Kirklees Council Countryside Unit organises a programme of walks each year and we have regularly contributed geological guided walks to various sites in the district.     This time we visited Brockholes on a cold afternoon in January to look at the Rough Rock crags and quarries in the village and then walked up the valley to see Coal Measure scenery.     All of us were astonished that 37 visitors turned up, including half a dozen local children and their parents and a spotty dog.     The small people, with eyes close to the ground and lots of energy, were able to scamper into stream beds and up gullies and found the fossils in the mudstones in Round Wood.     We were all impressed by the scale of the sandstone beds and interested in the stories of how they were formed, as well as gathering information about the quarrying and mining history of Brockholes.

Huddersfield Geology Group trip to Otley Chevin in January

This was a blustery, cold day and we were right on the top of Otley Chevin overlooking the Wharfe Valley.     Seven of us battled our way to Yorkgate Quarry to look at sandstones, a very small coal seam and its associated fireclay.     After that we kept to the lee of the hill and enjoyed looking at wonderful sedimentary structures in the Addingham Edge Grit, in the great boulders covered with mosses and lichens under the trees.    We observed the landslips which cover much of the mudstones and siltstones that make up the precipitous slopes in Great Dib Wood and looked for signs of the sedimentary sequence in the tracks which cross the Chevin.     Fascinating geology and some very tough enthusiasts!

The West Yorkshire Geology Trust (W.Y.G.T.) is involved in three projects at the moment, all for completion by the end of March 2009.     Two of them involve updating the database of Regionally Important Geological and Geomorphological Sites (R.I.G.S.) in West Yorkshire.

Some of these sites have not been checked since the mid-1990s, so we are visiting them to see if their boundaries are still appropriate.     Of course, technology has changed since then, so the maps can be updated digitally and we can use GPS to place specific sites, which will give greater accuracy.

We are also surveying a selection of sites to try out a system that will enable geologists to monitor the condition of these sites.     This will help us assess whether the site needs management to improve its condition and maintain its geological or geomorphological interest.

The last project is to provide information about West Yorkshire's R.I.G.S. for a national database to be maintained by Natural England.     Although R.I.G.S. have been designated in many parts of Britain for several d ecades, this is the first time that the information will have been gathered together.     We look forward to seeing the national database and being able to use it for reference. For more information see West Yorkshire Geology Trust.

We have been offered a chance to take part in this fascinating project.     The Museum has four display cabinets which it would like to use with community groups and we have been offered one of these cabinets to fill with our best rock, mineral and fossil specimens, which would go on display in the Museum during the summer.

The intention is that each cabinet should represent the individuals in the group and the spirit of that group.     It is important to tell Museum visitors what the objects are and what their significance to the owner is.     It is intended that there will be audio players in each cabinet, playing interviews with the participants talking about their objects and their group.     The labels and signage are designed by a design team using the participants' words.     Each cabinet has been designed and made by the Museum's technicians.     They are about 70cm x 40cm and have four display areas: a top case; two drawers; a pull-out support with information about the group and the objects in the cabinet.     There is a third drawer for visitor feedback.

The Museum would work with our group over about four sessions.     The sessions involve handling related objects from Museum collections, looking at museum display practice, recording participants talking about their objects, agreeing the contents of the cabinet, and organising the layout within the cabinet.     There would also be a behind-the-scenes look at the Geology store.     The sessions would take place in early summer on Tuesdays and Thursdays, in either the morning or afternoon.

Is this a project that the group might like to be involved in?     Please let Alison (01484 608004) know if you are interested in using your rocks, minerals and fossils in this innovative way.

Tea and sandwiches at 17:45 - lecture at 18:30 John Stanley Bell Theatre, Lecture Theatre D4, Richmond Building, Bradford University

The first part of this talk is about managing landslides, with some examples of experience in South Wales.     Remediation is always possible but in some instance it is not practical.    In those cases landslides have to be managed so that they do not pose an unacceptable risk.    This requires an understanding both of a landslide's character and its likely threats, accepting the need to anticipate the unexpected, and to design monitoring devices and remedial measures to work in moving ground while taking the safety of those working on the site and environmental matters into account.

In the second part, Ventnor landslide will be used as a case study where remediation may be considered.    This obviously massive, deep, and long landslide, which suffers toe erosion, was first evident in the 1950s, and it was considered a 'first-time' failure - rightly a cause of great concern to the many people living on it.     The landslide was investigated and assessed but understanding the mechanism was key in the process of considering its remediation.     This was part of a process that involved staged ground investigations, multiple analyses, risk analysis based on the results from Expert Forums, and thoughtful consideration of how periglacial processes set the scene for future events.

Free to attend and no need to register.

For more information contact Ruth Easterbrook at reasterbrook@nhbc.co.uk

A map is available from

www.brad.ac.uk/about/find/main-laisteridge.pdf

We will be able to see the broad outlines of the Carboniferous succession from Black Rocks, and look at details of the Millstone Grit there.     An old mine tip still has minerals on it.     Then, from Middleton village we can walk to see the Carboniferous Limestone at Dene Quarry, and have a closer look at the limestone in quarries at the National Stone Centre nearby.

Itinerary:

1. Black Rocks: look at the Millstone Grit in the crags (is it a recent landslip or is it a Carboniferous slump?).     Climb to the top of the crags to see the view,

Continue uphill to see more Millstone Grit in Barrel Edge Quarry and then to he top of Barrel Edge to see more views, including Crich Quarry, an anticlinal inler of Carboniferous Limestone surrounded by Millstone Grit.     Walk back down past the crags, to see the tips from an old lead mine shaft.     Most of the debris is limestone, but there is also some shale, and some bits of calcite, baryte and galena from the mineral vein that they were working in the limestone below.

> Lunch in the car park - leave about 1.30pm

2 .Middleton-by-Wirksworth: park in the village and follow field paths down to the edge of Dene Quarry.     The quarry is working, so we can't go in, but there are plenty of fossiliferous limestone blocks to see in the field walls.     The view includes,

Leave at 3.00pm

3. National Stone Centre: park in the Stone Centre, walk round the old limestone quarries to see a reef knoll and other fossiliferous beds.     Inside the Centre are exhibits and a cafe, which closes at 4.00pm.     For more information see www.nationalstonecentre.org.uk

Venue: University of Liverpool, Sherrington Lecture Theatre, Ashton Street

£3.00 for Herdman Society members, £5.00 for guests

  9.30     Arrival (Tea/Coffee available)

10.00     Welcome: Liz Cramer and Vikki Read (Herdman Society)

10.05     Dr Phil Bland, Imperial College London: 'From dust and gas to the first planetesimals: the early history of the Solar System.'

11.00     Coffee Break

11.10     Dr Nick Butterfield, University of Cambridge: 'From the top down: animals, oxygen and the Ediacaran transition.'

12.05     Prof Joe Cann, University of Leeds: 'Ocean floor hot springs, strange animal communities and the origin of life'

1.00     Buffet Lunch

13.45     Prof Dianne Edwards FRS, University of Cardiff: 'Plants that changed the world.'

14.40     Prof Mike Searle, University of Oxford: 'Evolution of the Himalaya - Karakoram and Tibet: analogue for crustal growth since the Proterozoic?'

15.35     Prof Mark Sephton, Imperial College, London: 'Organics matter! - Life and its distribution in the solar system.'

16.30    Prof Pete Kokelaar, University of Liverpool: Closing remarks

Further details, including map, from helenk@liv.ac.uk
or
Mrs H. Kokelaar
Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences
University of Liverpool
4 Brownlow Street
Liverpool L69 3GP

Tickets and full programmes will be available at the door.
However, pre-booking by mail or e-mail is requested to assist with catering.

Leeds University's Weetwood Hall Conference Centre and Four Star Hotel, Otley Road, Leeds LS16 5PS, is located at the junction of the Leeds northern ring road (A6120) and the Otley Road (A660).

For further details see the Weetwood website at http://www.weetwood.co.uk , which includes full travel directions and a link to the West Yorkshire Metro's on-line Journey Planner for access by public transport.

Lecture programme

2.00 pm     Cycles and palaeoecology in the early Namurian: M.H. Stephenson,British Geological Survey, Keyworth

2.30 pm     Namurian black shale deposition in Northern England: marine orlacustrine?     by Henk Kombrink, University of Keele

4.00 to 4.30     Carbonate platforms in the Dinantian of the British Isles with an emphasis on the southern Lake District area by A.D. Horbury,Cambridge Carbonates Ltd

4.30 to 5.00     Carboniferous palaeobotany Jason Hilton, University of Birmingham

Visitors £2 per lecture.

More information is available from John Broadbent 01484 650171

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