Virtually every second year geology degree student will spend several weeks of their summer vacation in the filed producing their own 1 to 10,000 scale geological map by overlaying geological information obtained from the study of outcrops in the field onto a 1 to 10,000 base map. Nowadays modern technology has replaced paper at least in part but I image that paper field slips are still used to record the geology in the field for transfer to a clean back-up copy in the evening and eventual transfer to the final map. This process has not changed for many years. UK students studying geology at GCSE or A-Level will also spend time learning about geological maps and using them, although the basics will be taught using simplified or idealised "cartoon maps" which have been prepared to demonstrate certain features. Often these are based on real geological settings but they have been simplified because real geology is often far more complex and variable.
The first geological map can be traced back to the ancient Egyptians and it shows several features that are used on modern geological maps such as those produced for the UK by the British Geological Survey.
In Seminar 12 I introduce geological maps an cover their history, focusing particularly on the history of maps in the UK, key features and their use. In the final part I demonstrate through use of a cartoon (i.e. simplified) geological map how a student would go about constructing a geological cross section from the map on a blank template.
Those attending the seminar at the time of the drawing were given the cartoon map and blank section to have a go at completing the cross section as "homework". I wait to see if anyone has a go.
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