Approaching Task Site 7
You can do Task Site 7 from any location if you prefer not to travel down this rougher section of path. But if possible it is always better to look at the rocks up close for yourself and you can rest for a bit on the seat!
Layers of rock
Look down – you can see the Lickey Quartzite exposed in the path here. The rocks have many small but conspicuous vertical cracks in them (called ‘joints’) but you should also be able to see the layers of rock or bedding clearly here.\n\n You may find it easier to spot the bedding by going down hill a few steps and looking back up hill at the exposed rock. The picture below highlights some of the beds and some of the joints picked out. Notice how sets of joints run through the rock beds at different angles.
The joints are fractures in the rock beds produced in response to forces when the rocks beds were being folded – remember these are part of the big fold. Joints unlike faults do not show any visible movement of the rock on opposite sides of the fracture. Groups (sets) of joints are often present as in the image here.
Dip of the beds
If you have identified the beds correctly you should see that they are sloping or ‘dipping’ westwards, towards the valley below. If you found some exposed rock beds on the eastern side of the Lickey ridge, which way do you thing they might be dipping? Think about how the rocks are folded – the big anticline (upward arch fold).
The DIP of rock beds is how many degrees the surface of the bed slopes from the horizontal. Here that is about 40 degrees. It is also important to record the direction of dip. An angle of 90 degrees to the direction of the dip is called the STRIKE of the beds. The strike angle is given as so many degrees from north as read from a magnetic compass. The rock beds here have a strike almost exactly to the north. By measuring dip and strike angles on rock exposures, geologists can build a 3D picture of how the rocks of an area have been folded by tectonic forces.
East of the Lickey Ridge
You are nearing the end of your Voyage. Before you finish, have a look at the main map again and see what the soft rocks are on the low ground to east of the Lickey Hills. They are from a period of geological time that you have not yet explored. While the name of the rocks is shown on the map, use the ‘then’ tab to find out more about them.
Get your score
This is the end of your Voyage on the Lickey Ridge, but if you want to continue your travels in deep time, you could return to the Visitor Centre and from there head out into the Carboniferous, Permian and Triassic worlds on a circular walk via Beacon Hill. This Voyage is called Lickey Hills.
To finish this Voyage and get your final score, complete the questions for this Task Site, and make sure that you have answered all the questions for earlier Task Sites. Well done!
Returning
Return back to the Visitor Centre area via any of the paths along the ridge. Ignore any ‘Enter Task Area’ alerts you get, unless you need to complete any tasks.
The devastated scene along parts of the ridge is due to the recent clearance of pine trees with the disease Phytophthora ramorum.
Task Site 7 Questions
How thick are the beds of rock in Barnt Green Road Quarry?
a) About 70 – 90 cm thick
b) About 5 – 15 cm thick
c) About 1 – 2 cm thick
d) About 1 to 2 mm thick
The beds of rock are dipping:
a) Quite steeply towards the west
b) Very slightly towards the west
c) Very slightly towards the south
d) Almost vertically towards the north
If you were able to see the rocks exposed on the EAST side of the Lickey ridge, which way would you expect them to dip?
a) North
b) South
c) East
d) West
What geological time period do the rocks on the low ground east of the Lickey Ridge come from?
a) Triassic Period
b) Casrboniferous Period
c) Jurassic Period
d) Permian Period