ARCHITECTURE and GEOLOGY

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About ARCHITECTURE and GEOLOGY

Londonconstant (a group admin) says:
November 2009 - Looking for people to help me administer and promote this group, any takers if so drop me a line



GEOLOGY OF ARCHITECTURE:
Building stone has been used for human habitation and monuments since times immemorial. It stands to reason that in the majority of cases the materials were quarried locally from geological outcrops, There are, of course, exceptions when stone was brought from long distances, as in the case of Stonehenge or some of the Norman abbeys in England with stone imported from Caen, in Normandy. As transport improved and society became more prosperous, the Victorians too are known to have imported building stone from abroad. The trend has continued to a limited extend by importing cheap stone from China, India or South America.
Notwithstanding the above the local geology and quality of rocks influenced the local architecture in a distinctive way: examples are legions, whether one deals with the British red sandstone in Northern England, or with the Cretaceous flint used mostly in South of England and East Anglia as well as in France and other countries where silex is used for decorative purposes together with bricks and stone.
In modern times stone which is more expensive to extract, transport and cut to size was largely replaced by brick, steel and glass. Yet for decorative purposes it has often been used as facing stone.
In Georgian times, parsimony of finance caused old buildings of brick or half-timber to be refaced (ashlared) with a skin of stone, as see in Oxbridge colleges and elsewhere.

BRICK & TILE: Many buildings are of brick and tile. Whilst these materials are not the main topic of this group, some examples of different varieties will be noted. The local source of brickclay was the Cretaceous Gault, which produced the white or yellow brick which dominates eighteenth and nineteenth century domestic buildings in East Anglia However, red bricks form some distinguished buildings will occasionally be included

THE ARCHITECTURE of GEOLOGY
will show examples of local outcrops some of which are spectacular due to the tectonic movement, sedimentation or volcanic activity. Giants Causeway in County Antrim is a typical example that comes to mind, but so are numerous coastal cliffs round the world, or in National Parks, including caves.