At home in Berwickshire recently, where I grew up, I visited Siccar Point just to the north of St Abbs Head. Having enjoyed the TV series ‘Men of Rock’by Prof. Iain Stewart, I have for a long while wanted to see James Hutton’s Unconformity where the concept of deep time was born. In 1788, amateur geologist Hutton discovered an example of the layering of rock which proved his theory that the world was much, much older than the biblical 6000 years generally accepted at that time.
Two different types of rock, the first in vertical layers formed and folded around 430 million years ago, are covered by horizontal layers laid down around 360 million years ago. They have no physical space between them but an invisible age gap of some 65 million years exists between them.
From my point of view it’s a cracking example of the ‘invisible within the visual’ where 65 million years, which actually happened, are present only in their absence!!
It’s mind blowing stuff and, although Hutton is now known as the father of Geology, at the time as an amateur in the field, he was ridiculed by the ‘educated’ classes and his theory stamped down.
See my page here on how re-balancing the value of the absent is integral to my work.
