The Tertiary Research Group

Programme No. 54 for 2008

Programme Co-ordinator: Steve Tracey
Telephone: 0208 859 2745
E-mail: stracey000@btinternet.com]

TRG Homepage: http://www.TRG.org

Details of the Programme are as complete as possible at the time of printing. Updates will appear as necessary and will be posted on our Web site.

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.

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Saturday March 1st Field Meeting to Elsenham Sand Quarry, Elsenham, Essex.
Director:
Gerald Lucy

  • The Red Crag Nodule Bed is exposed in this working quarry under Chillesford Sands.
  • Meet in the quarry car park [TL 547 255] by the works at 10 a.m.
  • Joint visit with the Essex Rock and Mineral Society and Essex Field Club.
  • Sunday March 9th Field Meeting to Herne Bay, Kent.
    Director:
    Les Lanham

  • At a low spring tide the foreshore at Beltinge yields fine fossil fish remains including sharks’ teeth from the Woolwich Bottom Bed and Oldhaven Beds.
  • Meet at the car park [TR 205 686] at the eastern end of Reculver Drive, Beltinge at 6.30 a.m.
  • Low water: 7.34 a.m. Refreshments afterwards at the Director's home in Herne Bay.
  • Joint visit with the Essex Rock and Mineral Society and Essex Field Club.
  • Sunday 13th April Field Meeting to Walton–on-the-Naze, Essex.
    Director: Gerald Lucy

  • An opportunity to collect Red Crag molluscs and London Clay fossils.
  • Meet at 11 a.m. by the cliff top tower [TM 264 234]. Low water: 11.41 a.m.
  • Joint visit with the Essex Rock and Mineral Society and Essex Field Club.
  • Sunday 27th April 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 12.30 p.m onwards. The formal meeting starts at 2 p.m. Cold food will be available from 1pm; hot food and drink from about 5 p.m. Nearest railway station: Petts Wood - 15mins.
  • For further details, contact David Ward (Landline: 01689 871 565, mobile: 07971 567 325).
  • Sunday 4th May Field meeting to Bracklesham Bay, Sussex.
    Director:
    David Bone

    Saturday 17th & Sunday 18th May Field Weekend on the Isle of Wight, Hants.
    Director: Martin Munt and/or Andrew Gale

  • This field trip will run if sufficient interest and/or commitment is registered at least two weeks in advance. Contact David Ward (see April 27th for contact details).
  • Sunday 3rd August Field Meeting to East Mersea, Essex.
    Directors:
    Graham Ward and Bill George

  • A channel filled with Pleistocene interglacial sediments is exposed on the foreshore at Cudmore Grove Country Park.
  • Freshwater molluscs and teeth of small rodents may be recovered by wet-sieving samples at home. Further west, near the restaurant [TM 053 136], a Pleistocene deposit containing Hippopotamus occurs under beach-sand, whilst the extensive London Clay foreshore forming Mersea Flats yields a few sharks' teeth and Bronze Age flint artefacts.
  • Meet in the car park [066 146] at 3 p.m. Low water: 8.21 p.m.
  • Joint visit with the Essex Rock and Mineral Society and Essex Field Club.
  • Sunday 10th August Maylandsea and Steeple, Essex.
    Directors:
    Graham Ward and Bill George

  • Foreshore exposures of London Clay atboth sites yield numerous stem-fragments of crinoid Isselicrinus subbasaltiformis and lobster Hoploparia gammaroides.
  • Meet on the seawall [TL 907 037] l km N of Maylandsea at 10 a.m.
  • Low water: 1.15 p.m.
  • Joint visit with the Essex Rock and Mineral Society and Essex Field Club.
  • Sunday 7th September Stutton Ness, Stutton, Suffolk.
    Directors:
    Graham Ward and Bill George

  • Elephant bones, teeth and tusks, as well as molluscs, may be found here in interglacial Pleistocene sediments. Further west there is a fine section in London Clay containing seams of altered volcanic ash.
  • Meet at 10.30 a.m. outside Stutton Community Hall [TM143 348].
  • High water: 5.30 p.m.
  • Joint visit with the Essex Rock and Mineral Society.
  • Sunday 21st September Field Meeting to Eastchurch, Sheppey, Kent.   
    Director:
    David Turner

  • London Clay fossils as well as various minerals can be found on the foreshore at Eastchurch Gap.
  • Meet at 10 a.m. in Fourth Avenue [TQ998 724], Eastchurch.
  • Low water is at 10.40 a.m.
  • Joint visit with the Essex Rock and Mineral Society.
  • Sunday 5th October Abbey Wood, Kent.
    Director:
    Jerry Hooker

  • This trip continues to be the most popular of recent years, with individuals and extended families taking the opportunity to dig and sieve the Blackheath shell bed.
  • Attendance requires all participants to retain and search all material over 0.5mm. Participants may keep all they find, with the exception of reptile, bird and mammal remains, which should be brought to the Director’s attention. Please bring a digging tool, a large bucket or bowl, bags and your own set of graded sieves. Water for wet sieving and a few sieves will be available.
  • Meet at 12.00 a.m. at 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 previously, we must hire a mechanical digger. This is a costly undertaking, so it is hoped that all active participants will make an appropriate donation, in the order of £15 (Members) and £20 (Guests). Without this voluntary donation we would not be able to afford this excavation.