Just before the Beagle: Charles Darwin's geological fieldwork in Wales, summer 1831
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Darwin returned to Shrewsbury in mid-June 1831 and spent that summer learning geology. He made geological maps of Shropshire and visited Llanymynech and other localities. From 3-20th August he joined Sedgwick on his tour of North Wales; they geologised west of Shrewsbury before travelling through Llangollen, Ruthin, Conwy to Bangor finally reaching Anglesey. Darwin left Sedgwick at Menai and walked to Barmouth making a special visit of Cwm Idwal. He returned to Shrewsbury on 29th August to open the letter from Fitzroy inviting him to join the Beagle. During this summer Darwin gained skills in all aspects of geology, including chemical analysis, which were to prove vital in the development of his ideas on natural selection.
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... Henslow also taught him to collect and label plants and instilled in him the idea of botanical endemism. Both of these were crucial influences on Darwin's later work, especially during his famous Beagle voyage that was arranged by Henslow (Kohn et al., 2005;Roberts, 2001). ...
It is often said that Darwin’s study of nature drove him to atheism. Whereas this might be, in principle, possible, it does not seem to have actually been the case for him. Both in his autobiography, which was not intended to be published, and in his personal correspondence, Darwin consistently described himself as an agnostic. It is true that he underwent several fluctuations of belief during his life, but in the end, he never explicitly rejected the existence of God. What is even more important is that the main shift he underwent during his life was conceptual, not emotional or religious. That was his shift from natural theology and a view of adaptation as perfect to natural selection and a view of adaptation as relative to the environment, something historian Dov Ospovat pointed out 40 years ago. In this chapter, I present the evidence from Darwin’s writings about his agnosticism and about his conceptual shift from the perfect adaptation of natural theology to the relative adaptation of natural selection.
... As of 2013, there were 13 NNRs designated primarily for their geological and geomorphological interest (Prosser 2013;Brown et al. 2018). They include by way of an example, Cwm Idwal in Snowdonia (see Chap. 31), which contains an important series of moraines and other glacial phenomena mentioned by Charles Darwin following his visits in 1831 and 1842 (Roberts 2001(Roberts , 2012 ...
The conservation of sites of geomorphological interest in England and Wales has a long, though sometimes mixed history, but because of a burgeoning interest in geodiversity, it has in recent years become of even greater importance. Numerous methods have been developed, especially since the Second World War, for landform protection and conservation. Given the importance of landforms for controlling habitat types, and the burgeoning interest in bioconservation and its links to geoconservation, there has been a developing interest in appropriate forms of land management. Among the steps take over the years have been the creation of: The National Trust, The Nature Conservancy and its successors, National Parks, Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, National Nature Reserves, Sites of Special Scientific Interest, Local Geological Sites, Limestone Pavement Orders, Shoreline Management Plans, Ramsar Sites, World Heritage Sites, and UNESCO Geoparks.
... Before departing on the Beagle, Charles Darwin ( Figure 1) assisted his geology professor and tutor, Adam Sedgwick, on a geological fieldwork tour of North Wales. During this trip, in the summer of 1831, Darwin gained skills in all aspects of geology, which were to prove vital to the development of his ideas on natural selection (Roberts, 2001). Their field notes reflect different approaches to fieldwork. ...
This article outlines the fundamental role that fieldwork plays in Earth science and the way we understand how the Earth works. It discusses the justifications for including fieldwork as a key experience in teaching and learning Earth science. It highlights the similarities and differences between fieldwork and experiments in the physical sciences, lists the pedagogic purposes and aims, describes types of field trips, and discusses the selection of fieldwork locations and the design of fieldwork. Finally, two worked examples illustrate how fieldwork can form the pedagogic focus for a thinking-skills approach to teaching Earth science.
... Then he accompanied the famous geologist Adam Sedgwick, Woodwardian Professor of Geology at Cambridge, who was then also President of the Geological Society of London (and was regarded as England's leading field geologist 6 ), on an expedition to North Wales that lasted a few weeks, during which numerous fossils were collected. The results of this expedition are very well known, and Darwin's first geological map, and his beginnings as a geologist, have been amply documented, both in Darwin's letters and unpublished writings, 7,8,9,10,11,12,13 and in Sedgwick's correspondence. 14 Darwin's geological work on the voyage of the Beagle was documented in his Geological Observations on Volcanic Islands. ...
Two myths persist concerning the role played by Charles Darwin as a geologist in Africa during his epic voyage around the world (1831-1836). The first myth is that Darwin was a completely self-taught geologist, with no formal training. The second myth is that it was Darwin who finally solved the problem of the granite-schist contact at the famous Sea Point coastal exposures in Cape Town, after deliberately setting out to prove his predecessors wrong. These myths are challenged by the now ample evidence that Darwin had excellent help in his geological education from the likes of Robert Jameson, John Henslow and Adam Sedgwick. The story of Darwin and his predecessors at the Sea Point granite contact has become confused, and even conflated, with previous descriptions by Basil Hall (1813) and Clark Abel (1818). Here, the historical record is unravelled and set straight, and it is shown from the evidence of his notebooks that Darwin was quite unaware of the outcrops in Cape Town. His erudite account of the contact was a result of the 8 years spent in writing and correspondence after his return to England and not because of his brilliant insights on the outcrop, as the myth would have it. While there has been little to indicate Darwin's landfalls in Africa, a new plaque now explains the geology of the Sea Point Contact, and includes a drawing of Darwin's ship, the Beagle, and quotes from his work.
... He began in the Shrewsbury area in August with the young Charles Darwin, who later left Sedgwick on 20 August near Bangor to return home for the shooting season, but joined the Beagle instead. Sedgwick gave Darwin a superb grounding in geology, which he used to great effect on the Beagle voyage (Roberts 2001). ...
Adam Sedgwick (1785-1873) was one of the leading British geologists, who did much work on the Lower Palaeozoic stratigraphy. He was professor of geology at Cambridge and was an Anglican clergyman, later becoming Prebendary (Canon) of Peterborough. This paper considers his religious beliefs in relation to his geology, which, as he was an evangelical, centres on his and other people's interpretations of Genesis. Although he did not publish anything on Genesis, his understanding becomes clear from three interactions with fellow Anglican clergy. Two were acrimonious, one being with Henry Cole after the publication of The Discourse in 1833, and the other his controversy with Dean Cockburn of York at the British Association meeting in York in 1844. The third was his friendly correspondence with the evangelical Dean of Carlisle, Francis Close. This letter gave the longest statement of his 'reconciliation' of geology and Genesis.
Charles Darwin's research during the second voyage of HMS Beagle is examined within the context of Charles Lyell's ideas on crustal movement. Darwin's pre-voyage training is summarised and the impact on his own subsequent theorising of his commitment early in the voyage to a Lyellian theoretical framework is analysed. Two sites studied by Darwin which he interpreted as strong support for Lyell's theory of vertical crustal mobility are examined: the first is Signal Post Hill in the Cape Verdes, visited in 1832; the second is Agua de la Zorra in Argentina, visited in 1835. Darwin's work at both sites was key to his first theory of globally-balanced elevation and subsidence as an explanation for the structure and distribution of coral reefs. The case is made that both sites are of international geoheritage importance and that their protection should be assured with enhanced access and interpretation.
Teoria inteligentnego projektu jest interesująca zarówno dla zwolenników, jak i przeciwników tego ujęcia. Książka Michaela J. Behe’ego Czarna skrzynka Darwina jest świeckim bestselerem. Przedmiotem niniejszego tekstu jest porównanie współczesnej teorii inteligentnego projektu z Paleyowską ideą projektu z dziewiętnastego wieku na przykładzie filozofii i metod przedstawionych w wygłoszonym w 1832 roku odczycie Williama Bucklanda na temat „megaterium” i filozoficznych poglądów Behe’ego wyrażonych w Czarnej skrzynce Darwina. Buckland był przekonany, że każdy szczegół jest świadectwem projektu, i praktykował inżynierię odwrotną, natomiast Behe uważa, że na projekt wskazuje tylko to, co jest niewytłumaczone. Ujmując rzecz krótko, Buckland twierdził, że do wniosku o projekcie dochodzi się wówczas, gdy coś się dzięki temu wyjaśnia, a Behe uznaje, że o projekcie wnioskuje się wtedy, gdy brak jest wyjaśnień.
Charles Darwin emprendió el viaje a Nueva Zelanda y Australia en diciembre
de 1835, esto le permitió recorrer alrededor del mundo a través del canal del
Beagle. A pesar de la brevedad de estas visitas, su interés por lo que descubrió
en estos viajes se mantuvo a lo largo de su vida. Esta experiencia contribuyó en
la elaboración de su pensamiento acerca de la teoría de la evolución.
Darwin's tour with Adam Sedgwick in 1831, the last of some 14 Welsh visits before the Beagle voyage, divides into three periods: a week, mostly with Sedgwick, from 5 August; a middle period ending by 20 August, when Sedgwick left Anglesey; and a final period during which Darwin spent some days in Barmouth, reaching Shrewsbury on 29 August. His activities are well documented, for the first period, through both men's geological notes and, for the last, in the journal of the Lowe brothers (showing Darwin reaching Barmouth from Ffestiniog on 23 August and parting from Robert Lowe on 29 August). For the middle period the circumstantial evidence points to Anglesey: whether Darwin's writings show any first hand knowledge of the island needs further examination. Robert Lowe was one of Darwin's most gifted contemporaries; his „early hero-worship” enhances the conventional picture of Darwin on the eve of the voyage. After his return to North Wales in 1842, to investigate the effects of glacial action, Darwin saw the tour as illustrating the futility of observations outside of any adequate theoretical framework.
The sediments at Chelford constitute one of the key Devensian sequences in Britain. Previous radiometric dating attempts using wood and peat from the interstadial deposits per se suggest its age is likely to be beyond the limits of resolution by radiocarbon. Using TL dating of feldspar and quartz mineral fractions from the host succesion of Chelford Sands, a sequence of internally consistent dates is derived which accords with the existing litho- and biostratigraphic evidence. These suggest that the absolute age of the Chelford Interstadial is in the range 90-100 ka. The Chelford Sands appear to be the product of at least two cold stages.
An account of the geological fieldtrip to Wales carried out by Charles Darwin and Adam Sedgwick in August 1831. It gave him many geological skills which he used on the Beagle Voyage
This introduced him to a wide range of geology from Precambrian to the Carboniferous and a Pleistocene cave
Also here https://michaelroberts4004.wordpress.com/2023/07/18/the-darwin-sedgwick-geological-tour-of-north-wales-of-august-18/
1831 was a momentous year for Charles Darwin. He passed his BA examination on 22 January, stayed up in Cambridge for two further terms and returned to The Mount, his home in Shrewsbury, in mid-June. On 6 August he left Shrewsbury with Adam Sedgwick for a geological field trip to North Wales, and after his lone traverse over the Harlech Dome returned to The Mount on Monday 29 August to find letters from John Stevens Henslow and George Peacock inviting him to joint HMS Beagle. This geological field trip was crucial for his work on the Beagle. For example, when he began his first geological work of the voyage on Quail Island, he was by that time a competent geologist. Though others have studied the North Wales tour in some detail, there is also another earlier and much briefer episode to consider. Darwin appears to have geologized on his own at Llanymynech in July. The contrast between his first recorded attempts at Llanymynech in July 1831 and then elsewhere in North Wales in August 1831 is most instructive, as his development as a geologist can be followed in his field notes. Retracing his steps today, and comparing his measurements and observations with new ones, throws light on what he might have learnt at different points during that summer.
In his autobiography describing his geology of 1831 Darwin wrote, “on my return to Shropshire I coloured a map of parts around Shrewsbury.” There are four extant maps in the Cambridge University Library, which fit this description. Two, at a scale of ⅞ inch to 1 mile, are of Anglesey and Llanymynech and are hand-drawn copies of Evan's map of North Wales, and are without geological annotation. The other two of Shrewsbury and Kinnerley have a scale of 1 inch to 1 mile and are copied from Baugh's Map of Shropshire (1808). These contain orange shading to the west of Shrewsbury indicating New Red Sandstone, but make no allowance for drift. The Shrewsbury map includes some attempted stratigraphic boundaries and marks four sites; A, B, C and D. These maps demonstrate Darwin's grasp of geology before his Welsh tour with Sedgwick in August 1831. They show his realisation of the need of a topographic base map, an acquaintance of the conventions of geological mapping in shading and the marking of boundaries...
On occasion Charles Darwin can seem our scientific contemporary, for the subjects he engaged remain engaging today, but in his role as author he belongs to the past. It is not customary today for scientists to write book after book, as Darwin did, or for these books to serve as the primary vehicle of scientific communication. For Darwin, however, the book was central. He wrote at least eighteen, depending on what one counts; in his Autobiography he entitled the section describing his most important work ‘An account how several books arose’; and in his personal Journal, begun in August 1838 after he had come to a mature sense of himself, he organized entries around his books. A characteristic entry is that for 1846: ‘Oct. 1st. Finished last proof of my Geolog. Observ. on S. America; This volume, including Paper in Geolog. Journal on the Falkland Islands took me 18 & 1/2 months:–’. Further, almost always he had a book under way: when one was complete, the next was begun. He called them the milestones to his life.
When HMS Beagle made its first landfall in January 1832, the twenty-two-year-old Charles Darwin set about taking detailed notes on geology. He was soon planning a volume on the geological structure of the places visited, and letters to his sisters confirm that he identified himself as a ‘geologist’. For a young gentleman of his class and income, this was a remarkable thing to do. Darwin's conversion to evolution by selection has been examined so intensively that it is easy to forget that the most extraordinary decision he ever made was to devote his life to the study of the natural world by becoming a geologist. It is only slightly less astonishing that he should have decided to align his work with Charles Lyell's controversial programme of geological reform, which had almost no followers in England.
Map of Shropshire (reproduced by the Shropshire Archaeological Society
- R Baugh
Baugh, R. (1808) Map of Shropshire (reproduced by the
Shropshire Archaeological Society 1983, edited by Barrie
Trinder, published by Alan Sutton Publishing)