Teaching Earth Sciences - Earth Science Teachers' Association

Death of an Ocean –
A Geological Borders Ballad
Euan Clarkson & Brian Upton
Dunedin 2009
ISBN 9781906716028 £25.00
Put your feet up,
have a glass ready,
and thoroughly
enjoy a book which
is easy to read
while also being
informative. Do
we need anything
else on Iapetus
and Caledonian
Mountains? Yes
we need this book
that gives a concise
account with
reference to South
East Scotland (an
area east of the Clyde valley and M74).
The experienced authors Euan Clarkson, a retired professor
of palaeontology, and Brian Upton a retired professor of
petrology write about the demise of the Iapetus Ocean and
the subsequent Caledonian Mountain Chain, followed by
the changes in environment during Scotland’s northward
drift. The book also includes information on graptolite
ecosystems, plus occasional references to pioneers of
geology who worked in this region. Reference is made to
James Hutton (with good description of Sicar Point) and
Arthur Holmes both of whom are referred to as the great
‘Time Lords’- move over Dr Who!
The target audience is everyone from the amateur
geologists, AS/A2 students to the professional geologist.
For the student it includes many concise explanations of
geological phenomena for example radiometric dating.
The book is not intended to be a comprehensive field guide
although all sites referred to are those that have been used
for teaching students e.g. the famous graptolite site at
Dobb’s Lynn which still looks similar to when I visited it over
40 years ago, but with this new found knowledge I can’t
wait to go back – (and I also hope the waffle house is still
there in Moffat).
The illustrations and photographs add to the text although
some photos could do with more annotation e.g. how easy
is it for an amateur to distinguish the fault in photograph
5.2 of the folds and faults at Pettico Wick.
It would be useful to see a grid reference given to the
key localities and then listed in a page at the back of the
book. This would help anyone who wished to visit this
region to locate the sites with more precision, compared
with following a description such as ‘exposures of pillow
lava near Noble House, SE of A701 between Leadburn and
Romanno Bridge’.
These are minor criticisms as this book is one of the
best geological reads I have encountered. Some of my
geological knowledge has been reinforced, but I have also
learnt many new things. But more than this, reading the
book has given me a desire to revisit this area of Scotland
(which is well known as ‘Bill McClaren Country’ in the
world of rugby union) but will be known from now on as
the classical geological region displaying evidence for the
‘Death of an Ocean’
This is a book that brings the region alive, the authors
are to be complimented on their style of writing and
the content. I thoroughly recommend this book to all
geologists, those starting on the path or those coming
to the end. This book is a template for anyone else who
wishes to write about the geology of any other region of
the British Isles. Finally, as someone who has also been
involved with folk music, this book is a ‘ballad’ which will
stand the ‘sands of time’.
Ray Humphries
Deep Time Cabaret:
An Earth Science Drama
Time present and time past
Are both present in time future
And time future contained in time
past.
T S Elliot: Four Quartets Burnt Norman
I spent last Halloween watching a new show with an Earth
science theme: Deep Time Cabaret. The production was
at the Harlequin Theatre in Northwich, a town famed for
its exploitation of the Earth’s resources, namely salt, and
a town that has been blighted by the exploitation of the
Earth’s resources. Recently millions of pounds have been
spent in Northwich grouting up the old flooded salt mines
as both mines and town were on the verge of collapse.
The play had opened in another mining part of Britain, the
Forest of Dean; the first performance was underground in
the Clearwell Caverns, a former haematite mine, followed
by a performance at the Science Festival in Manchester.
58 Teaching Earth Sciences Vol 35 No 1 2010 www.esta-uk.net