West Runton Geological Field Trip (23 October 2010)
When Martin Warren (our field excursion leader) casually mentioned that we were in an ice age no one even questioned it. The fact was that the wind was blowing hard and the cold deeply penetrating. Nine intrepid members of the Society made it to West Runton to take part in what can only be described as ‘an experience’. Martin’s love for his subject floated through to us as he put the local geology into global perspective. We were indeed time travellers wading through the braided channels and marshes of the last Ice Age and occasionally slipping back a few million years to tread on the chalk or the overlying gravels and clays. He made sense of the contorted mass of sands and clays and even pointed out a spectacularly large glacial remnant – a massive section of the chalk literally bulldozed from its former position out to sea. The chalk-sand/clay contact zone above the chalk was fascinating too.
Populations of what can only be described as flint ‘nests’, now exposed on the beach, were the traces left by burrowing creatures that had introduced oxygen into the otherwise anaerobic chalk mud. While the chalk had slowly dissolved below the bed of the Chalk Sea, silica derived from sponges had replaced it to form flint nodules, normally in layers. But some of this flint had formed around the burrows of these creatures to form 'paramoudras' or pot stones. When weathered out these peculiar flints have a hole right though them, large enough to get your arm through.
Evidence had shown that at one time people had lived on the land now occupied by the North Sea – our Norfolk ancestors about whom very little is known other than they must have been hunter-gatherers. Martin, who had been involved in the exploration of the West Runton Mammoth graphically described the demise of this huge creature. We learned of the environment, the climatic conditions, the elephant’s lifestyle and probable death following a fight, which had damaged his leg.
Wind and rain did bring our visit to a temporary stop but the beach café was on hand. Storm over we were back to the beach to the bitter end! An excellent field trip, much enjoyed even if we were frozen to the core.
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