fluids rose and deposited lead and zinc ore with fluorite and barite.
At Treak Cliff the mineralisation was almost exclusively of fluorite in the decorative form described as Blue John.

E-newsletter no. 20 - 18th November 2000

Our next meeting is on Tuesday 28th November - "Rocks and Ice in Antarctica" by Dr David Drewry (Vice Chancellor of Hull University) at 7-30pm. You are welcome to bring friends to the meeting because we are in the big, first floor Lecture Theatre rather than the usual one.

 On Wednesday 22nd November there is the St John's College lecture entitled "What life on earth has to tell us about extra-terrestrials" by Prof Simon Conway Morris of the University of Cambridge. The lecture is in the Middleton Hall of Hull University, starts at 6-00 pm and admission is free. Simon gave the Hull G S public lecture in 1998 about the Burgess Shale.

Martin Chambers has returned to our area after studying for his PhD at the University of reading. He has just published an article about part of the work - M.H. Chambers, D.S.L. Lawrence, B.W. Sellwood, A. Parker, Annual layering in the Upper Jurassic Kimmeridge clay formation, UK, quantified using an ultra-high resolution SEM-EDX investigation, Sedimentary Geology (137)1-2 (2000) pp. 9-23

Humberside Geologist number 13 is nearly ready for publication. We are busy putting the finishing touches to it and we hope to get it to the printers next weekend. So it should be available at the December meeting. One copy is free to members but extra copies can be purchased. More details in the next e-newsletter.  

And if you are looking for Xmas presents, as well as Humberside Geologist you could also get a geological Calendar - these have been produced by Gordon Binns and feature colour pictures of fossils. The cost is two pounds fifty if you collect them or four pounds by post. Once Gordon has covered his costs he will make a donation to Society funds.

Lastly, I have been thinking for some time that there should be a web-ring or web community for amateur geologists and geological societies in the UK. Having searched the web in vain, I have decided to start one myself. The Amateur Geologists Community is[hosted by MSN]. Anyone with an interest in UK geology is welcome to join and take part. You can post pictures of favourite fossils or rocks, announce new finds and the dates of meetings, ask others for help and information and add links to your own web pages. The more people who join and take part the better it will become. So please visit the site and give it a try, and tell your friends about it.

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