3 Evaluating East Dunbartonshire's geodiversity

3.1 Audit site selection criteria

The project began with a review of the available documentation and datasets that could potentially provide information on geodiversity sites in East Dunbartonshire. These sources included:

1. Strathclyde RIGS Group list of potential geodiversity sites and relevant site forms
2. SSSI and GCR documentation (SNH)
3. BGS 1:10 000 standards and field maps
4. BGS BritPits database of Mines and Quarries
5. BGS Glasgow Memoir (Clough et al., 1925 and Hall et al., 1998)
6. BGS Economic Geology of the Central Coalfield Memoir, Area 1 (Robertson, 1937)
7. Geological Excursions around Glasgow and Girvan (Lawson, 1992)

Information from these sources was entered into a spreadsheet, giving a total of 59 potential sites (Table 2). The site locations were then exported to a GIS for analysis. Duplications and overlaps were identified and the list narrowed to 35 priority sites for field checking and auditing using expertise from several BGS staff. The selection was made to ensure a comprehensive geological and good geographical spread within the East Dunbartonshire area. During the course of fieldwork it proved impracticable to visit five of these priority sites and five other, more accessible, localities were visited. The five priority sites that were not visited are identified in table 2 for potential further investigation.

3.2 Geodiversity auditing

Field auditing was carried out in March and April 2009. As far as possible landowners were contacted prior to visiting or accessing sites, but ownership was not established for every site visited.

3.3 Project GIS

A project GIS (in ESRI ArcGIS) was established to display the location of geodiversity information and examine spatial relationships between geodiversity and other environmental considerations. A wide range of digital data was acquired and the datasets translated to a suitable format for display in ArcGIS. The GIS was also used to produce figures and maps for this report. Output from the field auditing database (see 3.4 below) was exporting and appended as attribute data in the ArcGIS shape files. All shape files handed over to East Dunbartonshire Council have ISO 19115 Standard metadata information attached.

3.4 BGS Geodiversity Database –introduction

Data from field auditing were logged on BGS SIGMA Mobile ruggedized field notebook PCs. SIGMA Mobile allows collection of digital data/information in the field, including digitising geodiversity site boundaries. One of its main strengths is the facility to bring practically any digital dataset to the field including DiGMapGB (BGS digital geological map data), historic Ordnance Survey maps, scanned geological field maps, Intermap NEXTMap digital terrain/surface models etc. The system also has an inbuilt GPS. SIGMA Mobile uses a combination of customised ESRI ArcGIS, MS Access and InfiNotes. Data was entered on data entry forms on the MS Access-based BGS GeoDiversitY database. This was designed for rapid and objective geodiversity data collection in the field, either on a hard copy form, or direct input via PC. The database was set up and tested during BGS geodiversity projects in the North Pennines, County Durham, West Lothian and Greater London. Site data is entered into a number of screen-sized entry forms. For examples of data entry forms running on a MIDAS iX104 Notebook PC see Appendix 3. Some of the options available in these data entry forms are listed in (Table 3) below.

(Table 3) Options available in the BGS GeoDiversitY database

3.4.1 Site type and stratigraphy and rock types

Selection criteria for geodiversity site type are listed in below.

(Table 4) BGS GeoDiversitY database — selection criteria for Site Type

Stratigraphy and rock types: The 'Age' (chronostratigraphy), 'Formation' (lithostratigraphy) and rock type (lithology) of the exposures present are given. Ideally, representative sections of the main formations present in the East Dunbartonshire area should be represented in the selected sites.

3.5 BGS Geodiversity Database — Assessment of site value

In the BGS GeoDiversitY database, Culture, heritage & economic importance, Geoscientific merit, Current Site Value (education and community value) are given numeric score. Access, site fragility, potential use and other site details are entered via tick-box, drop-down menu or in free text fields.

3.5.1 Access and Safety

Access is an important consideration, particularly in areas of urban populations where opportunities to experience the natural world are limited. Road access and parking, Safety of access, Safety of exposure, Current condition, Current conflicting activities, Restricting conditions and Nature of exposure criteria are descriptive and for general guidance only. Field leaders and teachers should prepare a separate risk assessment where required.

3.5.2 Cultural, Heritage and Economic importance

These criteria are taken from the UKRIGS system and include any known links and important associations with the literary, cultural, aesthetic and historical aspects of geodiversity, or if geological materials have been exploited commercially in the past. The rating scale used is 0 to 10, with 10 reflecting important associations providing excellent opportunities for raising public awareness. The criteria used are:

Aesthetic landscape: May be an attractive/aesthetic landscape relevant to Earth science, promoting public awareness and appreciation of Earth science and may even be an National Scenic Area or National Park. For example, natural features such as mountain, upland, glen, strath, coast; man-made features such as urban, derelict, reclaimed.

History of Earth science: May be a significant site in the history of Earth science, for example where scientific concepts were first demonstrated by famous geologists.

Economic geology: May have economic associations with the past and present extraction and use of geological resources as raw materials, their subsequent processing, or the reclamation and later use of the site. Examples may include:

• past/present extraction of coal, sand and gravel, building stone, metallic ores
• processing plants such as furnaces which are likely also to be sites of importance for industrial archaeology
• land reclamation projects where the geological aspects are significant

3.5.3 Geoscientific merit

Geoscientific criteria are the key intrinsic attributes of a site or feature and the main reasons to justify conserving a site, even if it has restricted or no current access. A single site is unlikely to score highly on every criterion. Rarity, quality and literature/collections scores are combined into a single score in Volume 1 site assessments. Where rating scores fall between the values listed, intermediate ratings are indicated, for example a rarity or quality rating of 9 may reflect European or northern hemisphere significance. Similarly, a rarity or quality rating of 5 and 7 may reflect a western Midland Valley and Scotland-wide significance. Ranking criteria are given in (Table 5) below:

3.5.4 Current Site Value

Ranking criteria for these attributes are given in (Table 6) below:

3.5.5 Fragility

The following attributes are available for selection:

1. Geohazard (e.g. landslip risk)
2. weathering/erosion
3. natural overgrowth
4. sample/fossil collecting
5. dumping
6. likelihood of development.

3.5.6 Potential use

The following attributes are available for selection:

1. Research
2. Higher/further education
3. school education
4. on-site interpretation
5. on-site geotrail
6. incorporated
7. multidisciplinary

3.5.7 Geodiversity Value

Geodiversity Value can be considered as an assessment of the importance of the site to the local area or network. Key sites in the area may represent unique or outstanding features or exceptional preservation and should be designated as Local Geodiversity Sites and protected for their specific scientific value. Such sites may have been considered for designation as SSSIs, but not fully met the requirements. Most sites of high specific scientific value will also have high assessed ratings for education and science and for cultural, heritage and economic aspects, but there may be exceptions. High-rating examples would include sites of the only exposure of a key formation or feature, e.g. an unconformity, a basal conglomerate, a marine band, an ash band, a dyke, a highly fossiliferous bed, or other feature listed under Geoscientific merit. Lower ratings are given to sites with locally more common or less well preserved features.

Geodiversity Value can be considered as an assessment of the importance of the site to the local network. The assessment of the value of the geology and geomorphology for education and science is separate.

Geodiversity Value is scored between 0 and 10 and is based on the sum of all the scores given for the various criteria described above. Although this may appear to be a rather subjective assessment it allows a grading of the different sites visited and takes into consideration an overview of other sites in the vicinity. Suggested scoring guides are:

0 — no specific scientific interest

5 — some specific scientific interest, the average for similar sites in the vicinity

10 — key site, showing unique or outstanding features, the best site in the vicinity

Bibliography