Website review: Geology of The English Lake District
http://englishlakedistrictgeology.org.uk
by Annette Mcgrath & Rick Saville
Looking west from Haweswater - photo copyright of Purity Photography
Few places in the UK are as iconic for the study of geology and geomorphology as the English Lake District. The region has attracted geologists for hundreds of years and even the poet Wordsworth admired the region’s geological bounty in his inspirational ‘Guide to the Lakes’ in 1810. It is no wonder that the area also draws tourists in their millions each year, due in part to the spectacular scenery. But how many realise that the scenery relates directly to the underlying geology that has been shaped over millennia by erosion and tectonic movements, to be finally sculpted by ice?
The website “Geology of the English Lake District” by Clive Boulter provides an excellent introduction to this fascinating and complex region that is now a World Heritage Site. It provides a visually stunning overview that includes numerous examples of the classic Lakeland geology and breath-taking scenery that the region has to offer. From even a fleeting glance at the photographs it is immediately clear why the area is held in such high esteem by those teaching and seeking to understand geoscience, and academics and students still flock to the area in their droves. As the saying goes, “a picture speaks a thousand words”, and this website is packed with clear and colourful figures, maps, stratigraphic logs, conceptual diagrams and the Author’s own superb field photos.
The homepage opens with a rolling slideshow of the true icons of the Lake District, including those lofty mountains Scafell and Skiddaw, whose shape directly reflects their underlying geology. Also the Langdale Pikes and Haystacks, that embody the heart of the Lake District to many, the latter certainly did to Wainwright. Such spectacular images invite the reader to delve deeper into and explore the content of the site. Beneath this slideshow, a series of quick links, also with stunning images also encourages the viewer to investigate the website. A menu at the top of the page also logically breaks down the website into sections and inter-linked chapters that each reflect the great complexity and geological attraction of the region.
It is not practicable to review the whole of this excellent website in great detail, so we will dwell at greater length upon the first website chapter here, that being in essence the most complex and intriguing section, as it discusses the geological and plate tectonic evolution of the Lake District. This section begins with a very useful and concise geological overview map, and it is populated throughout with a series of excellent, clear and colourful palaeogeographical reconstructions, chronostratigraphic logs, cross-sections, maps and other useful figures.These superbly aid the reader to comprehend and digest the complex processes that have interplayed over almost 500 million years of Earth history in the Lake District.
Throughout this first chapter the Author utilises excellent modern-day examples to illustrate and explain the geological evolution of the region and also cites the most recent and relevant source materials. The Author describes how current thinking has deviated from the earlier accepted ‘subduction-related’ destruction of the Iapetus Ocean, to the more recent ideas of Waldron et al. (2014), involving a system similar to the modern-day Caribbean, Scotia, and Gibraltar arcs in the Atlantic. Perhaps this chapter dwells too heavily upon the Waldron et al. (2014) paper though, and for completeness it should also provide an overview of the earlier reconstructions and plate tectonic scenarios. However the Author is to be applauded for simply not accepting the ‘status quo’ of these earlier models, and for presenting more contemporary views.
The website then moves on to present further chapters; each is beautifully illustrated with relevant and up-to-date information and superb regional examples are referred to throughout. The main lithostratigraphic groups to be found in the region are explored in detail, and all include excellent chronostratigraphic logs and appropriate field photographs. Homage is also paid to the effects of glaciation in the Lake District, which is unquestionably a region that displays shining examples of glacial geomorphology and is a geographer’s dream study area. Freely available digital terrain models, derived from LiDAR data, have also been utilised to great effect, in order to highlight the morphology of the landscape. Large-scale regional features thus feel more accessible to the reader, encouraging interested individuals to venture out and explore the area on their own.
A section providing an array of easy-to-digest and superb pictoral “Field Itineraries” and explanatory guidesalso beckons the reader to explore the region further. They are all beautifully illustrated with useful locality maps, relevant conceptual diagrams and annotated field photos… although on the latter point, a minor comment is that some explanatory field sketches of the photos would help with identification of the features. The field itineraries also include fascinating and informative guides to the industrial heritage of Workington and the building stones of Ambleside (and the example of a partial Bouma sequence outside the Rock Shop in Ambleside is superb and one to look out for). Both are important topics that are often overlooked compared to the complex geology and dramatic landforms displayed across the region, and the Author is congratulated for their inclusion.
Having said all this, the website is not for the layman, and, as the Author states, it does require some prior understanding of geology in order to get the most out of it. This point is admirably made by the Author in the plate tectonics chapter, when he says that “initially the target audience is anyone who has developed some familiarity with geology rather than folk starting from scratch; it’s too hard to deliver an introductory geology course as well as cover the evolution of a region like this which has had quite a history”.
Looking NE across Wastwater towards (from left to right) Yewbarrow, Great Gable, Lingmell and the Scafell Massif: a landscape underlain by the Borrowdale Volcanic Group and shaped by glacial ice. Photo by Annette McGrath.
This comment is very true, and some pre-knowledge of the subject is required; however experienced amateurs and more seasoned academics would find the information interesting and valuable. Overall the website admirably does justice to the region and also goes some way towards also introducing this most fascinating region to interested members of the public.
It is obvious that a huge amount of time and effort has been invested into the creation of this website, and the result is a visually pleasing, interesting and most useful resource. If we could offer one suggestion though, it would be for the Author to cite their sources consistently within the text, and to provide a reference list at the end of each section/chapter, so that interested readers could take their studies further. This could easily be achieved by adding numerical reference citations into the text, so that they do not disrupt the flow of the writing.
And finally, if the vast concepts of geological time weren’t humbling enough, the Author finishes with a humanitarian request to consider, which puts into perspective the role that we all play, no matter how great or seemingly insignificant, in helping others:
“Finally a request. If you have found this free contribution useful I would ask you to consider making a small donation to small charities. They have been hit hard by the pandemic and many are in crisis. In particular we support the Children's Liver Disease Foundation who have had to cut their workforce by 45% and the remaining staff have agreed to wage cuts; not a happy time for their 40th anniversary.”
For more please see: https://childliverdisease.org/
Reference:
Waldron, J.W., Schofield, D.I., Murphy, J.B. and Thomas, C.W. (2014). How was the Iapetus Ocean infected with subduction?Geology, 42(12),1095-1098.