Box Rock Circus - official opening

BOX ROCK CIRCUS OFFICIALLY OPENED BY PROFESSOR IAIN STEWART

Photo credits Charles Hiscock

Click on photo to see larger version

On a rather damp Tuesday May 14^th 2013 a large number of people from the village of Box, near Corsham, Wiltshire, pupils from the local schools, members of the Bath Geological Society, and many other interested folk gathered at the Selwyn Hall recreation field for the official opening of the Box Rock Circus. The Circus, the brainchild of local geologist and Earth Science Educator Elizabeth Devon, which had been unofficially unveiled on its completion on the 9^th August 2012, has since received an interpretation board entitled ‘Box Rock Circus - A magical circle of rocks, fossils and minerals’ and the fossil moulds inserted into a different position, making them more accessible to the smallest child.

            Amongst a colourful array of umbrellas, Elizabeth Devon and the Chairman of the Parish Council welcomed everyone to the event after which Professor Iain Stewart, Professor of Geoscience Communications at the University of Plymouth and well known television presenter officially opened the Box Rock Circus. He enthusiastically praised all those who had the foresight to plan and carry out the project and the referred to the ages and conditions of formation of the rock monoliths. He also suggested that other towns and villages should follow the example of Box. BBC Wiltshire Sound was present to record the event, interviewing the enthusiastic pupils of Box Primary School. Following the opening of the Circus by Professor Stewart, a buffet lunch had been prepared for invited guests in the Box Pavilion.

A full description of the rocks and specimens can be found in the Avon RIGS blog for 2012 - http://avonrigsoutcrop.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/box-rock-circus.html when the Circus was unveiled following its completion. For more information go the website - www.boxrockcircus.org.uk

Charles Hiscock

Geo-gardening at Trendlewood Quarry, Nailsea

Geo-gardening - Sunday 3rd February 2013

On Sunday 3^rd February 2013 a Joint Gardening Force (JGF) from Friends of Trendlewood Park (FoTP) and Avon RIGS Group descended on Trendlewood Quarry in Nailsea and proceeded to spend a few hours clearing ivy and other encroaching vegetation from the lower parts of the quarry face in three areas.

Before worked started. Photo credits: Richard Kefford. More photos at

http://tinyurl.com/bwd6shw

These three areas were selected to demonstrate the differing bedding types – from varves to massive -  in this Pennant Sandstone of the Downend Formation and the differing types of deposition – point bars and channel deposits.

Geo-gardeners at work

This is the first part of the implementation of the quarry management plan that was agreed at a site meeting between N Somerset Council, Friends of Trendlewood Park and Avon RIGS Group. The second part which will be carried out by the N Somerset Green Team will consist of clearing the upper levels of the face and removing a few selected trees that are in danger of falling and have extended their roots into the joints and fissures rock close to the face and so are damaging the exposure.

Meeting one of the site natives

See here for details of the geology of this site and its location.

A cleared area on one face

Richard Kefford

Earth Heritage magazine

Earth Heritage magazine - free download

Earth Heritage is a magazine produced twice yearly to stimulate interest in geodiversity and a broad range of geological and landscape conservation issues within the UK and further afield. It is produced by Natural England, Scottish Natural Heritage, Countryside Council for Wales and the Geologists' Association. 
 

 
You can download the latest issue for free here. 

Merry Christmas from Avon RIGS

Season's greetings to all of our readers. Outcrop is having a festive break but will be back in 2013 with some exciting new features.

Merry Christmas from Avon RIGS

Blaise Castle Estate in snow - from August RIGS of the Month

BGS 'GeoBritain' Map

BGS 'GeoBritain' Map

Click here to be redirected to the GeoBritain site (external link)

The GeoBritain map is the latest interactive offering from the British Geological Survey (BGS), following on from educational tools such as 'Make-a-Map', 'Geology of Britain viewer' and 'Holiday Geology Guides'.

The GeoBritain map acts as an inventory of "fascinating geology providing 'secret' walks through breathtaking scenery, literary inspiration, idyllic holiday destinations and the building materials for historic monuments" that can be found in the British Isles. It also contains details of local geology groups, museums and discovery centres.

 

 Screenshot of the GeoBritain Map

http://www.bgs.ac.uk

Our area is currently looking a little under-represented, so why not put the South West on the map and email some of your suggested additions to the BGS?

Charly Stamper

The Geology Collection University of Bristol goes OnLine

The School of Earth Sciences at the University of Bristol holds a collection of over 100,000 mineralogical, paleaontological and petrological specimens which were donated to the School over the past 100 years. Some iconic specimens are an original map by William Smith, a near complete and mounted skeleton of a sabre-toothed cat, fossilised bones of early dinosaurs and an array of minerals from now inaccessible mines in the UK. The collection also contains over 1500 type fossils and published specimens, a unique and valuable resource to researchers worldwide.

Rhodochrosite from Argentina (BRSUG B2502)

 

Over the past decade efforts have been made to record and document the collection to unlock its scientific and educational potential. The current digitisation project OnLine aims to improve remote access to the wealth of geological specimens in the collection. The project includes the design of a brand new website as well as the development of an extensive photo archive and a searchable online database.

A taster of the future website of the Geology Collection University of Bristol, going live in autumn 2012.



Claudia Hildebrandt, Collections Manager: "With the valuable help of students and volunteers we have now digitise over 60,000 specimen records for online publication. We collected details from registers, card catalogues, collectors’ field notebooks and the specimens themselves and merged all information into a comprehensive database. Additional funding from JISC (as part of the BRICOLAGE project) allowed us to employ a student who reorganised taxonomic, stratigraphic and geographic entries and ensured consistency across the whole database.”

“We have also started to add recently taken photographs of specimens to the database. This will offer users a look behind the scenes of our stores.”

Volunteer Charlie Navarro editing photographs of Cretaceous chalk fossils.

Once the website goes live in autumn 2012 the OnLine project will enter its second phase.

Claudia: “We aim to create links between specimens and relevant scientific publications and publish a tool that visualises the geographic distribution of all our UK specimens. We will also add a feedback function to the catalogue which will allow amateurs and specialists to comment on specimens and send enquiries.”

"And this is just the beginning. Parts of the collection need to be revisited to update taxonomic and stratigraphic information. We also plan to highlight the historic value of our collection. Many honorable and well know geologists donated their samples to the Geology Collection, from local fossil collectors to internationally known palaeontologist. We would like to dig deeper and reveal the people behind our collection and the extraordinary journeys some of our specimens have been on.”

If you would like to find out more about the Geology Collection follow us on Facebook.

Claudia Hildebrandt

The William Smith Stone Column

The William Smith Stone Column near Wellow

Photo credit Andrew Mathieson

In 2006 the transport charity Sustrans commissioned the sculptor Jerry Ortmans to design and construct an art installation to celebrate the work of William Smith, the “Father of English Geology”. This Stone Column was to be in natural stone and to be installed near the village of Wellow, a few miles south of Bath, and along Route 24 of the National Cycle Network. The section of the Route from Bath to Frome has been called the Colliers Way and it provides new access to both the disused Somerset and Dorset railway line and the original route of the southern branch of the Somersetshire Coal Canal, which Smith worked on between 1793 and 1799.

        The siting was intended to link Smith's understanding of the local geology with his work on the survey and construction of the canal, which gave him so much evidence for his ground breaking understanding of stratigraphy and the use of fossils to identify beds of rock. In fact, although most of this southern branch of the canal was excavated, the company ran out of funds to build a flight of locks and it was never connected to the rest of the canal by water. Instead coal was carried along the original towpath on a horse-drawn railway and transferred to boats on the main canal near Midford.

        The design of the sculpture was based on Smith's account of the sequence of local rocks which he drew up in his famous Table of Strata in 1799, shortly after his dismissal from the Coal Canal Company. Seven large blocks of local rock were chosen and these were arranged into a vertical structure in their order of succession. Ortmans worked with local geologist Simon Carpenter to select suitable stone from a number of working quarries in the West of England, and they range from Carboniferous Pennant Sandstone up to Cretaceous Chalk.

        Sustrans also commissioned two information panels to be installed along the Colliers Way to help visitors better understand Smith's work in terms of the local geology and his work on the construction of the Coal Canal. One was placed beside the Stone Column and it concentrates on the local geology and Smith's work and the history of the Canal. It features a little-seen engraving of Smith in 1807, when he was aged 38, and emphasizes that the canal was one of the most prosperous in the south of England. Unfortunately there is little evidence of the canal nearby since its route was mostly destroyed by the construction of the railway.

        The second information panel is just south of the Midford railway viaduct, and this mainly deals with the various forms of transport which once existed nearby. There is a photograph of a train on both the Somerset and Dorset and the Limpley Stoke – Camerton lines in 1958, when the latter railway was being scrapped. The illustration for the Coal Canal is a photograph of Midford Weigh House which was taken in about 1890. An extract from a geological map of Smith's is also included. This was published in 1820, several years after his famous geological map of England and Wales, and Smith included all the existing canals and railways of the time.

        Although these installations are a distance from the sites most people associate with William Smith (Tucking Mill, Rugborne House, etc.), they add new ways of commemorating his pioneering contribution to geology and in addition are set in an area of attractive Inferior Oolite and Fullers Earth countryside which Smith would have known well.

Andrew Mathieson

Box Rock Circus

Box Rock Circus

http://www.boxrockcircus.org.uk

FIG 1: The Box Rock Circus. The standing stones, from left to right around the perimeter, are Permo-Triassic New Red Sandstone, Carboniferous Limestone, the Jurassic Box Bath Stone table, Devonian Old Red Sandstone and Silurian andesite. Photo credit Charles Hiscock

A larger version of this and all the other photos can be seen here

There is the old saying that ‘The sun shines on the righteous’ and this was particularly true on Thursday 9^th August 2012 when the sun blazed down for one of the few days of Summer 2012 at the village of Box, near Corsham, Wiltshire. At 11am on that very warm morning, the good and great (and righteous!) of Box gathered at the village recreation ground for the unofficial unveiling of the ‘Box Rock Circus’, carried out by the Chairman of the Box Parish Council, Pauline Lyons, to mark completion of the construction with many villagers and children and representatives of the press in attendance.

‘Box Rock Circus’, the brainchild of well-known local geologist and Earth Science Educator, Elizabeth Devon, is a circular arrangement of large stone blocks and rock sculptures designed to tell the history of the rocks that we can see in our environment, enabling people to touch, examine, climb on and over or just admire the originality of thought that has produced this superb feature.

FIG 2: Elizabeth Devon, who had the original idea and designed the Box Rock Circus, stands beside the Bath Stone obelisk. Photo credit: Charles Hiscock 

The circular array contains 5 large blocks of rock donated from quarries in differing geological areas. The Carboniferous Limestone block, packed with fossil corals, came from Wickwar Quarry while the volcanic Silurian andesite originates from Moon’s Hill Quarry at Stoke St Michael on Mendip. Two large blocks of red sandstone represent the Devonian Old Red Sandstone, from Black Mountain Quarries of Herefordshire, and the Permo-Triassic New Red Sandstone from Capton Quarry near Williton, Somerset. Local rocks are used for the ‘table,’ cut from the Jurassic Hartham Stone, and the beautifully carved obelisk (fig. 2) from Jurassic Box Ground Bath Stone Quarry, the latter illustrating the importance of this fine rock in the history of Box. The quarry has supplied fine Bath Stone for 1000 years but was closed for 60 years until it was recently reopened. Inset in the top of the ‘table’ rock are moulds of a range of fossils (fig. 3) – Silurian trilobites, Jurassic ammonites, a Carboniferous dragonfly, the first Cretaceous bird Archaeopteryx, starfish, a fossil worm trail and a fish - that children (of all ages!) can reproduce in the same way as brass rubbings. Also on the table is the badge of the Geologists’ Association which sponsored the fossil rubbings through the Curry Fund. 

FIG 3: Inset in the top of the 'table' rock. Moulds of a range of fossils including Silurian trilobites, Jurassic ammonites, a Carboniferous dragonfly, the first Cretaceous bird Archaeopteryx, starfish, a fossil worm trail and a fish. Photo credit: Charles Hiscock 

The sculpted blocks are built up from specimens of different rocks and are intended to be climbed over by children as well as examined for their content of rock types. One is composed of sedimentary rocks and fossils sourced locally and from further afield, topped by a polished block of Purbeck Marble sitting on a specimen of fossil ripples (fig. 4).

FIG 4: The sedimentary rocks and fossils sculpture, topped by a block of Purbeck Marble. Photo credit: Charles Hiscock

The crystalline block contains specimens of igneous and metamorphic rocks, many as polished slabs as used for kitchen worktops and, completing the top, a sculpture of a tiny house built from slates, surrounded by pieces of lavas and a volcanic bomb (fig. 5).

FIG 5: The crystalline rock sculpture, including  slates, pieces of lavas and a volcanic bomb . Photo credit: Charles Hiscock

The rocks, obelisk and sculptured blocks are set in concrete, pinned with steel rods to the base and surrounded by a greenish rubbery matrix made from recycled tyres providing a soft play area for children. Made from the same material are two sets of dinosaur footprints, coloured black which cross the circular area (fig. 6). The outside perimeter is made from granite setts which will, in due course, be painted with red marks to show the geological timeline and how life only evolved very recently. In fig 01, the sculpted blocks stand either side of the obelisk, the sedimentary rocks and fossils on the left while the crystalline rocks stand on the right. The standing stones, from left to right around the perimeter, are Permo-Triassic New Red Sandstone, Carboniferous Limestone, the Jurassic Box Bath Stone table, Devonian Old Red Sandstone and Silurian andesite.

FIG 6: Dinosaur footprints across the Circus. Photo credit: Charles Hiscock

The project has received the backing of Box Parish Council and local organisations and been funded by a Landfill Communities Fund grant from the Hills Group Ltd. Construction of the Circus was carried out by a team of skilled craftsmen managed by stonemason Marcus Mitchell. The celebration on that sunny Thursday morning marked the completion of the construction work but there is more to be done such as the red ‘timeline’ to be painted, with one year representing the age of the earth and an interpretation board is to be set up. 

The website - http://www.boxrockcircus.org.uk is to be updated to give information about the rocks and fossils and fact sheets and a childrens’ quiz will be downloadable and also available in the village. 

Elizabeth Devon will be very happy to explain the Rock Circus and can be contacted on the Earth Learning website elizabeth@earthlearningidea.com. The official opening is to be held later in the year on a date yet to be agreed.

Charles Hiscock

Geology in the West Country blog

Have you visited the Geology in the West Country blog?

This blog's main purpose is to publicise talks, field trips and events organised by West Country geological organisations. It also includes links to blogs and webpages of similar groups from around the UK. Discussion is encouraged and anything of general geological interest is included. Latest stories include Rock Circus in Box takes shape and Chemical ghost of 120million years-old bird.

There is a live link to the Geology in the West Country on the Outcrop homepage so that you can keep up to date with what is happening in our region.

South Gloucestershire geology booklet - free download

The story of geology & landscape in South Gloucestershire was published in April 2007 hard copy format as a collaboration between South Gloucestershire Council, the Avon RIGS Group, BRERC and Bristol Museum. Although paper copies are no longer available, this excellent thirteen page booklet is still available as a free-to-download pdf (see link at bottom of post). It was also recently featured in the popular Down to Earth magazine.

Front cover

Fourteen local sites, including Aust Cliff, Huckford Quarry and Wick Golden Valley are featured. Each outcrop is described and interpreted with cross sections, location maps and annotated photos.

An example of a site description from the leaflet - Wick Golden Valley

 Download the pdf from the South Gloucestershire Council website

 Download booklet - 6MB

Furthermore, pdfs of all the site interpretation panels in South Gloucestershire can be accessed using this link  - Geological Conservation in South Gloucestershire (menu on right hand side of page)

Charly Stamper

Outcrop - revamped!

The onset of summer sees a new design for OUTCROP!

Find out more about the work of the Avon RIGS Group and how you can get involved.

Look out for new RIGS of the Month and articles on the fossils and minerals of the Avon region.

Finally, for the latest news and updates, you can follow us on Twitter @avonrigs .

New feature - RIGS of the Month

The Avon RIGS group covers the geographical area of the former county of Avon. This includes the City of Bristol, and parts of Somerset and Gloucestershire (now the unitary local authorities of Bath and North East Somerset, North Somerset, South Gloucestershire and the City of Bristol).

Avon region with England

In geological terms, our remit includes well known sites such as:

• Aust Cliff [South Gloucestershire] sediments showing the transition between Triassic and Jurassic, exposures of the Westbury Bone Bed
• Avon Gorge [Bristol] stunning gorge through Carboniferous limestone
• Barnhill Quarry [South Gloucestershire] unconformity between Carboniferous and Triassic, with fossil stromatolites and ripple beds
• Burrington Coombe [North Somerset] section through Devonian sandstones and Carboniferous limestone
• Radstock quarries [BANES] unusual Lower Jurassic lithologies and fossil spiders, ferns and dragonflies
• Sand Bay [North Somerset] intercalated limestones and tuffs, and altered basaltic pillow lava

Sand Bay, near Kewstoke, Weston-Super-Mare. One of only three sites in the UK where Carboniferous limestone is interbedded with volcanic deposits. Photo credit: Charly Stamper

and lots of other less famous but equally fascinating outcrops. Our new feature, RIGS of the Month, will explore all that Avon geology has to offer. We'll be reporting from both from these landmark sites and off the beaten track.

Keep an eye out for the first installment, coming soon!

Charly Stamper