Britain is a place with remarkable levels of diversity in its habitats. The kingdom has a rich geological and geographical history that has taken place over millennia and given rise to the incredible array of landscapes that can now be found across the United Kingdom.
The British Isles are home to World Heritage listed natural sites and places that hold the secrets of ancient humans at the dawn of civilisation.
Divided into areas of uplands and lowlands, the geographical elements of the British countryside have helped shape the population density of the island, while geological features still contain the fossils of forests that grew in ancient times.
Britain is a land of valleys and mountains, grasslands, woods, marshes and meadows.
The British landscape has been carved by the slow journeys of ancient glaciers, born in the fires of extreme volcanic eruptions, and shaped by the trickling waters of a melting world of ice.
Contents
- From Hilltops to Valley Floors
- The Tees-Exe Line
- A Land of Volcanoes
- An Icy Place
- Ice, Fire, and an Ancient Land
From Hilltops to Valley Floors
Much of England consists of lowland areas, with the exception of areas of upland concentrated mainly to the north and west of the country.
Chalk downlands and meadowlands form key landscapes of Britain, while areas of low lying hills and woodlands are also common landscape features.
Scotland and Wales have slightly more dramatic landscapes, with Scotland claiming the title of the most mountainous country in Britain. However, Wales, the home of Snowdonia, also has some impressive mountainous regions.
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The landscape of Britain was shaped by various forces including glacial movement, changes in climate, the movement of tectonic plates, and in some instances violent volcanic activity.
The highest point in Britain is Ben Nevis in Scotland, reaching a height of 1345 metres, while the lowest point is the Fens, covering an area of nearly four thousand square kilometres; these marshy lands rest up to four metres below sea level.
The Tees-Exe Line
The division between the lowlands and uplands of the UK is known as the Tees-Exe Line. This imaginary boundary reaches in a straight diagonal line between the mouth of the Tees River and the mouth of the Exe River.
Areas to the south-east of this line are characterised by lower lying landscapes commonly constituted of gently-tilted, flat lying, or folded sedimentary rock formations.
The land north-west of Tees-Exe Line generally reaches higher elevations and incorporates geology makeups of igneous and metamorphic rocks, as well as formations of sandstone and limestone.
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The differences in geographical features on either side of the line has created an impact on the population of the UK.
The south east, which has geography that is generally more favourable to agriculture, developed an overall higher population density than areas to the north west of the boundary.
A Land of Volcanoes
Today, Britain may not seem to be a place that has to be concerned about the risk of volcanic eruptions.
However, while the UK has no active volcanoes in modern times, it is a land that was carved by fiery eruptions of molten lava.
Travelling back in time three hundred million years, the world renowned Lakes District were created as a result of volcanic activity.
Ben Nevis, Scotland’s highest mountain, is the leftover remnants of a volcano that once erupted so violently that it has been theorised that it caused the mountain to collapse in on itself.
The famous Glen Coe was carved by a super volcano that last erupted over four hundred million years ago, while Edinburgh itself is the site of two ancient volcanoes. The remains of one of which is now the site of Edinburgh Castle, and the other forms the now popular attraction of Arthur’s Seat.
The highest peak found in the Welsh countryside, Yr Wddfa also known as Snowdon, was created during the Ordovician Period, a geological era that took place between 484.4 million years ago to 443.8 million years ago.
Geology
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During the Ordovician Period, much of Wales was on the border of an ancient microcontinent known as Avalonia. In this volatile continent border region, a volcanic cauldron known as a caldera was created.
This forms when a volcano erupts with such force that it depletes its magma chamber and creates an unstable structure that then can collapse in on itself to create a crater or sinkhole.
The eruptions that occured in the area that Yr Wddfa developed spewed enough ash, volcanic rock and other volcanic debris to create deposits that were five hundred metres deep. The violent volcanic activity that took place during this period formed Yr Wddfa, with the current summit of the mountain thought to be on the northern edge of the ancient caldera.
An Icy Place
During periods over the last 500,000 years, Britain found itself covered by layers of ice and snow during the world’s Ice Ages.
Following the conclusion of the last Ice Age ten thousand years ago, there were periods in the ancient history of Britain in which parts of the landscape were trapped under ice hundreds of metres thick.
As glaciers moved across the land during these cold periods of history, they forever left a mark on the landscape.
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Areas of ribbon lakes found in the Lake District, to mighty valleys in the Scottish Highlands all can trace their existence back to a landscape carved by ancient glaciers.
As well as having an impressive overall landscape, the United Kingdom is also home to some incredible standalone geological formations.
The Jurassic Coast
Recognised as a UN World Heritage Site, The Jurassic Coast, reaching from Exmouth in East Devon to Studland Bay in Dorset is a 145 kilometre long coastline with incredible historic significance.
With 185 million years worth of history, the coast demonstrates a fascinating continuous sequence of rock formation that shows evidence of life throughout the Triassic, Jurassic, and Crustaceous periods.
The fossils of ancient creatures are trapped in the rocks, and the remains of a fossilised forest can be seen along the coastline near Lulworth Cove.
As well as the incredible examples of past flora and fauna that have been trapped in time in the rocks, the coastline itself offers a display of amazing geological formations and features.
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A natural limestone arch along the Jurassic Coast, known as Durdle Door, is thirty metres wide. Alongside being a tourist attraction, the arch has gained prominence in pop culture, ad has been included in music videos and films, and referenced in songs.
Fingal’s Cave
An impressive example of a sea cave, Fingal’s Cave can be found on the Inner Hebrides in Scotland.
Similar in structure to the Giants Causeway, Fingal’s Cave is created from basalt columns that hexagonally joined as a result of a lava flow that occured over fifty six million years ago.
Fingal’s Cave is no small geological feature, it stands over twenty metres high and has been reported to be up to eighty-five metres deep.
This impressive cave structure became known as Fingal’s Cave after it was associated with a poem by nineteenth century Scottish-born poet James MacPherson.
MacPherson styled Fingal, a mythical giant derived from British and Irish folklore, as the hero of one of his popular epic poems and from this, the name of the cave was inspired.
Cheddar Gorge
Having been named the ‘second greatest natural wonder in Britain,’ Cheddar Gorge in Somerset offers a glimpse into both the geographical and anthropological history of Britain.
Cheddar Gorge is a limestone gorge and hosts extensive cave networks, steep cliffs and grassy slopes. The gorge is thought to have been formed over the last 1.2 million years as a result of meltwater floods.
As permafrost melted after the last ice age, this water flowed along the surface of the land and carved out the gorge. Similarly, water also travelled through permeable limestone to create the underground cave networks found throughout the gorge.
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The area has yielded incredible archeological finds, with the oldest near complete human skeleton in Britain having been found in a cave in Cheddar Gorge.
Nicknamed the ‘Cheddar Man’, the skeleton is believed to have belonged to an individual that lived in the mid-late ninth millennium BC.
Human remains dating from 10,000 – 12,000 years ago have also been found in caves within the gorge.
Cheddar Gorge has found a place in literature, with the gorge and its cave networks reported to be the inspiration for Helms Deep in the Lord of the Rings novels.
Ice, Fire and an Ancient Land
The geography that makes up the British Isles has been formed, changed and rebuilt over millions of years. Weathered by millennia of waves crashing in from the sea, and formed out of catastrophic volcanic eruptions, the tale of Britain can be seen in its very landscape.
The British Isles are home to amazing examples of geological sites and hold the secrets of the lives of creatures that lived millions of years ago.
The geography of the countryside influenced the spread of populations and still contains sites that people in modern times travel the world to visit.
The British landscape has been incorporated into stories and folklore and inspired great literary works. It shows the scars of ancient glaciers and still contains the fossilised remains of prehistoric forests.
From the low lying marshes of the Fens to the soaring peaks of Ben Nevis, walking the landscape of Britain is like taking a stroll through ancient history.
The geology of England is both complex and varied, spanning a vast amount of geological time. The landmass that is now England has experienced many tectonic events, sea level changes, and various climates.
Here’s a broad overview
Precambrian Era (before about 541 million years ago): The oldest rocks in England are from the Precambrian era and are mostly found in the west and northwest, such as in parts of the Lake District and the westernmost part of Cornwall.
Cambrian Period (541-485 million years ago): Rocks from this period can be found in parts of the northwest, notably in Shropshire.
Ordovician and Silurian Periods (485-419 million years ago): Here, we see evidence of volcanic activity and sedimentary rock formations, especially in areas like the Lake District and the Welsh borders.
Devonian Period (419-359 million years ago): Known as the ‘Old Red Sandstone’ age, rocks from this period are found in Devon, Cornwall, and the West Midlands.
Carboniferous Period (359-299 million years ago): This period left extensive coal deposits in northern and central England due to vast swampy forests. There are also limestone deposits from this era in the Peak District, the Pennines, and the Mendips.
Permian and Triassic Periods (299-201 million years ago): During this time, England was covered by desert, leaving red sandstones in areas such as the West Midlands.
Jurassic Period (201-145 million years ago): As sea levels rose, areas like the present-day Dorset, Yorkshire, and Oxfordshire coastlines were covered by warm seas, leading to the deposition of clay, limestone, and sandstone layers. The iconic white chalk cliffs of Dover began their formation during the Late Cretaceous, which followed the Jurassic.
Cenozoic Era (66 million years ago to the present): The opening of the North Atlantic Ocean caused significant volcanic activity in northwest Scotland. Later, during the Palaeogene and Neogene periods, southern England experienced a subtropical climate, leading to the deposition of the London Clay.
Quaternary Period (2.6 million years ago to the present): This period has been marked by repeated ice ages. The most recent glaciation, the Devensian, retreated around 10,000 years ago, leaving behind features like the ridges of the Lincolnshire and Norfolk coasts. Tectonics have also played a significant role. The last major tectonic event to shape the geology of England was the Alpine Orogeny, which affected southern England around 50 million years ago.
Throughout England’s geological history, erosion, sediment deposition, and the action of ice have continually reshaped the landscape, giving rise to the diverse geology and associated landscapes seen today.
