Sept 2020 Talk: Life & Death in the Jurassic Sea of Dorset, Malcolm Hart
2020-09-16 19:15 - 21:15 (Europe/London) | Zoom Video Talk
To WGCG Members, Friends and Guests,We are pleased to have another talk via Zoom on Wed 16 Sept 2020 at 7.15 for a prompt 7:30 pm start.

Full title: Jurassic calamari: new research on fossil squid-like cephalopods from the Wessex Basin.’Malcolm Hart (Emeritus Professor, University of Plymouth).

AbstractDiscoveries of some exquisite specimens of soft parts of squid-like cephalopods have been found in the fossil record in the Wessex Basin. They are around 190–160 million years’ old, and there is exceptional preservation of eyes, ink sacks, beaks and arm hooks. Balancing organs, ‘statoliths’, of aragonite have also survived and show internal (daily?) growth lines.

There are specimens of fossil squid-like cephalopods in the Natural History Museum (London) and Lyme Regis Museum, some collected by both Mary Anning and Henry De La Beche. When the GWR railway was built from Swindon to Bristol, local palaeontologist Joseph Pearce uncovered fossils at Christian Malford that caused great excitement as soft parts of squid-like animals were preserved. The ink sacks and the muscle scars survived and reconstruction of the creatures from the arms, some with pairs of hooks could be attempted. A specimen from Bristol Museum & Art Gallery has non-paired hooks so there is a potential for identifying species. Scattered statoliths have been recorded but cannot be linked to a named species. It has been argued that the white discs with hooks could have been suckers, but it is difficult to understand that a sucker with a hook in its centre could function effectively. The Christian Malford beds were re-opened in 2008 by the BGS and a core from the ‘squid bed’ was found to have earbones, or ‘statoliths’, scattered throughout it. There is a need to relate these to a species, so CT scanning of specimens from Christian Malford in the Natural History Museum is taking place to see if this can be achieved. Different shaped hooks are now thought to exist on the same animal, as one specimen from Germany shows five different kinds, and there are interesting questions on the evolution of the hooks that we see in the geological record.

An ichthyosaur specimen in the Etches Collection appears to show hooks as stomach contents, but it is possible that these may have fallen onto the specimen after death.

The exceptional preservation of material is exciting and there is plenty more research to be done. Recently new specimens have been found and cleaned, clearly showing the arrangement of hooks in the arms. An old specimen, from the BGS collections, has been shown to record the capture, and presumed feeding, of a squid-like cephalopod holding a fish (Dorsetichthys bechei); one of the earliest records of cephalopod predation.

The published paper at The Geologists Association is:M.B. Hart, et al., Life and death in the Jurassic seas of Dorset, Southern England, Proc. Geol. Assoc. (2020)is online at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pgeola.2020.03.009and available as a PDF download from this website here

For that paper this is the Abstract: The Jurassic succession of the Wessex Basin, especially that cropping out along the Dorset Coast, contains important Lagerstätten for coleoid cephalopods. The Blue Lias and Charmouth Mudstone formations have, since the nineteenth century, provided large numbers of important body fossils that inform our knowledge of coleoid palaeontology. In many of these mudstones specimens of palaeobiological significance have been found, especially those with the arms and hooks with which the living animals caught their prey. This is particularly true in the case of a specimen of Clarkeiteuthis sp. cf. C. montefiorei (Buckman,1879) found in the nineteenth century with a fish in its jaws and which appears to have caused the death, and subsequent preservation, of both animals. © 2020 The Geologists’ Association. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Malcolm HartFollowing ‘official’ retirement from the University of Plymouth in 2010, Malcolm is now Emeritus Professor of Micropalaeontology. He graduated with a degree in Geology at Imperial College (London) in 1966 and remained in the college to undertake PhD research. Having worked weekends in the Channel Tunnel Laboratory in Dover Castle during 1965/66, his research was to extend work on the Lower Chalk westwards to Southern and South-West England. His first teaching post was as a Junior Lecturer at the University of Newcastle; returning to his birthplace in Northumberland. In 1972, with the potential closure of the Department being considered, he moved to Plymouth Polytechnic and has remained in the South-West since that time. Over the years, up to retirement, he has been Research Coordinator, Head of Department of Geological Sciences, Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research), and – finally – associate Dean of Research in the Faculty of Science. Author of ~270 research papers and an editor of several books (including the definitive work on the Channel Tunnel), Malcolm has supervised 37 PhD students and undertaken research all around the world (and in the world’s oceans). In 1983 he was shipboard micropalaeontologist on the Glomar Challenger, drilling a series of cores in the Bermuda Triangle! He is still an active member of several learned societies and is currently Editor-in-Chief of the Proceedings of the Geologists’ Association, as well as being Editor of Geoscience in South-West England and the Transactions of the Devonshire Association.

Keywords: Lower Jurassic, Clarkeiteuthis, Diplobelida, Cephalopoda, Predation, Taphonomy

Here is the info in this screen page on a PDF to enable download and/or printing

Zoom TalkYou are invited to a Zoom meeting. Please register directly via Zoom by clicking the link below.You can join the meeting from 7:15 pm i.e., up to 15 minutes beforehand.

Talk starts promptly at 7:30 pm

Please register well in advance with this link:

– Queries and Enquiries to: warwickshiregcg@gmail.com

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting with a link to be used on the night.

Example images from the paper and talk,The paper can be seen as a PDF below.

Oct 2020 Talk: 50 Years of Plate Tectonics
2020-10-14 19:30 - 21:30 | Zoom Video Talk
To WGCG Members, Friends and Guests,We are pleased to have another talk via Zoom on Wed 14 October 2020 at 7.00 for a prompt 7:30 pm start.

Full title: Fifty years of plate tectonics: past, current and future questions presented by Marco Maffione

Outline

Plate tectonics is the most unifying theory in Earth Sciences and one of the top five most relevant theories in the Sciences. Plate tectonics is the simple and elegant explanation of how our planet has been, is, and will be shaped by the continuous movements and interactions of tectonic plates. I will guide you through the long journey of scientific discoveries that brought several scientists with different backgrounds to contribute to the birth of the plate tectonics theory, ultimately formulated just over 50 years ago. Since then we have understood much of how our planet works, which helped in the ‘90s to reach a new important discovery on how our oceans expand. Today we still have several questions about key processes, such as the formation of new subduction zones, which represent new challenges for the current and future generations of Earth scientists.

Image drawn by Isacks et al. (1968) representing the first graphical description of how plate tectonics works.

Dr Marco Maffione

Profile of Dr Marco Maffione

Marco is a Lecturer in tectonics and structural geology at the University of Birmingham, where he studies large-scale tectonic processes at plate boundaries using structural geology and palaeomagnetism.

He is author of 30 publications in the field of global tectonics and is currently leading a £200k project focused on understanding subduction initiation processes.

Here is the info in this screen page on a PDF to enable download and/or printing

Zoom TalkYou are invited to a Zoom meeting. Please register directly via Zoom by clicking the link below.You can join the meeting from 7:00 pm i.e., up to 30 minutes beforehand.

Talk starts promptly on Wed 14th October 2020 at 7:30 pm

Please register well in advance with this link:-

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAqf-qvrDkuG9DxwnvRhLrVPArn3ag8OcrW

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting with a link to be used on the night.

– Other Queries and Enquiries to: warwickshiregcg@gmail.com

Oct 2020 Talk: From Coprolites to Cholera, the life of William Buckland, by Peter Lincoln
2020-10-21 19:30 - 21:30 | Zoom Video Talk
To WGCG Members, Friends and Guests,We are pleased to have another talk via Zoom on Wed 21 Oct 2020 at 7.00 for a prompt 7:30 pm start.The talk will be at 7:30 pm followed by the WGCG 2020 AGM

From Coprolites to Cholera – the extraordinary life of William Buckland, Presented by Peter Lincoln

From Coprolites to Cholera – the extraordinary life of William Buckland
Presented by Peter Lincoln

AbstractWilliam Buckland (1784-1856), Oxford’s first ‘Professor’ of geology, was a central figure of the ‘heroic’ foundational age of geological investigation. Buckland was a meticulous scientist and a devout, if sometimes rather too down-to-earth, clergyman. A charismatic lecturer, his flamboyant delivery stimulated his admirers and scandalised his detractors and, as a result, he was both venerated and vilified in life and, since his death, his eccentricities have often been more remembered than his achievements. However, Buckland’s foundational work in stratigraphy and palaeontology – his explanation of hyena den at Kirkdale won him the Royal Society’s Copley Medal – and his early acceptance of glacial theory put him firmly at the forefront of early nineteenth century geological endeavour. Equally at home with queens and quarrymen, William Buckland’s humanity shone through in everything he did. Appointed Dean of Westminster in 1845, he did not hesitate to use his new position to advocate scientific solutions to the problems of famine and disease. In this talk I shall aim to restore the memory of this geological hero by describing his long and eventful life and outlining some of his many achievements, both in geology and in the wider world.

Other reading – Wikipedia – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Buckland

Peter Lincoln

Peter LincolnPeter Lincoln retired from careers in shipbuilding and school science-teaching to pursue his interests in history of science.A UCL MSc dissertation project on the foundation of Ipswich Museum lead to a fascination with the person and character of William Buckland, whose life and work now form the focus of his further studies towards a PhD at the University of East Anglia.

Here is the info in this screen page on a PDF to enable download and/or printing

Zoom TalkYou are invited to a Zoom meeting. Please register directly via Zoom by clicking the link below.You can join the meeting on Wed 21 Oct 2020 from 7:00 pm i.e., up to 30 minutes beforehand.

Talk starts promptly at 7:30 pm

– Queries and Enquiries to: warwickshiregcg@gmail.com

Video info at: https://youtu.be/h3sJqYGBGOU

Nov 2020 Talk: The Jurassic Coast: The biggest story on Earth, Richard Edmonds
2020-11-18 19:30 - 21:00 | Zoom Video Talk
This evening’s Zoom Talk will be preceded by WGCG AGM at 7:00pm, for 30 mins

WGCG 2020 AGM – Zoom will open at 06:30 pm for a 7.00 pm start for the AGM. The lecture will follow at 7.30 pm. The Annual Report for the AGM has been e-mailed to members. All members are encouraged to participate.

Description: A look at the Dorset and East Devon coast World Heritage Site; 185 million years of the Earth’s geological history explored in the global context of plate tectonics, extinction events and the evolutionary steps that eventually led to us.

This is England’s only natural World Heritage Site.

Here is a PDF of this page to download or printJurassic_Coast-Richard_Edmonds-18/11/20

Richard Edmonds is a geologist and fossil collector, former Earth Science Manager for the Site and the first warden of the Charmouth Heritage Coast Centre.

Zoom Talk

You are invited to a Zoom meeting. You can join the meeting on Wed 18 Nov 2020 from 7:00 pm i.e., up to 30 minutes beforehand.

Talk starts promptly at 7:30 pm

PLEASE NOTE: This evening’s Zoom Talk will be preceded by WGCG AGM, of interest to members, at 7:00pm, for 30 minsWGCG 2020 AGM– Zoom will open at 06:30 pm for a 7.00 pm start for the AGM. The lecture will follow at 7.30 pm. The WGCG 2020 Annual Report for the AGM has been e-mailed to members. All members are encouraged to participate.

– Queries and Enquiries to: warwickshiregcg@gmail.com

Dec 2020 Talk: History & Hidden Gems of the Lapworth Museum of Geology, Aerona Moore
2020-12-09 07:30 - 09:00 | Zoom Video Talk
History and Hidden Gems of the Lapworth Museum of Geology, Aerona Moore

Roary at the Lapworth Museum of Geology.

Outline

The Lapworth Museum of Geology holds the finest and most extensive collections of fossils, minerals and rocks in the Midlands. Dating back to 1880, it is one of the oldest specialist geological museums in the UK. Enabling visitors to explore life over the past 3.5 billion years, the Lapworth Museum showcases exceptional objects of both scientific and historical importance.

This talk will reveal the Museums fascinating history and its recent transformational redevelopment. Hear about the influential geologists who have contributed to the Museum’s collections, including Charles Lapworth whom the Museum is named after. Explore some of the Museums hidden gems, favourite objects and the fascinating stories they tell.

Aerona Moore, Learning and Engagement Officer at the Lapworth Museum of Geology.

Speaker

Aerona Moore, Learning and Engagement Officer at the Lapworth Museum of Geology.

Aerona has nearly 10 years of experience in engaging people of all ages with geology. After completing her undergraduate in Geoscience at the University of St Andrews, she completed a research Masters in mid ocean ridge volcanism in Canada. She has since worked in some iconic geological places, including the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site and Arran Geopark, before starting at the Lapworth Museum in 2018.

Zoom Talk

You are invited to a Zoom meeting. You can join the meeting on Wed 9 Dec 2020 from 7:00 pm i.e., up to 30 minutes beforehand.

Talk starts promptly at 7:30 pm

– Queries and Enquiries to: warwickshiregcg@gmail.com

Jan 2021 Talk: New Ordovician fossil discovery in Wales
2021-01-20 19:30 - 21:00 | Zoom Video Talk
Castle Bank: A new Ordovician Burgess Shale-type fauna in Wales, by Dr Joe Botting

” … most important fossil discovery since Fezouata Biota [1990s] … potential to revolutionise our view of Ordovician evolution & ecosystems,” Dr Joe Botting.

Outline

The Burgess Shale-type faunas of the Cambrian provide one of the best windows into ancient ecosystems, preserving a remarkable range of soft-bodied organisms in extraordinary detail. Most remarkably, they represent the extremely diverse, normal marine assemblages of the open shelf sea floor, and have therefore revealed the Cambrian Explosion (arguably the most important interval in animal evolution) in previously unimaginable detail. There are two known Early Ordovician faunas of this type (in Wales and Morocco), but after that the window seems to have closed. Later Ordovician exceptionally preserved fossil assemblages are more constrained and limited in scope often representing odd environments or specialist ecosystems.

During the lockdown of 2020, a new Burgess Shale-type fauna was discovered in Middle Ordovician rocks of the Builth Inlier, central Wales. The fauna is in the preliminary stages of excavation and interpretation, but has already yielded a remarkable range of lightly mineralised and soft-bodied taxa, including sponges, arthropods, several phyla of worms, molluscs and many other groups. The fauna is the most important Ordovician fossil discovery since the Fezouata Biota, and has the potential to revolutionise our view of Ordovician evolution and ecosystems.

Joe & Lucy Botting with the new microscope & camera

WGCG contributed to an appeal to crowdfund a high-quality Leica S8 APO photomicroscope to aid study of these fauna. See: WGCG 2020 Autumn Newsletter – Pages 29 & 30 – Click image to enlarge.

Dr Joe Botting

Fitting camera to microscope

All-focus

Speaker: Dr. Joseph P. Bottingis a palaeontologist specialising in the evolution of sponges, echinoderms, and Ordovician ecosystems. He is currently a Guest Scientist at the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, and an Honorary Research Fellow at the National Museum Wales, but lives primarily in central Wales. Brought up in Hereford, he holds degrees from the University of Cambridge (MA in Natural Sciences) and the University of Birmingham (PhD), and has worked at the University of Cambridge, the Natural History Museum (London), Leeds Museum, and the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology. He has around 75 published papers (including in major journals such as Nature, Current Biology, Science Advances and Geology) and book chapters, has given multiple keynote lectures at international conferences, and is at least partly responsible for the discovery of several of the known Ordovician Konservat-Lagerstätten.

More about WGCGWGCG programmes include talks, currently virtual, field walks and residential field visits. WGCG creates and publishes trail guides and interpretation panels. We survey Local Geological Sites (LGS) formerly RiGS and do works to conserve some of them. We can provide bursaries via the Holloway Award. We invite you to take a look at the geology, geodiversity, iceage history revealed in the Brandon Wall. We hope you will find great interest in The Geology of Warwickshire provided by the Warwickshire Geological Conservation Group (WGCG) including Meriden Shafts, Stratford Trail Guide, Solihull, Rugby, Guides to Building Stones in many towns, Corley Rocks and Burton Dassett Hills. Come and see the Warwickshire’s Jurassic rocks and fossils including ammonites and belemnites.

Zoom Talk

• Registration Closed! • Unfortunately we can not accept any further Registrations for this talk •

– Queries and Enquiries to: warwickshiregcg@gmail.com

Feb 2021 Talk: “Geological Time and the Anthropocene.” by Ian Fairchild
2021-02-17 19:30 - 21:00 | Zoom Video Talk
Geological Time and the Anthropocene by Ian Fairchild

Outline:– There is little doubt that mankind’s impact on the natural environment has increased dramatically in recent decades but … are we now living in a new epoch of geological time: the Anthropocene? Concepts from Earth System Science agree with stratigraphic markers that we went outside the range of conditions of the Holocene in the last 70 years, but does the term Anthropocene belong to geologists anyway?

This presentation is in two parts. Geological Time and the Anthropocene examines the way in which geologists establish stratigraphic golden spikes that represent particular instants in geological history, using examples throughout the record. The particular issues from the idea of an Anthropocene Epoch are then examined. A key idea is that the Earth System is now operating outside its range of the Holocene Epoch, representing the time since the Ice Age. In the second part, we move to a scripted dialogue between the speaker and members of the audience called Introducing the Anthropocene in which different voices question the ideas surrounding the formal establishment of an Anthropocene Epoch

Ian FairchildEmeritus Professor, University of Birmingham and Chair, Herefordshire and Worcestershire Earth Heritage Trust.

Ian Fairchild started his career as a geologist with specialism in sedimentology, but diversified into fields such as glacial geomorphology, karst science and environmental chemistry including contemporary environmental and climatic change. He is currently a member of the Anthropocene Working Group which is developing a proposal for the formal establishment of an Anthropocene Epoch as the youngest element in the geological column. Ian is Emeritus Professor at the University of Birmingham and Chair of the Herefordshire and Worcestershire Earth Heritage Trust.

More info on our speaker: Ian Fairchild and here is Ian’s Research Portal

See some relevant slides

More about WGCGWGCG programmes include talks, currently virtual, field walks and residential field visits. WGCG creates and publishes trail guides and interpretation panels. We survey local geological sites (LGS) and works to conserve some of them. We can provide bursaries via the Holloway Award. We invite you to take a look at the geology, geodiversity, iceage history revealed in the Brandon Wall. We hope you will find great interest in The Geology of Warwickshire provided by the Warwickshire Geological Conservation Group (WGCG) including Meriden Shafts, Stratford Trail Guide, Solihull, Rugby, Guides to Building Stones in many towns, Corley Rocks and The Burton Dassett Hills Country Park. Come and see the Warwickshire’s Jurassic rocks and fossils including ammonites and belemnites.

Zoom Talk

You are invited to a Zoom meeting. You can join the meeting on Wed 17 Feb 2021 from 7:00 pm i.e., up to 30 minutes beforehand.

Talk starts promptly at 7:30 pm

– Queries and Enquiries to: warwickshiregcg@gmail.com

March 2021: Stuart Blake: An introduction to The Geology of Iceland
2021-03-17 19:30 - 21:00 | Zoom Video Talk
Wed 17 March 2021: Stuart Blake: “An Introduction to the Geology of Iceland”

IntroductionThe geology of Iceland is unique. Situated on the divergent boundary between the Eurasian plate and the North American plate, it also lies above a hotspot, the Iceland plume. The plume is believed to have caused the formation of Iceland itself, the island first appearing over the ocean surface about 16 to 18 million years ago. Upwelling commenced in the early Tertiary and sea bed core evidences 55 million year old rock. The result is an island characterized by repeated volcanism – Surtsey, a new volcanic island was formed in 1967. Geothermal phenomena such as geysers are a great natural resource

Our speaker: Stuart Blake Stuart Blake is an Instructor and the Director at the Lochranza Centre https://www.lochranzacentre.co.uk. He arrived on Arran some 38 years ago as a graduate and teacher of geology to take on the role of an instructor. He has taught geology and acted as a mountain leader, both on Arran and overseas in Iceland for most of that time. He also enjoys visiting and sampling geology from other areas – his most recent excursions having been to the Azores, the Caribbean and Ireland.

The Lochranza Centre employs six staff as instructors and the Geopark has a coordinator, all sadly furloughed at the moment.Since the Geopark and the Lochranza Centre are not in receipt of any government or Council funding they have try to raise the money to keep going. The Centre provides accommodation and/ or tuition to people of all ages, from primary school age to those in the U3A. Teaching covers the geology, geography and biology of this island home. Activity courses are run offering gorge walking, mountain biking and abseiling, to name but a few of the activities available. The centre offers accommodation for people attending courses or just wanting to visit the island.

Link to Arran Geopark http://www.arrangeopark.co.uk

An Introduction to the Geology of Iceland, Stuart Blake for WGCG, 17 March 2021

An Introduction to the Geology of Iceland, Stuart Blake for WGCG, 17 March 2021

An Introduction to the Geology of Iceland, Stuart Blake for WGCG, 17 March 2021

An Introduction to the Geology of Iceland, Stuart Blake for WGCG, 17 March 2021

An Introduction to the Geology of Iceland, Stuart Blake for WGCG, 17 March 2021

Short promo video on YouTube

More about WGCGWGCG programmes include talks, currently virtual, field walks and residential field visits. WGCG creates and publishes trail guides and interpretation panels. We survey local geological sites (LGS) and works to conserve some of them. We can provide bursaries via the Holloway Award. We invite you to take a look at the geology, geodiversity, iceage history revealed in the Brandon Wall. We hope you will find great interest in The Geology of Warwickshire provided by the Warwickshire Geological Conservation Group (WGCG) including Meriden Shafts, Stratford Trail Guide, Solihull, Rugby, Guides to Building Stones in many towns, Corley Rocks and The Burton Dassett Hills Country Park. Come and see the Warwickshire’s Jurassic rocks and fossils including ammonites and belemnites.

Zoom Talk

You are invited to a Zoom meeting. You can join the meeting on Wed 17 March 2021 from 7:00 pm i.e., up to 30 minutes beforehand.

Talk starts promptly at 7:30 pm

– Queries and Enquiries to: warwickshiregcg@gmail.com

Talk: ‘Henry Clifton Sorby – Sheffield’s Greatest Scientist’ by Noel Worley
2021-04-21 19:30 - 21:00 | Online Via Zoom or YouTube
Wed 21 April 2021: ‘Henry Clifton Sorby, Microscopist & Geologist – Sheffield’s Greatest Scientist’ by Noel Worley

Introduction

Henry Clifton Sorby, Microscopist & Geologist. ‘Outside Sheffield, and outside geology and metallurgy the name Henry Clifton Sorby is little known and even within these circles all that is known by many is the name. This is not surprising but it is regrettable for apart from his outstanding achievements in a wide variety of scientific fields the life of the man is interesting from a number of viewpoints.’ wrote Norman Higham in 1961 in his biography. Sorby’s geological accomplishments have since undergone a reprise with international scientific recognition in the fields sedimentology, fluid inclusion geochemistry, structural geology and cosmology. R L Folk, the famous American sedimentologist and holder of the International Association of Sedimentologists Sorby Medal when listing the variety of scientific topics that were fathered by Sorby remarked ‘… a truly imposing patrimony for a life-long bachelor.’

Sorby was a gentleman of independent means, and whilst well educated had no formal training. He devoted the whole of his life to scientific enquiry working solidly until his death in 1908. He was motivated by the spirit of original investigation and never sought the attention that his achievements merited. His averseness to specialisation led to criticism by some of his contemporaries in the scientific establishment. They suggested that he merely ‘showed the way’ rather than exhausting the possibilities of a discovery.

Sorby, Microscopist & Geologist

Samples re Henry Clifton Sorby

Samples re Henry Clifton Sorby

The purpose of the talk is to review his principle successes, to examine the circumstances surrounding Henry Clifton Sorby’s life in Sheffield between 1826 to his death in 1908; and to explain the key influences that led him along the path of scientific discovery. His greatest triumphs were undoubtedly in the development and application of microscopic techniques and he is regarded throughout the world as the father of petrography, metallography and sedimentology. He unleashed the power of the microscope in the investigation of meteorites and his work in this area has never been bettered. He was the first to use the microscope in forensic science and the first to study inclusions in crystals.

Sorby devoted the whole of his life to scientific enquiry working solidly until his death. He was motivated by the spirit of original investigation and never sought the attention that his achievements merited. He was a powerful force in the development of higher education in Sheffield whose university he helped to establish and was a pioneer in the promotion of the provision of facilities for original scientific research.

Our speaker: Noel Worley

Noel Worley is a geologist having worked within the industrial minerals sector at British Gypsum until retirement in 2012. He has been president of the Yorkshire Geological Society and deputy chairman of the CBI Minerals Group. His main interests and publications concern the geology of the north of England including mineralization and karst in the South Pennines, evaporites, microscopy, and the work of H.C.Sorby.

More about WGCGWGCG programmes include talks, currently virtual, field walks and residential field visits. WGCG creates and publishes trail guides and interpretation panels. We survey local geological sites (LGS) and works to conserve some of them. We can provide bursaries via the Holloway Award. We invite you to take a look at the geology, geodiversity, iceage history revealed in the Brandon Wall. We hope you will find great interest in The Geology of Warwickshire provided by the Warwickshire Geological Conservation Group (WGCG) including Meriden Shafts, Stratford Trail Guide, Solihull, Rugby, Guides to Building Stones in many towns, Corley Rocks and The Burton Dassett Hills Country Park. Come and see the Warwickshire’s Jurassic rocks and fossils including ammonites and belemnites.

Zoom Talk

You are invited to a Zoom meeting. You can join the meeting on Wed 21 April 2021 from 7:00 pm i.e., up to 30 minutes beforehand.

Talk starts promptly at 7:30 pm

Please register well in advance of the evening of Wed 21 April 2021 with this Registration Link

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIvd–prT0tGdGCtfWEjTC13MRLNFhjtqjR

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting with a link to be used on the night.

– Queries and Enquiries to: warwickshiregcg@gmail.com

Venue: Virtual (Zoom or YouTube) Zoom as if from – St Francis of Assisi R C Church, Kenilworth

Talk: Iapetus No More – The continental collision that shaped Scotland by Angus Miller
2021-05-19 19:30 - 21:00 | Zoom Video Talk
Iapetus No More – The continental collision that shaped Scotland by Angus Miller

Talk Outline: Five hundred million years ago, the Iapetus Ocean lay between three continents in the southern hemisphere. The tectonics of the next 100 million years brought different segments of continent together, formed the grain of the land and created the building blocks of much of Scotland’s landscape. This talk will explore the closure of the Iapetus Ocean, the formation of most of the metamorphic and igneous rocks of the Highlands and Southern Uplands, and the complex events that together make the most significant event in Scotland’s geological history.More at Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iapetus_Ocean

More at: EarthWisehttp://earthwise.bgs.ac.uk/index.php/Early_Palaeozoic_Iapetus_Ocean,_South_of_Scotland

Our speaker: Dr Angus MillerAngus has been leading Geowalks since 1998, including day walks, walking holidays and group excursions exploring Scotland’s geology and its influence on landscape & people. He teaches adult education courses for the Centre for Open Learning at the University of Edinburgh and is the Promotion Coordinator for the Edinburgh Geological Society. He’s also been involved as a volunteer for Lothian and Borders GeoConservation, particularly in public outreach events and leaflets. He was chair of the Scottish Geodiversity Forum from 2011-2020, responsible for publishing and promoting Scotland’s Geodiversity Charter, and is now a trustee of the new Scottish Geology Trust.

This is a ‘virtual’ Zoom talk. Here is the Registration Link:-

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIvf–hrz0pGNz9zDF0GzMIDvFjpw71AHL_

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

More about WGCGWGCG programmes include talks, currently virtual, field walks and residential field visits. WGCG creates and publishes trail guides and interpretation panels. We survey local geological sites (LGS) and works to conserve some of them. We can provide bursaries via the Holloway Award. We invite you to take a look at the geology, geodiversity, iceage history revealed in the Brandon Wall. We hope you will find great interest in The Geology of Warwickshire provided by the Warwickshire Geological Conservation Group (WGCG) including Meriden Shafts, Stratford Trail Guide, Solihull, Rugby, Guides to Building Stones in many towns, Corley Rocks and The Burton Dassett Hills Country Park. Come and see the Warwickshire’s Jurassic rocks and fossils including ammonites and belemnites.

Although this is a talk on Zoom, we normally meet in the church hall of: St Francis Of Assisi R C Church, 110 Warwick Rd, Kenilworth CV8 1HL

Event URL: https://www.wgcg.co.uk/event/iapetus-no-more-the-continental-collision-that-shaped-scotland-by-angus-miller/

Talk: Mary Anning, The Fossil Woman by Tom Sharpe
2021-06-16 19:30 - 21:00 | Virtual (Zoom or YouTube), Zoom as if from - St Francis of Assisi R C Church, Kenilworth, Warwickshire, CV8 1HL, United Kingdom
Mary Anning, Courtesy of The Geological Society.

Mary Anning collecting with her father (An1869 image)

Introduction: It has been said that more has been written about Mary Anning, the fossil dealer of Lyme Regis, than about any other geologist, apart from Charles Darwin. But how much do we really know? How much is speculation? And how much is myth that has developed through the uncritical telling and retelling of her tale over the course of two centuries? Are we seeing a new Anning myth in the making, thanks to a recent film? Separating the facts from the fictions about Mary Anning can be challenging, but her story is a remarkable tale in its own right. This talk will examine what we know of the life of this extraordinary woman, her famous – and less well-known – discoveries, and her part within the wider network of the developing science of palaeontology in the early nineteenth century, and will seek to dispel at least a few of the Mary myths.

Picture by Mary Anning in 1823 of her plesiosaur. Courtesy: Wellcome Collection

Tom Sharpe’s biography of Mary Anning

A virtual Zoom talk.

Registration: Please click link

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZwrc-CpqTMsE9Acd11C4VbONNMR2971cvBl

It’s is free. No charge. Open to all. When you click the link you will be asked for your name and e-mail address and you will receive a link to join the talk from 7:00 pm. The talk will start promptly at 7:30 pm and conclude with an audience question session.A video recording of the talk will be available to WGCG members or named contacts with an access code for up to one month after the talk,Membership is open to all at £12/year and free to those in full-time education. See more

Tom Sharpe, Author: The Fossil Woman. A Life of Mary Anning

Tom Sharpe is a geologist who now works as an expedition travel geology lecturer and guide, mainly in the polar regions. A graduate of the universities of Glasgow and Leicester, he was formerly Curator of Palaeontology and Archives at the National Museum of Wales and taught geology in the lifelong learning departments of both Cardiff and Bristol universities. He is a Fellow of the Geological Society, the Royal Geographical Society and the Museums Association, and is a former Chair of the Geological Curators’ Group and History of Geology Group. He has long had an interest in the history of geology, and has published on the work of the geologists Henry De la Beche and William Smith and on the history of the geological exploration of Antarctica. He is the author of The Fossil Woman. A Life of Mary Anning, published by The Dovecote Press in November 2020.

See more of Tom Sharpe ion Twitter: Twitter @tomsharperocks

More about WGCGWGCG programmes include talks, currently virtual, field walks and residential field visits. WGCG creates and publishes trail guides and interpretation panels. We survey local geological sites (LGS) and works to conserve some of them. We can provide bursaries via the Holloway Award. We invite you to take a look at the geology, geodiversity, iceage history revealed in the Brandon Wall. We hope you will find great interest in The Geology of Warwickshire provided by the Warwickshire Geological Conservation Group (WGCG) including Meriden Shafts, Stratford Trail Guide, Solihull, Rugby, Guides to Building Stones in many towns, Corley Rocks and The Burton Dassett Hills Country Park. Come and see the Warwickshire’s Jurassic rocks and fossils including ammonites and belemnites.

Although this is a talk on Zoom, we normally meet in the church hall of: St Francis Of Assisi R C Church, 110 Warwick Rd, Kenilworth CV8 1HL

Event URL: https://www.wgcg.co.uk/event/talk-mary-anning-the-fossil-woman-by-tom-sharpe

WGCG Members' Field Visit to Blockley Quarry
2021-07-31 10:00 - 15:00 | Northcot Brick Blockley, Moreton-in-the-Marsh GL56 9LH
Blockley Brickpit (now re-named Wellacre Quarry) is owned by Northcot Brick Ltd., who allowparties to visit the site under supervision. Dale Moss will be our guide for the day.The location is near Moreton-in-the-Marsh, Gloucestershire about a mile NE of Blockley village on the B4479.WGCG Member, Jon Radley, has agreed to lead the trip, and is familiar with the geology and history of thesite.Geology: It is a well known and much celebrated SSSI site, exposing a small part of the Lower Lias clay,which is especially well developed at this location. It has been of much scientific importance inestablishing ammonite evolutionary trends, helping to construct a detailed zonal sequence for theJurassic Period.It is particularly fossiliferous at Blockley, with many other invertebrate groups also preserved,offering good possibilities for specimen collecting.However, be warned that the site is muddy (especially if wet). Minimum safety wear requiredby the operators is hi-vis vests, hard hats and strong protective boots (preferably steel-cappedsafety boots). You should also bring clothing appropriate for the weather expected.Pre-booked WGCG members are asked to assemble at 10.00 a.m. at the entrance to the site. They will need to make their own travel arrangements in accordance with whatever Covid arrangements are in force at the time of our visit. We hope to be able to spend up to around 4-5 hours on the site….until “mid afternoon” (? 3 p.m. max).Members will need to provide their own picnic lunch / drinks and collecting paraphernalia! For once, theuse of hammers on loose material is permitted.

Please note that places are limited to 20 overall, and we have also invited BCGS members to attend. Initially the first 15 places will be offered to WGCG members in strict order of application. Please indicate if you wish to be placed on a waiting list if further places become available. For insurance purposes, you must be a fully paid up member of WGCG or BCGS.WGCG membership is open to all and is free for those in full-time education.The info. shown here is a summary. For more details, members should contact Julie Harrald. The e-mail for WGCG is: warwickshiregcg@gmail.com

WGCG 3-Night Residential Field Trip to North Lincolnshire
2021-08-20 12:00 - 2021-08-23 15:00
This is a WGCG residential field trip to North Lincolnshire in August 2021. We are fortunate to have obtained the services of Paul Hildreth, sitting President of the Yorkshire Geological Society, who lives in the area and knows the geology (especially the Chalk) well, with a background in oil exploration and teaching.

DurationFormal leadership will commence on the Friday afternoon (20th August) and end around lunchtime on the Monday (23rd August). RegistrationThere will be an upper limit of 20 participants and places will be allocated on a first-come-first-served basis. A minimum number of 6 participants will be required to make the trip viable.WGCG membership is open to all and is free for those in full-time education.

Itinerary / Geology

Itinerary / GeologyPaul has suggested the following provisional itinerary, subject to receiving access permissions where required.

Friday p.m. Claxby (complete, but attenuated, patchy hillside succession of Lower Cretaceous stratigraphy with emphasis on the former Claxby Ironstone industry – including industrial archaeology)

Saturday a.m. South Ferriby Quarry (Cretaceous L/M Chalk, Red Chalk and Carstone unconformable on late Jurassic Oxfordian & Kimmeridgian Clay……highly fosiliferous…..site of a 2018 Pliosaur discovery)Saturday p.m. Conesby Quarry (last exposure of the L. Jurassic Frodingham Ironstone…..former important local steel industry…….“everyone guaranteed a fossil”!)

Sunday a.m. Kirton in Lindsey (M. Jurassic Lincolnshire Limestone – ‘Inferior Oolite’ equivalent)Sunday p.m. Ulceby Vale (‘Middle Chalk’…..Turonian Flint Maximum……detailed stratigraphy of part of the Chalk)

Monday a.m. Welton-le-Wold (Pleistocene Sites of importance: Devensian and older tills (?Wolstonian) on Hoxnian gravels)

Fuller notes will be provided as a handout closer to the occasion. Paul may also be able to engage local specialists for particular locations we visit.

The info. shown here is a summary. For more details, members should contact Julie Harrald. The e-mail for WGCG is: warwickshiregcg@gmail.com

Evening Lecture (Zoom)
2021-09-15 19:00 - 20:30
Dr Jonathan Paul of Royal Holloway University of London – Subsurface engineering and water resources of Greater London

Register in advance for this meeting:https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYscuuorj4rHNzT-FnYm-O_VQQNoZVGXib5

Visit to Bockley Quarry
2021-09-18 10:00 - 15:00
Blockley Quarry visit led by Jon Radley. This was rescheduled from 31 July 2021.

Geoconservation Henley in Arden
2021-09-21 10:00 - 15:00
WGCG volunteers will be clearing the Arden Sandstone exposure along the A4189 Warwick Road, (Blackford Hill), in Henley in Arden. If you would like to be involved please get in touch with Max Down or send an email to warwickshiregcg@gmail.com

LPS Zoom Lecture: Dinosaurs and Deserts in South Wales - presented by Cindy Howells National Museum Wales
2021-09-29 19:30 - 21:00 | Zoom Video Talk
Leicester geology group invite WGCG members to a talk on “Dinosaurs and Deserts in South Wales” – presented by Cindy Howells National Museum Wales. To register for this talk use the following link

Birmingham City Centre Building Stones walk - Trail 1
2021-10-03 14:30 - 16:30
Birmingham City Centre has some of the finest and most exotic building stones adorning its buildings from the UK and around the world. This tour was conceived by Julie Schroder of the BCGS and constructed by Ruth Siddall of University College London, a recognised expert in this field. This event is free to attend for members and guests. Trail Guide download

To register for this walk, please email Julie Harrald at JulieHarrald@gmail.com by Sunday 26th September, stating your name and any mobile phone number you will use on the day. Participants should gather at the statue of Queen Victoria, Victoria Square, Birmingham at 2.15pm to allow the walk to start at 2.30pm

AGM (Kenilworth)
2021-10-20 19:00 - 21:00 | St Francis, 110 Warwick Road, Kenilworth, CV8 1HL
AGM followed by a short talk on ten years of the Holloway Bequest by Ian Fenwick and Brian Ellis

7.00pm for a 7.30 pm start. Venue: St Francis Church Hall, Warwick Road (Kenilworth main street), Kenilworth CV8 1HL

LLPS Lecture (Zoom)
2021-10-27 07:00 - 21:00
WGCG Members are invited to a talk by Dr Katie Strang,Scottish Geology Trust. Celebrating Scotland’s geological heritage with the Scottish Geology Trust.

The Scottish Geology Trust was launched in 2020 with the key objective of inspiring people everywhere to understand, love and care for Scotland’s incredible geological heritage, and its role in creating a sustainable future. From the 1st of September to the 17th October the Trust and partners will deliver a packed programme of activities as part of the Scottish Geology Festival from Stranraer to Shetland that will showcase and celebrate Scotland’s geology. Join the Trust’s Secretary Dr Katie Strang for a virtual tour around Scotland’s most loved geological sites and the fantastic festival events that are taking place around the country, and to hear more about the work the Trust has been doing to inspire and engage people with the rocks beneath their feet, and how important these are for exploring our future

Evening Lecture (Kenilworth)
2021-11-17 19:00 - 21:00 | St Francis, 110 Warwick Rd, Kenilworth, CV8 1HL
Emeritus Professor Stuart Burley, Keele University – A very British summer in the late Triassic: torrential rain, the Arden Sandstone and the dawn of the dinosaurs

7.00pm for a 7.30 pm start. Venue: St Francis Church Hall, Warwick Road (Kenilworth main street), Kenilworth CV8 1HL

LLPS: Volcanic Tsunamis: Krakatau, 1883 and 2018.
2021-11-24 19:30 - 21:00 | Zoom Video Talk
LLPS Zoom talk by Dr Seb Watt

Social Evening (Kenilworth)
2021-12-08 07:00 - 09:00 | St Francis, 110 Warwick Road, Kenilworth, CV8 1HL
Christmas Social. Venue: St Francis Church Hall, Warwick Road (Kenilworth main street), Kenilworth CV8 1HL

Evening Lecture in Kenilworth and online via Zoom
2021-12-15 19:30 - 21:00 | Kenilworth Methodist Church, 60 Priory Rd,, Kenilworth, CV8 1LQ
Emeritus Professor Stuart Burley, Keele University – A very British summer in the late Triassic: torrential rain, the Arden Sandstone and the dawn of the dinosaurs.

To participate via Zoom please register in advance for this meeting:https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIkceytpjwrHtMmd_OWisTQFk5ldHA-66TI

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

LLPS: The secret life of the starfish/crinoid
2022-01-12 19:30 - 21:00 | Zoom Video Talk
LLPS Zoom Lecture by Dr Aaron Hunter

Mining on the Iberian Peninsula (Zoom & KMC)
2022-01-19 19:30 - 21:00 | Kenilworth Methodist Church, 60 Priory Rd,, Kenilworth, CV8 1LQ
Talk by: Rob Vernon.

Hybrid meeting held at KMC & Via Zoom:

LLPS: Ethiopian volcanics
2022-02-09 19:30 - 21:00 | Zoom Video Talk
Dr Ben Clarke

The Kilchrist Caldera, Skye (Zoom & KMC)
2022-02-16 19:30 - 21:00 | Kenilworth Methodist Church, 60 Priory Rd,, Kenilworth, CV8 1LQ
Talk by Simon Drake. Hybrid meeting at KMC and via Zoom

‘Catastrophic caldera forming eruptions spanning the Paleocene Eocene Thermal Maximum at Kilchrist and Belig, Isle of Skye, NW Scotland’

Highly silicic Paleocene-Eocene ignimbrite deposits, and mafic lavas at Kilchrist and Belig, Isle of Skye, NW Scotland, form part of a ~800m thick extensive caldera fill which largely fringes the Eastern Red Hills on Skye. Magma was supplied to the growing caldera via the Moine-related Kishorn Thrust fault, and ponded against pre-existing Paleocene rocks of the Cuillin and Western Red Hills Centres. Silicic magma reservoirs which fed the Kilchrist Caldera were frequently replenished with basic magma. Such replenishment triggered eruptions. Later eruptions typically deposited extremely coarse ignimbrites, demonstrating catastrophic collapse of the caldera. Collapse was followed by caldera resurgence and formation of the Eastern Red Hills Granite Centre.

Within the caldera sequence, ignimbrites at Kilchrist have been dated at 56.15 Ma. This date is precisely coincident with the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM). We suggest that the North Atlantic atmospheric temperature increases during the PETM were intimately linked to consumption of surrounding dolostone country rock by the Kilchrist caldera. We calculate such consumption released between ~5.32 – 8.52 Gt of CO2 into the Paleocene atmosphere. Our study provides the first unequivocal evidence of large-scale eruptions within the North Atlantic Igneous Province on the PETM.

Biography: Simon Drake is a research associate (and former associate lecturer) at Birkbeck College, University of London and was recently appointed North Downs Way Ambassador leading Geo walks on the North Downs Way and advising re Geopark status. Previously, Simon was part of the Metropolitan Police working on the Diplomatic Protection Group at Downing Street during the Major and Blair Premierships.

Geo Conservation, Rowington Canal Cutting
2022-02-26 09:30 - 16:00 | St Lawrence, Old Warwick Road, Rowington, CV35 7AB, United Kingdom
This pre clearance video gives an idea of the scope of the work to be undertaken. We will initially concentrate our efforts on a 20m section on the north side of the canal. This is a safe and easily accessable exposure. If we have time and sufficient volunteers we would like to get a start of clearing a section on the south side. Please wear suitable clothing and bring with you your own tools and refreshments. Meet in the car park opposite St Lawrence church between 09:45-10:00 hrs. All are welcome.

Wine, Whisky and Beer – the role of geology (Zoom & KMC)
2022-03-16 19:30 - 21:00 | Kenilworth Methodist Church, 60 Priory Rd,, Kenilworth, CV8 1LQ
Alex Maltman. Hybrid meeting held at KMC & via Zoom. We read that the taste of wine is affected by the geology of the vineyard and that whisky is influenced by the rocks the water encountered on its way to the distillery….(Download Poster).
