Bleadon Hill

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Bleadon Hill

Bleadon Hill is a Geological Site of Special Scientific Interest north of the village of Bleadon in North Somerset . 13.52 hectares (33.41 acres) were added to the inventory in 1999. The hill is one of the westernmost foothills of the Mendip Hills .

geology

The Mendip Hills, the westernmost reaches of which are Brean Down and the two islands of Steep Holm and Flat Holm , form the southernmost mountainous formations of coal- bearing limestone in Britain . The deposits originated in the Mississippium , about 320-350 million years ago. Later in the Paleozoic , during the Variscan Orogeny, the originally horizontal plates unfolded and a complex system of mountains and ridges developed in Ireland and south-western England and in other regions of Europe. The Mendip area consists of at least four anticlinic folds , most of which run in an east-west direction, each characterized by a core of older Devonian sandstones and Silurian volcanic rocks. To the west of the main Mendip plateau, the formation continues in Bleadon Hill and the islands mentioned above.

The Bleadon Hill rises at its highest point up to 122 m above sea level , to the east Loxton Hill joins. At the east end is the Bleadon Cavern . Towards the River Ax the hill runs out into the Uphill Cliffs .

The landscape formation was selected as a monument by the Geological Conservation Review because of the low ridge of calcite- bound Pleistocene sand / gravel rocks on the south side . Different development scenarios were discussed and based on foraminifera found it was discussed whether it could be a Mesozoic beach . However, the composition of the sediments suggests that they are Quaternary sediments , possibly remnants of a lateral moraine during an ice age.

Waters

According to the geological formation, the adjacent streams run in an east-west direction. In the north runs the Uphill Great Rhyne with its tributaries Cross Rhyne and Hutton and Locking Rhyne and south of the hill runs the River Ax into which the above-mentioned streams flow. The Ax flows into the Bristol Channel between Uphill Cliffs and Brean Down .

history

The land has been used for agriculture at least since the Middle Ages . Today part of the area is covered by a golf course.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Faulkner 1989 pp. 93-106.
  2. ^ GCR block - Variscan Structures of South-West England . Joint Nature Conservation Committee. Retrieved March 5, 2010.
  3. ↑ Kellaway, Welch, 1948. pp. 7, 10-11, 16 & 34-38
  4. ↑ Haslett 2010. pp. 25-28
  5. ↑ Coysh, Mason, Waite 1977. p. 67
  6. ↑ English Nature citation sheet .
  7. ^ Mendip Hills, An Archaeological Survey of the Area of ​​Outstanding Natural Beauty . In: Somerset County Council Archeological Projects . Retrieved January 16, 2011.

literature

Coordinates: 51 ° 18 ′ 44.6 "  N , 2 ° 55 ′ 54.5"  W.