Читать книгу Southern England - Peter Friend - Страница 7

MOST PEOPLE ENJOY SCENERY. In my case, an enthusiasm for exploring the countryside was learnt early on from my parents, and my career as a geologist has since allowed me to explore landscapes from the Arctic to tropical deserts and jungles. My hope is that this book will help more people to enjoy the countryside by bringing together some of the exciting recent discoveries about our Earth.

Landscapes are easy to look at, but difficult to describe in words. Recent developments in computer technology offer powerful ways of analysing and presenting landscapes using maps, diagrams and photographs, and it is this imagery that forms the core of this book. Developing the imagery has been the main role of a succession of enthusiastic helpers. Lucinda Edes, Emilie Galley, Liesbeth Renders and Helena Warrington brought their skills and enthusiasm to the early days of the project, working out what could be done best. James Sample has more recently further developed the methods of presentation, and has played a key role in bringing this project to fruition. All have helped to make the project enjoyable as well as productive.

The home for this project has been the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Cambridge. I walked into the Department as a first-year undergraduate more than 50 years ago and, apart from a period in the Scott Polar Research Institute, I have been based here ever since. I have been teaching and exploring the scenery and geology of many parts of the world, including multiple visits to Spitsbergen, Greenland, Spain, India and Pakistan. This has been an exciting period to be working in geology, particularly in Cambridge, because many key advances have been achieved by the people working here. Apart from the great benefit of being part of this research environment, I have enjoyed the support of six successive Heads of Department and many other colleagues, especially our administrator Margaret Johnston and her team. It has been invaluable to have access to the excellent library run by Ruth Banger and Libby Tilley, and the patient computer support of Jun Aizawa, Aidan Foster, Pete Hill and Pete Wilkins.

I would also like to acknowledge my debt to the Cambridge college system, particularly my own college, Darwin. The College has provided me with the congenial friendship of many people from diverse backgrounds, and their skills have helped me to remain a generalist in my interests.

Any work of this sort on the British Isles owes a fundamental debt to the British Geological Survey (BGS), now based at Keyworth near Nottingham. The numerous Survey maps and reports on this country provide a remarkable source of carefully observed and objective information. The BGS has also readily provided advice and discussion of this project, and helped to determine the sort of coverage and level that would be best.

Many other people have made important contributions by providing ideas and information. These include: John R. L. Allen, Julian Andrews, Muriel Arber, Steve Boreham, Becky Briant, Keith Clayton, Tony Cox, Alan Dawn, Colin Forbes, Brian Funnell, Phillip Gibbard, Steve Jones, Gerald Lucy, Dan Mackenzie, Bob Markham, Charles Notcutt, Bernard O’Connor, Richard Preece, Graham Ward and Richard West.

This book is dedicated to the Dr John C. Taylor Foundation, which has provided the financial support for the project, allowing me to work with such a remarkable succession of talented young assistants. More than 40 years ago, John spent two summers exploring the geology of Spitsbergen with me, and we have remained friends ever since. I am extremely grateful for the help of his foundation during the writing of this book.