Geologists’ Association Guide No 63

Compiled by Albert Horton and Peter Gutteridge

This GA guide is intended as a major guidebook to the exposures of highly significant Precambrian, Carboniferous and Permo-Triassic sediments, through to Jurassic rocks of the East Midlands. Personally, it is an area I only partly know (I know Edale in the Peak District quite well) and, for that reason, is an interesting set of locations for me.

It contains 11 itineraries of varying lengths, which set out the geology of each location, such as the rock types, the palaeoenvironmental interpretation and fossil content, the structure, geomorphology and mineralisation. Many of these are illustrated with colour photographs and diagrams, and the itineraries are written by 11 experts in their field.

And the locations cover very different sorts geology and geomorphology, as you would expect from the huge length of geological time that is covered. The areas covered extend from Charnwood Forest (Precambrian) to Wirksworth, Ashover, Ecclesbourne, Alport and Holymoorside in Derbyshire (Carboniferous) to Nottingham, Vale of Belvoir and South Lincolnshire, Leicestershire and Northamptonshire (Permian-Jurassic).

In particular, the guide covers:

The Precambrian:

• The Late Precambrian rocks of Bradgate Park and Charnwood Forest, Leicestershire
• The Late Precambrian rocks of North Charnwood.
• The Precambrian geology of and scenery of Northwest Charnwood.

The Carboniferous:

• The Carboniferous Limestone around Wirksworth.
• Carboniferous rocks and mineralization of the Ashover Anticline.
• The Edale Shales and Ashover Grit of the Ecclesborne Valley and Alport Hill.
• The Upper Carboniferous sequence near Holymoorside, southwest of Chesterfield.

The Permian to Middle Jurassic:

• The Permo-Triassic rocks of Nottingham.
• The Liassic of the Vale of Belvoir.
• The Middle Jurassic of South Lincolnshire, Leicestershire and Northamptonshire.

This guide is definitely worth getting if you are in the area or, if like me, you are just interested in the geology of an area that is unfamiliar.

This guide is available directly from the Geologists’ Association‘s website.

The Geology of the East Midlands, compiled by Albert Horton and Peter Gutteridge, Guide No 63, The Geologists’ Association, London (2003), 128 pages (paperback), ISBN: 0900717890