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.
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!
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.