The U.K.’s Lake District National Park

My late wife and I traveled to the United Kingdom several times in the nineties and early two-thousands. During one trip in 2002 we hiked in the Lake District with friends. It’s truly an astounding place of beauty. As is true of most of the northern latitudes’ topography, mountains are the result of millions of years of plate tectonic activity and subsequent glaciation.

According to the U.K. Government’s website, Slate developed from sediments in oceans and seas, volcanoes erupted, limestone was formed by the deposition of dead crustaceans and sandstone was created in desert conditions. Various minerals were also formed in joints and faults in the bedrock. The layers of rock formed were shifted and sculpted – first through different stages of folding and uplifting and then by the actions of glaciers and melt-water.

The folding and uplifting of sediment followed by heat and compression is similar to the process of rock formation along Maine’s coast.

You can see the results of this in one area of the park in the following photo. Even on an overcast day it’s really something (other photos are at my online gallery).