Following the highly-successful inaugural PESGB/SEAPEX held in London in June 2018, 11 hardy souls ventured to England’s famed Jurassic Coast (Wessex Basin, Dorset) for three days (29 June to 1 July) of rocks, culture and a lot of sun.

The trip was ably led by Andy Racey, well-known to us in South East Asia as co-author of the recent Geological Society of London Memoir on the petroleum geology of Myanmar. Not only had Andy prepared a field guide for the six SEAPEX stalwarts, he had also prepared (much-appreciated) notes for the accompanying non-geologists.

For two days Andy was joined by the remarkable Steve Etches (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Etches) whose amazing collection of fossils from the Kimmeridge Clay is housed in a museum purpose-built to house the collection (The Etches Collection, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Etches_Collection). Andy is Chairman of the Trust which runs the museum

Traffic was dire in the field area (well, it was summer and the sun was shining!), resulting in some last-minute changes to the itinerary and temporary “loss” of participants using their own transport.

Friday afternoon was spend examining Kimmeridge Formation coastal outcrops in Kimmeridge Bay; much of Saturday examining the structure of Lulworth Cove and how it formed; Sunday morning at Kimmeridge Bay and the Etches Collection Museum.

From a personal perspective, the trip was an eye-opener: the Kimmeridge is one of the world’s great source rock successions and nothing can beat seeing rocks in the field.

The excursion was a great success – sincere thanks to Andy and Steve.

 

Peter Baillie

 

Photo 1: KImmeridge Clay Formation coastal outcrop, Kimmeridge Bay; Ian Longley for scale.

Photo 2: Steve Etches explaining something to Huw Evans; Etches Collection Museum.

Photo 3: Late Jurassic Marine reptile skull, Etches Collection Museum.

Photo 4: Andy indicating direction of Singapore, Lulworth Cove.