What’s On Your Doorstep ?

by Rick Saville, Web Editor

Life in lockdown has been a massive shift for all of us. Usually at this time in the year we’re looking back on a summer filled with field trips & excursions across Yorkshire & surrounding areas. But as we’ve all been faced with national lockdown & local restrictions, it’s forced us (understandably) to focus more on what’s on our doorstep. That said, it’s also a good reminder that geology is literally everywhere around us; from the hillsides that we carry our shopping up, the outcrops that we can see in stream and river banks, exposures that are formed by quarrying or past mining activities or (if you’re lucky enough!) the cliffs that form the vast majority of the Yorkshire Coast, as well as the stones that were used to make many of our local buildings & monuments.

Often it’s so easy to forget (or not even consider!) what’s right on our doorstep. It’s usually these places that get overlooked in lieu of the more “iconic” geological sites that we happily travel to and experience. That’s not to take anything away from these places, they receive their status for very good reason, but we should also take the time to reflect on what we can find where we live & work, and appreciate it. I am fortunate to live in a places where the Carboniferous Upper Coal Measures strata are present; somewhat of a rarity in West Yorkshire.

Like so many

other places across Yorkshire these rocks form the distinctive landscape of my local area; rediscovering the joys of riding a bike has reminded me of the simple beauty of my local landscape which is tied strong to the underlying geology, usually whilst out of breath peddling up the hillsides back up to my house!

But there are lots of local sites that can be of interest & lockdown has given me the chance to discover (& rediscover) many of the geoscience related things that I look past all of the time in favour of other more “exotic” geological sites.

The above photo is a locally known former railway bridge that was constructed using local stone & had a series of “gargoyle” sculptures carved into the sandstone blocks used to make the bridge. So often we’ve never thought to explore what’s right on our doorstep!

The landscape is so often tied to the underlying geology; here’s a photo of the topography near to where I live - Yorkshire has long being used when training field geologists in how to interpret the underlying geology from what we see at the surface. This is type of landscape is a common one across Yorkshire & it’s easy to forget just how fascinating it is when you sit back & think about it.

I’ve always been intrigued how people come across geology from a variety of different avenues throughout their life, whether as professional geoscientists within industry, rock & fossil collectors, academics who study geology or geoscience subjects, photographers, artists, or people who just want to know more about the world around them. When I first discovered in high school physical geography that South America & Africa fit together like pieces in a jigsaw I was blow away; combine that with a love for photography & being outdoors & I’ve been hooked ever since! There are so many reasons to get outdoors and appreciate the environment around us.

And so much of what continues to amaze me about the world we all call home is literally right on my doorstep for me to enjoy everyday; we just have to remember to take the time to look at it.

You never know, you might even make some new friends along the way, like we did on one of our local walks…

So, as Star Trek would say: boldly go where no-one (or probably lots of other people in reality!) has gone before - you probably won’t have to go as far as you think to find something that interests you, geologically speaking.

Want to share anything interesting from your local area? Feel free to use the hashtag #YGSRocks when posting anything to our Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn & Facebook social media platforms - you can use the icon links below to take you to the relevant page.

Or if you do venture out anywhere you can use #geolidays to let other people see the geology of wherever you’ve been; it might even help them to discover what’s on their own doorstep!

Happy rock hunting! Stay safe & well.