Urban Geology
Self-guided, accessible building stone walks
by Ruth Siddall
PERMISSIONS: The guided walks and the information that they contain are free to download here. Their intended use is for education and under no circumstances may they be used commercially without explicit permission and agreement from the author/s. All non-commercial use for group tours should also be given credit. Please contact ruth@ruthsiddall.co.uk for permission and further information.
Please correctly cite this information in any publcations. Each of the documents downloadable to the right have a 'How to cite' section at the end. If you wish to cite this web page, please use the following format:
Siddall, R., Urban Geology: http://ruthsiddall.co.uk/UrbanGeology.html (insert date accessed, i.e. 'Date accessed 11/06/2023')
Urban Geology is the geology of the built environment. This includes the building stones and other materials used in town and cities as well as the tantalising glimpses of the pre-urban landscape and underlying bedrock. Cities are shunned by many geologists and considered as somewhere to escape, and yet many geologists live and work in cities, whether in universities or in the stone, mineral and hydrocarbon extraction industries, and there is much to learn from building stones. Importantly they are an untapped and enormous resource for teaching at all levels. Take the time to stroll down the average shopping street or through the City of London on a sunny Sunday morning and one can find one’s self on a global tour of the Earth’s geology from Precambrian migmatites to Quaternary travertines, from the Jurassic seas of Dorset to the Permian of the Oslo Graben or the Bushveld Complex of South Africa.
The urban landscape is also a great place to learn many aspects of geology, especially from building stones. Whilst there is no substitute for exploring rocks in situ to obtain an understanding of the three-dimensional geometries of outcrops, much can be learned about petrography, petrology, palaeontology and the environment of formation of many rocks on the average high street. The urban geologist is exposed to an enormous variety of rock types, far more than the committed field geologist could ever see in outcrop in the field.
©Ruth Siddall 2024 | Contact ruth@ruthsiddall.co.uk