The 50th anniversary of the Ussher Conference was held at the Royal Beacon Hotel, Exmouth between the 3rd and the 5th January 2012. 85 geologists and geomorphologists gathered for the annual conference which covered both new work and research in south-west England together with a number of historical perspectives including the history of the Society and great figures such as Sir Henry De la Beche. The first day was largely dedicated to ‘soft rocks’: the younger rocks (Mesozoic onwards) found in the region and geomorphological processes while the second largely covered ‘hard rocks’; the older Palaeozoic strata that form the basement to the Jurassic Coast The Society is named after W,A.E. Ussher (1845-1920) who worked for the Geological Survey and is regarded to have made the greatest single contribution to the understanding of the regions geology and particularly the stratigraphy (the rock succession) of the Devonian and Carboniferous. Field trips were run into the Underclff from Axmouth and the Crediton area.
Richard Edmonds, Earth Science Manager.
