Warwickshire Geological Conservation Group (WGCG)

April 2019 Walk: Warwick Town Walk and Warwick Museum
2019-04-10 18:00 - 21:00 (Europe/London)
Warwick Town & Museum (led by Jon Radley) (max.20)

November 2018 talk: The secret life of your mobile phone: metal supply and digital devices
2018-11-21 19:00 - 21:30 | St Francis of Assisi R C Church
The secret life of your mobile phone: metal supply and digital devices.

Andrew Bloodworth, Science Director for Minerals and Waste, British Geological Survey

ajbl@bgs.ac.uk

Up until the mid 20th Century, very few metallic elements in the periodic table had any practical use. Since then, mankind has broadened its pallet of useful metals enormously to take in so-called ‘rare’ or ‘critical’ or ‘exotic’ or ‘technology’ materials, including rare earth elements, platinum group elements and others, from beryllium to zirconium. This expansion has been pulled along by the development of new digital technologies and their almost magical appeal to billions of consumers across the globe. This talk uses the ubiquitous mobile phone to illustrate the importance of these metals and to explore issues around supply security and ‘criticality’. This will include a look at ideas related to metal supply from geological and other sources, and may challenge some commonly-held assumptions relating to non-renewable mineral resources and physical scarcity. It will also look at the human factors that influence metal availability and the environmental limits to our conspicuous consumption of these vital raw materials.

Sept2018 talk: “Doctors in Geology” by Dr. Albert Benghiat
2018-09-19 19:00 - 21:00 | St Francis of Assisi R C Church
“Doctors in Geology” – Dr. Albert Benghiat Gentleman medical personalities from the 19th century history of geology.

Sept 2018, Visit Residential, Lake District: Borrowdale Volcanics & Ordovician-Silurian boundary rocks, Led by Dr Simon Drake
2018-09-07 12:00 - 2018-09-09 12:00
Lake District, Coniston area

Led by Dr Simon Drake, Birkbeck College, London. We will examine the Borrowdale Volcanics and the Ordovician / Silurian boundary rocks and landscape development.

Participants will be required to arrange their own accommodation but it is hoped to arrange a group dinner on the Saturday, and possibly the Sunday, evenings. To allow time for participants to book accommodation early in this popular location, registration documents will be sent out earlier than usual – do look out for them during February.

July 2018, Visit, Ecton Copper Mine, Led by Ecton Ed. Trust staff
2018-07-21 00:00
Ecton Copper Mine, Manifold Valley between Hulme End and Wardlow

Led by Ecton Educational Trust staff. Ecton mine was formerly the largest copper mine in the world. The visit includes underground and hillside tours and “mining-related” indoor activities. Details for the day & registration form here.

June 2018: Walk: Wolstonian Clay Pit, led by Brian Ellis & Ian Fenwick
2018-06-20 00:00
Wolstonian Clay Pit, Burton Hastings

Led by Brian Ellis, Ian Fenwick. Quaternary clay deposit.

Meet in the car park for a 7.00pm start. It is a clay pit so expect it to be muddy, but there are access roads. Burton Farm lies to the north-east of Bedworth and south of the village of Burton Hastings.

The clay pit is on Burton Lane at GR 408893 (Landranger 140) or post code CV11 6RJ. Neither the farm house nor the clay pit are shown on my (now rather old) 1:50000 map. There is (or should be) a sign post at the gate indicating ‘Clay’, on the left almost immediately after turning off the B4114. The pit occupies much of the land between Burton Lane and the Ashby canal.

Although from a geological point of view the main interest is the Wolston Clay and the fossil tree remains, the discovery of the clay, the use Mr. Callington is making of and planning for the site, the conservation and planting and eventual restoration of the site are all also of interest. We will also want to discuss the possible origin of the clay and how the site relates to other Pleistocene sites in Warwickshire, including last year’s visit to Bubbenhall. Mr. Callington has agreed to show us round.

Before the visit it is worth looking again at our Autumn 2017 Newsletter for Ian Fenwick’s piece on the site – A Stunning Encounter.

Risk Assessment: This is an outdoor walk on tracks and some muddy, uneven ground. Wear comfortable flat shoes and suitable waterproof clothing if the weather forecast is poor. Any further safety information will be conveyed by the trip leader on the night.

There is no need to register for this trip – simply turn up.

May 2018: Walk: Leamington Building Stones and Geology, Leader John Crossling
2018-05-13 00:00
Sunday 13th May, Leamington Building Stones and Geology. Start 11.00am from top of The Parade, B4087 junction with Clarendon Ave. Leader John Crossling.

Royal Leamington Spa, its geology and building stones

This leaflet will guide you on a walk through the centre of Leamington to see the fascinating array of stones that have been used in buildings historic and modern.

Leamington Spa Trail

May 2018, Walk, Kenilworth Cutting & Common
2018-05-09 07:30 - 21:30
There will be a WGCG evening field outing to Kenilworth Cutting and Common on Wednesday 9th May, led by Ian Fenwick.

The trip will start with a visit to the Local Geological Site and then proceed to the Common via the Cutting.

We will rendezvous at c. 6.45pm in the Princes Drive Industrial Estate, CV8 2FD, where we can park. We will then walk (via a short cut) to the Greenway and on to the Cutting section, Thereafter, the intention is to walk on to the Common to discuss the origin, properties and extent of the sands & gravels which make up the Common. A short walk from there will enable us to return to our cars.

Risk Assessment: This is an outdoor walk on footpaths and there may be some uneven ground. Wear comfortable flat shoes and suitable waterproof clothing if the weather forecast is poor. Any further safety information will be conveyed by the trip leader on the night.

There is no need to register for this trip – simply turn up.

May 2018, Walk: Kenilworth Building Stones Trail, Ian Fenwick
2018-05-08 12:00
Tuesday 8th May. Kenilworth Building Stones Trail and Geology. Start 2.00pm Meet at St Nicholas’ Car Park, Bridge Street, Kenilworth Leader Ian Fenwick.

Old Kenilworth, its geology and building materials

Buildings tell a story about the history of towns through the style of the buildings and the materials used. This trail will help you explore some of that history.

Kenilworth Trail

April 2018: Walk: Led by Dave Kennett & Hugh Jones – To look at stones & brickwork in local building
2018-04-21 09:30 - 15:00
Led by Dave Kennett & Hugh Jones to look at both brickwork and building stones. Introductory talk from a brickwork expert followed by a town walk, possibly with lunch out.

April 2018 talk: Waking the giant – how a changing climate triggers earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanoes, by Prof Bill McGuire
2018-04-18 19:00 - 21:00 | St Francis of Assisi R C Church
Prof Bill McGuire

Waking the giant – how a changing climate triggers earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanoes

Jan 2018 talk: Holloway Bursary recipient: Pterosaurs, teeth and a fossil festival by Jordan Bestwick
2018-01-17 19:00 - 21:30 | St Francis of Assisi R C Church
Jordan Bestwick (Leicester – Holloway Bursary recipient)

Pterosaurs, teeth and a fossil festival

Examination of the late Caledonian Ben Loyal syenite intrusion (426Ma), one of three bodies making up the Loch Loyal Syenite intrusions.

Nov 2017 talk: Sinkholes and Subsidence by Dr. Tony Waltham
2017-11-15 19:00 - 21:30 | St Francis of Assisi R C Church
Sinkholes and Subsidence

A talk by Dr. Tony Waltham (formerly of Nottingham Trent University)

Ground subsidence is a frequent challenge for construction engineers, and one of the greatest geohazards is created by collpase and subsidence over cavernous groun, in limestone and other soluble rocks.

Please note that due to unforeseen circumstances our proposed speaker in November – Andrew Bloodworth, speaking on “The Secret Life of your Mobile Phone” – will be unable to deliver his talk on that date.

Instead, we are fortunate to have Dr. Tony Waltham stepping into the void. Tony is an acknowledged expert in the field of Caving and Karst / Limestone Environments, and led our group on last year’s field excursion to Malham.

Sept 2017 talk: Marie Stopes: Sex, Lies and Fossil Plants, Professor Howard Falcon-Lang
2017-09-20 19:00 - 21:30 | St Francis of Assisi R C Church
September 2017 evening lecture

Marie Stopes: Sex, Lies and Fossil Plants, Professor Howard Falcon-Lang

Marie Stopes (1880–1958) was one of the most flamboyant and influential figures of the early twentieth century. In addition to her well-known work on birth control, she wrote a controversial sex manual for women, and produced numerous novels, plays and works of poetry. She is also remembered as a passionate advocate of eugenics, courting the architects of the Third Reich, and was identified, in some circles, as a threat to empire and country. But geology, and specifically palaeobotany, was her first love and indeed her life’s most enduring passion. Although Stopes’s life has been thoroughly dissected in four biographies, her geological career has been overshadowed by her later work. This is unfortunate, because she made major contributions to palaeobotany and coal research, and her scientific career, like her humanitarian endeavours, makes fascinating reading.

April 2017 talk:Life just got complicated: The Ediacaran Fossils of Charnwood Forest, Dr Phil Wilby, BGS
2017-04-19 00:00 | St Francis of Assisi R C Church
Dr Phil Wilby, BGS

19th April 2017

LIFE JUST GOT COMPLICATED: THE EDIACARAN FOSSILS OF CHARNWOOD FOREST

Life first appeared on Earth at least 3,800 million years ago but, for the great majority of this time, it was dominated by simple microbes. Large, complex organisms only appear at around 580 million years ago, but their position(s) in the tree of life and the trigger for their sudden appearance remain mysterious. Charnwood Forest, near Leicester, hosts the very earliest examples of these enigmatic organisms, and is at the forefront of research into understanding what they were, how they made their living, and how they helped pave the way for the modern world. The fossils form part of diverse communities, killed en masse and buried beneath submarine landslides of volcanic ash. Almost invisible in daylight, their exquisite detail can only easily be studied using laser scanning or silicone rubber moulding techniques. A programme of conservation and long-term monitoring is underway to protect these globally important fossils, including the effects of pollution and lichen-attack.

March 2017 talk: The Corsi Collection of decorative stones: where geology meets the arts, by Monica T. Price,
2017-03-15 00:00 | St Francis of Assisi R C Church
The Corsi Collection of decorative stones: where geology meets the arts

Monica T. Price, Collections Manager, Earth Collections Oxford University Museum of Natural History

Faustino Corsi was an early 19th century lawyer in Rome who delighted in collecting samples of the different marbles, granites, serpentines and other polished decorative stones used since ancient times in his native city. He was by no means the first to build a substantial collection or to write about ‘marbles’, but his intellectual approach to the study of decorative stone was more pioneering. He intended that his collection should be used as an identification aid, and significantly, he recognised that an arrangement into a petrological order would be most useful. In his published catalogue, he tried to articulate in his descriptions such subtle details as grain-size, texture, lustre, and significant mineral and fossil constituents, as well as the more obvious properties of colour and pattern. While some parts of his geological commentary are satisfyingly accurate, others reflect contemporary mineralogical misunderstandings or represent a curious discrepancy between theory and observation.

Corsi’s work brought a geological perspective to decorative stones – an area that had largely been the preserve of artisan stone workers, archaeologists and antiquarians. He helped to give decorative stone collections a rightful place in scientific institutions worldwide. I will be telling you more about Corsi and his collection, and the website www.oum.ox.ac.uk/corsi which allows anyone worldwide to explore this beautiful collection.

Feb 2017 talk: Can we get metals out of the ground in a “green” sustainable way? by Dr Gawen Jenkins
2017-02-15 00:00 | St Francis of Assisi R C Church
Can we get metals out of the ground in a “green” sustainable way?

Speaker: Dr Gawen Jenkins from the University of Leicester

Dr Gawen Jenkin will first examine the ongoing need for mineral resources to underpin a good quality of life for the population of planet Earth. Although we might ultimately develop a “circular economy” this is a long way off and we will need to continue to extract minerals for many years to come. However, the mining industry is under a variety of pressures, both geological and anthropogenic, which make it ever harder to operate economically. At the same time the industry needs to be moving to more sustainable operations, in particular reducing carbon emissions. He will then describe an exciting breakthrough technology developed at the University of Leicester – ionic liquids – that has the potential to revolutionise the processing of mineral ores to metals in a green and environmentally-benign way. The talk is aimed to be accessible for non-specialists.

Workshop on Igneous Rock Identification
2017-02-11 12:00 | Kenilworth Senior Citizens Club
Workshop on Igneous Rock Identification

Led by Dr Paul Olver

A 5 hour intensive workshop which aims to provide novices – and not-so-novices – through the mysteries of differentiating igneous rocks from sediments and metamorphics, and then provide the tools for them to separate out the main igneous families when examined in hand specimens. To be held at Senior Citizens Club, Abbey End Car Park, Kenilworth.

January 2017 talk: The volcano that changed the World: Tambora and the great eruption in 1815 by Dr. Ralf Gertisser
2017-01-18 00:00 | St Francis of Assisi R C Church
The volcano that changed the World: Tambora and the great eruption in 1815 by Dr. Ralf Gertisser (Keele University).

The year 2015 marked the bicentenary of the largest eruption in recent historic times: the 10-11 April 1815 eruption of Mount Tambora on the island of Sumbawa, Indonesia. In this talk, I will give an overview

of the great eruption, its environmental effects both locally and world-wide, and the wide-ranging consequences that may be expected from a future Tambora-size eruption. I will further discuss the record we have of large past eruptions and show that, two hundred years after the catastrophic eruption of Tambora, the risk from volcanic eruptions in Indonesia remains amongst the highest in the world, with eruptions ranging from relatively small lava dome forming events to some of the largest eruptions ever witnessed on Earth.

The 1815 summit caldera of Tambora volcano, Sumbawa, Indonesia.

November 2016 talk: Cave deposits (speleothems) as archives of past environments and climates Ian Fairchild
2016-11-16 19:00 - 21:00 | St Francis of Assisi R C Church
Cave deposits (speleothems) as archives of past environments and climates

Ian Fairchild, University of Birmingham

A clear understanding of long-term climatic change over the Quaternary has come primarily through studies of sediments in the deep ocean and cores through the major ice sheets, forming a framework to which the myriad more fragmentary and less definitive records can be related. Caves used to be thought of as complex environments unlikely to yield records of widespread significance. The search for better climate proxies on land, as well as a series of advances in technology has transformed this situation so that well-dated speleothem records now provide definitive records of regional to global environmental change.

In this talk, an introduction to Quaternary palaeoclimates is followed by a discussion of how caves function (they have a ‘physiology’!) and the manner of formation of speleothems. Next we consider the many properties that speleothems display that may be modified depending on an interaction of climate with the cave and karst system. The crucial role of good dating of the archives is illustrated with a discussion of uranium-thorium radiometric dating combined with counting of annual layers. Finally, some case examples are used as illustrations of the varied ways in which past climates and environments have been brought to life by studying the underworld.

Sept 2016 talk: The village of Martley, Worcestershire, John Nicklin & Bill Barclay
2016-09-21 19:00 - 21:00 | St Francis of Assisi R C Church
The village of Martley, Worcestershire

We will have two speakers covering topics relating to the village of Martley, Worcestershire.

John Nicklin is a founding member of the Teme Valley Geological Society (TVGS). He is not a professional geologist, but a great ambassador for the subject. He will speak about how and why TVGS was formed and their inspirational achievements.

Bill Barclay, a professional geologist, worked for the British Geological Survey prior to retirement (and he is still very busy with fieldwork here and abroad). He has worked with TVGS for several years on researching a small but important site in the village, located on the East Malvern Fault. Bill will tell us about this work and the findings so far.

April 2016 talk: The History of the Harbury Railway Cutting, by Luke Swain, Network Rail
2016-04-20 19:00 - 21:00 | St Francis of Assisi R C Church
Luke Swain CGeol , Senior Asset Engineer (Geotechnics) — Network Rail:

The History of the Harbury Railway Cutting.

Since the Great Western Railway came to Harbury in Warwickshire, the geology which underlies the village, has provided its fair share of challenges to all of the infrastructure owners. First constructed in circa 1850, the original plan was to construct a tunnel but this soon proved a significant and risky task for the engineers. The solution was to opt for an alternative and to construct the deepest hand dug cutting known in Europe at this time. The most significant landslip to occur in the Network Rail era occurred on the 30th January 2014 and resulted in 400,000 tonnes of soil and rock from the Lower Jurassic period moving towards the railway. The remediation that followed has provided an interesting insight into the Geology of cutting.

March 2016 talk: Rivers, lakes, swamps and seas: exploring an early Carboniferous environment, Prof. Sarah Davies
2016-03-16 19:00 - 21:00 | St Francis of Assisi R C Church
Prof. Sarah Davies (University of Leicester):

Rivers, lakes, swamps and seas: exploring an early Carboniferous environment

Following the end-Devonian mass extinction, new terrestrial habitats developed and this was a major change in the Earth system. Examples of terrestrial environments and habitats are preserved in the early Mississippian (Carboniferous) sedimentary rocks that crop out across the borders of England and Scotland (the Ballagan Formation). Of particular significance are the new discoveries of land-based tetrapod taxa in the Ballagan Formation; these are of international importance because tetrapods were thought to be absent from this part of the geological record (an absence termed ‘Romer’s Gap’). Tetrapods preserved in Late Devonian strata were aquatic or semi-aquatic and fish-like whereas terrestrial tetrapod fauna recovered from late Mississippian successions had robust pentadactyl limbs. Until the last few years, there were very few fossil finds from the early Mississippian (Tournaisian).

An ongoing NERC-funded research project is investigating all aspects of the development and evolution of the early terrestrial ecosystem. Placing newly discovered tetrapods in their palaeoenvironmental context, this research investigates why these particular sedimentary successions, comprising fluvial, overbank and saline-hypersaline lake depositional settings, preserve such abundant fossil evidence. The study identifies the key sedimentary process acting to concentrate and preserve faunal and floral material as the frequent transport of fine-grained sediment across seasonally wet floodplains. These successions provide a unique opportunity to enhance our knowledge of this important phase in the development of terrestrial ecosystems.

Feb 2016: Festival of Geology, in Kenilworth with WGCG
2016-02-20 10:00 - 15:30 | Kenilworth Senior Citizens Club
FESTIVAL OF GEOLOGY

Senior Citizens Club, Abbey End Car Park(at the top of the car park beyond the Kenilworth centre)

A FREE event for all the family

What’s under your Feet?

A galaxy of rocks, fossils and minerals comes to Kenilworthon Saturday 20th February 2016 (10am till 3pm)

Come and see….

Stunning specimens

Great displays

Look at rocks under the microscope

Learn something about how our Earth has evolved

Discover why Warwickshire’s landscape is like it is

Bring your rocks, fossils or minerals to be identified!

ADULTS & CHILDREN WELCOME

Senior Citizens ClubAbbey End Car Park (just above the Kenilworth Centre) Kenilworth CV8 1QJ

Feb 2016 talk: Minerals, Magmas & Man, by Paul Olver
2016-02-17 19:00 - 21:00 | St Francis of Assisi R C Church
Dr Paul Olver (Hereford & Worcester EHT):
Minerals, Magmas & Man:
Beneath every active volcano is a complex plumbing system for magma movement including deep seated plutons and their even deeper magma chambers. The slow crystallisation of these magma bodies gives rise to a whole suite of pegmatites, greisens and their later hydrothermal veins. Essential metals, in economically important amounts, are concentrated by these processes including tin, copper, zinc and lead plus other rarer metals now with specific uses in our medical, technological and aerospace industries.

Jan 2016 talk: Exceptionally preserved Cambrian fossils of the Chengjiang Lagerstatte,Prof. David Siveter
2016-01-20 19:00 - 21:00 | St Francis of Assisi R C Church
Prof. David Siveter (University of Leicester): Exceptionally preserved Cambrian fossils of the Chengjiang Lagerstatte, China: the flowering of early animal life. The discovery in 1984 of the Chengjiang biota, in rocks of early Cambrian age in south China, was one of the most significant palaeontological finds of the 20th century. The fossils are abundant and exquisitely preserved, beautifully showing fine details of the hard parts and soft tissues of invertebrate and vertebrate species about 525 million years old. They are vital keys in helping to unravel the evolution of multicellular organisms during the so-called “Cambrian Explosion”, when such life forms first become common in the fossil record.
The Chengjiang biota provides direct evidence for the roots of animal biodiversity. Over 200 species have been recorded, spread across most of the animal phyla, with arthropods being the most abundant group. The biota presents by far the most complete evidence of an early Cambrian marine community, and an unparalleled record of the early establishment of a complex marine ecosystem, with food webs capped by sophisticated predators. The majority of forms were bottom-dwellers, represented by both infauna and epifauna. The water column was colonized by a variety of floating and swimming animals. Trophic groups present include predators, scavengers, high and low level filterers and, possibly, deposit feeders. Not least, the fossils of Chengjiang bear upon fundamental questions regarding the design of animal body plans and the genetic generation of evolutionary novelty. The scientific importance and outstanding universal value of the Chengjiang fossil site is acknowledged with its recent inscription as a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Nov 2015 talk: The Genesis and Evolution of Sulphate Evaporites, by Dr Noel Worley
2015-11-18 19:00 - 21:00 | St Francis of Assisi R C Church
Dr Noel Worley (formerly chief geologist, British Gypsum): The Genesis and Evolution of Sulphate Evaporites Evaporites not only provide information about past climates, but also because they are chemically very mobile, present a record of the changes they have undergone through geological time. These changes very often hinder sedimentological interpretation but provide valuable evidence about the effects of diagenetic, metamorphic and hydrogeological processes.

Evaporites are economically important industrial minerals and are essential sources of raw materials for not only manufacturing a wide range of goods but also to sustain life. The United Kingdom is fortunate to have World Class evaporite resources the most important of which formed during the Permo- Triassic. Triassic rocks underlie most of the Midlands and contain evaporite deposits gypsum and anhydrite as well as halite. Important deposits also occur in the Permian of northern England and in the Upper Jurassic in southeast England.

It is rare to be able to see evaporites exposed at the surface and this has limited the geological study of these interesting rocks. However because of the widespread underground mining and associated activity a significant amount of geological evidence is available. A synthesis shows that the sulphate evaporites often experienced a common deposition history and were deposited as gypsum and anhydrite in a sabkha environment. They have subsequently undergone conversion to anhydrite during burial followed by reconversion to gypsum during Tertiary uplift.

Biographical NotesNoel Worley is a geologist and has worked for British Gypsum for 35 years as Minerals & Estates Manager responsible for geological services and resources. He graduated from the University of Sheffield and was awarded a PhD from the University of Leicester. He was President of the Yorkshire Geological Society 2011-2013.
