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...
 

Magnetic whinstone boulder from Stainton gravel beds.

These images show my daughter pointing out the small magnet stuck to this worn whinstone boulder.

The boulder is buried into the bank of Stainton beck.

The boulder is extremely tough i could not crack a piece off, but exposed enough fresh surface to be able to see it is Whinstone.

I placed the magnet over a thin piece of paper to make sure nothing was helping the magnet stick.

The boulder seems to be water worn
New mineralised bone finds Stainsby beck

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





 

Magnetic Whinstone of Stainton beck Middlesbrough.

This shows that even the boulder sized Whinstone from these released ancient river gravels are  magnetic, i can not find any reference that states or shows images of the magnetic attraction of kind ive shown here.

The biggest piece of magnetic Whinstone is about 4ft by 3ft most of the rocks in the pic are magnetic, the magnet used is very small so Ive placed a thin piece of paper to hopefully highlight it, and to create a smooth surface to make sure nothing was helping the magnet to stick.

I dug a leg bone out from under this magnetic Whinstone.
The magnetic properties of the Cleveland dyke in t...

Packed gravels and red clay at Ormesby beck.

These images show yet again the red clay underlying the packed gravel layer, as at all the other beck locations excavated in the south west area of Cleveland.

I was unable to expose a lot as i had no equipment, but the bit i excavated leaves me in no doubt it is the same geology that i have already exposed at Stainton, Marton, Maltby, and soon i am confident i will uncover the same deposits at Stainsby beck.

The red clay can be seen bottom then the packed gravels, with the normal shroud of what i believe to be Alluvium.

I strongly believe most of the natural stone in these becks, where once part of these packed gravel layers, and have been released by the beck water cutting through the becks in all locations in the south west Cleveland area, and is now cutting through the same red clay deposits. 
http://historyofabeck.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/the-stainton-gravel-beds.html 
                                    

Angle of blue clay deposits at Stainton

Here you can see the already excavated area to the left and the un excavated section to the right discoloured by the brown / red fryable deposit above

The only  un natural angle here was created by my spade to the centre and left of the pic the facing angle is as it was excavated.

This angle would in my opinion be a constant along this stretch of beck if the alluvium? was removed.

This shows the structure of this deposit, there must have been a large time difference between these two deposits surley?

The clay angled layer is blue although discoloured in the pics by shine and dust from the above layer.

The angle cut by my spade then the natural angle which meets the ever constant red clay layer in this area of south west Cleveland.

The blue clay contains fossils ie gryphaea and ammonites, also a lot of calcareous lime stone nodules. Myself and two Geologists have recently ( October 2011) used an auger to a depth of 1.75 metres down from a shelf above the grey blue clay deposit and have indeed discovered it continues to rise at this angle. The brown red deposit above  has no large stones samples of sand stones and Mercia mud stone were abundant but in very small sizes.    ( Please see more recent post on this excavation,  Extention of excavation into blue clay)

Maltby beck excavation

This excavation shows the same sequence of deposits that have been exposed at Stainton beck, at roughly the same depth in relation to the surrounding land.

The image above shows how little soil cover there is above the aluvial deposit, less than 100 mm in places

The glove marks where the  deposit stops and the gravels start, then as in all my excavations the dense red clay below.

Bone excavated from Stainton gravel beds.

The first two images show the top of the gravel layer, the cup of tea was a suprise !

In this dig section there is a layer of packed sand about 100mm thick separating the Lacustrine layer from the gravels

This is the piece bone found in the packed sand above the gravels.

In these images the bone is still in some of the packed sand.

The bone after removing the sand and cleaned, it apeares to be part of a lumbar vertebrae.