Boring rocks and stuff (my leisurely stroll out)

Here's some pics from one of my leisurely strolls along Redcar beach. This particular leisurely stroll was just short of 6 miles according to my tracking software in my phone (Runtastic).

I thought at least @Zigs might be interested, because its got lots of rocks in it

Its worth noting how almost perfectly straight they are. There's a disputed theory as to why.


This next one is viewed crossways across one of the 'scars'. Note the fracture right through it. Its like the ground has been literally snapped at some point since the rocks were put down.

That big gap in the pic below is perfectly aligned with the pic above, which shows its not just one bit of rock that bust but the whole ground

 

We were on about sea coal on another thread just the other day. This is the kind we get. We used to skim it off the sand and bag it up to go in the open fire when I was a kid.


Round my way, we are blessed with a fairly expansive beach.

More sea coal. Note the interesting footprints. Sea coal was formed millions of years ago, so the footprints must be off a dinosaur. Either that or a modern day sea bird that's walked in it since it got washed ashore.

More rock. Again, not the sheered off bit where the ground must have been snapped at some point.

 

Good shear fault there

Heating the house with Sea Coal as I type

 

Now for the trivia.

Not too far from here is a hill (which used to be incorrectly referred to as a mountain) called Roseberry topping. If you see it, it looks like its been split down the middle. There is a disputed claim that millions of years ago, it was a volcano and it blew up. The lava flow set off downhill to the coast, met water and set, forming the 'scars' (the straight rocks in my pics).

I'm no geologist so I can't say what's right and what's not, but if you're ever in the area on a clear day when the tide is out, and you climb to the top of Roseberry topping and look out over the sea, you will see that the lines of rock do indeed head out in more or less a straight line from Roseberry topping.

Another useless bit of trivia, unless of course you happen to be in a boat, get caught in bad weather and want to come in without hitting the rocks, is this.

There are two building in Redcar that together form a most useful design accident. St Peter's church and Clarendon house. St Peter's has a tower. Not unusual for a chuch. Clarendon house has two very prominent chimneys. One at either end of the roof. Again not unusual for a house built for a rich family. But here's the twist, and apparently it wasn't by design. If you're out at sea in bad weather, so you can't see where the rocks are but you know they're there somewhere, just waiting to smash your boat and dispatch you to a watery grave, you can exploit this little design coincidence to get ashore in one piece. If you align your boat such that the tower of St Peter's church is sat in between the two chimneys of clarendon house, and keep it that way til you find sand, you wont hit the rocks. This little design coincidence guides boats straight down the deep channel in between the rocks. If the tower drifts out from between the two chimneys, then you'd better be a good swimmer.

Nowadays of course I guess boats have GPS and such, or at the very least they can use the slightly more high tech red beacons to guide them in, but its not bad for a couple of hundred year old coincidence

 

Cor, i'm going to have to check it out now

 

That sea coal stayed in all night and was still warm this afternoon