Chang Xu recently completed her undergraduate degree in Geology at the School of Earth Sciences and Engineering at Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, China. She is now a Masters degree candidate in Sun Yat-sen University studying structural geology in South China. Initially Chang wasn’t interested in geology, but learned to love geology during her first geology class in university.

In last Summer, I joined a summer camp at Glasgow University about Scottish Geology. We traveled to the famous place of geology one day. Our team included Prof. T. Hoey and Dr. C. Persano in Glasgow University, Prof. X. Yang and Mr. J. Duan of our University, and students from China, Australia, Singapore, and America. The name of Siccar Point might be not famous enough especially in society. However, if you are a geologist and have seen the picture there, you must know what’s the importance of this place. Several years ago, the famous geologist, J. Hutton, discovered the place and named the words of unconformity. After that, we know the straightest evidence of tectonic movement which is unconformity. So, some geologists call the place “the birth of modern geology”. It’s absolutely a place that is worth being publicized to the public.

There are two main sets of strata which are Silurian and Devonian. The lower stratum is Silurian sedimentary rocks that include sandstones. The Silurian rocks have a high angle against the ground. The Devonian and a depositional sequence in the vertical direction. The top rocks are much finer than the lower rocks. And the bottom of Devonian has a set of conglomerates. So that the Devonian shows us a marine transgression event in the geological history of that rocks. But the point is, what caused the unconformity? Nowadays we know it’s the tectonic movement. We call that Caledonian movement. The main NE-SW structures (nowadays direction) in the British were all formed in that time. The strata of the early Paleozoic were strongly folded and formed rolling mountains from north-west Europe to North America, such as the Caledonian Mountains in Europe and Appalachian Mountains in America.

We set out from Glasgow University in Glasgow City and after about two hours’ bus time, we arrived at Siccar Point. It’s a beautiful place with green grass, cute sheep and cows, crystally clear Sea, white clouds and blue sky. But we were shocked about that there was just a broken wooden indicator which wrote Siccar Point. And there was no ways, gates or parking lot. So, we needed to go through a short muddy road and climbed over a broken wooden gate with wire mesh. Not only that, but there was a steep hillside about several hundred meters high as well. Some of the girls on our team were a little worried about that. But in the end, we all got down the hillside and saw, touched and drew the famous point. We also took photos and enjoyed our lunch. I still remembered that I took a sandwich and a fried potato which I’ve cooked in the morning.

It’s not only a place that has important scientific significance, but also a beautiful place to do a trip and picnic. When we finished our work there, I looked around and said two or three times: how beautiful it is! My partner R. Dolton, a student from the University of Brisbane, also said that the scenery was so clear and dreamlike and was different from any other places that she’s been to. So I thought that maybe the local government and geologists can do more propaganda, and let more and more people to feel the beauty of natural scenery and the geology.

If you’d like to be there, I strongly suggest that you should prepare a pair of skidproof mountaineering boots, a mountaineering stick, a camera or a set of pencils and drawing paper. I also think that you need a sheet to do a picnic with your friends or family. And the weather in Scotland is not very good. As you know, British people always like to discuss their weather. So preparing a raincoat or an umbrella may be useful. If you are a geologist, being there will give you a strong visual impact on the tectonic movement.

In conclusion, we learned a lot of geological information and were surprised by the clear unconformity of two sets of strata. If you are just a tourist, it’s also a good choice to be there to experience both the geology and the scenery of this fantastic location.

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