Cotswolds rift

[gus horsley]

Sorry this post is a bit late.  Did anyone see Country File last Sunday?  Apart from the same bloke who did the DYO lakes in a record slow time (on the previous offering) and used his knees all the way up a Stanage diff, there was a section where the guy who has the Cotswolds Farm had a hole open up in a field.  The local cavers (who I can't remember the names of) had a look and it seemed to consist of a short pitch into a rift 20ft high and of unknown length, presumable a slip feature.

Does anyone know any more about this? 

 

[menacer]

http://ukcaving.com/board/index.php/topic,9872.msg130310.html#msg130310 
Coxies Post No 4 repeats the programme.

 

[gus horsley]

Apologies for duplication of posts - I can't open iPlayer, etc on my works computer, so didn't see what it was about.  Even so, does anyone know how extensive the rift is and why the bloke was pointing up the hill to show the direction the rift went when it should have been parallel to the hillside?

 

[andymorgan]

There are a few good articles in the UBSS proceedings about the landslip caves in the Cotswolds. These abstracts were taken from the UBSS website www.ubss.org.uk

Boycott,A., and Self,C.A., 2007. Landslip caves of the northern Cotswolds. UBSS Proceedings, 24(1) , pp 53-70

Abstract: A brief description is given of natural caves formed by landslip in the Cotswolds north of Cheltenham. The paper is an overview and thus includes previously published sites for the sake of completeness and clarity, new data from the sites, and some new sites. Surveys of the main caves are presented.
http://www.ubss.org.uk/resources/proceedings/vol24/UBSS_Proc_24_1_53-70.pdf (This link isn't working at this moment in time)

Boycott,A., and Self,C.A., 2005. Landslip Caves of the Middle Cotswolds. UBSS Proceedings, 23(2) , pp 97-117

Abstract: This paper gives a brief description of the natural caves that have been formed by landslipping in the Cotswolds between the town of Cheltenham and the M4 corridor. The paper is an overview and includes sites that have previously been published, new data from these sites, as well as several new sites. Surveys of the main caves are presented. It is argued that the mineral deposit described by geologists as "calcite bands" does not represent regional palaeo- water table levels, but has a speleological origin.
http://www.ubss.org.uk/resources/proceedings/vol23/UBSS_Proc_23_2_97-117.pdf

Boycott,A., and Self,C.A., 2000. Landslip Caves of the Southern Cotswolds. UBSS Proceedings, 21(3) , pp 197-214

Abstract: This paper gives a brief description of the natural caves that have been formed by landslipping in the Cotswolds near the city of Bath. The paper includes sites that have previously been published, new data from these sites, as well as several new sites. Plan surveys of the main caves are presented.
http://www.ubss.org.uk/resources/proceedings/vol21/UBSS_Proc_21_3_197-214.pdf

 

[Joe Duxbury]

does anyone know how extensive the rift is ?

It was about 20 ft long, and just over a foot wide.

does anyone know ... why the bloke was pointing up the hill to show the direction the rift went when it should have been parallel to the hillside?

Because it did go up the hill! You would have thought it would have been parallel to the slope, but it wasn't.
How do I know? I was that bloke.

 

[gus horsley]

Cheers Joe and Andy.  One of the reasons I was curious was because the rift did appear to be perpendicular to the direction I would have thought it would go.  That makes it quite unusual IMO and I'll have to think of possible explanations for it.  I've done a couple of windypits in Yorkshire but nothing in the Cotswolds but it seems that they're more common than I first imagined.

 

[graham]

Gus

With regard to the direction, read Charlie's most recent paper on the subject in UBSS Proc.

Self,C.A., 2008. Cave passages formed by a newly recognised type of mass movement: a gull tear. UBSS Proceedings, 24(2) , pp 101-106

Abstract: Sally's Rift is the most extensive landslip cave in the Great Oolite limestone of the Cotswolds. The cave was originally thought to be a simple rectilinear network, but new calculations show that it cannot have formed by mass movement in any single direction. A sequence of gulls leads almost directly into the hillside along an axis of mass movement spreading, whereby the rock masses on either side have moved in divergent directions ? a gull tear.

PDF available here.

 

[cap n chris]

A very good article, too, imo: well reasoned and compelling.

 

[gus horsley]

I think the article's very interesting and I wasn't aware of gull rifts until now.  Thanks very much.