Harrow and Hillingdon Geological Society

Smokejacks 2012

Please note that the pit is running on reduced capacity, so there have been no fresh scrapes since early 2008, hence no fresh exposures since then.

Two further visits are planned to Smokejacks in Surrey. The trips are being run as part of the Kent Geologists’ Group field programme for 2012. This Weald Clay brickpit has yielded a number of important finds over the past three decades. In 1983 Bill Walker, an amateur collector, found a new theropod dinosaur, Baryonyx walkeri, a find which proved to be key to the understanding and reinterpretation of the spinosaurs, and on the Geologists’ Association fieldtrip to the site in July 2001 a well-preserved partial skeleton of a juvenile Iguanodon was discovered. The Iguanodon skeleton was from the same bed as Baryonyx, and two Baryonyx teeth were also recovered from the excavation, suggesting that it may have been scavenged by Baryonyx – the skeleton was excavated by the Natural History Museum. The site is also known for the early flowering plant Bevhalstia pebja, which was first published in 1995, and remains of which can still be found. The concretions of sideritic ironstone and fine grained calcareous sandstone have also yielded numerous insect remains (at least 13 orders) including many species new to science. Remains of dinosaur, fish, crocodile, molluscs and non-angiospermous plants can also be found. Recent finds have included an arthropod trackway, the first to be found in the Wealden, new species of scorpionfly and leafhopper, pterosaur bones, dinosaur footprints and a small cone similar to the present day Sequoia. In 2005 a spectacular death-bed assemblage of teleost fish was found, which included the first articulated pycnodont fish to be found in the Wealden. Also in 2011 a vertebra and partial jaw of a frog was found, the first to be recorded from the Upper Weald Clay.

N.B. The base of the pit is flooded – please take care.

Dates: Sunday 15th April 2012
Sunday 9th September 2012

Meet: Meet at 10.30 a.m. in the car park at Smokejacks Brickworks (Wienerberger Limited – Ewhurst Works).
Smokejacks is just south of Walliswood (4 km southwest of Ockley), Surrey.
O.S. map 187 – 1:50,000 series
Grid reference TQ 116 372

Equipment: Hard hats and reflective jackets are compulsory. Eye protection, hammer, chisels, wrapping material for specimens, handlens and boots suitable for claypit. Packed lunch. Sun protection is advisable if it is a hot day, plus sufficient drink.
Risk
Assessment: All attendees must familiarise themselves with the Risk Assessment for the site, circulated with these details. If you have not seen a copy please contact Peter Austen (details below). Copies will be available on site.

Cost: There will be a small charge of £2 per person to cover administration for non-Kent Geologists’ Group members.

Contact: Please contact Peter Austen at least 10 days before the event with details of numbers attending.
Peter Austen on 01323 899237
e-mail: p.austen26@btinternet.com (please note new e-mail address)

Future Visits: If you wish to be kept informed of future visits to Smokejacks, please send your e-mail address to me at p.austen26@btinternet.com

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