Essex Rock & Mineral Society Field Trip
Cassington and Ardley, Oxfordshire
23 March 2003.
13th March Cassington & Ardley: The trip was attended by approx. 13 members plus another 13 from the Southampton Geological Research Group and lead by Philip Powel of Oxford University Museum..
Cassington, about 4 miles NW of Oxford was visited in the morning. There was some problems with access and a detour plus a long walk restricted the collecting time. Exposed formations included Upper Thames Pleistocene river gravels of mid Devensian age (40,000 years) and Lower Oxford Clays. Finds included specimens of: corals from the Corallian Limestone, and Oxford Clay ammonites Kosmoceras phaeinum (Buckman), complete nacroconch (a term used to describe the observed pearly shell type preservation/fossilization as sometimes found) male with lappet, and a complete nacroconch female flattened, a few uncrushed specimens found in nodules plus a few belmnites Cylindroteuthis puzosiana.
The
afternoon visit to Ardley some 3 miles NW of Bicester, also had
problems. It is a landfill site open to the public for dumping waste and
there was a queue at the 'closed' entrance, however the group was eventually
let in. The exposures here was of Great Oolite, White Limestone (168 Ma),
mid-Jurassic. There were some spectacular views of footprints and trackways
of a 3 toed, bipedal carnivorous dinosaur. Each print was about 80cm long
with a stride length of about 2m, and said to belong to Megalosaurus.
(I hope no-one embarrassed the Society by filling the footprint with
water in full public view!)
Here
are another set of large, 60cm across, footprints of a quadrapedal herbivorous
sauropod, possibly belonging to a 15 metre long Cetiosaurus.
The quarry is littered with trackways!
(The irony of life would appear that in some countries it would be considered a National Monument and have perhaps a dome and walkways erected for visitors. Car loads of people might be tempted to flock to the area out of interest. In this case car loads rush to the area to ...... dump their rubbish! Strange old world?)
Fossil finds at this site included an echinoid Agrosalenia hemicidaroides, gastropods, bivalves and two sharks' teeth found by Ursula Deith and John Lacy.
The above report and pictures where composed from information and pictures supplied by David Turner.
Try these links for more information on:
The ammonite Kosmoceras
Dinosaur Footprints: Ardley
Quarry
© R Coleman, July 2003