| Description | Eleven 4 inch geological models by Thomas SOPWITH, 1841. Made of wood slices, the models were designed to illustrate 'The nature of stratification, valleys of denudation, succession of coals seams in the Newcastle Coal Field, the effects produced by faults or dislocations of strata, intersection of mineral veins, etc'. There were originally twelve models, one is missing, but they are still contained in their original box, with a dedication to William Buckland. The accompanying guide is not included.
Comprises:
Model I - Stratified rocks and valley of denudation (Carboniferous or Mountain Limestone)
Model II [missing - Coal Strata near Newcastle upon Tyne]
Model III - Dislocation of strata in Carboniferous rocks
Model IV - Surface indications of Coal
Model V - Dislocations of Coal strata
Model VI - Intersection of mineral veins
Model VII - Surface denudation of mineral veins
Model VIII - Overcutting of strata
Model IX - Undercutting of strata
Model X - Denuded basset (outcrop) of inclined strata
Model XI - Vertical intersection of mineral veins
Model XII - Denudation of mineral veins |
| Administrative History | The commercially produced models, were published in sets of six or twelve at a price of £2 to £5 according to the number and size of the models purchased (either three inch or four inch). The four inch models were on a scale of 100 feet to an inch (1:1200).
In his introduction to the 1841 series, Sopwith wrote, "This series of models were intended to afford a familiar explanation of various phenomena, a knowledge of which is essential to the study of Geology as connected with practical mining, and more particularly as regards the nature of stratification - the denudation of valleys in mining districts - the disposition of coal - the intersection of mineral veins, &c, which cannot be so well explained by ordinary drawings or sections as by models of this description. They are constructed of various kinds of wood fitted together from actual measurements of the strata in the Coal and Lead mining districts of the North of England. The upper part of each model represents the surface of the ground, the sides exhibit four vertical sections, each of which corresponds with the sections usually drawn in geological works, and the base of each model represents a horizontal plane at a certain depth under the surface according to the scale of the model." |
| Publication Note | For an introduction to the models as described before the Society, see: Sopwith, T. "On the illustration of geological phaenomena", 'Proceedings of the Geological Society of London', vol 3 (1841) p351; history of the 1841 and 1875 editions of the models can be found in: Turner, S & W R Dearman. "Sopwith's geological models", 'Bulletin of the International Association of Engineering Geology', vol 19 (1979), pp331-345. |