Lickey Hills Voyage in Deeptime

The Lickey Hills Voyage explores the ancient rocks and the landforms of the Lickey Hills Country Park on the SW tip of Birmingham. The area includes rocks formed around 480 million years ago in shallow warm seas with nearby volcanoes, through tropical rain forests, to a vast harsh desert. Plus the story of a gorge cut through the Lickey Hills possibly by torrents of glacial meltwater.

This Voyage is longer than the Lickey Ridge Voyage, it includes Beacon Hill and the valley between Beacon Hill and Lickey Ridge. The route starts and ends at the Lickey Hills Visitor Centre.

Distance 8km (5 miles), mostly on gravelled level paths, with some short sections inclined to be muddy.

Larger scale map

The colour overlay on the map , depicts the different rocks of the Lickey Hills  area. Touching these different colours on the map when running in the Voyager app, will display the name of the rock, provide images of how the environment may have looked when that rock was forming, the life forms that existed and environmental audio. As much of that content as possible is replicated in the following.

Links to Task Sites for the Lickey Hills Voyage

1 Visitor Centre
2 Warren Lane Quarry
3 Reddish soil
4 Ridge
5 Steep rise
6 Breccia
7 Beacon Hill
8 Muddy
9 Pebbles

Ordovican Earth – arrangement of land and sea around the time Lickey Quartzite rocks of the Voyage formed.
Carboniferous Earth – arrangement of land and sea around the time the terrestrial rocks of the Voyage formed.
Permian Earth – arrangement of land and sea around the time the desert rocks of the Voyage formed
Triassic Earth – arrangement of land and sea around the time the later desert rocks of the Voyage formed

The following links are to environmental reconstructions, life forms, atmospheric composition, day length, top predators, climate and other facts relating to the  times when the various rock units of the Lickey Hills were forming. Starting with the youngest rocks.
You do not cross all these rocks on the Voyage but they are present in the area of the map.

Helsby Sandstone (old name Bromsgrove Sandstone)
Around 244 million years old
Environment – north view  |  Environment – south view  |  Lifeforms  | Information

Kidderminster Formation (new name Chester Formation)
Around 245 million years old
Environment – north view | Lifeforms | Information

Clent Breccia
Around 285 million years old
Environment – north view | East view | South view | West view | View from above | Lifeforms | Information

Carboniferous Mudstone 
Around 305 million years old
Environment – north view | Information

Halesowen Formation
Around  306 million years old
Environment – north view  |  Environment – south view  |  Lifeforms  | Information

Much Wenlock Limestone
Age around 425 million years ago
Environment – north view | Lifeforms | Information

Lickey Quartzite
Age around 480 million years ago
Environment – north view | Lifeforms | Information

Barnt Green Volcanics
Age around 484 million years ago
Environment – north view | Lifeforms | Information