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Essex Geology Report
GERALD LUCY
In recent years there have been a number of interesting developments in research into and the
promotion of geology in Essex. Only six years ago an amateur geologist wishing to find up-to-date
information about the county's rocks had to sift through numerous papers in a wide variety of journals.
Also, little geology appeared in the Field Club's publications. The situation today, however, is
considerably improved.
The cunent revival is partly due to a number of publications that bring Essex geology to a wider
audience. Research on our Ice Age deposits by David Bridgland was published in his very readable
Quaternary of the Thames in 1994 and the Quaternary Research Association followed up their
successful four day field trip in 1995 with a field guide The Quaternary of the Lower Reaches of the
Thames. The following year, in 1996, the British Geological Survey revised their long out-of-date
regional memoir London and the Thames Valley. In 1999 the Essex Rock and Mineral Society
brought much of this information together in a paperback for the general reader entitled Essex Rock:
A Look Beneath the Essex Landscape. A welcome increase in the frequency of geological reports
and papers in the Field Club's Newsletter and Essex Naturalist lias also been noticeable over the last
few years, particularly due to the efforts of Peter Allen.
So much for the literature, but what has happened to geological sites in Essex during this period?
The use of redundant quarries and pits for landfill or development seems to have continued unabated
and this has led to the loss of valuable geological as well as wildlife sites. There is, however, a
reason to be optimistic as geologists now have a valuable tool to preserve and promote the few sites
we have left. RIGS (Regionally Important Geological and Geomorphological Sites) is an initiative
by English Nature whereby sites can be designated and notified to the local planning authority. The
Essex RIGS Group, which has been dormant for many years, was revived in 1999 and now meets
regularly, its members being drawn from various interested bodies including the Field Club. Although
this will not offer sites statutory protection, the planning authority is obliged to consult the RIGS
Group should a designated site be threatened in any way. The group is about to designate its first
batch of sites in Thurrock and it is planned that others will follow rapidly, including some of our
well-known glacial erratics. The exciting thing about the RIGS initiative is the prospect of promoting
geology to schools etc. and creating a network of educational sites across the county.
Perhaps the best news of all is the firm links that are now in place, through the RIGS Group, between
Essex wildlife and geological societies. This includes the Essex Wildlife Trust who are now keen to
protect and promote the geology of their various reserves. The revival of the RIGS Group may be
too late to save the many sites that have been lost over the last decade, but provided we keep up the
present momentum, the future of geology in Essex looks good.
Essex Naturalist (New Series) 17 (2000)