Classic Rock Tours – An Introduction

Like most who opted for geoscience as a vocation rather than a mere job, I am often asked exactly why I chose this particular career path, and continue to be involved in my retirement. There are also times when I ask myself the very same question, but it usually boils down to this – being a geologist provides opportunities to visit inspiring, unique and often remote locations through field work and other field trips. In Scotland a couple of years ago, on a conference trip that led to the following article, I read Stephen Baxter’s excellent book Revolutions in the Earth. I thoroughly recommend it – as a biography of James Hutton it gives some insight into his personality – and it illustrates the love-hate relationship that geologists have with field work. In a letter written to a friend, Hutton complained “Lord pity the arse that’s clagged to a head that will hunt stones”. I could amplify this with a detailed footnote explaining the meaning of the archaic dialect verb to clag, but I don’t need to because all geologists will understand Hutton’s sentiment. We don’t really have a choice in this – our interest in exploring the natural world is just part of who we are. Such a conclusion may not be fully scientific, but there’s no denying its truth. Even in a technological age where some geoscience careers are built around black boxes and vast computer models, geology remains at its core an observational science, and the theories that we build are ultimately subject to the ground truth of field observations. It was the lure of field work, the outdoors and travel that brought me into geology, and I know that the same is true for many of my colleagues. Modern geoscience may be sophisticated, multidisclipinary and quantitative, but it always links back to careful field observations and their thoughtful interpretation. Even if technology gives us details and constraints, the essential plotline of the story of Earth comes from reading the rocks. Geoscientists are generally keen and adaptable travellers, who like to get off the beaten tourist paths, sometimes at their own peril. One of the great things about being a student of the Earth is that it surrounds us, and there will always be something interesting to find out, wherever we roam. We enjoy a special relationship with the Earth because we understand its dynamic nature and can visualize it in four dimensions. Travelling geologists are always glancing surreptitiously at roadside outcrops as they flash by, or asking exactly why that range of hills is where it is and shaped just so. This can at times be a source of great frustration to our families or our travelling companions, but it is a natural expression of our curiosity about all things that connect to earthly processes. The one thing that I fear most in aging is to lose such curiosity, as happened to my father. Our idea for a new series in Geoscience Canada that can provide helpful travel information and thoughtful geological context for influential or exceptional field areas is an attempt to both exploit and celebrate our innate curiosity. We envisage a series of articles that will provide readers not only with historical and scientific context for areas of remarkable geology, but also the essential practical information for self-directed excursions. In many cases, there is more than enough technical geoscientific data available for these places, but it is scattered within specialist publications, most of which require other knowledge to fully comprehend. To bring such sources together and communicate them more widely is by itself a service to our science. Areas of great scientific interest are commonly also featured in field trip guides, often from conferences, but these documents can be difficult to locate and access. Even if such sources can be tracked down, they will often emphasize the specialized technical aspects of sites over their wider context, and may lack the practical considerations of where they are and exactly how one might get there. Our vision for articles in Classic Rock Tours is to bring this information together in one place, such that geological context, site descriptions and practical advice are integrated with good maps, clear graphics, and interesting photographs. We do not see this series primarily as a venue for original research, but rather for synthesis and presentation of material from varied sources. It is true that a determined and time-consuming search of literature can eventually provide much of the information that a keen travelling geologist needs, but we seek here to place it all conveniently in one easily accessible source. We envisage papers in this series to sit at an intermediate technical level, so that they will inform and interest a wide cross-section of the Geoscience Canada readership. We also envisage a diverse target audience, not restricted to professional geoscientists engaged in conference or vacation travel. Many areas around the world provide type examples and/or influential sites that have influenced wider geological thought, so these articles can have considerable educational value, even if Volume 45 2018 25