Geology Reference
In-Depth Information
(a)
(b)
Figure 7.16.
(a) The Beardown Man - a small menhir. (b) Pseudobedding at Wattern Tor, Dartmoor, south-
western England.
relic from a Late Pleistocene glacial phase and solifluxion deposits, screes and wedging from recent
and contemporary frost action.
The Dartmoor massif of southwestern England is a high plain, the borders of which are deeply
dissected by such rivers as the Okement, Tavy, Teign, Tamar and Dart which together form a radial
pattern (Waters, 1964 and see Fig. 1.12a). In the core of the massif, which over wide areas rises to
over 450 m above sealevel, there are large expanses of high boggy plain surmounted by low but
prominent tors, or castle koppies (
Fig. 7.5)
,
and with small menhirs such as the Beardown Man
(which were signposts or landmarks in former times - Fig. 7.16a), as well as stone circles and
other ancient monuments. Outcrops are characterised by pseudobedding which cuts across sheet
