As some of you know I'm currently doing an evening class on the Geology of Scottish Hills. The tutor for this course also runs Geowalks, a company that offers geological walks around Edinburgh and other parts of Scotland. This morning Crafty Green Boyfriend and I joined a Geowalk along part of the Water of Leith and up the nearby Easter Craiglockart Hill. It was a very interesting walk, and the weather was perfect, a bit cloudy to start with, but becoming clear and almost warm later. We learned a fair bit about the sandstone rocks that underlie the Water of Leith and the igneous rocks in Easter Craiglockart Hill, which was a volcano millions of years ago during the Carboniferous period when what is now Scotland lay on the equator and was a very active volcanic area.
I recently posted this photo of some rocks in the Water of Leith and mansuetude asked whether they were slate. Well the answer is no, they're a kind of sandstone. It is interesting though that Slateford, which is a former mining village, now part of Edinburgh, along the Water of Leith, is so called because of the 'slate-like' stones by the river.
There will be another Geowalk along a different part of the Water of Leith in June, so I'll write a bit about that too!
As ever, red text in this post includes hyperlinks which will take you to other webpages where you can find out more.
Geowalks, that is a great concept. :-) Rocks are interesting bits of history.
ReplyDeleteLots of interesting goodies to learn!
ReplyDeleteReminds me of our Salmon Spawner surveys wading up Finnegan Creek, My partner Jack is a geologist and I swear he touched every rock and told me it's life story!
That sounds great - I would love to do something like that.
ReplyDeleteJust stopping in to say "hey" and love the rock (and duck) photos and still thinking about how cool it is you won that contest and I hope to do a blog about it and link here.
ReplyDeleteOnward!
We take so many things for granted, yet it is so interesting to discover what really is underfoot. Sounds like you had a great walk, with more to come!
ReplyDeleteHow interesting! Geology is one (of the many) things I wish I knew more about. I've noticed that many of your shots of rock formations, the stream bed, etc. look very much like they could have been taken here in the Ozark Mountains, USA -- at least, superficially they look similar. The Ozarks were once beneath a vast inland sea so our rocks are all sedimentary.
ReplyDeleteGeology lays the foundation for all things ecological. It is one of the best places to start when learning to understand a new area or environs. You are lucky to have these resources close by. What a lucky break!
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