Today, I'll take you to a nice small community, called Wasdale Head in the charming Lake District. It's nothing more than a pub, an hotel, some houses and a small touristic shop at the foot of Scafell Pike, Englands' heighest peak. Except for some stubborn English farmers, a couple of tourists (mainly pensioned nature lovers) and thousands of sheep, not much living creatures visit this place. Nevertheless, these people and animals all have to do something with the geological history of this place.
Speaking of landforms and climates, this region have seen it al over the past millions of years. From being an enormous mountain range, existing out of chains of volcano's rising as high as the modern Himalaya's to vast swampy forested. It has known climatic conditions with absolutely no rain where wind could play freely around, creating a see of sand dunes and were the burning sunshine could evaporate huge lakes until nothing else but salt planes remained but 2 million years ago, it was covered by glaciers. A returning consequence of glacial and interglacial periods formed the landscape as we can see it today. The enormous masses of ice carved out the typical U-shape valleys and when the temperatures were rising again, during the interglacials, huge lakes of meltwater filled the narrow valleys.
Today, we find ourselves in such an interglacial period. How do we know? Well, during a glacial periods, glaciers and ice sheets are covering almost half of Europe, including Scotland, parts of Germany and entire Scandinavia. Last time I was in Norway, I saw some snow and ice but nothing which I would classify as 'an ice sheet'. Anyway, we don't find any glaciers today in the Lake District, but as the name of the region is hinting, we do find deep lakes. Our beloved Wasdale head, is located near such a meltwater lake, the Wastwater. It's the deepest lake of England and it is a perfect example of such glacial lake we can find in an interglacial. Sadly, it wasn't pretty enough to fit on the picture but what we can see is the nice green valley bottom.
This rather flat area exist out of glacial sediments. The glaciers used to cut out the valleys, scraping the bedrock, producing small grains which were suspended in the meltwater. When the glaciers melt and the lakes formed, these small grained sediments, called 'till', could slowly sack to the bottom of the lake. Some of the lake water has flowed away and the fertile till sediments came to the surface. Nowadays, farmers use these flat valleybottoms to keep their sheep. The grass is from better quality and as you can see, it is easier to build the charming stone walls to protect their flocks of sheep. It is in strong contrast to the steep valleys slopes, with low quality of grass and overall being too fierce and wild to herd their beloved fluffy beasts. Moreover, this hillsides are covered by gullies and other slope processes but that is a story for another day.
Ever wondered what a glacier from two millions ago has to do with an old stubborn English farmer, holding sheep, has to with each other? I doubt it but just in case, now you know. Of course, you can also just enjoy this stunning scenery...
© Google Earth/Infoterra Ltd & Bluesky
source information: the geological factsheet of the National park authority of the Lake district. If you're interested in this geological story, you have to give it a try. It's briefly and clearly explained which is quite rare in the world of geologists... http://www.lakedistrict.gov.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/171188/factsheet_geology.pdf
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