The Magazine of

Horsham Geological Field Club

December 2014

Mistaken identity?

HORSHAM GEOLOGICAL FIELD CLUB OFFICERS AND COMMITTEE 2014/15

President Bob Chandler

Vice President Frank Diggon

Secretary Gill Woodhatch

Treasurer Janet Owen

Lecture Programme Co-ordinator Beryl Jarvis

Field Trip Secretary Mike Webster

Librarian Valerie Bell

Magazine Editor Gordon Judge

Committee Members Susan Reese

Subscription: £14 PER ANNUM (due in April) or £2 per lecture Stonechat paper copy: extra £2 per annum

WEB SITE : http://www.hgfc.uwclub.net/Index.html

Many thanks to the folk in Forest School office, who produce the printed version of Stonechat for us.

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STONECHAT

December 2014

CONTENTS

Editorial ................................................................................................. 2

The discoveries and context of Polacanthus ......................................... 3

Old Spiky ............................................................................................... 7

REVIEW: GEOLOGY AND FOSSILS OF THE HASTINGS AREA .............................. 8

The Jurassic of Tibet ............................................................................. 9

Green Sussex: a Summer social outing .............................................. 12

When Ethel and Gertrude met Charles ................................................ 13

Shale gas ............................................................................................ 16

Virtual palaeontology and the Herefordshire Lagerstätte ..................... 19

Serial sectioning .................................................................................. 23

Dead Sea to Red Sea: Holiday Geology in the Rift Valley ................... 23

HGFC and a picture of political corruption ........................................... 27

SNIPPET: THE FIRST WEALDEN ISOPOD ...................................................... 28

Club Programme 2015 ........................................................................ 29

“Organized Fossils are to the naturalist as coins to the antiquary; they are the antiquities of the earth; and very

distinctly show its gradual regular formation, with the various changes inhabitants in the watery element.”

William Smith,

in Stratigraphical System of Organized Fossils (1817), ix-x.

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Editorial

Oh dear! It seems that the received wisdom about certain geological matters might now be suspect: according to Dr William Blows (page 3), Polacanthus Rudgwickensis might not be a polacanthid dinosaur after all; and the Moon is in fact an egg whose embryo will hatch in 2049, according to a well-known television Doctor. (Memo to Beryl: can we invite him to a Club meeting to explain his radical new lunar geology?) But at least Scotland, having voted, is still joined to England. Geologically, of course, it happened some 425 million years ago, when Avalonia rammed Laurentia. One of the results of this union now shows up as a five-mile-deep tract of contorted, sedimentary rocks in the Southern Uplands, known as greywacke. It took twelve years’ work by two female palaeontologists and the introduction of a new geological Period by the king of the graptolites to sort it all out – story on page 13. More recently, the Himalayas were formed just 40 Ma ago, when India collided with Laurasia (seems like only yesterday). Our President, Bob Chandler, visited the area last year, attracted by the prospect of turning up more of his beloved Jurassic ammonites – see page 9 for a report on his visit. Also in this issue, you can read (page 28) how work by Club members behind the scenes at Horsham Museum helped pay for the purchase of a painting of Robert Seymour Vesey Fitzgerald, and the sordid tale of his attempts, ultimately successful, to win a seat representing Horsham in Parliament. The painting is currently in the Museum’s Craft Gallery. And finally, on page 28, we hail Mike Webster’s discovery of the first Wealden isopod in the clays of Keymer Tile Pit. The creature’s fossilised, anonymous remains had clearly waited until the Right Man came along before it showed itself to the world, to be named Cymothoidana websteri after our Field Trip Secretary. Gordon Judge

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The discoveries and context of Polacanthus William Blows Report by Mike Webster and Gordon Judge

Facebook gives an idea of the breadth of interest of our June speaker, Dr William Blows: Alexander Armstrong, Anton Bruckner, Harpo Marx and Judi Dench are among his ‘inspirational people’; and neuroscience, the human brain, symphonic music and dinosaurs are given as his main interests. But he came to us to talk about the discovery and identification of material thought to be remains of the bird-hipped, spike-armoured dinosaur, Polacanthus. William Fox’s Polacanthus

This is the Reverend William Fox, at work on a sauropod vertebra in the 1870s; and on the right is Polacanthus foxii, the first fragmentary Polacanthus, which he discovered in 1865 at Barnes High on the south-west coast of the Isle of Wight. It came from a layer of the Upper Wessex Formation, dating from the Barremian division (130–125 Ma ago) of the Lower Cretaceous. It is an incomplete skeleton: the head, neck, anterior armour and forelimbs are missing but it has dorsal vertebrae, ribs, the sacrum, most of the pelvis, a sacral shield about a square metre in area, most of the left hind leg, the right thigh-bone, twenty-two tail vertebrae, chevrons (from the underside of the tail), ossified tendons, twenty-two spikes and numerous dermal ossicles (small bones formed within the skin). In 1881, surgeon and fossil collector John Whitaker Hulke examined the remains. They had badly deteriorated since discovery, but he published a detailed description. Transferred to the British Museum on Fox’s death, the pieces were painstakingly repaired by preparator Caleb Barlow using Canada balsam. It was then re-described, first by Hulke, then again in 1905 by the Hungarian-born aristocrat, Baron Ferenc

Sacral shield from the P. foxii holotype

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(Franz) von Nopcsa. He used the repaired foxii fragments to build a reconstruction. In 1985, now catalogued as ‘NHMUK R175’, it was relegated to the Natural History Museum’s basement, where it languished until a few years ago (right). A very personal Polacanthus – from the Barremian Since P. foxii, many Polacanthus sites have been found, mainly in the Isle of Wight’s Wessex Formation, some in its Vectis Formation and some from the mainland’s Upper Weald Clay. More specimens were needed, and this is where Dr Blows’ talk got personal. He discovered a second fragmented one in the Wealden Shales (Lower Cretaceous, Barremian, Vectis Formation) of Compton Bay, Isle of Wight, at about 4 pm on 29 March, 1979. But because it was accessible only at times of exceptionally low tide, it took another five years to fully recover it. Not

surprisingly after such dedication and travail, he described it lovingly as “my Polacanthus”. Other skeletal elements, probably from the same animal, had been found earlier by others, but it was Dr Blows who unearthed its main cache of bones. The Compton Bay specimen comprised two skull fragments,

a possible jaw fragment, neck and dorsal vertebrae, sacrum, one complete rib and some fragmentary ones, poorly preserved fragments of pelvis, a ‘terminal phalanx’, a possible dermal scute (external bony plate) and some impressive front-end armour. The finds included sharp spines of varying height, which would have projected from its neck and thorax at about 40° to the vertical, a large sacral shield, tail plates and 36 ossicles (if you include some from the earlier finds, and the holotype, there are over 80). These probably covered the back, sides and tail, fitting between the other armour elements.

Ossicles from Compton Bay

Dr Blows’ visualisation of p. foxii

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And there was a splate – a plate with built-in spine on top and a ridge beneath that probably helped anchor it in the animal’s skin. Overall, the specimen is less complete and more disarticulated than Fox’s holotype, but better preserved. The NHM knows it as NHMUK R9293.

Bexhill’s specimen – from the Valanginian Another Polacanthus was found, over a span of two decades, in the ‘Polacanthus Bed’ of Bexhill’s Wadhurst Clay, and reported in 2014 (see Web link below). This is the first P. foxii to have been recovered from the Valanginian stage (c.140–133 Ma ago) of the Early Cretaceous. It’s also the first to have a piece of skull other than a brain case; and another fragment might have been a tooth. It, too, had a splate, probably from the shoulder area. And one more . . . Dr Blows noted, rather mysteriously, that another, headless specimen, privately owned and like the holotype also from the Barremian of the IoW, is now at Portsmouth University “under research”. Polacanthus or Hyaelosaurus? The world of the armoured dinosaur is not a simple one and much debate surrounds how each animal fits in the family Ankylosauridae (if indeed they all do!). There are many types and many names on each side of ‘the pond’, so much information on this subject contradicts and confuses. Dr Blows blames this fairly on the Clumpers and the Splitters of the Palaeontological world, people who either over-simplify or over-complicate things – even the most recent Palaeontological Association guides appear to clash on the subject. An American scientist (a ‘Clumper’?) had declared Polacanthus and Hyaelosaurus to be the same creature, and Dr Blows said that the last twenty years or more had been spent trying to sort this out. At the start of his talk, Dr Blows had recalled that our local ‘Wizard of the Weald’, Gideon Mantell, had reassembled three partial skeletons, recovered in 1832 from quarrying operations in the Tilgate Forest, which he named Hylaeosaurus. It had very distinctive armour with long spines along each side. It has since been acquired by the NHM and catalogued as

Hyaelosaurus holotype, 1868

Splates from Compton Bay

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NHMUK 3775. Preserved are the front end of its skeleton minus most of the head and the forelimbs (though only the parts on the face of the stone block are easily studied) – the specimen is currently under preparation. Also preserved were scapulae and coracoid bones from the creature’s shoulder joint: key bones, said Dr Blows, that distinguish Polacanthus from Hyaelosaurus. Dr Blows noted that, although the two have similarities, the only parts of the two holotypes that are the same are their dorsal vertebrae. The Hyaelosaurus holotype has only its head end; the Polacanthus only its rear end. Both were present in the Barremian. But the Bexhill discoveries has added a Polacanthus in the Valanginian, some 3 million years earlier, where no Hyaelosaurus remains have been found. This seems to support their separate identities. The Rudgwick dinosaur In 1985, fossilised remains were excavated at Rudgwick brickworks by Morris Zdzalek (works engineer) and Sylvia Standing. It was not an Iguanadon as first thought, but identified later by William Blows as a unique Barremian Polacanthus – Polacanthus rudgwickensis. As a holotype, it is now in Horsham Museum, labelled HORSM 1988.1546. It is fragmentary but includes several incomplete vertebrae, a partial scapulocoracoid, the distal end of a humerus, a nearly complete right tibia, rib fragments, and two osteoderms (ossicles). Crucially, it is some 30% larger than Polacanthus foxii; its dorsal vertebrae are larger and more robust (see right); its armour is larger; and its scapula has an acromion (a bony projection of the shoulder blade) which, in Polacanthus, veers off towards the glenoid cavity (where the humerus fits into the shoulder), but in P. Rudgwickensis (and Hyaelosaurus) it runs along the top of the scapula. In 2012, a paper in the Journal of Systematic Palaeontology cast doubt as to whether P. rudgwickensis has been correctly named. Their cladogram (a diagram showing relationships between animal groups) places it separately from other polacanthids, and Dr Blows believes that, if this interpretation is correct, P. rudgwickensis could be a member of a completely new animal group and not a Polacanthus at all – “watch this space” was his advice!

Dorsal vertebra of P. rudgwickensi (L) and the

Compton Bay Polacanthus (R)

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This was a most informative and interesting talk, densely packed with fact and personal experience from a man immersed in his subject.

Dr William Blows has a Biological Sciences degree and a PhD in vertebrate palaeontology. He now lectures at the School of Health Sciences, City University, London on dinosaurs and human brain biology, especially in relation to mental health. He has numerous academic publications, and a number of symphonies, to his credit

Web links:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.211411985561748.48417.211222885580658&type=3 (Polacanthus images on Facebook) http://www.palass.org/beta/publications/palaeontology-backissues/?search=true&volume=30 (the listing for Vol. 30, Part 3 includes a link to Dr Blows’ Palaeobiology paper on his 1979 discovery) http://openaccess.city.ac.uk/3610/ (Bexhill P.foxii discovery)

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Bone fragments found in 1985 by Morris Zdzalek and Sylvia Standing in the Rudgwick brick-pit were first thought to be from an Iguanodon, but Dr William Blows examined them and in 1996 named them as a new species of Polacanthus, a family of armoured dinosaurs. However, in 2011, researchers at London’s Natural History Museum, using a cladistic analysis (grouping animals according to shared characteristics) questioned this. The matter is not yet settled: see the Postscript…

Old Spiky by Gordon Judge

In 1985, they found, in Rudgwick Brickworks’ quarry, A piece of bone – Iguanodon? Bill Blows said, “No, I’m sorry, It’s Polacanthus. It was hiding under false pretences! It needs a name, though … how about Polacanthus rudgwickensis?

(Re-drawn from Wikipedia’s version of cladogram in Journal of Systematic Palaeontology, 10(2): 301–312)

Nodosaurs

Antarctopelta

Mymoorapelta

Hyelosaurus

Anoplosaurus Tatankacephalus

Gargoyleosaurus Hoplitosaurus

Polacanthus Many others!

Polacanthids

Polacanthus rudgwickensis

Gastonia Peloroplites

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“It’s longer than old foxii, found on the Isle of Wight. (I dug one out in ’79, that’s how I know I’m right.) Your rudgwickensis fossil is Cretaceous in its Age, Or, if you want to be precise, Barremian in Stage. “Polacanthuses were spiky beasts, with a hefty sacral shield; But a fully intact skeleton has yet to be revealed.” Rudgwick Brickworks are no more; so fossils can’t be found there. But I wonder if Old Spiky’s mates lie dormant underground there… Postscript: Analysis by cladogram Suggests this name could fall: Perhaps Old Spiky might not be Polacanthus, after all…

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REVIEW: GEOLOGY AND FOSSILS OF THE HASTINGS AREA

Ken Brooks has produced a second edition of his excellent booklet Geology and fossils of the Hastings area. It has been thoroughly revised, with more pages and more fine photographs, but retains all the virtues of the original (see Stonechat, August 2001, p.74), not the least of which is the fact that every fossil photo has a scale bar. You still get two detailed field-trip itineraries which describe what you might find and where to look; primers on Wealden history and fossil formation; advice on field trip safety (GPS now gets a mention!) and etiquette; lists of books, local museums and geological groups; and a glossary and index. And the central ‘Reconstructions’ section, which describes the Wealden environment in terms of its known fossils, has now been extended to include arachnids, amphibians, lizards and mammals. This is a cracking guide, and should be read before, during and after a field trip on the beach between Hastings and Pett Level. It’s on sale in Hastings at Waterstones and the Information Centre; or you can get a copy delivered to your door by sending £8 (includes p&p) to Ken at 50 Alfred Road, HASTINGS, East Sussex TN35 5HY.

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One evening René Descartes went to relax at his local tavern. "Good evening Monsieur Descartes,” said the barman, “your usual tipple?". "I

think not," replied Descartes, and promptly vanished.

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The Jurassic of Tibet Bob Chandler Report by Valerie Bell

In July we were pleased to welcome the speaker for the evening, the Club’s President, Bob Chandler. He reminded us that he has been involved with the club in various ways since 1980. He told us that last year he was invited to visit the China University of Geosciences in Beijing, where he met Professor Yin Jiarun. This gentleman has studied and written about ammonites in Tibet. Bob was asked to view the collection of ammonites, some of which had been collected by students. Apparently the main reason for the research was to investigate the possible presence of oil. But it was found that, unfortunately, much of the report was not accurate. While visiting the university, Bob was asked to speak about his work at the Natural History Museum. Much of China and Tibet occupy what had been the eastern and western Tethys Ocean some 150 Ma ago. This ocean had separated the continents of Gondwana and Laurasia in much of the Mesozoic Era before the opening of the Indian and Atlantic oceans in the Cretaceous period. We were shown a map of the Anthropocene which shows the continents as they are today. The Himalayas were formed some 40 Ma ago when India collided with Laurasia. This area provides many of the ammonites which were formed in the Bajocian stage of the Middle Jurassic. Ammonites and biostratigraphy Ammonites valuable in stratigraphy because, being fairly large, they can be seen easily; they are quite common with shells that are calcified and therefore stable; and the two sexes can be identified. In the past, these creatures have been studied by Professor James Buckman (1814–84), a well-known botanist and geologist. He found a particularly fruitful area in Bradford Abbas, near Yeovil in Dorset. His son, Sydney Savory Buckman, born in 1860, studied and wrote about Yorkshire ammonites. His study of them showed that they could be used as zone fossils for subdividing Jurassic strata.

Bob with Prof. Jiarun Yin

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John Callomon Another well-known expert on ammonites whom Bob has worked with is the late Professor John Callomon. Born in Berlin in 1928, he moved with his Jewish parents to Birmingham where the family was befriended by Horace and Julie Sanders. Horace was a metallurgical engineer and keen geologist, and this sparked Callomon’s interest in geology. He went to Oxford University where he was stimulated by Arkell’s book on the geology of Oxford. Later he became a professor at

University College London, where he became distinguished in geological dating through the study of Jurassic ammonites within stratigraphical palaeontology. He pioneered the discovery of sexual dimorphism in ammonites (the distinction between male and female – the females are always larger). He was a leader in the use of ammonites as geological ‘clocks’, especially in the Middle and Upper Jurassic rocks all around the world. Other fossils such as gastropods, belemnites and bivalves may be seen in the same rocks in different times and places. Professor Callomon died in 2010. Collecting Tibetan fossils Bob then showed us a picture of an ammonite found in Tibet which was very well preserved. Many finds in Tibet are found at elevations of more than 4000 m. As you might imagine, collecting in Tibet is difficult because the climate limits periods when collecting can be done, the distance from cities means supplies are limited, some exposures are only temporary, and there is political unrest between China and Tibet We were treated to beautiful photographs of the Annapurna region of Nepal where there are folded Jurassic rocks. Due to the difficulties, many samples were obtained from river beds. Bob then displayed a chart of the faunal horizon of the Aalenian and Bajocian stages of the Jurassic, showing how it could be related to the Dorset succession. The appropriate fossils can be related to a time unit of 100,000 years per level. Yorkshire in Tibet William Smith’s map shows the range of the Jurassic from Dorset to Yorkshire. In the Jurassic, the UK was around 25 degrees north of the equator, so Pacific species can be found in Dorset, and in greater

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numbers in Spain and elsewhere on the continent. This was a result of a narrow channel linking the eastern Pacific and western Tethys oceans, known as the Hispanic Corridor:

Many Chinese/Tibetan fossils are exactly the same as can be found in Yorkshire. Examples shown included:

Haplopleuroceras

Fontannesia – similar to Haplopleuroceras

Sonninids

Graphoceratids

Leioceras

Stephanoceras This relatively recently acquired knowledge is obviously of great interest and importance to geologists world-wide. After he had answered members’ questions, Dorothy thanked Bob for an especially interesting and illuminating talk.

Bob Chandler became the Club’s President in 2014. He holds the Palaeontological Association’s 2006 Mary Anning Award, and the Geological Society’s 2014 R. H. Worth Prize. He has dedicated over thirty years to researching the ammonite faunas of the Inferior Oolite Formation of Dorset and Somerset.

Web links: Google ‘Shirley High School Newsletter December 2013’,to get pdf document (Visit to Beijing) http://link.springer.com/article/10.1360%2F02tb9096#page-1 (Hispanic Corridor)

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Owl flew back to his Mum and said, “I’ve just got married!” To which she

replied, “You twit, to who?”

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Green Sussex: a Summer social outing By Gordon Judge

For its annual Summer Social, we visited Haslemere Educational Museum, with its diverse geological collection, then went for a walk on Black Down in the footsteps of the poet Tennyson, who died at his nearby home in 1892.

In Haslemere Museum, we spent some time indoors Checking out its cased display and opening all its drawers. They had it all: from Burgess Shale to human evolution, With fossils, rocks, and butterflies – an intriguing institution! The museum owes its survival to Archibald Geikie, the Scot1, And has a special gallery to ensure he’s not forgot. The weather forecast had been wrong2; so, after we’d had lunch, To the top of Black Down went the HGFC bunch3.

We sat and gazed across the Weald and tried to see the sea; But distant mist blocked out the view of where the sea should be. So on we strode along the ridge to Tennyson’s favourite place4: “Green Sussex fading into blue5”. A quite enchanting space. On our return, those green-lined pits were chert mines of pre-history; And why those bog-ponds here and there lacked sundews was a

mystery . . . But we’d enjoyed our visit to the Hythe Beds sand and clay: A geo-social outing on a lovely Summer’s day. 1 Distinguished geologist, writer and talented artist 2 Very, very wrong, fortunately! 3 Photo by Beryl Jarvis (and Photoshop) 4 The ‘Temple of the Winds’ 5 In ‘Prologue To General Hamley’ (1883)

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When Ethel and Gertrude met Charles Gordon Judge

Ethel Mary Reader Wood and Gertrude Lillian Elles met at Newnham College Cambridge, where both were undergraduates working towards a natural sciences tripos. Ethel had been born in 1871 at Biddenham, and went to nearby Bedford High School. At Cambridge, she was a tennis champion, played piano at college concerts and was an active Liberal in the Political Club. Gertrude was born a year later, one of six children of a Scottish importer of Chinese goods, living in Wimbledon, at whose High School Gertrude was later educated. At Newnham, she played hockey and became a popular coach. Both women graduated with first-class degrees in 1895. Graptolites

Their tutor at Newnham, a Dr Watts, encouraged their interest in the strange fossils that were found where other fossils useful for dating were often absent, mainly in shales and mudstones. These were the graptolites, a name derived from the genus name, Graptolithus, applied by Carl Linnaeus in 1735 to organic mineralizations and

crustations that looked like actual fossils. They are often said to look as though someone has drawn them on the rock with a pencil, hence the name, which means ‘writing on rock’. Charles Lapworth and the Southern Uplands problem The Southern Uplands of Scotland are the remains of the pile of sediments (‘accretionary prism’) scraped off the floor of the disappearing Iapetus Ocean as eastern Avalonia (‘England’, ‘Wales’ and ‘Southern Ireland’) collided with Laurentia (‘Scotland’ and ‘Northern Ireland’) back in 425 Ma, or thereabouts. They are largely Ordovician and Silurian rocks made from sands and muds deposited on the floor of Iapetus over a 70 million year period. Great tracts of the Uplands are unfossiliferous, grey slaty rocks, known in the nineteenth century as ‘greywacke’ (from German ‘Grauwacke’); but they are interspersed by what appear to be several bands of thick black shale. Such shales are black because their sediments would have been deposited in water so

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deep that there wasn’t enough oxygen to oxidise the carbon in the remains of the organic matter they contained. Any organisms living in the less deep regions of the ocean would have sunk down and become entombed in these deposits when they died. There’s a lot of greywacke in the Southern Uplands: it’s up to 26,000 feet (about five miles) deep! And it’s no good looking for some nice zonal fossils of the three-dimensional shelly sort, because there aren’t any. That was the Southern Uplands problem: a five mile depth of sediment whose layers couldn’t be individually identified – unless someone could find something in the black shaly bands that might do the job?

The ‘someone’ eventually turned out to be Charles Lapworth, and the ‘something’ was graptolites. The trouble was, he discovered, that they didn’t seem to have evolved and changed their form over time. But he persevered: he set out to map the geology of the Southern Uplands. By 1870, he was able to publish a paper speculating that the black bands had folded back on themselves, and might show evidence of graptolite evolution after all. And over the next few years, he eventually concluded that the ‘several bands’ were actually a single band, a mere 500 feet thick, at the most. The Ordovician collision of

Scotland and England had so folded and contorted the greywacke rocks that the single black shale layer looked like several separate ones and the whole sedimentary succession ended up five miles thick. Lapworth invents the Ordovician and hires Ethel Around this time, the dispute was raging between Roderick Murchison and Adam Sedgwick over where the boundary between their Cambrian (Sedgwick) and Silurian (Murchison) systems should be drawn; some strata seemed to occur in both. Lapworth realised that his work might solve the problem, and spent several years exploring the ‘overlap’ rocks using graptolites. His solution was simple: in 1879 he inserted a new third system, the ‘Ordovician’, between the Cambrian and Silurian. Two years later, he was appointed to the newly established Chair of Geology and Mineralogy at Birmingham’s Mason College. By the time Gertrude and Ethel graduated from Cambridge in 1895, he needed help with his studies, and Ethel Wood was just the person for the job: she joined him the following year.

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The graptolite monograph Meanwhile, Gertrude Elles had spent a year in Sweden, working with specialists in the classification of graptolites, before returning to Cambridge to take up a lectureship. Though in different institutions, Gertrude and Ethel collaborated for twelve years to compile what is still considered to be the definitive work on the biology and stratigraphy of the graptolites: A monograph of British graptolites – Gertrude wrote the text, Ethel prepared the illustrations, which were outstanding. Edited by Lapworth, it was published by London’s Palaeontographical Society in eleven Parts between 1901 and 1918. What the ladies did next . . . In 1919 Gertrude Elles became one of the first female Fellows of the Geological Society, and in the same year won its Murchison medal. She was awarded the MBE for work with the Red Cross during the First World War. In 1922, she published a seminal work on the evolution and classification of graptolites, and over 10 papers on lower Palaeozoic stratigraphy. Gertrude became president of the British Association in 1923. Eventually her love of her homeland Scotland called her back until her death in 1960. She never married and had no children. Ethel Wood, having also been made a fellow of the Geological Society in 1919, received the Murchison medal in 1920 for her contributions to the monograph. In 1906 she married physics lecturer Gilbert Arden Shakespear (no final ‘e’). Sadly, their only child, a girl, died in infancy. Throughout the First World War she worked extensively for the welfare of disabled soldiers, her public service being recognized with an MBE in 1918 and a DBE in 1920. In 1922, she became a respected Birmingham JP and was closely involved in an early and very successful plan for the boarding of children with foster parents; she herself was an official family visitor. Over the years she also helped poor women and girls, inviting many into her home for periods of rest. She was president of the Birmingham branch of the National Council of Women (1929–32) and for a time of the Birmingham and Midland branch of the Federation of University Women. She died of cancer in 1946, at her Worcestershire home, survived by her husband. Sources

Countryside Council for Wales and Scottish Natural Heritage websites; encyclopeadia.com; oxforddnb.com; deevalleywalks.com; Wikipedia

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Shale gas Bob Robelou Report by Peter Webster

With many years’ experience in the well-drilling industry, Bob Robelou was well-placed to offer the view of an 'insider' on the current debate regarding the potential exploitation of gas and oil deposits. The exploratory activities currently taking place in the Weald, particularly at Balcombe, and possibly at Fernhurst, have made us all acutely aware of the debate. He stated at the onset that his background could make him biased in some of his observations. As an introduction, Bob gave the headings for subjects he intended to discuss. These included:

What is shale gas?

At what depths does it occur?

What are the techniques used in drilling and extraction?

The various myths associated with the process

The 'hole' truth about Balcombe. Shale gas, largely methane, is a familiar hydrocarbon. In Britain, these shale gas deposits are at considerable depths, some 2000m deep. In the Bowland field, currently being exploited, depths are about 2700m. Turning to techniques used in the well-drilling activities, Bob described in detail the process of drilling a well. He explained how the borehole is lined to prevent contamination of the rocks and aquifers through which the drilling takes place. He showed how, from one primary vertical borehole, it was possible to drill horizontally once a particular depth had been reached. Environmental impact One of the concerns of the general public is the impact of these activities on their area. By showing an aerial view of a drilling site, Bob pointed out that the impact on the environment was not as intrusive as many feared. He pointed out that relatively small areas were needed, suggesting that 2.5 hectares would suffice. The 'pad' can be constructed by lowering the immediate ground-level, and building a high, surrounding bund, and thus some of the impact on the neighbours can be reduced. Once the exploitation is under way, Bob suggested that the impact on the local area could be low. He used the oil-field at Wytch Farm in

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Dorset as an example, which has been producing oil for many years with minimal impact. Likewise, our own Sussex oil-field at Storrington quietly produces oil, with many folk being unaware of its presence.

Entrance, shared with Pulborough RFC, to Storrington Oilfield, off the A283 [TQ 068149]

Myths Bob then turned to a discussion of some perceived myths pertaining to oil and gas exploration. Contamination of water supply? Video clips from the US in the media have shown the dramatic and frightening consequences of methane from a contaminated water supply exploding in kitchens: “My tap water will catch fire!” and “My water supply will be poisoned”. Bob countered these perceptions with two arguments. He suggested that these instances in the USA occurred when the water-supply came from private boreholes, and that the methane contamination was a result of bacterial activity therein, and not a consequence of gas extraction. Secondly, he was at pains to point out that any boreholes passing through our Wealden aquifers would have both steel and concrete linings of sufficient integrity to prevent the leakage of gas into that water-supply. On that point, he did admit that it was important that wells were constructed properly, but suggested that any saving of costs on, say, the concrete lining, were insignificant in the context of the total cost of drilling a well. Dangerous chemicals? One of the concerns that has been raised is the actual composition of the mixture which is to be pumped into the ground. Bob described as a myth that 'dangerous chemicals were involved'. Only 0.5% of the liquid would be 'chemical': e.g. familiar substances such as hydrochloric acid and ascorbic acid.

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Contamination of water courses? Another 'myth': that contamination of water-courses would occur. Bob said that any water was reused, and that in any case it would be illegal under European Law to discharge waste-water into water-courses. ‘Unconventional extraction’, also known as fracking Bob then returned to the details of the process which he called 'unconventional extraction', choosing to avoid the F-word, (not the usual euphemism, but in this case the perfectly respectable word 'fracking'!) Again, he was reassuring in his message that the process was safe and well-regulated. Taking as an example, the 'earthquakes' experienced in the Blackpool Area were just minor tremors: at 1.2 on the Richter Scale they were negligible. There was a distinct probability that they were not associated with extraction in any way. Turning to the geology of the matter, it is probable that any hydrocarbon deposits will be in the Kimmeridge horizon, at some 2000 m deep in the Weald. It is suggested that, if there are indeed any resources, these might be in the form of oil rather than gas. These questions can only be answered by actually drilling boreholes. To sum up his talk, Bob made a most interesting and persuasive case for the extraction of oil and gas from any suitable deposits, and by any of the various means available to us. In his opinion, the extraction processes would be safe and non-intrusive if properly regulated, an important proviso. A lively Q&A! An exceedingly lively Q&A session followed, in which Bob fielded a wide-ranging plethora of questions. It was clear that some of the members present were not yet entirely convinced by his arguments. Clearly, there are still many questions remaining about the F-process. However, Bob's talk was both interesting and extremely informative, particularly on the practicalities of well drilling and gas extraction. Personally, as a consequence of Bob's talk, I feel that I understand much more clearly the processes involved. Again, as a purely personal view, it would seem that some of the questions asked of Bob originate from a complete lack of trust in our political leaders, rather than the engineers. In conclusion, many thanks to Bob for coming to speak to us. He was able to shed light on a controversial subject which will be with us for many years to come. Please excuse the pun, but if something is not

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done to augment our dwindling energy supplies, the lights will indeed go out!

Bob Robelou has spent over 40 years in the drilling industry, mainly for water. This includes building drilling rigs, commissioning them all over the world and managing after sales service for these rigs. He is a founder member and Vice Chairman of the West Sussex Geological Society.

For a primer on shale gas extraction, see the December 2013 issue of Stonechat.

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Virtual palaeontology and the Herefordshire Lagerstätte Mark Sutton Report by Beryl Jarvis

At our October meeting, Dr Sutton introduced us to the spectacular fossils of the unique Herefordshire Lagerstätte and detailed the various methods used to capture 3D images of fossil specimens. Around 425 million years ago, life was emerging from the sea and starting to move on to the land. The Herefordshire Lagerstätte is a unique fossil deposit of small marine invertebrates in the Silurian Wenlock limestones (formed about 433–427 ma) near the Welsh Borders. Living in the relatively deep, quiet, dark Silurian sea, they were engulfed by a slurry of volcanic ash and clay particles which quickly set hard round their little bodies preserving them in 3D as potato-like calcareous nodules in a layer of ash – a marine version of the entombment of the inhabitants of Pompeii. Soft tissues were then replaced by calcite as they decayed. So unique is their preservation that even worms have been preserved. This deposit is as important as the Burgess shale. Methods 2-dimensional Traditionally fossils have been removed from rock by either physical or chemical means, but you still only end up with the outer surface; finer details can be lost or never seen, so that fossils may be misidentified and misinterpreted (as with the Burgess Shale fossil, Hallucigenia). It is very difficult to access soft parts. Also, the visual record of the specimens are simple 2D drawings and photos. Physical optical tomography This is 3D imaging using 2D sections, pioneered by William Sollas in the early 20th century. He placed a fossil on a grinding machine and slowly ground his way through the specimen stopping after every 20 microns to take a photo of the exposed section.

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Thus although the fossil was destroyed he had acquired a series of hundreds of photos from which he could visualise its internal anatomy. 3-dimensional 3D digital images can be generated using a number of techniques, including: – Photogrammetry: uses photographs taken through a microscope

whilst focussing up and down through the specimen; needs translucent specimens

– X-ray computed tomography (CT) scanning: macro and micro scales, but needs good contrast between materials; comparatively cheap; best with equidimensional samples

– Synchrotron X-ray tomography: high definition; used only for exceptional specimens

– Neutron tomography: works on organic material but leaves it radioactive

– MRI scanning: not such good results with geological material; can determine chemical composition etc.

– Laser scanning: can be used in the field for small and large specimens; captures only the surface of the specimen, but can record its colour; comparatively cheap; not such clean data

By using 3D digital interactive screen models, interpretation is enhanced: the information content is higher and it is possible to see fine details at all magnifications. It can resolve relationships between, and the evolution of, groups of animals. Soft bodied fossils can be examined in detail for the first time; details such as appendages can be removed, colour coded, isolated and dissected; specimens can be rotated, copied, compared and disassembled; and crushed and slightly flattened fossils can be re-formed. They can also be viewed in stereo. Finite-element analysis of the model (stress mapping, used for items such as dinosaur skulls) can determine whether the animals are predators or scavengers, while computational fluid dynamics can model the flow of water over, for example, trilobites. With some of these methods the original specimen is destroyed (so must not be used on holotypes!), but the data has a life of its own and can be copied, distributed widely, published and used in teaching. It is also possible to make a replica physical model straight from the computer. The Herefordshire Lagerstätte Calcite fossils within calacareous nodules don’t provide the contrast needed for other methods of capture, but with modern technology it has become possible to study these important creatures using physical optical tomography. Dr Sutton and colleagues adapted the Sollas

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technique: serial grinding 10 microns at a time but combining this with a digital photograph after each grind. The data were fed into various computer algorithms developed by Dr Sutton to produce virtual 3D fossils. Of the 3,500 fossils from the Lagerstätte studied so far about a quarter have not been identified, but around 25 species have been published, representing a good range of taxa. It appears to be a genuine original community characterised as ‘a sponge garden with other creatures wandering through it’. Most are sponges and Offacolus (a chelicerate, to which group horseshoe crabs, scorpions and spiders belong), but there are also crinoids, polychaete worms, brachiopods, echinoderms, spiders, arthropods, starfish and Acaenoplax (a vermiform mollusc), as well as microfossils, radiolarians etc. They all lived within various levels in the water column – no burrowers have been found. Dr Sutton then described a number of the fossils and explained how they were studied to get a palaeobiological insight into what they reveal about evolution. Arthropods Two of the chelicerate fossils have some features of traditional arthropods but also strange variants that point to a much more primitive creature.

Dibasterium has much longer chelicerae (appendages used in feeding) which are segmented, and many extra appendages more typical of crustaceans. Enalikter is a long, thin, very odd creature: it has a small head with a disc-like mouth, a slightly bent gut, a head with three segments, a floppy exoskeleton, tail pincers, and what appears to be a sting. Cladistic analysis shows that these belong to a much earlier branch of the Arthropods than the chelicerates and are akin to the fossils of the Burgess shale, originally thought to be extinct in the Cambrian.

Dibasterium durgae Enilakter aphson

Offacolus kingi

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Molluscs Molluscs are divided into the small, deep-water, bottom-living marine aplacophorans, the armour-plated polyplacophorans and the higher classes (gastropods, bivalves and cephalopods). Dr Sutton studied three particular fossils, Acaenoplax, Phthipodochiton and Kulindroplax (known as the ‘hairy ball’ because of its dense covering of spicules). All three show features common to both aplacophorans (tubular body with spicules all

the way round, and no foot) and chitons (shell like plates along the back). Kulindroplax is unmistakably a missing link between the two classes and shows that aplacophorans are not primitive form of chitons, but share a link with them in the evolutionary tree. Molluscs are thus shown to have had shells much earlier in the tree of life than previously thought. This has implications for the relationship between molluscs and brachiopods A revolutionary science Dr Sutton ended by saying that the Herefordshire Lagerstätte with its wonderful, fantastic, amazing details is a brilliant showcase for virtual palaeontology. It is a revolutionary science. The most important thing in the future is to publish and distribute data for the full virtual interactive models – they are downloadable and easily copied. In this way Palaeontology is made more scientific. Our members shared his enthusiasm and he ended by answering our questions before being thanked for his excellent presentation.

Dr Mark Sutton is Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Engineering, Department of Earth Science & Engineering, at Imperial College London. He has 15 years working in the field of Virtual Palaeontology.

Book:

Techniques for Virtual Palaeontology, by Mark Sutton, Imran Rahman and Russell Garwood (Wiley, 2014) ISBN 978-1-118-59113-0

Web links: http://bioteaching.com/the-exceptional-silurian-herefordshire-fossil-locality/ (page from Marc Srour’s ‘Teaching biology’ blog) http://www.shropshiregeology.org.uk/sgspublications/Proceedings/2008%20No_13%20009%20Siveter%20Lagerstatte.pdf “The Silurian Herefordshire Konservat-Lagerstätte: a unique window on the evolution of life”. David Siveter: Proceedings of the Shropshire Geological Society, 13, 58−61 (2008)

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Kulindroplax perissokomos

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Serial sectioning by Gordon Judge

Mark Sutton makes serial sections Of fossils embedded in stone And, with digital snaps, makes connections That never before could be shown. With his digital processing arts He can image the fossil complete, Including the creature’s soft parts – An impressive and valuable feat! Dibasterium, Enalikter, Kulidroplax, From Herefordshire’s rich Lagerstätte, Have succumbed to Mark’s gentle attacks, And now we can see them much better. He can colour each body division, Rotate them, and zoom in and out, Revealing, with 3-D precision, The creature from tail end to snout. Now others can research his creatures Without risk of loss, theft or harm, And examine their new-revealed features In all of their digital charm. Is it palaeontological perfection? Not quite, for one problem persists: At the end of Mark’s serial sectioning The fossil no longer exists!

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Dead Sea to Red Sea: Holiday Geology in the Rift Valley David Bone Report by Valerie Bell

David Bone, who is well known to the Club, explained that this was a modified Christmas lecture to the West Sussex Geological Society. He emphasised that he is not an expert on the geology of this area.

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The East African and Jordanian Rift Valleys The diagram (right) shows the East African Rift Valley, the southern end of which is Lake Nyasa. David explained that the Jordan rift valley, a strike-slip fault at the northern end of the African rift, was formed in the Miocene period, the high ground either side being mostly Cretaceous. The Jordanian plateau to the east is approximately 1000 m high, carved into by many valleys. We were then shown a slide of the city of Jerash, north of Amman. It contains extensive remains of the Roman city built during the first, second and third centuries AD. The Dead Sea, Mount Nebo and Wadi al Mujib

David then moved on to one of the most interesting features of his whole trip – The Dead Sea. The lowest part was formed in the Miocene period 5 Ma ago. The lowest point is some 409m below sea level and is still dropping. It is 1.24 times denser than pure water, with a salinity of 33.7%. Another feature which is favoured by some tourists is having a mud bath! (The mud is claimed to contain health-enhancing chemicals.) Near the King’s Highway, which is the main route north–south between Aqaba and Aleppo, is Mount Nebo, where it is claimed that Moses saw the Promised Land. This is an arid

area but was greener 2000 years ago in Biblical times. Around Kerak, a crusader castle, irrigation terraces can be seen. The Wadi al Mujib is a notable dry valley – see photo below.

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Rose-red Petra David then showed us a view of Petra, one of the most famous ancient city sights in the world. It is an isolated place, very difficult to access. The entrance is via a very narrow gully called the Siq. Some of the rocks here, mostly red due to their iron content, are Ordovician and Cambrian sandstone. Water conduits can be seen in many places in the Siq and elsewhere in the city as water was such a valuable asset. There is a famous quotation from a poem by John William Burgon, a 19th-century cleric: “A rose red city half as old as time”. He hadn’t even seen it! The first sight to be seen when emerging from the Siq is that of the so-called Treasury which is 2000 years old. Its ground floor is buried, and on the first floor there are three tombs. It is difficult to believe that the whole facade is just carved into the cliff face, not separately built. Most of the tombs at Petra were carved into the rock face by the Nabataeans whose people here may have numbered some 30,000. Most of the free-standing ruins are Roman, erected in the early 6th century. The city was later destroyed by an earthquake. There are stepped routes to higher places and a trackway, all sandstone. The views from the high level show many steep valleys. Although in an isolated area, Petra was on an important trade route; caravan goods included incense, spices and silks. (David later confirmed that the fossils on sale here were not likely to be local, probably imported from Morocco.) Wadi Rum, Wadi Feinen and a Blue Hole At Wadi Rum, the hill tops are of white Ordovician limestone. The desert floor between the dark rocks was once covered with Tamarind trees which were removed before the filming of Lawrence of Arabia and have never grown back. There are some carvings in the cliffs here, as at Petra. Views of the adjacent desert reveal huge sand dunes. David went on to relate how he had stayed at Wadi Feinan, at an eco-lodge where electricity is generated by solar power. Nearby are old mine shafts where copper was excavated in Roman times. There is evidence of furnaces and slag heaps which date back to 4500 BC. On the eastern (Egyptian) edge of the Sinai peninsula is Dahab, where there are extensive coral reefs in the Gulf of Aqaba. Eighteen million years ago this was a rift valley which was flooded in the Pleistocene era. In the marine park, 20% of the species are found nowhere else. North of Dahab there is no beach, but a small coral reef. A slide

The Siq at Petra

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revealed what appears to be a ‘blue hole’ in the sea. This is due to there being an absence of coral and the great depth of water here. Some 130 m deep, the hole is a major attraction for divers; but many deaths have occurred here due to nitrogen narcosis, a result of diving too deep. Fourteen memorial

plaques can be seen… Sinai The final part of David’s journey was the interior of the Sinai peninsula. This is formed mainly of igneous rocks, and the flat valley floors are filled with alluvium deposits – rainfall was greater during the Pleistocene period, some 2–4 inches a year. There are veins of igneous intrusions in the cliffs. A centre of attraction in this region is St Catherine’s Monastery, an Orthodox church built in the mid-6th century. (There are now so many tourists it is best to visit early in the morning.) It lies at the mouth of a gorge at the foot of Mt Sinai at an altitude of 2600 m, on the supposed site of the Burning Bush and where Moses received the Ten Commandments. On the eastern coast of Sinai, north of Dahab is the town of Neweiba. At least one road near here is dangerous, as there are land mines resulting from the Israel–Egypt conflict. Of greater interest for geologists is the coloured canyon where a track can be walked down. At the bottom are many fallen boulders which cause serious obstruction to the explorer’s progress. We were shown the pattern of spectacular stained rocks. Also near Neweiba is the White Canyon, of interest because of its white sand and rocks. To end his talk, David showed a video of the fish in the reef at Dahab, spectacular indeed. After answering our questions, Mike Dean thanked our speaker for most enjoyable and informative lecture.

David Bone has been enjoying and studying geology for around 40 years, specialising in giving talks, guided walks and teaching, especially to newcomers to the subject. He has been running fossil hunts at Bracklesham Bay every year since 1983 and has published a number of local geology guides (see his website)

Web links: http://www.westsussexgeology.co.uk/ (David’s website) http://www.nabataea.net/ (one of many sites with information about Petra and the Nabataeans)

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HGFC and a picture of political corruption Based on a Horsham Museum Press Release and notes by Terry Tamplin

In 1847 Horsham held one of this country’s most corrupt elections, involving kidnapping and bribery, and drunkenness was order of the day. In the end there was a government inquiry. Robert Seymour Vesey Fitzgerald willingly indulged in every type of corruption in order to become an MP. In 1845 he paid £1,000 over the odds to buy Horsham’s Hornbrook estate from Robert Hurst, who as an MP had fled the country to avoid his debtors; the £1,000 would buy his influence. Fitzgerald then spent two years ingratiating the electors by supporting charitable causes in the town: at one event he paid £80 for 200 bottles of wine, 40 bowls of punch, grogs and ale, all for 120 people. Nevertheless, he lost the election by just 9 votes out of the 319 cast. Parliament, petitioned by Fitzgerald, agreed that the election was corrupt, and called another. Fitzgerald won this one by 182 to 115. But having paid for a band, ribbons and tokens for his supporters, and acres of print as the town was plastered with doggerel verse and vicious posters, the election was again declared corrupt. Now £80,000 the poorer, he was still not an MP. By 1852, his luck had changed and he was elected Horsham’s MP, where he supported many causes in the town as well as becoming Foreign Office minister. When he lost his seat in the 1867 election by only 5 votes to the son of the man he bought the estate from, the Government looked after him by making him Governor of Bombay. The national press wrote: “The great loss of the conservative party is Mr Fitzgerald, one of the most promising though not the most modest, of the party”. As a leaving gift this magnificent painting by John Lucas was presented to him by the people of Horsham. Its impact was such that a steel engraving was produced and sold nationally. However, five years later

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he tried to sit again for Horsham, “but that,” says the Press Release, “is another story”. A more ethically correct story is that of how the Museum paid for the painting when it came up for auction. For two years members of Horsham Geological Field Club (including Beryl, Janet, Gill and Terry) had sorted through the Museum’s very large geological collection and identified around 1000 duplicate or scientifically unimportant items. The Museum called in experts to check, then offered the specimens free to all museums in the country. What wasn’t wanted by other museums was then auctioned by Denham’s and Toovey’s. It was the funds raised from the sale of these items that paid for this outstanding, historically important painting. Web link:

http://www.horsham.gov.uk/latest-news/news/september-2014/a-monumental-painting-to-political-corruption (HDC press release. An exhibition is planned to open in January 2015.)

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SNIPPET: THE FIRST WEALDEN ISOPOD

Congratulations to Mike Webster! Mike, our own Field Trip Secretary, found a fossil at Keymer Tile Pit which Ed Jarzembowski, Keeper of the Natural History collections at Maidstone Museum, has identified as the first Wealden isopod to be discovered. It has been named Cymothoidana websteri after its discoverer. It’s dated to the late Hauterivian, about 129 million years ago. Cymothoidia is a sub-order of isopod crustaceans with a mostly carnivorous or parasitic lifestyle, and an isopod is a member of the crustacean group that includes woodlice. But I’m sure you knew that.

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Three statisticians were out hunting deer. One took aim and fired, but his shot was a little too high.

The second also fired, but his was a little too low. “We got it!” cried the third.

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Club Programme 2015

Wed. Jan 14 A Geological Perspective of Global Warming. Dr

Colin Summerhayes, Scott Polar Research Institute, Cambridge University

Wed. Feb 11 Agricultural landscapes of Sussex. Dr Geoffrey Mead, University of Sussex

Wed. Mar. 11 Modelling ancient tides. Dr Peter Allison, Imperial College, London

Wed. Apr. 8 Details to follow

Wed. May 13 AGM

June 6/7 Proposed trip to commemorate the bicentenary of the William Smith map. John Morton has offered to lead this trip in the area around the Somersetshire Coal Canal near Bath:

Day 1 The industrial archaeology of the area where William Smith worked

Day 2 Exposures of the geology in the area Details to follow

Wed. Jun. 10 Details to follow – check website

Wed. Jul. 8 Details to follow – check website

August No meeting

For details of meetings from September to December, see the next (June 2015) issue of Stonechat or check on the Club website.

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Club meetings Unless otherwise stated, all evening meetings are held at Forest Community School, Comptons Lane, Horsham at 7 for 7.30pm. To ease the Treasurer’s mind, we ask for a nominal contribution of 20p for coffee and biscuits. Field trips Field trips require appropriate clothing: waterproofs, stout boots or Wellingtons. All geological sites are potentially dangerous and Members are reminded that they attend field trips at their own risk. Any children attending are the sole responsibility of parents or guardians. It is always advisable to telephone a Committee Member, if you are coming on a field trip, in case there are any last-minute changes. Equipment for Field Trips Some UK sources of tools, clothing and other equipment for field trippers are: UK Geological Equipment (Freephone 0800 0336 062) Order online at http://www.ukge.com Geo Supplies Ltd (0114 245 5746) Order online at http://www.geosupplies.co.uk Geology Superstore (0800 977 8539) Order online at http://www.geologysuperstore.com Geological Maps and Area Guides: British Geological Survey (0115 936 3241) Order online at http://www.bgs.ac.uk/catalogue/home.html Geologists' Association (020 7434 9298) Order online at http://geologistsassociation.org.uk/guidesales.html Free tide Predictions: Tides4fishing.com (auto-corrects for BST) For any date (select date on calendar, and select place using map): http://www.tides4fishing.com/uk/england UK Hydrographic Office (manual correction needed for BST) For six days ahead: http://easytide.ukho.gov.uk/easytide/EasyTide/index.aspx

Edited by Gordon Judge

gordon.judge1@virgin.net

[Credits: abc.net (cover image of Polacanthus); Facebook (William Fox; Nopcsa’s reconstruction in NHM; Compton Bay ossicles & splates, vertebrae); Wikipedia (drawing of P.foxii reconstruction; sacral shield; Hyaelosaurus holotype); Palaeobiology (drawings of reconstructed Polacanthus); Shirley High School Newsletter (Visit to Beijing); Wikipedia (Annapurna); GeolSoc (John Calloman); Chinese Science Bulletin (Hispanic Corridor map); Google Earth (Storrington Oilfield image); Wikipedia (graptolites); Countryside Council for Wales, now Natural Resources Wales (Lapworth); North-east Geological Society (Iapetus sketch map); Mark Sutton et al (Offacolus, Enilakter, Dibasterium & Kulidroplax); Wikipedia (Rift Valley map; Wadi al Mujib); Google Earth (Jordan/Sinai map); tzc-travel.com (Siq at Petra); aquaviews.net (Blue Hole); Mike Webster (Cymothoidana websteri)]

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