Northumbrian Earth

12/06/2025

Well it made me laugh (a lot)!

Those who know, know

14/05/2025

Many thanks to everyone that came out on Tuesday's geo-walk to Pease Bay and Cove. Fantastic group and some fabulous geology and beautiful scenery to admire. Could have done with the haar clearing but at least it made it cooler!

More walks soon!

11/05/2025

Before visiting Cove on Tuesday I am looking forward to some beach time at Pease Bay. The rocks here straddle the end of the Devonian and the beginning of the Carboniferous Periods and have a fascinating tale to tell.

https://www.facebook.com/events/2155995941504082

11/05/2025

Looking forward to visiting Cove on Tuesday, one of Berwickshire's hidden gems. It has some fabulous geology to explore too!

https://www.facebook.com/events/2155995941504082

30/04/2025

Thank you to everyone that came out on yesterday's walk to Cocklawburn - what a beautiful day and a great group to work with.

Many fossils found and the enigmatic ripples puzzled over. This beach never fails to reveal new and interesting things.

30/04/2025

The rock giants have been having a pillow fight again!
Cocklawburn Beach at low tide...

22/04/2025

This year's geodiversity walks with Northumbrian Earth start next week with a trip to my most favourite and fascinating place, Cocklawburn Beach. We'll be heading out the morning of Tuesday 29th April not just to search for fossils but to enjoy the beautiful scenery and rocks on this beach and see what they can tell us about what it was like for the creatures living about 340 million years ago.

Details of the walk and how to book are in the event below and can also be found on the Northumbrian Earth website.

The photograph below is another of my favourite - some delicately banded and coloured siltstones, containing some extraordinary trace fossils. A small stream was running over the surface of the rocks and caught the sunlight to make this beautiful abstract art.
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29/12/2024

Here's wishing you a very Happy New Year and hoping you had a good Christmas.
Northumbrian Earth has headed back to the motherland in London for Christmas and is feeling nostalgic for the beautiful Northumberland Coast including one of my favourites at Cocklawburn.

Plans are afoot for a new season of geo-walks starting in the Spring and these will be published in due course both here, on the website https://www.northumbrianearth.co.uk/ and in the Northumbrian Earth Newsletter (do sign up on the website if you haven't already).

The 2nd edition of "Berwick Coast Rocks!" is also nearing completion and there will be more on this shortly.

In the meantime here are some pictures of the fascinating Cocklawburn Beach including some of its amazing trace fossils.

24/10/2024

A final thank you for this year, to everyone who came out on yesterday's geodiversity walk to Cocklawburn Beach, where we were graced with some beautiful autumnal weather.

The walk followed both the history of this area as well as it's geology and the relationship between the two of them. Cocklawburn Beach is now a beauty sport marking the northern end of the Northumberland Coast National Landscape However, back in the 19th century, there were many small communities here and much thriving industry. Not the least of these were the lime works which operated at Saltpan Howe and later at Sandbanks.

The small lime-worker's community at Sandbanks gives its name to the limestone layer which snakes its way across the foreshore from Near Skerr to Far Skerr. This limestone (along with the Acre Limestone) as well as being the source of the limestone that was quarried also contains a rich fossil fauna. Crinoids, corals, brachiopods and more rarely orthocones and parts of a Rhizodont fish can be found. These tell us that the limestone was formed in a shallow tropical sea.

We also explored the way that sediments are converted into hard rock, with the help of some extraordinary concretions found in sandstones south of Far Skerr. These show the way that ground water precipitates minerals which bind the sedimentary grains together sometimes in a most unusual way.

The walk finished with a look at the extraordinary and beautiful trace fossils found close to Middle Skerr and the enigmatic grooves to be seen at the top of the Sandbanks Limestone at this location.

16/10/2024

...and so we reach the final geo-walk for 2024 with a return to the ever fascinating Cocklawburn Beach. The walk is well booked already, but there are a few places left. Just email me if you would like to come along, details here: https://www.northumbrianearth.co.uk/event/116-cocklawburn-a-limestone-landscape

This beach contains such a richness of geology, industrial heritage and wildlife. It is hard to believe now but the area was a hive of industry with quarries, saltpans, limekilns and sand extraction. The layers of limestone were the principle reason for this activity and this walk will focus on exploring the evidence the limestones give for how they were formed, and how the limestone was used.

The limestones also happen to be the home of many of the fossils, so we will also search for coral, crinoids, orthocones and if we are lucky a rhizodont, one of the Carboniferous Period's most epic fishes.
https://www.facebook.com/events/1091299435900372?ref=newsfeed
Northumberland Coast National Landscape

08/10/2024

Thank you to everyone that came out on yesterday's walk from Seaton Sluice to St Mary's Island. Great to have such good engagement with so many excellent questions and some excellent (and timely) finds.

This section of coast gives a great insight into what it was like in the latter part of the Carboniferous Period. These rocks from the Pennine Coal Measures Formation give evidence for a huge area of low lying land filled with swamp-lands and a network of meandering rivers rich in sediments.

The Upper and Lower Crag Sandstones revealed beautiful examples of cross-bedding - the ghost of ancient ripples in these river systems which show which direction the rivers flowed and the meanders and sand-bars which it contained. It also showed how a change in river course can scour out previously deposited sediments - here removing all but a thin parting of the Bensham Coal as the river that laid the Upper Crag sandstone flowed in from the west.

Collywell Bay provided us with a fabulous exposure of one of the d***s from the Mull D**e Swarm. It showed how the neighbouring shales had been partially baked by the searing heat of the molten basalt which in turn was chilled against these country rocks. That this d**e originated over 400km away in the Isle of Mull volcano is testament to the huge forces involved in this early phase of the opening of the Atlantic Ocean.

Moving on to Hartley Bay a brief stop allowed for an exploration of the Northumberland Low Main Coal seam at the base of the cliff and the 5 Quarter or Durham Low Main Coal seam higher up the cliff. Thanks to Ian who found a pebble of the marine band which crops out between these two coals and to Lindsay who found a really nice example of some Calamites fossils.

The final stop was at Curry's Point and St Mary's Island and thanks go to John, one of the contractors working St Mary's Lighthouse, who allowed us onto the causeway. This meant we could have a look at the trackway left by Arthropleura, a giant millipede that inhabited this deltaic landscape. This is the same type of creature as the one whose remains were found at Howick recently and which was estimated to be 55cm wide, 2.6m long and weighed 55kg. A great way to end the day!

03/10/2024

The geo-walk season is drawing to a close, but the weather looks like it is going to hold out for the penultimate walk on Monday (7th) exploring the coast between Seaton Sluice and St Mary's Island.

This stretch of coastline makes for a beautiful walk and crosses rocks from the Pennine Coal Measures Formation. Unsurprisingly this sequence contains multiple coal seams. It also has sandstones, siltstones and shales which formed in the deltaic complex which hosted the vast swamps in which the coal formed.

There's also a couple of surprises with a guest rock all the way from the Isle of Mull and a hint that some of the creatures living at this time were quite scary.
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