Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
FIG
16.
The anticlinal headland of Oxwich Point and the synclinal Oxwich Bay. (David Painter)
David Painter for Figures
TABLE
3.
The four key factors in Gower geology. (Adapted from Bridges, 1997)
FACTOR
EXAMPLES
1. East-west anticlines and synclines.
Mumbles Head Port-Eynon Bay
2. Anticlines producing hills and synclines produ-
cing wide valleys.
Llanmadoc Hill Oxwich Bay
3. East-west thrust faults where one mass of rock
has pushed up over another.
Cefn Bryn
4. North-south faults, which may give rise to typic-
ally narrow bays where they meet the coast.
Limeslade Bay Three Cliff Bay Western scarp of
Rhossili Down
Iron is an important characteristic of many faults in Gower, and mineral veins associated with them
usually contain calcite and haematite. The blood-red haematite ore was probably derived from the un-
derlying Old Red Sandstone by the action of the hydrothermal solutions from which the vein minerals
werecrystallised.Oneofthelargerfaults,whichrunsacrossMumblesHillandwhosesouthernendforms
LimesladeBay,wasminedforironfromtheRomanperioduntilthenineteenthcentury.Between1845and
1899 the remaining iron ore was blasted out, broken into fragments and barrowed to small ships that took
