Appreciating, conserving and promoting Somerset's diverse geology

Welcome

Welcome to our Somerset Geology Group (SGG) website – we hope it will provide a gateway to help you find out about the geology of Somerset, as well as about our SGG activities per se.

Somerset is one of the most diverse counties in England geologically, with a wide range of interest from the oldest Silurian volcanics of the Mendip Hills (Wenlockian between 433.4 and 427.4 million years ago) to more recent Quaternary ‘soft rock’ deposits and land forms from the last Ice Age, when the South West of England was a tundra environment (2.58 million years ago to the present), with contemporary processes, such as coastal erosion, still ongoing. Geology is critical too, to understanding our varied landscapes.

Our web site is hosted by Somerset Environmental Records Centre (SERC) and it is still under development. The information is to the best of our knowledge and we apologize for any inadvertent inaccuracies – please let us know if you become aware of, for example, any more up to date information or spot any errors (see Contacting us below).

Map of the Geology of Somerset

Our mission

Somerset Geology Group (SGG) works to encourage appreciation, conservation and promotion of geology in Somerset.

We are a member of GeoConservationUK whose mission is to encourage the appreciation, conservation and promotion of local/regional geological and geomorphological sites for education and public benefit. We also aim to encourage delivery in Somerset of the UK Geodiversity Action Plan.

Partnership working

We are an informal network of people with an interest in geological conservation and related interpretation and geological education in Somerset and work in partnership with Somerset Environmental Records Centre (SERC), Somerset Wildlife Trust  (SWT) and many others.

Our thanks to all those who have helped with our work in recent years including: SERC and SWT; graduate and SGG-sourced SERC volunteers; other SGG members; the Curry Fund of the Geologists’ Association; Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society; Exmoor National Park Authority; the Quantocks and Mendips National Landscapes; Somerset Council; the Mendip-based Somerset Earth Sciences Centre; South West Heritage Trust and its Somerset Heritage Centre; the former South Somerset District Council Community Fund; Wessex Water; Forestry England; National Trust; Geckoella geological consultancy; Natural England and GeoConservationUK.

Current priorities

Between 2016 and 2022 our main focus was a review of Somerset’s Local Geological Sites (LGS) in partnership with SERC (see under our Geoconservation page for more information). Then, following consultation with our network members in 2023 we agreed two overarching themes to focus our activity over the coming years:

• Working with partners, owners and others to encourage good quality interpretation on the geology of Somerset, in a wide range of different ways, including town trails and where appropriate for LGS.
• Continuing our partnership work on LGS with SERC, but focusing particularly on building relationships with owners and managers to help them understand the interest of their LGS and to advise on any conservation management desirable.

History

Our group was established in 1984, initially as the Geological Advisory Group of SWT, and worked in partnership with SERC from the late 1980s to identify the county’s LGS (including those for Exmoor National Park) – then known as Regionally Important Geological Sites (RIGS). Members of SGG have also in the past documented temporary geological exposures from pipeline and road building projects; and compiled a Bibliography of Somerset’s geology

Organisation

Wendy Lutley and Garry Dawson revived the group in 2016, following the death of its long-term secretary, Hugh Prudden, acting as joint volunteer Coordinators until 2025. Garry now acts as sole Coordinator of our network, supported by a small volunteer coordinating group  (including webmaster, Andy Gordon) and area mentors. We currently circulate an Update to our network members and partner organizations once or twice yearly and try to arrange a SGG meeting once a year. See our Updates for more detail of our activities. The most recent update and an archive of back issues can be found on our News and Updates page.

We are a network rather than a formal membership organization, have no formal constitution and do not organize talks and field visits. See our Geo-activities page to find out about other groups and organizations that may run events with a geological theme in Somerset.

Volunteering

We are always pleased to hear from those interested in being part of our network, who have, for example:

• knowledge of a particular aspect of Somerset’s geology;
• a particular interest in geological conservation and/or an interest in developing interpretive material on Somerset’s geology;
• are interested in opportunities to help with practical conservation work and/or helping voluntarily with the administration of our network;
• and/or who organize field trips, geological education or other geological activities in Somerset.

Contacting us

Please email us at Somersetgeology@gmail.com if you are interested in being a network member and/or volunteering – and/or have any updating information that would help us to improve this site. Please also refer any potential new contacts to this website and email address. Let us know too if you already receive our SGG Updates, but no longer wish to receive them.

Data protection policy

We endeavour to ensure that SGG Updates are always sent as a blind email and that we only send ‘non-blind’ emails to you, where you have indicated that you are happy for us to do so and where a small number of people need to liaise on a particular topic.

Page last revised April 2025.