Mandible excavated from Stainton gravel beds.

My Daughter found this jaw fragment from a new dig in a section of packed gravel 5 metres east of my main dig at Stainton, at the moment i can not identify it. The teeth don't match bovine horse or cervidae that i have or have viewed. The radius i believe could be from the same animal? it apeares to be cervidae?

                        More can be viewed regarding the Stainton gravel beds by clicking the link below
                                                                The Stainton gravel beds

Flint ( burrow ) Nodule

I found this recently how and why it was among the magnetic whinstone i am studying at the moment i have no idea.
And i state now it was not excavated from the Stainton gravel beds !
 

The nodule has a rough outer texture but has razor sharp edges!

I am told these burrow nodules usually contain fossils but flint is new to me , and at the moment i don't quite know what to look for !?

I think its a beautiful piece almost alien in appearance.

Septarian Nodule dug from the Stainton gravel beds...


 

New deposits uncovered shrouding the Stainton gravel beds.

These are the latest deposits uncovered at Stainton with the red clay bottom then gravels, then an organic layer.

There is what i believe to be a natural spring shown to the left.

More Andesite (whinstone) that atracts a magnet

I discovered this whinstone today it has been used as a bridge in two locations over a drainage channel just south of the larchfield community, there's a 16 inch pipe under the stone so i imagine it was done in the early to mid 20th century, probably with left over mined whinstone from the Stainton area.
All the stone in the image attracted the magnet shown stuck to the whinstone block above the pipe.

Excavations.

This post is to reassure any groups or individuals who come across my blog that there is no lasting damage to the becks and no wildlife is ever disturbed. If there are signs of life ie Voles or even rats the area gets left alone.
As for the becks themselves any excavations are out of sight, and done in such a manor that the natural flooding of the beck will restore any area back as it was, in the main i choose areas that have recently collapsed naturally therefore not changing the natural course of the becks.
One thing i have noticed that may be of interest to people involved with the wildlife of the becks is wherever i see these ancient deposits exposed, ie the river gravels clays  some laminated some not, Voles and other small mammals have had no interest in digging into now or in the past, the material is probably to tough to get through.

Whinstone in Ormesby beck

I have discovered today that like Stainton, Maltby, and Marton west beck, Ormesby beck has an abundance of whinstone both in the beck and in the same buried packed gravel layer as found at all the other becks.

The image above shows one of the many pieces of whinstone in the packed gravel layer, and as with Stainton all pieces checked attracted a magnet.

The image above shows a piece of whinston split this piece was deep in the undisturbed gravels.

These images show the gravel layer with the red clay layer below again the same as found at Stainton, Maltby, Marton west beck, and Stainsby beck.

Naturally exposed red clay layer Ormesby beck in this area seems more advanced in the processes of cutting through the red clay layer than the other becks.

Rounded Whinstone in the banks.

This is the first time ive seen this coloured seem in the red clay.

Note how deep the beck has cut into the red clay.

More Whinstone i would say Whinstone is by far the most abundant rock in this stretch of Ormesby beck, and all tested attracted a magnet.

These pics show a natural exposure of the gravel layer with the red clay below, and at least two other deposits above the gravels very much like my main dig at Stainton.

Organic material in the blue gray seem just above the gravel layer.

 This is the biggest whinstone boulder ive come across at any location so far, it also attracted a magnet.

The hammer sits on the red clay layer then the gravel layer then the blue gray layer that contains the organic material then the sandy deposits.

The gravel layer is very like that at Stainton in having finer orange gravels to the bottom containing organic material

I am starting to believe all the similar exposed layers in the deepest parts of all five becks are connected ie the same event caused the sequence of deposits in all the becks.

The only possible way i can think of that deposited this whinstone here and in the other deep beck valley locations is ice, yet i can not explain the uniformed layers theres nothing erratic about these deposits in any of the locations, with the added complication of the organic material in the lower packed fine gravels at Stainton and Ormesby becks uncovered so far !  

Magnetic whinstone of Marton west beck ( Stainton gravel beds )

This Andesite (whinstone) boulder in Marton west beck south Middlesbrough is magnetic.

Every whinstone boulder i checked attracted a magnet, this stretch of Marton west beck has a very large amount of whinstone of all sizes, all seem to be water worn, and all the Andesite (whinstone) i tested was magnetic.

I presume these magnetic Andesite boulders were originally part of the dyke in the Stainton area and were broken away by the last ice advance.

Ime not sure what rock this is yet, but it came from the same gravel layer as the magnetic Andesite (whinstone)

This stretch of Marton west beck has by far the largest deposits of Andesite dyke stone i have found anywhere in the south Cleveland area, the gravel layers in the beck banks are full of it, and all tested were magnetic.

These images show what i believe is the same red clay ive found underlying everything in the south west Middlesbrough area, with the gravel layer above.

These images show magnetic Andesite still in the gravel layer.

The image below hopefully shows the amount of material above these layers, i would say at least a 35 metres

These images show the blue clay seem that ive also found in the red clay layer at Stainton, Maltby, and, Ormesby becks.

Red clay layer with gravel layer above, again the same as seen at Stainton, Maltby, and ormesby becks.

The magnetic properties of the Cleveland dyke in t...