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EFC Centre at Wat Tyler Country ParkOur centre is available for visits on a pre-booked basis on Wednesdays between 10am - 4pm. The Club’s activities and displays are also usually open to the public on the first Saturday of the month 11am - 4pm.

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About the Essex Field Club
Essex Field Club
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no 1113963
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Geology Site Account

A-Z Geological Site Index

Stanford Warren Sarsen Stone, MUCKING, Thurrock District, TQ68568117, Potential Local Geological Site

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Site category: Boulders - sarsen

Site name: Stanford Warren Sarsen Stone

Grid reference: TQ 6856 8117

Brief description of site:

To the east of the former church a very large sarsen stone at about 2.2 x 1.3 x 0.6 metres in size, with a mammilated surface, is sitting by the path at the entrance to Stanford Warren Nature Reserve (Essex Wildlife Trust). The boulder was rescued from the large Mucking Gravel Quarry nearby which was landfilled in 2007.

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Sarsen stones

Sarsens are extremely hard boulders of sandstone formed around 55 million years ago when the climate of Britain was hot and a layer of sand on the surface of the Chalk became cemented with quartz. They are thus very resistant to erosion and have survived the rigours of the Ice Age.

The formation of silcretes (which includes sarsens and puddingstones) has been the subject of recent scientific debate. Research has compared the conditions under which sarsens and puddingstones may have been formed with the present day climate in the Kalahari Desert and parts of Australia.

The sarsen stones of Thurrock are some of the best-preserved examples in the UK and most have curious rounded protuberances on their surfaces (mammilated), which are growth structures formed as the quartz slowly crystallised between the sand grains.



The Stanford Warren Sarsen Stone. Photo: G. Lucy

 

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