Journal Entry 6: Slate Tile Roofs

            Here in England many of the house roof's are made out of slate tiles, those from the medieval times were either thatched roofs or slate tile roofs. Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, metamorphic rock, that derives from shale sedimentary rock. It is comes through low-graded metamorphism, from composed sedimentary rock  of clay or volcanic ash. It also is the finest-grained foliated metamorphic rock.

Chelsworth, Village I live in. Photo-credit is not mine.

             As you can see in the picture of the pink house, it has slate tiled roofs, many of them now darker through age and weathering.

Journal Entry 5: White Cliffs of Dover!!

            A year and a half ago I got the opportunity to see the White Cliffs of Dover several times, the beautiful white chalk that makes it so popular to see, as well as looking out from it you can see the edge of France in the distance. The White Cliffs of Dover is made of limestone that creates the white chalk, limestone is a sedimentary rock. Limestone is many composed from skeletal remains of fragments of marine organisms, and contains the minerals calcite and aragonite a form of calcium carbonate. The White Cliffs of Dover were gradually made over millions of years, forming mainly from planktonic green algae.  From my home to the White Cliffs of Dover is about several hours drive.

Looking out at the White Cliffs of Dover

Journal Entry 4: Iceland Erupts!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blDXgde1Tpg

         In 2010 the volcano Eyjafjallajökull erupted, causing great amounts of ash to cover all over Iceland and Europe. Lakes being filled with lava due to volcanic fissures,  and from it also produced sulfide dioxide and fluorine, causing contamination of food and poisoning the water. People did not die from personally from the volcano, but due to the contamination of food, poisoned water, and ash in the air, a hug famine consumed Iceland and about 25% population died due to it. The sky was not clear, grey covering over Iceland for awhile. President of Iceland gave a warning to the rest of the world that it has a huge possibility of happening again at a much larger scale, and from it all aviation in Europe had to be shut down due to the ash in the sky from it. If it was to be as bad as it was in 1783 of sulfide dioxide instead of just ash covering all over Europe in 2010, it would cause suffering for many people in mass cities like London.  Due to Iceland straddling two of the tectonic plates, is the reason why it has many volcanic eruptions as the tectonic plates tug apart. Due to the melt water and ice, the magma was produced into ash and explosive eruption, but if it was on dry land it would have produced lava. It caused all over England to not have any airplanes leave, any aircraft, due to the ash covering over the UK and rest of Europe, and even though I wasn't living here in England during that time, if it was to happen again it is known to effect again all over Europe. 

                   Eyjafjallajökull Eruption

Journal Entry 3: Minerals in England

           I was actually wondering for some time where I could find minerals near me, especially as I live in the middle of the country, but then I got the chance to go to the London Temple week with the YSA from my ward. Why I mention that is because when we got to the temple, the ponds on the temple grounds were frozen, and as we have learned ice is a mineral by becoming a solid substance of natural inorganic substance, including the chemical composition of H2O. Recently England has been colder than it has been for the past several years, resulting in more ice and frost.

Ice from our home in Germany.
As I didn't get a picture of the ice at the temple

Group picture of us at the temple

Journal Entry 2: Tectonic Plates In The News

http://metro.co.uk/2016/08/24/italy-earthquake-map-tectonic-plates-map-show-how-italy-is-vulnerable-to-tremours-6087343/
          Italy has been frequent to to earthquakes, last year resulting in another massive earthquake. Recently there has been movement in the African and Eurasian Plates, which according to the article it is believed this is why Italy has been prone to so many earthquakes, and as well Italy has intersecting fault lines.

This is from the article, a picture of  the
aftermath of the earthquake in Italy

       Here in England there has been many frequent storms, the last one being in December in Scotland called Storm Conor. Due to it, England has had a cold winter and been effected as well with bad weather than it has in the past few years. The earthquake in Italy connects to England, as both sit on the Eurasian Plate, which means that since Italy had a earthquake then the plate must have shifted, this effecting the UK as well.

Journal Entry 1: Flint Stone Part 2

The Church buildings across England/Great Britain, are not the only places they are found often, like I had said before they can be found everywhere. It is also in the soil, it is at times difficult for the plants to grow in  the garden as the flint stone creates a difficulty at times for the roots to grow further. We have a garden where we grow fruits and vegetables, and in the beds we use there is lots of flint stones mixed in with the soil. I have had multiple times when I am getting potatoes from the garden, I have difficult time finding them as their are lots of flint stones and other rocks surrounding them. I find it interesting how everywhere there is flint stones, and that being a reason why so many things had been created in the past using flint, as it was easy to come by for materials. It will be an interesting experience to study further on.

This is a flint stone in one of the beds in the garden.

This as well is another flint stone in one of the beds. 

This is a close view of the soil, can see many rocks in it.

This is a view of part of my garden. 

Journal Entry 1: Flint Stone Part 1

         As we entered this first week of classes and started our study of Geology, I thought of how here in England everywhere there is flint stones. Studying about the rock cycle, the earth's system, formation of our Solar System, etc. I felt it was appropriate to start with my first GeoJournal entry about the surroundings of where I live in England, especially as for this week's prompt is "geology in my life". Many of the churches that have been built going from the medieval period and further back in time, have been made with flint stone, resulting as a resource to come by easily. As I observed the church that is in my village, I could see that the flint stone was also used in making designs on the building, in the front entrance and other places made into the Cross.

Here we see the small cross above is made of flint stone.

This is viewing that back/side where it is fully
 covered with flint stone.

Here is a close up of the flint
 stone that is on the church.

Close up view of the two Crosses
that are on either side of the entrance.

Far off view heading towards the church.