Ann on "Ann's Musings on Geology & Other Things" is hosting the 29# edition of the Accretionary Wedge, dedicated to the geological features one likes, but also doesn't like of his neighbourhood.
Making a living as field geologists in the Eastern Alps has some advantages, there is a great variety of rocks to map and you can easily pass from the valley floors with cities and villages, passing by dark forests to the bleak peaks of the mountains.
But this dualisms of the landscape also hides a great injustice to the geologist. Humans tend to build and live in the lower storeys of the mountains, areas mostly covered by boring rubble and nasty plants, zones where the outcrop-quality and quantity is scarce and low.
The higher storeys of the mountains have excellent outcrops, but you rarely will find somebody who pays you to map these zones. So you have to suffer and map zones in the middle of the forest, and in the rare glades you can spot the distant mountains, like sirens calling, and like a fata morgana unapproachable.
Making a living as field geologists in the Eastern Alps has some advantages, there is a great variety of rocks to map and you can easily pass from the valley floors with cities and villages, passing by dark forests to the bleak peaks of the mountains.
But this dualisms of the landscape also hides a great injustice to the geologist. Humans tend to build and live in the lower storeys of the mountains, areas mostly covered by boring rubble and nasty plants, zones where the outcrop-quality and quantity is scarce and low.
The higher storeys of the mountains have excellent outcrops, but you rarely will find somebody who pays you to map these zones. So you have to suffer and map zones in the middle of the forest, and in the rare glades you can spot the distant mountains, like sirens calling, and like a fata morgana unapproachable.
The cruel truth
Sometimes it is hard to be in the field, maybe better turn back...
...oh, well, never mind...
Finally out of the forest...
Outcrop No.1.
Where is the next outcrop... I think I will map "Quaternary undifferentiated", what's planned for tomorrow ? ... map area "thorny shrubbery"…
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