Tuesday, 9th September 2003
Monthly Meeting of the Essex Rock & Mineral Society
Collecting within 10 miles of Southend
on Sea
by Jeff Saward.
It was unfortunate the our scheduled speaker, Dr Desmond Bowden who was due to give a talk on 'Laterites and Tropical Landscapes', had to cancel at the last minute due to unforeseen circumstances. However, our very own Jeff Saward stepped into the breach to save the day.
Over recent times Jeff has been revisiting Southend with particular interest to the cliff slump at Westcliff and the new shore defences east of Southend Pier. He started his talk by stating that notable fossils had been found at Southend up to the late Victorian era prior to the area being developed as a seaside resort. The stabilization of the shore line and the landscaping at Westcliff had put pay to the continual erosion and hence the occurrence of new fossils year on year.
It seemed strange to have opened a talk with a picture of the amusement arcades that abound along Southend Front' but the point was the BEACH! Stretching from the Pier in the direction of Shoebury; sands, gravels and cobbles have been dumped for distance of approximately 4 miles. Jeff reasoned, and noticed, that after a year the new "BEACH" (to talk of a beach just cracks me up as did an advert that once implied Southend had six miles of glorious beach, yeah for sure, about a yard wide in the fifties and probably dumped for the summer season) had become grade by tide a wave action, leaving several distinct platforms or bands of sorted deposits..
Searching amongst this Jeff has found; a mammoth tooth and bone, a horse tooth and hoof bone, plus several fossil bone fragments. Considering the assemblage of fauna, the date for these would be in the order of 300,000 years (I think he said but a controversial point). Jeff also has an eye for flint tools and in context with his fossil finds has found some exceptionally crude implements, synonymous with hominid development at that time. Many of these are very debatable but one chunky point had six cleaved fractures to form the point and it was difficult to understand how this could have occurred naturally.
Jeff researched the origins of the dumped aggregates and found out that they were dredged from 12 miles off shore at Felixstowe! In amongst these was found a piece of Hertfordshire pudding stone, one sign that this material was deposited as part of the bed loads of the old river Thames complex draining into the North Sea. He reasoned that there should be more finds from Southend over the next few years as the tides and waves continue to sieve and grade this artificial beach. The purpose of this emplacement was to stabilize the shore line form erosion.
The slump at Westcliff, which has taken the old Victorian bandstand away, is an example of a rotational slump similar to that which occurs at the Naze. The area has been cordoned and fenced off and awaiting further remedial work, probably because the recent dry spell (to September 2003) has halted movement and the lack of will to spend money unless absolutely necessary. Jeff said that a septarian nodule band had been exposed and just below this were found some phosphatic nodules from which a fossil crab was recovered.
Part of the cliff slump at Westcliff
Someone always has to spoil a pleasant site for an afternoon with a
sign!
Within 10 miles of Southend, includes the Blackwater, Steeple, and Maylandsea, Mersea Island, plus an excursion across the waves to Herne Bay, and Sheppey. So as you may guess, Jeff packed an awful lot more into his talk. It gave us all an insight into how to find fossils in Essex by one of those who really know. His major tip for finding fossils at Southend was not to look for specific specimens, but to look for something out of context, something that breaks the pattern. Good advice judging by the results!
Jeff's photographs were outstanding and he was kept busy with many questions about his fossils on display. All in all, a great talk; and about Essex! We all enjoyed it immensely.
Members' finds on display:
Plesiosaur femur (part) found by one of our newer members, Carol Broad, on the Society's visit to Westmill Sand and Gravel Quarry, Ware, Herts on the 16th August. The size of the specimen is about 30cm long and one needs two hands to hold it comfortably. It probably comes from a small or juvenile plesiosaur. Of special interest are what might be signs of predation, teeth marks possibly from a crocodile as they are pointed and in a row! (Not at all clear in this picture, I tried but the light was all wrong, sorry.)
Text & Photographs © R Coleman September 2003