Geology Reference
In-Depth Information
Table 3
Type examples of the earth heritage theme of stratigraphy
under the geological conservation review
Stratigraphic categories
Pre-Phanerozoic
Late Proterozoic red beds (Torridonian), NW Scotland
Archaean/Proterozoic, Lewisian (Scourian and Laxfordian), NW
Scotland
Phanerozoic
Cambrian type area, North Wales, southwest Wales
Ordovician (Arenig, Llanvirn, Llandeilo and Caradoc) type area
Wales
Lower Silurian (Llandovery, Wenlock Ludlow) stratotypes
Permian-Triassic red bed sequence of Devon coast
Upper Cretaceous Chalk stratigraphy, Kent and Sussex
Phanerozoic Quaternary
Thames terrace stratigraphy, Pleistocene gravels/interglacial
Cromerian interglacials, Norfolk
Palaeontological categories
“
Precambrian
”
Charnian faunas of the East Midlands
Early Devonian petri
ed
ora and
'
insects
'
, Rhynie
Mississippian
sh,
rst reptiles southern Scotland and the Midland
Late Triassic
ssure faunas/
oras, including
rst mammals world-
wide
Early Jurassic marine reptiles and insects, Lyme Regis and Yorkshire
Palaeoenvironmental categories
Late Triassic desert wadi lls, South Wales
Early Cretaceous alluvial plain deposits and biota, Isle of Wright
Sites with igneous and metamorphic geology
Tertiary lavas and intrusions, Inner Hebrides
Igneous rocks of the Lewisian complex
Mineralogical, economic categories
Stratiform deposits within the Dalradian rocks, Grampian Highlands
Cambrian-Ordovician sedimentary exhalative Fe
signi
cance. Some of the categories and sites are listed as
examples in Table
4
. Agreement was reached by the JNCC,
the Inter-agency Earth Heritage Working Party and Chief
Scientists to update the entire GCR Site Series according to
scienti
c principles, on a 10
15 year cycle (Weighell and
-
Ellis
2001
). In addition, the
rst World Heritage Site in
England to be inscribed on account of its geology was
established at the Dorset and East Devon Coast.
During the period 2002
2003, the concept of Local Ge-
odiversity Action Plans (LGAP) was developed by English
Nature. LGAPs integrate the delivery of both national and
local geological conservation objectives through developing
partnerships and plans aimed at conserving, managing and
promoting sites of geoheritage signi
-
cance on a local basis
(Burek and Potter
2003
). LGAPs provide a context for the
broad range of activities associated with geological conser-
vation, and provide a process and framework for the delivery
of geoconservation that previously did not exist (Prosser
et al.
2006
). In May 2003, the Geology Trusts (formerly the
Western Association of RIGS Groups) was launched in
England and Wales. This new county-based organisation
works in a similar way to its wildlife equivalent. It currently
comprises six of the leading county-based Geoconservation
and Earth Heritage Trusts: Gloucestershire, Herefordshire
and Worcestershire, Oxfordshire, Shropshire, Warwickshire
and Wiltshire.
In 2003, under the European Geoparks initiative, the
Declaration of European Geoparks for the Abberly Hills,
MalvernHills, and the North Pennines marked a new approach
to geological conservation in Britain on a wider scale.
The year 2004 saw the
Nature Conservation (Scotland)
Act
enacted, revising and strengthening the law concerning
SSSI. This new Act addressed many of the recognised
shortcomings of the
Wildlife & Countryside Act 1981
(as
amended). The listing and proclamation of SSSI noti
ed
under the
Wildlife and Countryside Act
continued under the
new Act. In addition, the Earth Science Conservation Clas-
si
Mn ores, North
-
Wales
Magmatic segregations associated with Caledonian intrusive rocks
Hematite deposits of Cumbria, South Wales and the Forest of Dean
Historic, for development of geological science
Hutton (
1795
) angular unconformities, southern Scotland
Hutton
'
s magmatic origin of granite (Glen Tilt)
First described pre-Tertiary mammals, Middle Jurassic of England
cation, developed by the Nature Conservancy in 1990,
was revised. In contrast to the original classi
cation which
had 11 site types and two main categories, the revised clas-
si
cation has 16 different site types in three main categories:
1. exposure or extensive (E)
geological features that are
relatively extensive below the surface;
—
2.
integrity (I)
sites are geomorphological and are char-
acterised by the need for holistic management; and
—
Global Geosites Programme, in consultation with the wider
geological community in Britain, a
3.
sites contain geological features that are lim-
ited in extent so that removal of material may cause
depletion of the resource.
The revised classi
nite (F)
—
(a
category-based inventory), has been completed with
proposed sites for conservation designated as sites of inter-
national signi
“
frameworks list
”
cation has been agreed to by all of the
British Isles statutory conservation agencies (Prosser et al.
2006
).
cance (Cleal
2001
). These sites are consid-
ered to represent world-class examples of geoheritage
