- Geology of Shropshire
Shropshire 'sGeology is very diverse and most rock types found in theBritish Isles can be found in the county too. There is also a large amount of mineral wealth, includinglead ,coal andiron in the county, which perhaps helped the area develop the first industry of theindustrial revolution , in theIronbridge Gorge area.Upon looking at a geological map of the county, the most obvious feature straight away is the
Church Stretton fault. This runs, initially, from South WestWales , entering the county of Shropshire in the south west, near the small town of Clun. It travels north eastwards through the county, dividing the county in two, before coming to an end near the town of Newport. The fault itself passes through Church Stretton, the location of theLong Mynd , and also passes close to The Wrekin. Another, smaller fault exists in Shropshire, the Pontesbury Linley fault, situated near the village ofPontesbury , south west of the county town ofShrewsbury .The oldest rocks in Shropshire are to be found near Shrewsbury, on Haughmond Hill. The sedimentary rocks here are
Precambrian in age, andquarried for use on roads. The hill itself provides an amazing view across large parts of mid Shropshire.The Wrekin is a prominent hill near the town ofTelford . Thesedimentary rock types are varied around the area, butlava from variousvolcanic eruptions formed this landmark, however, The Wrekin itself is not a volcano, and never was. The primary igneous rock on the Wrekin is rhyolite which has a pinkish colour and is usually banded as it is a slow cooling viscous extrusive rock. A particularly good outcrop of rhyolite exists as you drive between Wellington and Shrewsbury on the new A5 by-pass. Intrusions ofigneous rock have been quarried in the past at nearbyErcall Quarry . Here, the main type of igneous rock that can be found isGranophyre . At Ercall Quarry itself, you can see the boundary between Precambrian rocks and theCambrian explosion of life.Not far from The Wrekin is the famous Ironbridge Gorge, named after the bridge that stands over the
River Severn near Madeley. The geological events that took place here thousands of years ago were what made the events that took place here in the Industrial Revolution possible, as the Gorge itself was carved out by an ice sheet, together with its melt water, towards the end of the lastice age , some 15,000 years ago.Much of
North Shropshire is a plain which is a basin ofPermian andTriassic New Red Sandstone , overlain byJurassic deposits in a small area nearWem . This basin continues north intoCheshire . Faulting has occurred within the sandstones, because of slippage during or after the filling of the basin.Escarpment s form small prominent hills within the plain. The basin is bounded on the east by the Hodnet Fault, which runs roughly from Shrewsbury toMarket Drayton . East of this fault the sandstone is thinner. In the north west of the county near Oswestry are outcrops ofCarboniferous Limestone and theCoal Measures .Igneous
intrusion s in South Shropshire, asill ofdolerite and abasalt intrusion, have formed theClee Hills –Brown Clee Hill andTitterstone Clee Hill . These are two of the three highest points in Shropshire, and serve as outcrops forOld Red Sandstone , and also various coal measures andlimestone . Brown Clee Hill is considered to be one of the best exposures of Old Red Sandstone that exists.South Shropshire was on the border of the Old Red Sandstone continent, explaining why it appears so prominently in the Clee area.To the north west of Clee is Church Stretton, famous perhaps because it gives its name to the fault that runs through the town and the whole county. The Church Stretton hills were formed on a
continental shelf , but buckled up into hills at the time of acontinental collision , which formed theVariscan mountains . The most famous of these hills is probably the Long Mynd, which is Precambrian in age and forms the west side of the Stretton Valley. East of Church Stretton isWenlock Edge , aSilurian limestone escarpment. The Wenlock Edge is the equivalent of the famous North AmericanNiagara Escarpment , which comprises MiddleSilurian (Clinton Group) to UpperSilurian strata. These two escarpments were most likely in the same locale prior to the separation of the North American and European plates at the end of theMesozoic Era, 60 million years ago. This is evident by the presence of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. South West of Church Stretton, and at the westernmost border ofEngland with Wales, is the very rural area ofClun . The rocks here are mainly Silurian in age, and whilst they are, on the whole, soft rocks that are easily eroded, thetopography is very varied with an impressive landscape, and the hills were put to good use inIron Age times with the use offortresses on the hills around Clun and Anchor.ee also
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Geology of the United Kingdom
*Geology of England :*List of geology of English counties :*Geology of Cheshire
*Wenlock Edge External links
* [http://www.shropshirerocks.org Shropshire Rocks - The Shaping of Shropshire]
* [http://www.shropshiregeology.org.uk Shropshire Geology]
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