Back in the ‘70s I did a Geology O’Level. When I was at school I really quite enjoyed geography, mainly the physical side rather than economic, how ox-bow lakes are formed the weather cycle, things like that are really fascinating.
I thought that geology would be an extension of that. Well, not really. But it is nonetheless fascinating and as wide ranging. The course involved an introduction to fossils and included a trip to a site which was well known for the ease with which fossils can be found. During our explorations I even found one, a belemnite – they are pretty common though. Of course it’s the Dinosaurs that are the big ones to find.
Then there is the rock side of the subject. We learned about Moh’s scale of hardness ranging from Talc at 1 to Diamond at 10. We also learned about the three main types of rock; igneous, a sedimentary and metamorphic. I delighted in using the geologists hand lens, I still have one downstairs.
Learning about the various geological periods was fascinating and associated with that are Orogenies – Mountain building periods when the earth’s crust buckled and bent to for ranges like the Rockies, the Himalayas or the Alps. The Alps in particular were formed between 66 and around 3 million years ago. The impact of the time can be seen here in the UK particularly the Purbeck Monocline which can clearly be seen in the rocks around Lulworth Cove, these are the ripples flowing out from the Alps.
The topic is fascinating.
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