Geology Reference
In-Depth Information
Table 4
World-class examples of sites of geoheritage signi
cance in Britain
Category
Geological Era, Period, or
Epoch
Location
Stratigraphic
Precambrian (Pre-
Phanerozoic)
Late Proterozoic red beds (Torridonian), NW Scotland
Archaean/Proterozoic, Lewisian (Scourian and Laxfordian), NW Scotland
Phanerozoic (lower Palaeozoic
to upper Mesozoic)
Cambrian type area, North Wales, southwest Wales
Ordovician (Arenig, Llanvirn, Llandeilo and Caradoc) type area, Wales
Lower Silurian (Llandovery, Wenlock Ludlow) stratotypes, SW Scotland
Permian-Triassic red bed sequence of Devon coast, England
Upper Cretaceous Chalk stratigraphy, Kent and Sussex, England
Quaternary
Thames terrace stratigraphy, Pleistocene gravels/interglacial, River Thames,
England
Cromerian interglacials, Norfolk, England
Palaeoenvironmental
Mesozoic
Late Triassic desert wadi lls, South Wales
Early Cretaceous alluvial plain deposits and biota, Isle of Wight, Wales
Palaeontological
Precambrian, Palaeozoic to
Mesozoic
“
Charnian faunas of the East Midlands, England
Early Devonian petried ora and
Precambrian
”
, Rhynie, Aberdeenshire, Scotland
Mississippian
sh,
rst reptiles, southern Scotland and the Midlands, England
Late Triassic ssure fauna/ora, including rst mammals world-wide
Early Jurassic marine reptiles and insects, Lyme Regis, Wales and Yorkshire,
England
'
insects
'
Sites with igneous and
metamorphic geology
Precambrian and Tertiary
Tertiary lavas and intrusions, Inner Hebrides, Scotland
Igneous rocks of the Lewisian Complex, NW Scotland
Mineralogical, economic
Precambrian, lower to upper
Palaeozoic
Stratiform deposits within the Dalradian rocks, Grampian Highlands, Scotland
Cambrian-Ordovician sedimentary exhalative Fe
Mn ores, North Wales
Magmatic segregations associated with Caledonian intrusions, various locations
in the UK
Haematite deposits of Cumbria, South Wales, and the Forest of Dean, England
-
Historic, for development
of geological science
Silurian to Devonian;
Mesozoic
Hutton (
1788
,
1795
) angular unconformities, southern Scotland
Hutton
'
s magmatic origin of granite (Glen Tilt), Scotland
First-described pre-Tertiary mammals, Middle Jurassic of England
Global stratotype section
and points (GSSPs)
Callovian/Oxfordian boundary
interval base of Jurassic
Ham Cliff near Redcliff Point, Weymouth, Dorset, England (Page et al.
2008
),
and St Audries Bay, West Somerset coast, West Somerset, England (Page
et al.
2009
)
An important milestone at the national level in 2004 was
formal recognition and promotion of the linkage between
geodiversity and biodiversity (English Nature
2004
). The
Natural Areas concept developed by English Nature in the
1990s, as a strategic landscape-scale approach to nature
conservation, placed geodiversity at
settlement and land-use patterns into their context of rock
types, soils and landforms (Stace and Larwood
2006
).
3.5
Phase V (2005-Present)
ning
innumerable terrestrial areas based on rocks, soils and
landforms (English Nature
1998
). This was consolidated by
the Of
its core by de
This phase involves building on the recognition that geodi-
versity underpins biodiversity, the development of holistic
management strategies by linking geodiversity to biodiver-
sity and geodiversity to land-use planning, and the use of
geoheritage areas for geotrails and geotourism. While there
were earlier activities that began linking geodiversity to
biodiversity and using geological precepts in planning
(Devon Biodiversity Partnership
1998
,
2005
; English Nature
2006
(ODPM
2005
,
2006
) in publishing guidelines for planning
for biodiversity and geological conservation. Geodiversity
was recognised as contributing to landscape conservation,
and was integrated into the planning system through the
Landscape Character Types
ce of the Deputy Prime Minister in 2005
-
concept, placing human
