SCARBOROUGH, ENGLAND (June 5) — It was a spectacular day on the coast of northeastern England. When Paul Taylor arrived by train at 10:30 this morning, the clouds broke and the sunlight streamed through. Mae and Meredith explored Scarborough in the morning, plotting out where the stores and other useful places are, and Paul and I began to sort through geological action plans.
Peter Rawson, on the left with Paul Taylor, joined us for lunch to give us local field advice. He is the senior author of the Geologists’ Association’s Guide to the Yorkshire Coast, so there was no one better to have as an advisor. We had lunch in one of the classic spa buildings and made our field plans for the next few days.
After lunch we visited the Rotunda Museum (above), which is devoted to the geology of the area. It was built in 1829 out of the Jurassic Hackness stone. William “Strata” Smith suggested the unusual design, and much of the museum is devoted to his accomplishments and legacy.
Paul, Mae and Meredith are examining the upper levels inside the circular Rotunda Museum.
The motif around the rim of the main room in the Rotunda is the 19th Century version of the local stratigraphy, including some places we will be visiting tomorrow.
Many of William Smith’s original fossils (loaned by the Natural History Museum) are on display.
We could in several cases match the specimens with Smith’s illustrations of them.
Afterwards we went down to the marina and inspected the crab and fish traps sitting on the wharves. What were we looking for?
Bryozoans, of course! Here is an Electra pilosa, the most common species. (Photo by Paul Taylor.) We also saw many serpulids, barnacles, oysters and other sclerobionts. A good view of the present to inform our coming interpretations of past hard substrate communities.
For a cultural interlude we visited the grave of Anne Brontë in the castle church cemetery. The sandstone markers are exfoliating, with most now unreadable. (Choose granite!)
We walked up to Scarborough Castle and will explore it later when we have the chance. There are 3000 years of human history here. In 1914 it was heavily shelled by — you guessed it — the German Navy.
In the evening it was back to the busy downtown for a seafood dinner. Our plans are in place, the context is set. Tomorrow we start our fieldwork.
