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June 28th. Oxford Area (Geology Group)
Ten members met for the Group's outing to examine some
of the Jurassic rocks of the Oxford Area. The party went
firstly to Breakspear's Quarry, East End, where the sequence
of deposits is: Lower Greensand — Wychwood Beds — Bradford
Fossil Beds — Kemble Beds. Although the quarry is disused
and overgrown, several fossils were collected, both from the
debris and from various horizons. The finds included a very
good preserved specimen of a fish spine.
Leaving there, lunch was taken at Stonesfield, after
which the party went to a spoil tip of one of the old mines
to examine the Stonesfield slate. On the way, the leader
pointed out that several of the old buildings had their roofs
tiled with this rock. He remarked that this deposit is one
of the few which have produced the remains of early mammals.
No mammalian remains were found on this day, but
several good specimens of other fossils were taken.
The next stop was the cement works at Kidlington, where
permission had been obtained to see the beds exposed in the
quarry floor. These range from the White Limestones to the
Kellaways Clays. Several fish teeth and bones were found,
and a good specimen of a crocodile tooth. Finding a cavity
in one of the limestone blocks, which was filled with a
blackish deposit of calcite, raised a problem, but the matter
was soon explained by the finding of pieces of lignite, which,
due to solution and the like, were gradually being replaced
by calcite. Before leaving Kidlington, some of the members
went into the cement works and looked at the furnaces.
The last stop for the day was made at Long Hamborough
quarry. Here the Cornbrash and a current-bedded limestone
known as the Blaydon Stone were examined. As in the previous
pit, some fish teeth in good state of preservation were
found. (Ron Coates)