I’ve just done a quick search, and I have mentioned “The secret life of Shingle” in three other posts. I won’t bother to link to them, because I litterally just use the term, and then talk about something else.
Anyhow, what am I talking about? Well, when I joined u3a at the beginning of the year (has it really been almost a year? How fast that time has gone! Frightening). I soon found out about another part of the charity, interest groups online. These meet virtually, usually via Zoom. I’ve signed up for a couple, one of which is Geology.
The last time I formally studied Geology was in 1974. I have never lost interest in the subject, so I jumped at the u3a group.
One of the things that appeals to me about the u3a groups of which I am a member, is that members of the group really do contribute to the group, through giving small presentations on a particular subject. I’ve done that with History, Local History and Exploring Art.
With those three groups, the topic changes from month to month, and sometimes coming up with a 5 minute presentation can,surprisingly, be sometimes challenging. Whilst there are as many subject areas in geology, it is possible to come up with a long-term project, which I can do regular presentations on progress updates..
One of the geology sessions talked about Geomorphology, which my simple understanding is watching how the earth’s surface changes in real time.So, my immediate thought was. what project could I do that can expect to see change, almost in real time. After a bit of deliberation, I realised that I should look at the beach at Stokes Bay. It’s a shingle beach, and I know that shingle is subject to this thing calle Long Shore Drift, where the water pushes the shingle along. Does this happen in Stokes Bay? Well, I’d be surprised if I didn’t.
OK, so I’ve started looking at the beach, I’ve had a couple of goes, and ironed out a few issues, and found a couple of others, so i’m beginning to think that I will be ironing out issues all through the project.
I took a set of photos, and am going through them, no conclusions or theories yet. I’ll keep you updated.
