These notes are taken from handouts for field meetings and adult education classes, and have been written by Mike Horne. You can visit Mike's web site for details of this year's classes, updated notes and more local geology.
The information given in this document was as accurate as possible at the time of writing, no liability is accepted for inaccuracies! Permission is given for you to print a copy for your personal use.
Important note: It is your responsibility to get permission before entering private property and to ensure that you obey safety instructions. Fieldwork can be hazardous so always follow the Geological Code (available from the Geologists' Association).
Introduction to the Geology of East Yorkshire
The Market Weighton 'High'
Dinosaur footprints are common on the Yorkshire Coast
Rifle Butts Quarry SSSI
The Speeton Clay
The Yorkshire Chalk
Geology in and around Hull
List of East Yorkshire Sites
Getting started
How to do field work safely
A geological time scale for East Yorkshire
List of useful books and references
Link to Hull Geological Society Meetings
Link to articles from Humberside Geologist
Introduction to the Geology of East Yorkshire
The topography of the area is dominated by the Chalk Wolds which are a crescent shaped series of hills stretching from the coast north of Bridlington to the Humber Bridge. On the inside of the crescent there is a layer of boulder clay overlying the Chalk and on the outside of the crescent are the Lower Cretaceous and Jurassic rocks, beneath the Chalk.
If we look at a west-east cross section through the area the oldest beds cropping out in the west are Triassic red beds - the Mercia Mudstone Group (formerly known as the Keuper Marl), which are hardly ever exposed. These are succeeded by a series of clays, limestones and sandstones of Jurassic age. Only some parts of these beds are exposed in quarries on the western edge of the Wolds. The Lower Cretaceous is found on the north-eastern edge of the Wolds, and is exposed on the coast at Speeton, where a series of marine clays can be examined. Over the rest of the area there was no deposition during most of the early Cretaceous, the oldest deposit being a thin layer of Carstone in the south-western edge of the Wolds, which is not exposed at present. The Red Chalk underlies the Chalk throughout the region, though there are variations in thickness.
The Chalk itself is about 400m thick in total, though it may be thicker under the glacial deposits of Holderness. An ancient Chalk sea cliff can be traced from Sewerby, just north of Bridlington, along the eastern edge of the Wolds to Hessle. This was the coastline of East Yorkshire before the Ice Age. The glaciation brought huge quantities of till to the area, creating the land of Holderness. To the east and north of the Wolds the glaciers dammed large fresh water lakes .The boulder clay is now being eroded at an average rate of 2 m per year, but in some areas 10 m of land can be lost in a year. Hollows on the top of the boulder clay were filled with small lakes or meres; most of these are now filled with Lake Deposits and peat.
Within the boulder clay is a wide variety of erratic rocks. This makes the beaches of Holderness superb places to visit if you are starting to collect rocks and fossils: the glaciers have brought rocks from many areas to Holderness. There is Larvikite and Rhomb Porphyry from Norway, Shap Granite from the Lake District, Carboniferous Limestone from County Durham, granites, schists and gneiss from Scotland and Liassic fossil ammonites and Gryphea from the Whitby area. Many other rocks can be found; you can collect in half an hour a good selection of rocks from many parts of Europe!
The Market Weighton 'High' (a.k.a. 'Structure' or 'Axis' or 'Block') is a structural high which affected the deposition of rocks throughout the Jurassic and Cretaceous in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire .The structure has an east-west trend and there is thought to be a granite mass at depth. At times it may have been a landmass forming a barrier between two depositional basins, the Cleveland Basin and the Midland Basin. At other times it affected the thickness of deposits to the north and south. At Rifle Butts SSSI, near Market Weighton, there is an unconformity with Albian Red Chalk overlying beds of probable early Toarcian age - with up to 1000m of sediment missing if the sequence is compared with the North Yorkshire coast.
The Jurassic beds thin and are progressively cut out as you approach the structure. The deposits to the north and south are different in thickness.
In early Cretaceous times there was marine clay deposition to the north of the High, but to the south, in Lincolnshire, there were shallow water limestones, ironstones and clays being deposited. The Carstone is only found to the south of the 'High'. The Albian Red Chalk varies in thickness from 18 metres thick at Speeton in the north, to 30 cm thick over the 'High' at Rifle Butts SSSI, and to 2 m thick at South Ferriby. Its thickness remains fairly constant throughout the Midlands Basin.
The late Cretaceous Chalk covers the structure, but there are variations in thickness of the Chalk in the Cenomanian and Senonian. The Cenomanian is 44 m thick at Buckton Cliff, and 25 m thick at South Ferriby. There is evidence to suggest that the thickness is less than this in the area around Rifle Butts Quarry but unfortunately there is not a complete exposure to show this. The Turonian has a fairly consistent thickness throughout the region, but higher beds seem to be thicker in the north, and there are sedimentary features suggesting deeper water in that area.
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Rifle Butts is a small disused quarry near Goodmanham, East Yorkshire [ NGR SE 897 427 ]. It lies at the bottom of the Chalk scarp at the western end of the Goodmanham Channel, a glacial spillway, which was cut by glacial meltwaters during the Ice Age.
The quarry was opened in the 1860s to provide material for the building of the North Eastern Railway line from Market Weighton to Beverley. It was later bought by a local farmer who then rented it to the local Rifle Club until the 1940s. Because geologists thought it to be of national importance the 0.3 hectare site was designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest in 1952, and the designation has been confirmed in national reviews in 1981 and 1987.
The site was bought by the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust on June 30th 1964 and was excavated at that time by the Yorkshire Geological Society. A concrete retaining wall was built which can still be seen at the left hand end of the site. In 1987 a new and enlarged exposure was cut by the Nature Conservancy Council and Community Rural Aid. The Hull Geological Society informally adopted the site to help keep it clean and tidy. In 1993 a roof was erected over the exposure to protect it from rain and weathering. The project cost £ 6500 and was funded by the Curry Fund of the Geologists' Association, English Nature and the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust.
Permission to visit the site must be obtained from the warden or the Hull Geological Society Secretary e-mail: [email protected] .
The site is a designated SSSI (Site of Special Scientific Interest) and Nature Reserve so please: do not hammer, do not collect samples without permission and do not trample the plants.
There are three rock types exposed in the quarry: Lower Chalk of the Ferriby Formation, Red Chalk (or Hunstanton Formation) and Jurassic sediments. These rocks may be compared with other exposures in the region, such as the cliffs at Speeton and Buckton north of Bridlington and the quarries at Melton and South Ferriby, either side of the River Humber.
The Lower Chalk contains the same fossils as the Lower Chalk at Buckton Cliff on the coast, and at South Ferriby. This chalk at Rifle Butts is the lowest part of the Ferriby Chalk Formation (Lower Chalk) and is of Cenomanian age. The Red Chalk contains fossil bivalves, brachiopods and belemnites; similar ones can be seen in the Red Chalk at Buckton and South Ferriby. The Red Chalk is about 2 metres thick at South Ferriby and is about 10 metres thick at Buckton; it is of Albian age (about 100 million years old).
The rocks beneath the Red Chalk at Buckton and South Ferriby are different. At Buckton there is the Speeton Clay (Lower Cretaceous, dated from 113 to 144 million years old) with Kimmeridge Clay (Upper Jurassic, about 155 million years old) below it. At South Ferriby there is a thin layer of Carstone (Mid Cretaceous, about 119 million years old) with some Kimmeridge Clay (Upper Jurassic, about 155 million years old) below. Fossils have not been found in the beds beneath the Red Chalk at Rifle Butts, but recently a fossil ammonite, Dactilioceras tenuicostatum, was found beneath the Red Chalk on the Market Weighton by-pass (less than 2 km away) which is dated as being of early Toarcian age (about 194 m.y.).
You will find pebbles and phosphatic nodules at the base of the Red Chalk. Also you may have seen fossil stromatolites (a mass of calcareous sediment in thin layers). These are all indicators of shallow water deposition. The contact at the base is irregular, indicating that there has been a period of erosion of the underlying bed. By comparing the dates of the bed beneath the Red Chalk we can see that there has been almost continuous deposition at Buckton, a break of deposition of about 40 million years at South Ferriby and a break of deposition of about 80 million years at Rifle Butts. During that time gap that occurred at Rifle Butts nearly a thousand metres of sediments were deposited in the North Yorkshire Coast area. But these rocks have not been deposited at Rifle Butts, or if they were they have been eroded away. This implies that the area around Rifle Butts must have been above sea level for some or all of this time.
Geologists believe that there is a structure running in an east-west direction through the Market Weighton area (sometimes called the 'Market Weighton Axis' or 'High' or 'Structure' or 'Block') which affected the deposition of sediments during Jurassic times by acting as a barrier or island. It also affected deposition in Cretaceous times. The Speeton Clay is only found to the north of the 'High'. The Albian Red Chalk is much thicker at Buckton and thickens to the south of the 'High'. The Upper Cretaceous Chalk is relatively thinner in the Market Weighton area. Rifle Butts Quarry is important to geologists as it provides the evidence of this 'High' as it exposes the greatest overstep in the region and is of fundamental importance for the palaeogeography of northern England.
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If you mention fossils or tell someone you are interested in geology, they usually immediately think of dinosaurs. Looking at the number of books, films and TV programmes about them, one would assume that they are the commonest forms of ancient life! But in fact their remains are quite rare. In over 25 years collecting I have never found any part of one. In fact the first ever complete skeleton of Tyrannosaurus rex was only found a couple of years ago.
There are several reasons for this. The first is that dinosaurs lived on the land, and most rocks are formed under the sea! Secondly the big creatures at the top of the food chain are less common than the tiny creatures and plants at the bottom. Also, as a general rule of thumb, the bigger the bone or shell is the lower the chances of it being buried and fossilised.
But, if you think about it, a big mobile creature is going to create a lot of footprints in its lifetime, and because it leaves behind more footprints than bones, there is a greater chance of these becoming fossilised.
By coincidence, in middle Jurassic times (about 175 million years ago), the rocks forming in the area which is now the north Yorkshire coast, were sandstones and mudrocks being deposited by rivers and streams. When you know what to look for you can find lots of dinosaur's footprints preserved in these rocks. There are small prints with three toes about the size of your hand, often with claw marks showing and larger versions of these about a foot across. These sorts would have been made by bipedal dinosaurs, some of which were probably carnivores. There are also large round prints, about a foot in diameter, with three stubby toes, a bit like an elephant's footprint. These were made by large herbivores, that walked on all four legs. Unfortunately we cannot say which species of dinosaur made each type of print, and the only way to be absolutely sure is if the creature died at the end of its walk and its bones were preserved at that spot; a highly unlikely event !
A lot of these footprints are persevered as natural casts. In other words, the dinosaur walked over the mud at the edge of the river, leaving a footprint, and then a layer of sand was deposited over the mud, filling the footprint. Then, millions of years later, the mudrock is eroded away leaving the cast in a sandstone.
Sometimes you have to use a little bit of imagination when looking at these trace fossils. But they are really very common on our coastline between Scarborough and Whitby. There are even some markings that have been interpreted as swimming tracks of a dinosaur. The animal must have been doing the doggy-paddle (or should it be "dino-paddle"?) in a shallow river, and its claws scratched the sediment on the river bottom.
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The strange and wonderful Speeton Clay.
If you go to Speeton (the southern end of Filey Bay) you may see some strange sights. You may see chalk pebbles with writing on them, stuck into the mucky grey cliffs. And occasionally you may see the creature responsible for these artefacts. It is one of a strange species of geologists known as 'The Friends of the Speeton Clay'. They are a bit like normal geologists (if that is not a contradiction in terms) but they have a habit of muttering strange numbers to themselves, or (if they get the chance) other people ! They also write these numbers on pebbles of chalk and stick them into the cliff and tend to abandon the familiar geological hammer in favour of ice picks, trowels or custom made tools. If you like you can join in their conversations: if they say "LB2B" or "C7G" you can say 'ooh yes' and nod enthusiastically. But do not get carried away and reply "E5C", because they would not have heard of this one before !
The whole thing started when a chap called G W Lamplugh started collecting fossils over a hundred years ago. He was an amateur at the time and lived at Bridlington. He would camp on the top of the cliff and dash down at low tide to collect fossils. He went on to become a famous professional geologist and Fellow of the Royal Society and member of the Hull Geological Society.
So what did he discover ? What is the addiction suffered by 'the Friends of the Speeton Clay' ? These clays are the only U K exposure of the marine lower Cretaceous. Lamplugh did some very early stratigraphic logging and divided them into 6 units using belemnites as zonal fossils. He labelled them A to F from the top. These days we would have started from the base. The F beds were not really part of the Speeton Clay, and are Late Jurassic in age. The E Bed or Coprolite Bed is thin and very hard, and used to be mined for phosphates (sometimes you can see old pit props in the mud). The nodules in the B Beds used to be mined for making cement.
If you get a good, accurate log of the Speeton Clay, the first thing you will notice is that it will still be a bit vague about parts of the A & B beds, because they are rarely exposed. Also, be aware that 'Friends of the Speeton Clay' have a vivid imagination. Strata are described as being bright blue, yellow, green, etc. leading the unwary to expect a northern version of Alum Bay ! The truth is that all the clays, particularly when dry, are GREY. And do not expect to find the bed you want - the cliffs are moving and eroding; sometimes the beach pebbles are banked up high at the base of the cliff; and beach exposures at low tide are rare and ephemeral. Be warned, mudslides have been common in recent years - if you don't see any footprints in the mud don't try to walk on it !!!
So part of the fascination is the impermanence of the exposure - you never know what to expect ! The other fascination is the strange fossils. For some reason, Speeton has fossils which you would not expect.
The Belemnites themselves are a bit unusual, big chunky Acroteuthis and the delicate Hibolites that all seem to be corroded at their back end (remember the pointy end of the belemnite fossil is at the tail end of the belemnite animal). Then there are the famous Speeton 'shrimps'. These little crustaceans are really very common in some beds and some have original colour banding preserved. Larger crustaceans have been found as well. The ammonites are lovely: beautiful tiny ones preserved in pyrite and large ones that are un-coiled ! There are also sea urchins, brachiopods including Lingula, a variety of bivalves and worms of the encrusting and solo coiled variety !
Be warned, it is an addictive place. To get to know it properly, it is well worth getting to know some 'friends of the Speeton Clay' and asking them to show you round a couple of times. Then the wonders that will start to reveal themselves to you can be fitted into the stratigraphy and a whole new world opens up.
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For most people, many geologists included, the chalk is a rather uninteresting rock. There are nearly 400 metres of Chalk exposed, and it is all white !! The middle bit has some flint in it and throughout, fossils are difficult to find. But for the dedicated few, close study over a period of time will start to reveal the secrets of the Chalk. Study by geologists over the last 20 years has now produced stratigraphic logs of the exposures and it is possible to link up most of the sequence. The major marker horizons have been given names to make understanding the stratigraphy easier, by Wood & Smith 1978, Whitham 1991, Wood 1992 (in Fletcher, Gaunt & Wood), Whitham 1992 (in Rawson & Wright) and 1993, and some new names are included in this document.
The Chalk in this area is much harder than the Chalk of southern Britain. This is due to cementation, compression and the filling of pore spaces. This is perhaps caused by deeper burial. At coastal exposures, stylolites are fairly common and are caused by pressure solution. In the northern part of the Wolds the chalk is hard enough to be used as a building stone.
A common feature of all the sequence is the marl bands. These are calcareous clays, containing between 50 % and 80 % non-calcareous material. Some of these can be shown to be the remains of volcanic ash falls. Others are due to periods of slow deposition or even solution of the carbonate in the Chalk, enriching the relative percentage of the clay from its usual 1% or 2% . These marl bands are traceable for large distances.
One notable marl is the famous Black Band Member; which includes a dark, carbon-rich clay which contains a very reduced diversity in its microfauna and well preserved fish scales. This is thought to be a representation of the late Cenomanian anoxic event (O.A.E.2), a world wide extinction horizon. Flints occur in the Turonian and Coniacian chalks, starting with finger flints (formed in thin burrows), going through nodular and lenticular flints to thick tabular flints at the 'Flint Maximum'. These flints can also be traced over large areas, but are not quite as reliable as the marl bands for stratigraphy. After the 'Flint Maximum' they get smaller in size and the highest ones become irregular and are probably diachronous. No one is yet certain how the flints formed, but the most likely explanation is the precipitation of silica due to reducing conditions a metre or two beneath the sediment-water interface. But this does not explain why they only occur in the middle of the Yorkshire Chalk, perhaps this is because their formation is related to water depth ?
The Yorkshire flints are grey in colour and are not good for making flint implements. Black, Red and brown flints can be found as erratics from the boulder clay. The black flints are probably of late Campanian or early Maastrichtian age and come from chalk that was exposed on the bed of the North Sea during the Ice Age. The red flints may be of Danian ( earliest Tertiary ) age and the brown ones have that colour due to weathering.
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Suggestions and useful information
for further work in the Hull area.Fieldwork :
There are plenty of places on the coast that are suitable. But remember to be aware of the tide - the best rocks and fossils are usually in the most dangerous places ! There are many places on the Yorkshire coast where you can get trapped by incoming tides ! So check the tidetable and guide books before setting off. Also beware of dangerous cliffs, slippery rocks and military ranges!Meeting others :
Like many other hobbies, it is nice to meet other enthusiasts and share experiences and help. There are often courses run by Adult Education organisations, such as the local councils, Workers Education Association or Hull University. There are also geological societies who organise lectures and field meetings. Often they can arrange trips to quarries which you may not be allowed to go to alone.
Hull Geological Society - 28 Salisbury Street, Hull, HU5 3HA. Membership costs between £2-00 and £7-00. Holds winter lectures in Hull and field meetings in the summer. Publishes occasional journal Humberside Geologist . Affiliated to the Yorkshire Geological Society and the Geologists' Association.
The Yorkshire Geological Society - 4 Middledyke Lane, Cottingham. Membership costs between £6 and £22. Holds winter meetings in Yorkshire Universities and summer field meetings in northern England. Publishes Proceedings twice a year and details of meetings in a circular.
The Geologists' Association -Burlington House, Piccadilly, London, W1V 9AG. Membership costs about £20 . Based in London; is very helpful to amateurs. Publishes quarterly Proceedings, bimonthly chatty and interesting Circular and a series of field guides.
Kingston Lapidary Society, 3 Southern Drive, Anlaby Park, Hull. Specialises in minerals and gemstones; meets regularly at a clubhouse/workshop, off Walton Street in Hull.
Leeds Geological Association, 5 Park Terrace, Otley, West Yorkshire, LS21 1HH.
York Geology Club, 5 Ploughmans Close, Copmanthorpe, York, YO2 3YG.
Nationwide Geology Club, 16 Station Road, Chapeltown, Sheffield, S30 4EX. Holds meetings throughout the country, often based in Youth Hostels and encourages teenagers. Membership fee about £5, plus a charge for attending field meetings.
Rockwatch, The Kiln, Waterside, Mather Road, Newark, NG24 1WT.. The geological wing of the Watch organisation of young naturalists. Membership fees from £5, plus a small charge for field meetings.
There are also societies who specialise in particular aspects of geology, such as the Quaternary Research Association, the Mineralogical Society, the Palaeontological Association and the Tertiary Research Association.
There are also museums you can visit to find out more about geology, compare displayed specimens with your collection and (if you are feeling bold) ask for help :
Hull and East Riding Museum, High Street, Hull. Entrance charge if you don't have a resident's card.
Scunthorpe Museum, Oswald Road, Scunthorpe, DN15 7BD. No charge for entry.
Yorkshire Museum, Museum Gardens, York, YO1 2DR. Entrance charge for the Museum but not the shop.
The Natural History Museum (incorporating the old Geological Museum), Cromwell Road, London. Entrance charge.
Equipment :
It is important that you get the correct safety equipment, as well as sensible outdoor clothing for field work.
You can buy hard hats, goggles, safety glasses and safety clothing from ARCO, Waverley Street, Hull.
You can buy hammers, lenses, safety equipment, books, maps and most things that an amateur geologist would need from Geosupplies, 16 Station Road, Chapeltown, Sheffield, S30 4XH, who have a mail order service and are very helpful.
Museums often have shops which will sell geological books and specimens.
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This is a list of sites that you can visit. You must get the permission of the site owner before you visit and collect samples. Some of the sites are SSSIs, so collecting and hammering is prohibited. Most are RIGS sites (designated as Regionally Important Geological and Geomorphological Sites). Click here for a list of East Yorkshire RIGS and geological SSSIs.
Please follow the Geological Code and treat the sites with respect. They are listed in stratigraphical order.
Quaternary :
Mere (Yorkshire term for a lake) deposits - Gransmoor Quarry and Skipsea Withow. Peat, clays and gravels.
Esturine deposits - Old mouth of the River Humber at Easington.
Meltwater channels - gravels at Barmston.
- valley cut in Chalk at Kiplingcotes.
Lake deposits of Lake Humber filling the Humber Gap - foreshores at South Ferriby, Hessle and North Ferriby .
Boulder Clay - covering the whole of Holderness , good exposures at Hornsea, Atwick, Barmston, Skipsea, Easington, Spurn Point.
Buried Cliff - Sewerby; (no longer exposed at Hessle Station).
Cretaceous :
Chalk :
Upper Campanian - 'rafts' of soft Chalk in the Boulder Clay at Atwick and Hornsea.
Lower Campanian - Coastline at Sewerby; quarries at Ruston Parva, Bessingby, Nafferton.
Santonian - Coastline at Danes Dyke, South Landing and High Stacks; quarries at Beverley and Bainton.
Coniacian - quarries at Middleton, Little Weighton, Eppleworth, Willerby, Enthorpe.
Turonian - Coastline at North Landing and Thornwick Bays; quarries at Enthorpe, Arras Hill, Burdale, Newbald, Melton, South Cave, South Ferriby [Lincs.].
Black Band Member - Buckton Cliff ( very dangerous ); quarries at Knapton, Bishop Wilton, Melton and South Ferriby [Lincs.].
Cenomanian - Buckton Cliff ( dangerous ), quarries at Knapton, Bishop Wilton, Rifle Butts SSSI (collecting/hammering prohibited), Melton and South Ferriby.
Albian Red Chalk - Speeton/Buckton Cliffs and quarries at Melton (now covered over but some fossils can be found) & South Ferriby [Lincs.] and Rifle Butts SSSI (collecting/hammering prohibited.
Aptian - top of Speeton Clay at Speeton. - Carstone at South Ferriby [Lincs.], formerly exposed at Melton Quarry.
Lower Cretaceous
- Speeton Clay at Speeton, a series of grey marine clays; due to landslips only parts of the sequence are exposed at any one time; (no longer exposed at Knapton).Jurassic :
Upper Jurassic
- Ancholme Clay [ a.k.a. Kimmeridge Clay/Ampthill Clay ] - Speeton and South Ferriby Quarry[Lincs.]; at Melton the exposure has been landscaped but a few fossils may still be found.Triassic :
Mercia Mudstone Group - Vale of York - usually no exposures.
Geomorphological features :
Flamborough Cliffs, Spurn Point, Hornsea Mere, Burdale, KiplingcotesBack to top
Before you start any geological fieldwork there are certain things you need to consider.
Planning.
Why are you doing it? Are you going as a general exploration or do you have definite reason? Your motives will affect the preparation and the items you will need to take. Where are you going? Do you need permission of the landowner in advance? What are the potential hazards that you are likely to encounter?
Protective Clothing
For all fieldwork you will need to have sensible clothing for the weather conditions. You must have the correct footwear for the site you plan to visit - wellies for muddy sites; non slip footwear for slippery rocks; comfortable walking boots for long distances. Some working quarries insist that you wear safety footwear with steel toe caps. High visibility clothing is a statutory requirement for some working quarries and is also worth considering in remote areas. A hard hat is required in all working quarries and on most organised trips, and it is good practice to wear one near coastal cliffs. Impact resistant glasses should be worn if you plan to do any hammering, and on an organised trip the leader may insist that you have and wear them. Dark glasses are definitely helpful if you plan to study the chalk on a sunny day.
If you have the room in your bag take some first aid equipment and perhaps some warm clothing in case you get stuck somewhere and have to spend the night or wait for help to arrive A couple of dustbin liners could help keep you dry and warm in emergencies. A whistle could be used to attract the attention of others if you need help.
Safety
If you are working alone, always tell someone where you are going and when you plan to return. For coastal work always check the tide table and as a general rule always set off on a falling tide. Work out how long you can safely work before the tide will come in and cut off your exit route. Try to find out if there are other exit points from the beach by reading guide books or asking the advice of people who know the area. Inform a reliable person where you are going and what time you expect to return so that in an emergency the rescue services can be informed.
In remote areas always check the weather forecast before setting off.
In working quarries report to the site office on your arrival and ask if there are parts of the quarry you should avoid, because of blasting, unstable faces, flooding etc. Always obey any safety instructions you are given and leave the site when asked. Maintaining a good relationship with quarry owners and foremen will mean that you should be welcome again and builds a responsible reputation for the geological community as a whole !
Equipment
Your most important piece of geological equipment is your field note book (not your hammer) ! Do not rely on you memory ! Don't forget something to write with; actually a pencil is best so you can write when it is wet. It is useful to have a large clear plastic bag so you can put your notebook in it and write when it is raining.
A geological hammer is used to chip bits off rock to be able to observe an unweathered surface. Make sure you know how to use it properly and efficiently. Use a cold chisel to extract fossils from rocks. Never use a hammer as a chisel because the hardened steel can splinter. Always wear safety glasses or goggles when hammering and make sure that nobody is standing near you when you use a hammer. Never hammer under an overhang. Please think carefully before you hammer or collect specimens - do you really need to? Please be considerate to other geologists who wish to visit the site. If you must hammer or collect, try to use pieces from a scree or fallen blocks in preference to hammering the exposed rock face.
If you are collecting from clays or other soft rocks a trowel will be useful.
If you plan to collect you will need sample bags. Self seal plastic bags are suitable for most rocks, though tough cloth bags may be better for hard sharp edged specimens. Write the details on the bags and also on a piece of paper which should be placed in the bag with the sample. Wrap delicate specimens in newspaper. Remember to put the details of the rocks you collect in your field note book. A tape measure to record the thickness of beds, a compass to find the directions of dips and a clinometer to measure dip angles are useful equipment to take. A hand lens can be used to get a closer look at small scale structures and fossils. A camera to take photos of what you find is also a good optional extra.
Before you go.
Write to the landowner to get permission to enter the property or quarry. You may have to sign an indemnity form before you are allowed to visit.
Check the map so you know where you are going and how to get there. Check the tide table again. Don't forget to make your sandwiches and take a drink (especially in warm weather)!
When you return.
If you did tell someone where you were going for safety reasons REMEMBER to tell them you have returned safely , before they call out the police, mountain rescue, coastguard and start arranging a series of memorial lectures !!
Unpack your samples and check that they are properly labelled. Read through your notebook and add any useful information that is missing. Do a neat copy of any graphic logs or other measurements you made, whilst the information is still fairly fresh in your mind.
Write a letter to the site owner thanking them for their help, include a copy of any results of your work or offer to send a copy of any publication that results from the visit. It is very useful to maintain a good relationship with site owners and often they are interested to learn more about their property.
Insurance.
Think seriously about some personal accident insurance.
Also, check on your public liability insurance - what happens as a result of your negligence ? Some landowners will insist that you have cover for £2,000,000 before you enter their quarries. If you are leading a group of other people get some insurance or make it very clear that you accept no responsibility. If you are leading a trip for an organisation you should insist that they arrange insurance cover.
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|
Stage |
Age in millions of years (at base) |
|
|
Quaternary |
2 |
|
|
Tertiary |
Danian (earliest stage) |
65 |
|
Late Cretaceous |
Maastrichtian |
83MA |
|
Campanian |
||
|
Santonian |
91 MA |
|
|
Coniacian |
||
|
Turonian |
||
|
Cenomanian |
97.5 MA |
|
|
Early Cretaceous |
Albian |
113 MA |
|
Aptian |
144 MA |
|
|
Barremian |
||
|
Huaterivian |
||
|
Valanginian |
||
|
Berriasian |
||
|
Late Jurassic |
Tithonian |
163MA |
|
Kimmeridgian |
||
|
Oxfordian |
||
|
Middle Jurassic |
Bathonian |
188 MA |
|
Bajocian |
||
|
Early Jurassic |
Aalenian |
213 MA |
|
Toarcian |
||
|
Pliensbachian |
||
|
Sinemurian |
||
|
Hettangian |
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Triassic |
Rhaetian (latest stage) |
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(dates from A Geologic Time Scale, CUP, 1982) |
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de Boer G, J W Neale & L F Penny, 1958. A guide to the geology of the area between Market Weighton and the Humber. Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society 31,157-209.
Gaunt G D, B N Fletcher and C J Wood, 1992. The geology of the country around Kingston upon Hull and Brigg. British Geological Survey. HMSO London. ix + 172pp. (£27-00) ISBN 0 11 884399 0
Harrison R & M Horne 1991, A Geological Walk in the City of Hull. Humberside Geologist 8, 21-25.(*£2.00)
Horne M 1989, The History of the Hull Geological Society. Humberside Geologist 7. 40pp.(*£1.50)
Horne M 1992. A Bibliography of East Yorkshire Geology 1938 to 1988. Humberside Geologist 9, 46 pp.(*£2.00)
Kent P 1980. British Regional Geology : Eastern England from the Tees to the Wash. HMSO London. 155pp. (£4.50) ISBN 0 11 884121 1
Lewis D B [ed.],1991. The Yorkshire Coast. Normandy Press, Beverley. 240pp. £14.95 ISBN 0 9507665 3 4
Rawson P F & J K Wright [eds.], 1992. The Yorkshire Coast. Geologists' Association Guide no. 34. 117pp.
Scrutton C [ed.] 1994. Yorkshire Rocks and Landscape. Yorkshire Geological Society. (£8.99) ISBN 1 873551 08 8
Smith AB [ed.] 1987. Fossils of the Chalk. The Palaeontological Association, London. (£11.50.) ISBN 0 901702 35 6
Whitham F,1991. The stratigraphy of the Upper Cretaceous Ferriby, Welton and Burnham Formations, north of the Humber, north-east England. Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society 48, 227-254.(* £2.50)
Whitham F,1993. The stratigraphy of the Upper Cretaceous Flamborough Formation, north of the Humber, north-east England. Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society 49,235-258. * (£3.50)
Wood C J & E G Smith, 1978. Lithostratigraphical classification of the Chalk in North Yorkshire, Humberside and Lincolnshire. Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society 42, 263-288.
. The Natural History Museum publishes three useful books entitled British Palaeozoic Fossils , British Mesozoic Fossils and British Cenozoic Fossils .
Down to Earth - a geological newspaper published quarterly by Geosupplies in Sheffield, free at your local Museum/geological society; also available by individual subscription of about £2.
Geology Today - a bimonthly magazine published by Blackwell Scientific in Oxford. Annual subscription £30 or less.
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Updated 2/5/00