Rocks, Fossils and Ice Ages at Flamborough
Yorkshire Philosophical Society
Field Excursion
Paul Hildreth, Yorkshire Geological Society
10th May 2023, 10.30 am
Danes Dyke to Sowerby
Part of Yorkshire Geology Month
Paul Hildreth of Yorkshire Geological Society will lead us in a circular walk along the shore between Danes Dyke and Sewerby (c. 2km) returning along the cliff top path. Total distance 3.5km.
Meet at Danes Dyke Car Park (TA 216692) at 10.30am. Car Parking fees payable at ticket machine. There is also a small café and WC facilities.
Access to shore from Danes Dyke is via a path leading down a ravine cut into glacial deposits.
There will be opportunities to study a complex of Quaternary glacial and periglacial deposits at Danes Dyke and the buried cliff at Sewerby which defines the start of Holderness and represents a pre-Devensian sea cliff with older (Ipswichian) deposits at its foot.
Between Danes Dyke and Sewerby, the cliffs and wave-cut platform are in Upper Cretaceous chalk of the Flamborough Formation. We will traverse approximately 70 metres of flint-free chalk working our way up the succession through the biozones of Marsupites testudinarius and Sphenoceramus lingua and, with luck and a keen eye, find the index fossils.
Halfway to Sewerby we will begin to find an increasing number of sponge fossils until we reach the Flamborough Sponge Bed, famous for its well-preserved, varied and 3-dimensional specimens.
Egress from the beach at Sewerby is via a set of concrete steps. If needed, there are facilities available at Sewerby Hall before we return to Danes Dyke Car Park along the cliff top path.