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X-WR-CALDESC:Events for Warwickshire Geological Conservation Group (WGCG)
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DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20260905T103000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20260905T133000
DTSTAMP:20260308T110939Z
CREATED:20260308T110937Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260308T110939Z
UID:99828-1788604200-1788615000@www.wgcg.co.uk
SUMMARY:WGCG: Ask a Geologist
DESCRIPTION:The WGCG shall be holding a special Ask a Geologist session at Market Hall Museum in Warwick. WGCG geological experts will be at hand to discuss geology in our everyday lives\, geological careers\, and geological science in general. Come along and examine specimens in super detail with our blue tooth microscope. We will have a number of rocks\, minerals and fossils on hand to be viewed and discussed\, a number of posters\, geological references and free brochures of nearby geology trails. \n\n\n\nThis is a drop in event\, no need to book ahead. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nptr
URL:https://www.wgcg.co.uk/event/wgcg-ask-a-geologist-6/
LOCATION:Market Hall Museum\, Market Hall Museum\, Market Pl\, Warwick\,\, CV34 4SA\, United Kingdom
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DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20260911T140000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20260913T153000
DTSTAMP:20260608T204923Z
CREATED:20260317T205502Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260608T204923Z
UID:99950-1789135200-1789313400@www.wgcg.co.uk
SUMMARY:EMGS and WGCG Joint Residential Field Trip - Nick Chidlaw
DESCRIPTION:EMGS: Residential Field Trip: Friday 11th – Sunday13th September 2026 Conducted Jointly with WGCG: Led by Nick Chidlaw‘South Malverns to Cleeve Hill’ \n\n\n\nItinerary: \n\n\n\nFriday p.m (c.2 – 5 p.m) – Gullet Quarry and Hangman Hill.Circular walk viewing Gullet Quarry\, along crest of Swinyard Hill\, to Hangman’s Hill to see aspects of the late Pre-Cambrian Malverns Complex & Warren House Volcanics and contrasting views of the Welsh Borderland and Severn Valley / Cotswold landscapes (subject to weather conditions). (approx. 3-4km.) \n\n\n\nGullet Quarry\n\n\n\nSaturday a.m. p.m. (timings t.b.c.)Visit two contrasting Severn River cliff exposures in the Severn Vale:Late Triassic at Garden Cliff\, Westbury (approx. 1km.); and\,Early Jurassic at Hock Cliff (approx. 2km.). Picnic lunch taken en route (details t.b.c.) \n\n\n\nHock Cliff\n\n\n\nSunday (c.9:30 a.m to 3:30 p.m) – Cleeve Hill Traverse of Cleeve Hill to examine mid-Jurassic limestones (approx. 3km.).This will involve transferring all participants using some vehicles from our assembly point finish about at the golf clubhouse (north side of hill) to a car park by the radio masts on Cleeve Common (south side of hill).Picnic lunch en route with further use of the clubhouse facilities nearby. \n\n\n\nCleeve Hill\n\n\n\nParticipants will be expected to be suitably prepared for whatever weather conditions arise\, and sufficiently mobile / fit for the walking involved……mostly on rough tracks and footpaths. In wet conditions Hock Cliff can get very muddy; Garden Cliff and the Malverns less so. Malvern terrain includes some steep sections. \n\n\n\nParticipants will also be required to make their own travel and accommodation arrangements. \n\n\n\nTewksbury is the focal point for this trip. The price will be £5 for a half day (Friday) and £10 per full day. Total trip £25.  \n\n\n\nTo register email julieharrald@googlemail.com \n\n\n\nFor full details\, click here to view the event flyer.
URL:https://www.wgcg.co.uk/event/emgs-and-wgcg-joint-residential-field-trip-nick-chidlaw/
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DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20260917T191500
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20260917T210000
DTSTAMP:20260802T174839Z
CREATED:20260308T111336Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260802T174839Z
UID:99834-1789672500-1789678800@www.wgcg.co.uk
SUMMARY:Etruria Marl: what it is; how it formed; why it’s special - Dr Bernard Besley
DESCRIPTION:In the English Midlands the term ‘Marl’ has meant\, from time immemorial\, any clay from which bricks can be made. The Etruria Marl is thus not a marl in the geological sense of the word\, but a raw material formed by the red mudrocks of the Westphalian Etruria Formation\, a marginal alluvial red-bed facies of the Langsettian to Bolsovian Productive Coal Measures. Etruria Marl is one of the most important heavy ceramic clays in the UK\, being the dominant source of clay suitable for making high strength engineering bricks. It is favoured by the industry for its ease and flexibility of working\, its low embodied CO2 content and its fast and fuel-efficient firing characteristics. \n\n\n\n\nThe ‘Marl’ of the Etruria Formation is a kaolinite-dominated\, iron-rich silty claystone deposited at equatorial latitudes during a period of high global atmospheric oxygen. Its mineralogical characteristics derive from lateritic weathering in fault-bounded uplifts created during the first phase of Variscan deformation. Progressive deformation and uplift led to the northward spread of this facies into the southern part of the Pennine Basin\, with complex intra-formational unconformities creating a syn-orogenic molasse. Depositional environments included alluvial plains with meandering channels and alluvial fans. Throughout the Etruria Formation hiatal periods are marked by complex palaeosols which lead to marked variability in the bulk composition of the clay. \n\n\n\nWhile the Etruria Marl is best known in its type area in North Staffordshire\, it has been – and still is – extensively worked in Warwickshire. Here its stratigraphic relationships have been poorly understood\, but new borehole and seismic data allow some light to be cast on the sedimentological and tectonic events that accompanied its deposition. \n\n\n\nThe distinctive ceramic properties of the Marl derived from its ‘residual’ composition. The dominant kaolinite allows for the formation of a mullite-dominated ceramic matrix\, while a small proportion of illite allows easy workability and prevents the clay from having refractory properties. A unique feature is the high iron content\, which\, apart from allowing the production of aesthetically pleasing fired products\, allows partial melting at a late stage in firing on application of a reducing atmosphere. This stimulates the growth of fibrous mullite\, producing the immensely strong semi-vitrified brick known as a ‘Staffordshire Blue’. The combination of high strength and low permeability made the Staffordshire Blue a major material for heavy civil engineering construction in the age before reinforced concrete. \n\n\n\nThe last 10 years have seen a renewed interest in Etruria Marl\, following recognition that calcined kaolinite forms a pozzolanic material that is a viable feedstock for the production of LC3 cement. This cement formulation allows for a c. 45% reduction in the CO2 emissions in cement making\, and is seen as an important contributor to the decarbonisation of that industry. \n\n\n\nThe talk will outline the general palaeogeographic and sedimentological evolution of the Etruria Formation\, followed by a whirlwind tour of its properties and applications in ceramic and cement manufacture. If time allows\, it will conclude with a review of the resource position as it relates to major substitution of ‘conventional’ cement raw materials by Etruria Marl. \n\n\n\nBiography \n\n\n\nBernard studied at the University of Oxford\, receiving a BA in Geology in 1976. He then came to Keele as a Ph.D. student working on the sedimentology and stratigraphy of red beds in the Westphalian of Central England\, in collaboration with the National Coal Board. Between 1980 and 1985 he worked for Shell UK Ltd as an exploration geologist\, undertaking wellsite duties in the North Sea and being involved in regional play fairway analysis and detailed prospect mapping leading to the discovery of the Galleon and Ketch gas fields in the UK Southern North Sea. In 1985 he returned to Keele as Lecturer in Sedimentology\, where he continued his work into regional controls on late Carboniferous basin development in NW Europe. In 1996 he returned to the oil industry\, spending another 5 years with Shell before setting up a freelance consultancy business. In that time he has worked on clastic hydrocarbon reservoirs of all ages and environments\, being mainly concerned with the process of translating sedimentological models into numerical reservoir static models that can be used in a meaningful way for reservoir engineering purposes. He has also undertaken several stratigraphic and quality assessments of brick clays in the Late Carboniferous of the English Midlands\, being an authority on the geology of the Etruria Formation. Since leaving Keele in 1996 he has continued his association with the Keele geoscience department through his Honorary Fellowship. \n\n\n\nVenue:St Francis Of Assisi RC Church\, 110 Warwick Rd\, Kenilworth CV8 1HLhttps://maps.app.goo.gl/9CGWRNdgFfttDKtd7
URL:https://www.wgcg.co.uk/event/etruria-marl-what-it-is-how-it-formed-why-its-special-dr-bernard-besley/
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