Geology Reference
In-Depth Information
6
The Test of Time
T
HIRTY MILES EAST OF
Edinburgh lies Siccar Point, a holy site of sorts. The farmer whose
fields surround it is said to complain about an endless stream of geologists trampling his
turnips. Rock hounds plague this windswept headland because it's celebrated as the place
where Scottish farmer James Hutton discovered geologic time—the place he found the
key to unlocking time enough for geological forces to reshape the world. Tucked in along
the rocky shore below the turnips are the clear signs of two rounds of mountain building,
erosion, and deposition recorded in two sandstones, one gray and the other red.
On a rare sunny Scottish day six of us pulled up at the trailhead and parked just out of view
from the farm. We skirted the fields and walked toward the sea cliff, passing by the ruins
of a crumbling building amid glowing yellow gorse bushes. I could see striking beds of red
sandstone diving down toward the sea to the west. To the east lay planed-off vertical beds of
gray sandstone exposed along the shore. Walking out to the headland, we stood above where
the two rock formations should meet before starting down a steep grass-covered slope pitch-
ing off to the surf below.
