I wanted to write something about what the river flows over on its journey from source to sea. The geology of this part of North Devon is governed mostly by Carboniferous sandstone, mudstone and siltstone formations which were laid down between approximately 328 and 310 million years ago. The Bude and Crackington Formations predominate over most of the course of the Torridge. The cliffs along westward facing coastline of North Devon from Stratton to Hartland Point are excellent places to see really good examples of the sedimentary bedrock strata. The images below show some of these cliffs around Northcott Mouth and also how the rock on the beach erodes into rounded curves. I am no Geologist, but am endlessly fascinated with the shapes of rocks and how erosive forces create them over vast swathes of time. The images below show also how the rock strata have been folded creating amazing faulting and natural caves. I am always wondering about the rock that isn’t there anymore. How much there must have been of it? Judging by the angles of incline of the layers, the scale of it, the time invloved and the various forces are all so huge as to simply become mysterious and slightly awesome.
A friend put me onto the British Geological Survey website, as a way to find out more about the Geology of the area. There is an excellent interactive map, which allows you to move around the country and see the Geology of the whole of the British Isles. I made extensive use of this to explore the geology of the Torridge basin and incluyde with permission from the BGS some screenshots of the part of the river I was exploring.
