In 1815, a British man completed a feat never accomplished before. William Smith was able to map the geology of an entire nation. An impressive feat in itself, but William also, accidently or not, created something visually captivating.
Here are five facts about Britain’s first geological map:
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Smith completed this map singlehandedly, mapping 175,000 km2 of England, Scotland & Wales.
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Smith was one of the first to implement this system of colouring and shading, hand colouring 23 different stratas of British geology.
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Geologists today still use many of Smith’s names for strata, such as London clay.
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It took Smith 14 years to create this map, split between gathering data and trying to acquire enough funds to finance the operation.
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Less than 10% of the original 400 maps created have been located today, with many being signed by Smith himself
