How do we know the geology of the British isles?

[Judi Lynn]

By classifying the wide variety of rocks across the United Kingdom, an undertaking that took centuries to achieve, we’ve been able to tell the rich story of Britain’s geological past.

By Cherry Lewis
26th October, 2018 at 03:00

Homo erectus first arrived in Britain around three quarters of a million years ago, bringing with them the ability to fashion crude flint tools, which were used in the butchering of animals. It was a time when Britain was still attached to Europe, by a landmass that eventually became submerged with rising sea levels at the end of the last ice age.

Over the following millennia, we Homo sapiens roamed the land looking for flints with which to make increasingly sophisticated tools. We also sought metals for weaponry, gold for decoration and stones for building religious sites like Stonehenge. Coal was important too, not just for smelting ores but for burning limestone to fertilise the land in order to secure a reliable supply of food.

During our search for these resources we accumulated an indigenous knowledge about where such assets might be found and the rock types in which they were located. Chalk, limestone, granite, sandstone, clay and many other rock types were probably recognised from very early times. But it was not until we really understood fossils that we could put this knowledge to best use.



Black Church Rock in Devon exposes different layers of rock that have subsequently been tilted over
time © Getty

More:
https://www.sciencefocus.com/planet-earth/how-do-we-know-the-geology-of-the-british-isles/

[JayhawkSD]

1. A thought occurred as I read this.

"It was a time when Britain was still attached to Europe, by a landmass that eventually became submerged with rising sea levels at the end of the last ice age."

Undoubtedly, at the time, ancient man was running around screaming that the world was coming to an end and that the rising seas would end civilization as we knew it and that we had to do something to stop the seas from rising because...

Please don't attack me as a climate change denier. I'm not. The thought just popped into my head and I thought it was funny. I'm not suggesting that it means anything.

[Ghost Dog]

2. What then happened slowly is now happening rapidly,

and our complex societies are far more fragile.

[JayhawkSD]

3. Oh for heaven's sake.

Why is it necessary to refute a remark which the person who said it said was was made purely in jest?

Is this community utterly devoid of a sense of humor?

[eppur_se_muova]

4. Book rec !

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Map_that_Changed_the_World