24.08.2005

Black Rock, a world famous Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) is about to reveal its geological secrets to experts at the University of Brighton.

A team of Quaternary ('ice age') scientists, led by Dr Colin Whiteman from the School of the Environment, and supported by English Nature together with collaborators from the universities of Birmingham, Lampeter, London, Loughborough, Sheffield, Sussex and York, and the Natural History Museum, is investigating cliff face sediments at the site.

Initial scans of the rock face have already exposed fascinating sediments and structures that will provide new evidence of the source of the sediment and the processes that deposited it. The team has been aided by a cherry-picker (pictured right), courtesy of Brighton and Hove City Council, which is conducting engineering work at Black Rock.

Preliminary sorting of the sediments have revealed information about its fossil content which suggests cold dry conditions around Brighton during the ice age. Victorian bone collections include mammoth, woolly rhinoceros, bison and a diminutive horse which may indicate response to adverse weather conditions.

The opportunity to carry out this uniquely detailed investigation, the first in 187 years of research, was due to a severe cliff fall at the site four years ago. A Public Enquiry agreed that Brighton and Hove City Council could reduce the cliff gradient and bolt the eastern part of the cliff face which will assist stability. In return all material removed from the cliff should be made available to science.

The first stage of the study, on the western part of the site, was completed before the engineering work started early in July. Analysis of the material is expected to last about 18 months before the findings can be published.

Dr Whiteman said: "For nearly two centuries, Black Rock with its rare buried cliff and raised beach, has been a focus of geological interest and the team is looking forward to revealing its long hidden secrets."

You can read more about Black Rock in 'The Quaternary of Kent and Sussex Field Guide', edited by Julian Murton, Colin Whiteman et al. (1998) available in Aldrich Library.

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