Strata

by John Morton

William Smith was the first man to realise that rock strata extended right across the country - that fossils found in Dorset were the same as those in Yorkshire, because the rocks were of the same age. In 1797, he drew up a list of 28 rock strata beneath the town of Bath, from the chalk to the limestone underneath the coal. In 1801, he drew the first geological map of any country and, fourteen years later, he published a detailed map, measuring 8'6" by 6', coloured with 20 different tints, of the rock structures from the Scottish border to the English Channel. He so believed in the significance of his work to the country's economy, that he bankrupted himself for the sake of it and spent ten weeks in a debtors' prison. John Morton has traced Smith's life as a surveyor, canal builder, land-drainage expert and sea-defence constructor, to his provision of adequate fresh water supplies for the summer resort of Scarborough. Only towards the end of his life was his genius fully recognised, when he was dubbed 'the Father of English Geology'.

171 pages, Paperback

First published December 31, 2004