Programme Secretary: David Bone

Telephone: 01243 788474 (evenings)

Email: Events@tertiary-research.org


LIFTS WANTED FOR TRG FRANCE TRIP - I have requests from 4 people (1 couple and 2 individuals) for transport/car share on the 4th August 2000 trip to France. If you can offer a lift and would like to share the costs, please contact David Bone a.s.a.p. at events@tertiary-research.org or 01243 788474.

CHANGE OF FIELD TRIP DATE - The current programme identifies a GA trip to the Red Crag of Suffolk on 4th November 2000. If you are interested in this, please note that this has now been re-arranged for Saturday 6th May (and replaces the previously advertised GA trip on that date). Full details from David Bone at events@tertiary-research.org or 01243 788474.


 

Attendance is open to all, irrespective of membership status, however it is advised that you let the Field Trip Director or myself know that you wish to attend, at least 7 days in advance, so that you can be told of any venue change or cancellation. If you require a lift, please contact the Field Trip Director or David Bone.

 

A fee of 50p is collected from each member and adult guest to cover personal accident and third party liability insurance. The Tertiary Research Group cannot accept liability for any loss or accident incurred whilst on out field meetings. Everyone who attends does so at his or her own risk. Always wear suitable footwear and clothing. For quarry visits, please bring your own hardhat and high visibility vest.

 

The Tertiary Research Group is always interested in hearing about new (or old) localities to visit, temporary exposures, or providing assistance with research activities that can be included in the programme. Please contact David Bone with details.

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Sunday 13th February 2000. AGM at 81 Crofton Lane, Orpington, Kent.

 

Hosts: David and Alison Ward. Everyone is welcome to the Annual General Meeting. Please bring any interesting, spectacular or unidentified finds from the previous year.

Arrive from 12.30pm onwards. The formal meeting starts at 2pm. Cold food will be available from 1pm; hot food and drink from about 5pm. Nearest railway station: Petts Wood.

For further details, please contact David Ward on 01689 871565 (day and evening) or e-mail d.ward@dial.pipex.com

 

 

Sunday 19th March 2000. Field meeting to Bracklesham or Selsey, West Sussex.

 

Directors: Chris Cole and David Bone

Beach conditions permitting, we will look at exposures either in the Early Eocene Wittering and/or Middle Eocene Earnley or Wittering Formations of the Bracklesham Group in Bracklesham Bay.

Meet at 2.00pm in the car park on the south side of Chichester Railway Station (SU 860043). The decision will then be made whether to proceed on to Bracklesham or Selsey. Low water is at 4.14pm GMT, 0.6m OD (sunset will be around 6.00-6.15pm).

Refreshments and buffet will be provided at the co-Director’s home (Chris Cole) in Selsey after the field trip with opportunities to view his local collection. If attending, please contact David Bone on 01243 788474 (eve) or e-mail Events@tertiary-research.org

 

Saturday 8th April 2000. Sites in south-east London - joint meeting with the Geologists’ Association.

 

Directors: Jackie Skipper, Luke Martin & Steve Tracey.

A tour around some of the classic sites of south-east London. Not always the best for fossil collecting, but not to be missed if you want to familiarise yourself with some of the Tertiary sites of the past. It is intended to include (1) Gilbert’s Pit SSSI, Charlton; (2) King’s Highway Garage, Plumstead; (3) Plumstead ‘Cemetery’ Pit, and (4) Bostall Woods, on the Plumstead/Welling border. The sequences are mainly Thanet Sand Formation, Upnor and Woolwich Formations, and Blackheath Beds.

Meeting time/place details to be confirmed. Car sharing will probably be essential. Please confirm your interest well in advance, as it may be necessary to limit numbers.

 

 

Sunday 14th May 2000. Hordle Cliff (Totland Bay Member), Hampshire.

 

Director: Nick Edwards.

Exposures permitting, it should be possible to examine the full succession of the Totland Bay Member (Headon Hill Formation). Be prepared for muddy cliff sections and bring appropriate digging tools. For further details see Edwards & Daley 1997 in Tertiary Research 18: 35-50. If exposures are limited or time permits, the trip may continue on to the Barton section further west.

Meet at 10.30am in the car park at Taddiford (SZ 264926).

 

 

Friday 9th (afternoon) - Sunday 11th June 2000. Isle of Wight (localities that you might not know!)

See Trip Programme

Director: Martin Munt.

Welcome meeting at 3.30pm on Friday afternoon in the Museum of Isle of Wight Geology in Sandown. This may be your last chance before the museum closes in October 2000 ready for relocation to a new home.

On Saturday, a circa 2 mile walk from St Helens to Seagrove Bay to look at the Osborne, Fishbourne and Seagrove Bay Members of the Headon Hill Formation. This will include an attempt (with a scramble) to locate an unusual development at the base of the Bembridge Marls with a quasi-marine fauna.

Sunday will be a group decision, but on offer is (1) the Bembridge Marls at Forelands (main exposure of the quasi-marine sequence at the base of the Bembridge Marls which is different from St Helens; (2) Hamstead with the Nematura Bed and White Band in the Hamstead Member; (3) Fort Victoria to Cliff End - a voyage of discovery and possibly the ‘fish and plant bed’.

 

 

Saturday 15th July 2000. Beckenham Place Park and the TRG annual BBQ, West Wickham, SE London.

 

Hosts: John & Marion Cooper.

Beckenham Place Park has a small exposure of pebble conglomerate, reputedly with oysters and other bivalves and gastropods and overlain by London Clay with nodules, that has recently been cleaned up by the Ravensbourne Geological Society. Digging may not be permissible, but there should be ample opportunity to study this little-known exposure. Meet at 2.30pm at the entrance to Beckenham Place Park (Crab Hill, opposite Ravensbourne Railway Station, TQ 385702). Parking is possible along the roadside in the vicinity of the station.

From Beckenham Place Park, we will proceed to the residence of John and Marion. Food will be served from around 5.00pm, so please take the opportunity to bring along specimens, photographs, etc. for discussion during the afternoon.

Please confirm your attendance no later than 2 weeks in advance of the meeting so that the catering requirements can be organised (all contributions welcomed). Location maps will be provided from the hosts or David Bone nearer the date.

 

 

Friday 4th - Monday 7th August 2000. Extended weekend to the ‘Faluns’ (Miocene) of the Touraine, France.

 

Directors: Tim Hobbs and Adrian Rundle.

The region around Channay sur Lathan, about 40 km west of Tours in the Loire valley, is famous for its Miocene deposits known as ‘faluns’. These are exposed in a number of working quarries.

The fossil fauna is very diverse, consisting of bryozoa, echinoids, molluscs, teleost fish remains (such as Labrodon palates), sharks’ teeth (including Carcharocles megalodon), mammal teeth and Cretaceous remaniée fossils. These were deposited in a high-energy environment and are generally highly polished.

The trip will be restricted to 12 people on a first come, first served basis. Participants will need to register by the end of May in order that accommodation can be booked.

Meet at 9.00am on Saturday 5th August by the church at Channay sur Lathan (directions/map from Tim Hobbs - 01273 562799 eve/weekend). Handouts will be available nearer the time. Please bring a spade, trowel and a sturdy rake. A fine mesh sieve (1 mm) would also be useful. We hope to visit at least two private collections in the evenings.

 

 

Sunday 10th September 2000. Wrabness & Harwich, Essex.

 

Directors: Bill George & Graham Ward.

The aim of this trip is to look briefly at the type section of the Wrabness Member at Wrabness and also to collect fossils from the foreshore at Harwich. Both sites were visited by the TRG nearly 30 years ago. The cliff at Wrabness (TM 172323) exposes 17m of Lower Eocene clay and silts with 32 tephra layers (ash bands). The Harwich Cement Stone yields occasional molluscs. Miocene box stones and Pliocene whalebone fragments may be found on the beach. Sharks’ teeth, teleost and reptile remains can be found loose on the foreshore at Harwich.

Meet at Wrabness Station (TM 181316) at 11.45am or at The Low Lighthouse, Harwich (TM 263324) at 2.45pm. Low tide is 4.45pm.

 

 

Sunday 8th October 2000. Field meeting to Abbey Wood, SE London.

 

Director: Jerry Hooker.

This trip continues to be the most popular of recent years (yes, this is an exact copy of details from previous years!), with individuals and extended families taking the opportunity to dig and sieve the shell beds which make this the most fossiliferous site in the London area. Children are welcome, but must be kept away from the edges of the excavation.

Attendance requires all participants to retain and search all material over 0.5mm and to bring all reptile, bird and mammal remains to the Director’s attention. Please bring a digging implement, a large bucket or bowl, lots of bags and your own set of graded sieves. Water for wet sieving should be available.

Meet at 10.30am on the north side of Lesnes Abbey Woods, east of the ruined Abbey itself. It is a short walk up this path to the excavation within the woods. Abbey Wood station is within walking distance. Drivers please park on Abbey Road (the B213), not in the woods.

As in recent years, we must employ a council worker and hire shuttering to prevent hole collapse. This is a costly undertaking, so it is hoped that all active participants will make an appropriate donation to help cover this necessary expense. To those who have done so previously, our gratitude for their generosity.

 

 

Sunday 12th November 2000 - Reserved date, details to be advised.

 

Due to the incorporation of the Geologists’ Association Annual Reunion in the ‘Earth Alert’ Festival of Geology at Brighton in May 2000, the usual November meeting in London will not take place.

Reasonable low tides occur on 12th November and, although daylight will be limiting, it is hoped that a coastal site with good exposures following autumn storms will be available. Look out for further details.

 

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Other field meetings

 

Members may like to take advantage of the Geologists’ Association field meeting on Saturday 6th May 2000 to the Red Crag exposed at Buckenay Farm Pit, Alderton, Suffolk. Leader: Alan Lane. Further details from David Bone or the GA Circular nearer the time.

 

Plans are in preparation for a return to the Pliocene deposits at St. Erth, Cornwall, possibly in May or June 2000. Leader: Nick Zachariades. Following further investigations, it is expected that fossiliferous deposits can now be located and excavated, although the extent of the deposits is unknown. Participants are advised that it may be necessary to share the cost of JCB hire for the day. Please register your interest with David Bone (please re-confirm if you have already expressed interest).

 

Negotiations to excavate in the former brickpit in the Middle Headon Beds at Royden in the New Forest are still creeping forward. Please register or re-confirm your interest with David Bone, although be advised that this is a sensitive site and numbers may have to be limited.