Five hundred million years of British history in 12 pictures

Not just backdrops, spectacular rocks! Examples of all the geological ages of Earth can be found in the British Isles. Usually seen at their most spectacular on the coast where weathering and water have both shaped and preserved vast sedimentary and tectonic processes, these images (mainly) from Southern England and Wales capture just a small flavour of the immense grandeur of our Planet. Each grain and fold tells a story that can be read like a book, and is alive on time scales that we find difficult to comprehend but is nevertheless dynamic and fully interactive with other life on Earth. This series of pictures moves through the entire Phanerozoic era (‘visible life’), starting around 542 million years ago.

All pictures taken by author.