The Evolution of the River Exe (Geology Section)

Sadly Tim Harrod is unavailable at short notice, so his talk, described below, will be rearranged for a later date.

In its place Dr Jenny Bennett will give a talk: “The Evolution of the River Exe: The river and its recent geological history”.

A talk by Tim Harrod, who writes:

“From an early age I was fascinated by geomorphology and biogeography, managing to obtain a PhD under the supervision of Allan Straw. After that I joined the Soil Survey of England and Wales, for what I thought would be for two or three years. These soon morphed into 36 years. The best part of that was as part of a team making systematic soil surveys of representative sample areas  across the main landscape regions of the Southwest. 1987 and the Thatcher axe saw that programme ended, before the final sample survey [of northern Dartmoor] could be tackled.

“Almost two decades later retirement arrived and the opportunity to undertake that survey  of the 200 square km Moretonhampstead – Chagford – Cranmere Pool area beckoned as a pro bono publico project.

“This talk describes that survey, not only from the angle of the science that was its justification, but also covering ‘incidental’ experiences, the like of which will be familiar to many natural scientists who have spent hundreds of days surveying small blocks of countryside. These collateral aspects include insights into landscape evolution, both physically and socially, into landuse, local history and character: yes even the odd scurrilous story.”

Cost: £4 for DA members, £5 non-members. Booking is not necessary.