Standen Rocks offers a fine view across the nearby Weir Wood Reservoir and stand 35 metres above the natural Valley floor. The Rocks from part of Tunbridge Wells Sand Formation which runs between Tunbridge Wells and East Grinstead, where it is approximately 400 feet thick.
At nearby Stonehill Rocks evidence has been found that suggests the rocks were used as a shelter on at least 2 occasions between Mesolithic and Neolithic periods. The sandstone is quickly eroded by weather and friction.
The Tunbridge Wells Sand Formation is a geological unit which forms part of the Wealden Group and the uppermost and youngest part of the unofficial Hastings Beds. These geological units make up the core of the geology of the Weald in the English counties of West Sussex, East Sussex and Kent. The other component formations of the Hastings Beds are the underlying Wadhurst Clay Formation and the Ashdown Formation.
The Hastings Beds in turn form part of the Wealden Group which underlies much of southeast England. The sediments of the Weald, including the Tunbridge Wells Sand Formation, were deposited during the Early Cretaceous Period, which lasted for approximately 40 million years from 140 to 100 million years ago. The Tunbridge Wells Sands are of Late Valanginian age. The Formation takes its name from the spa town of Tunbridge Wells in Kent. The Hastings Beds is a geological unit that includes interbedded clays, silts, siltstones, sands and sandstones in the High Weald of southeast England. These strata make up the component geological formations of the Ashdown Formation, the Wadhurst Clay Formation and the Tunbridge Wells Sand Formation. The term 'Hastings Beds' has been superceded and the component formations are included in the Wealden Group. The sediments of the Weald, including the Hastings Beds, were deposited during the Early Cretaceous Period, which lasted for approximately 40 million years from 140 to 100 million years ago.
The Hastings Beds are of Early Berriasian to Late Valanginian age. The Group takes its name from the fishing town of Hastings in East Sussex. Sandstone (sometimes known as arenite) is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains. Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow, red, gray, pink, white and black. Since sandstone beds often form highly visible cliffs and othertopographic features, certain colors of sandstone have been strongly identified with certain regions. Rock formations that are primarily composed of sandstone usually allow percolation of water and other fluids and are porous enough to store large quantities, making them valuable aquifers and petroleum reservoirs. Fine-grained aquifers, such as sandstones, are more apt to filter out pollutants from the surface than are rocks with cracks and crevices, such as limestone or other rocks fractured by seismic activity.
This Earthcache will take you on a walk around the Standen Rocks – you will be asked a number of questions the answers of which you will email to the cache owner in order to claim a successful find. These questions along with the information given above will give you a little more insight into the geology which makes up so much of the area which surrounds us here.
Waypoint 1 – Here you will find a Noticeboard which gives information about the Standen Rocks and nearby Weir Wood Reservoir .
Question 1 - You will find this on the noticeboard, what is Sandstone formed from ?
(note: dated 11/7/20 - We have been advised that the noticeboard for this question has been vandalised - though the question can still be answered from it - the info can also be obtained on the interweb thing - so though easier to get the answer we had obtained from the board if it disappears the question can still be answered)
Waypoint 2 – Rock Outcrop – here you will see a large rock formation with various layers
Question 2a – Describe what you see to include layer direction and colour of rock ?
Question 2b – Estimate how high above where you are standing are the top of these rocks - this can be done by taking an elevation reading from the bottom and one from the top
Waypoint 3 - smaller Rock Outcrop
Question 3a – Describe the colour of the rock here, why is it different to the first one?
Question 3b – Touch the surface – describe what you feel
We used to have a 4th waypoint which took you to another outcrop and a curiously shaped rock and apart from the 'geology' based question we for fun asked which animal the shaped rock looked like to you - a variety of answers from wolf, bear, frog, elephant kept us amused for some time.
However it would seem access to that location has now been limited with locked gates and barbed wire fences - so if you have downloaded this cache which includes a 4th waypoint - note it has now been removed
Finally - Take a photo with you or something identifying you at any one of the locations and add this to your log (required)
Please send the answers to the CO via message - these must be sent before the cache is logged and CO reserves the right to delete a log if the answers are way off the mark.
Thank you for visiting this Earthcache - ddm