UKC

So I have been doing a lot of hillwalking lately, and some of the best bits have been finding interesting gelogical features. Some examples:

- The transition in the Brecon Beacons from Picws Du (red sandstone), to Garreg Las (brilliant limestone with a very strange bedding pattern). The next peaks over had little caves, and one even had some Hart£s tongues hiding out at c. 500m altitude. The limestone slabs on Garreg Las would be amazing rock climbs were they not horizontal.

- From Pillar to Haycock and Iron crag, the rocks kept changing from granite to rhyolite. I found it totally awesome to have these two rock types next to each other. Coming off Kirk Fell there was a bright red / purple vein of what seemed to be rhyolite. Maybe the colour came from re-melted slate? Where did it come from?

- Creigiau Gleision. Massive quartz vein at the top, but equally impressive was finding totally rounded slate pebbles at the shore of the reservoir (where did they come from?). It was stunning to see the perfect egg blobs of rock shear perfectly in half.

So anyway, if you have any similar recommendations for geology porn hills, or stories - please add them here!

I£ve been recommended Ben Starav as it apparently has a massive quartz ridge.

Also sorry for anyone who opened the thread thinking it was about pleasuring yourself on the hill... That’ll be another thread

In reply to SenzuBean:

I love the ridiculously dramatic culm coast. Huge slabs of rock layered on top of each other bent into all sorts of crazy angles. The pebble beaches are an awesome mix of pastel colours too

In reply to SenzuBean:

I'm sure with time I can think of loads, but what springs straight to mind are the rock columns on Moel Lefn in Snowdonia. https://www.flickr.com/photos/mikepeacock/5823496657

In reply to SenzuBean:

The top of bryants gully has some interesting columnar formations and also some egg shaped inclusions.





Also some excellent choss.

In reply to Cheese Monkey:


I also love the Culm coast - got a trip planned there for the weekend after next! Hopefully do some stuff (Lunakhod!!) at Lower Sharpnose

In reply to Mike Peacock:


Ah brilliant - was wanting to do a trip there soon, I've bumped it up the list. Similar columns in Llanberis Pass on some of the rock routes. I think it was Crackstone Rib (S 4a) - but not as good as your photo

In reply to Dr.S at work:



Cool - might do that soon

In reply to SenzuBean:

You sure about that granite between Pillar and Haycock?

I'm no expert, but it would surprise me. That said, I am frequently surprised.

T.

In reply to Pursued by a bear:



According to wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caw_Fell

The north eastern flanks are overlain by drift deposits with the plagioclase-phyric andesite lavas of the Birker Fell Formation beneath. The rest of the fell exhibits rock of the Ennerdale Intrusion, granophyric granite.

I'm no expert either, but it definitely seemed like fine-grained granite. The wear pattern was totally different to rhyolite, and very much granite.

Ah sorry I didn't necessarily mean between Pillar and Haycock per se, but that general area. I'm sure I did see granite between those two, but the only peak where I definitely made a note of it was Iron Crag, but I had seen what looked like granite throughout the day, alternating with rhyolite.

In reply to SenzuBean:

You might want to have a look at Granite and Grit by Ronald Turnbull. Lots of people rate it although I didn't much care for it myself. However, it may guide you to more geoporn...

T.

In reply to SenzuBean:

Well, I've learned something then. I've climbed on a granite crag at the end of Eskdale whose name escapes me but wasn't aware of it in the hills.

T.

In reply to SenzuBean:

The ones in the photo are in a scree gully on the way up Moel Lefn from Castell, though from memory there are some more accessible ones on Castell and others on Moel Lefn elsewhere.

In reply to SenzuBean:

A quick look at the iGeology app shows that my ignorance was palpable. Good app for the geologically curious that, highly recommended.

T.

In reply to Pursued by a bear:

Kilt rock

Mousetrap zawn

In reply to SenzuBean:

Far north-west Scotland is geology writ large; get yourself up there for a look, if you haven't already.

There are also dramatic transitions from white quartzite to red sandstone in the Torridon hills.

In reply to Pursued by a bear:


A good suggestion. However, I wanted to like that book much more than I actually did. Maybe its structure didn't suit me; I'm not sure.

For North Scotland specifically, another book to mention would be 'Hutton's Arse' - see http://www.huttonsarse.com/

In reply to JJL:

There are some even more bonkers bedding planes a bit further South, around The Range and on towards Porth Dafarch.

In reply to Rob Parsons:


I had a look before, and found the quartzite caps of Ben Liath Mhor, Lliathach and Beinn Eighe very interesting. Also went out to Gairloch to see some gneiss - but didn't know what I was looking for.

In reply to deepsoup:

There is some great stuff round Porth Dafarch. Near Rhoscolyn is the impressive Bwa Gwyn:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/mikepeacock/7368914734/in/photostream/

And the Dorset coast is chock-full of interesting stuff, including a fossil forest:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/mikepeacock/13017474574/

In reply to Mike Peacock:


Good shout. Anglesey is full of this sort of stuff, and Treaddur / Dafarch area at low tide is brilliant, as you can walk all around the coast and down along the beach / rocks in some places. Usually lots of sea kayakers and coasteerers (not sure of the word) presumably for the same reason.

In reply to Mike Peacock:

Nice pics. That petrified tree (?) is amazing.

This is the stuff I was thinking of in particular around The Range - a couple of blur-o-vision water-on-the-lens pics from my last sea kayaking trip around there:
http://www.deepsoup.f2s.com/UKC/bonkersrock1.jpg
http://www.deepsoup.f2s.com/UKC/bonkersrock2.jpg

In reply to SenzuBean:

There are a couple of books, rocky rambles in north wales and snowdonia, both have walks in which tell you about the geology, flora, fauna and local history in them.

In reply to Rob Parsons:


That's a fair summary of my feelings about the book. There's a definite space for a book of that sort but for me, that wasn't the book to fill it. Too many chapters that are 'adapted from' magazine articles, as the book itself acknowledges, too much anecdote, terrific line drawings but some fuzzy pictures. All that said, lots of other people seem to love it so it may be worth the OP taking a look and forming their own judgement.

For a more rounded appreciation of the Scottish hill environment that includes but goes beyond geology, a book called 'Hostile Habitats' by Mark Wrightham and Nick Kempe is a worthwhile read.

T.

In reply to Pursued by a bear:


I've got that one, and have read it cover to cover already. But it's so darn dense that I think another 1-2 readings are in order.

I've also recently got 'Geology of Snowdonia', which is nowhere near as good (rambling and dry), but still interesting.

In reply to deepsoup:

Wow, that's some pretty crazy rock. On a non-geology note, the Range is one of the best places I found to see adders.

In reply to SenzuBean:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Rock-Trails-Snowdonia-Hillwalkers-Geology/dp/19060...

I haven't got through all of it yet, nor tried any of the walks, but what I have read is interesting enough... there are other books in the same series for different areas.

In reply to SenzuBean:

There's some on Cloggy on Slab Climb Right-hand (HS 4b) too!

In reply to deepsoup:

Amazing! I wonder what grade that stuff is.

In reply to Pursued by a bear:



Is it Brantrake crag.