Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
FIG
135.
Hove and Brighton, looking eastwards. (Copyright Dae Sasitorn & Adrian War-
ren/www.lastrefuge.co.uk)
Landscape F: The Pevensey Levels
The Pevensey Levels, between Eastbourne and Hailsham, are a distinctive low-lying
Landscape formed by recent coastal processes of erosion and deposition. The Levels
consist largely of gravels deposited by storms on beaches fringing an embayment that
has existed periodically just north of the South Downs (Landscape D) during times of
high sea level. Salt-marsh and river deposits have also been added to this gravel mater-
ial in some areas.
Review of the landscape history
The present-day scenery of this Area started to develop about 30 million years ago,
when the Weald uplift began to form in response to stresses generated within the
Earth's crust. Although in country-wide terms this is a large structure (approximately
150 km by 80 km), it is simply one part of a much larger pattern of gently tilted layers
that resulted from continental movements during mid-Tertiary times. More locally, 1
km scale folds and faults formed as part of the same movement episode, and are clearly
apparent in the pattern of mapped geological boundaries. Many of these local effects
