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Exploring the landscape of Charnwood Forest and Mountsorrel
A walkers’ guide to the rocks and landscape of Charnwood Forest and Mountsorrel
by Keith Ambrose, John Carney, Graham Lott, Gill Weightman and Annette McGrath
Bibliographic reference: Ambrose, K, Carney, J N, Lott, G K, Weightman, G, And McGrath, A. 2007. Exploring the landscape of Charnwood Forest and Mountsorrel. A walkers’ guide to the rocks and landscape of Charnwood Forest and Mountsorrel. Keyworth, Nottingham: British Geological Survey.
Cover photograph: The front cover features scenes from Bradgate Park. The main picture is a view eastwards across Cropston Reservoir, with cleaved Precambrian rocks in the foreground. In this park can be found typical Charnwood walking country, the famous landmark of Old John Tower, and herds of deer.
Walking photograph: © Libraryphotos.com. Deer photograph: © istockphoto.com
Old John Tower photograph: Reproduced by permission of the Bradgate Park Trust
Contents
Useful information
Further reading
The National Forest
Further information
Acknowledgements
The geological timescale
Plate tectonics and the rocks of Charnwood Forest
Precambrian — volcanoes, seas and the dawn of life
Cambrian — the sea advances
Ordovician — more magmatism
Silurian and Devonian — orogeny, and the Caledonides mountain belt
Carboniferous — warm seas and coral reefs
Permian and Triassic — deserts and mountains
Jurassic and Cretaceous — tropical seas
Quaternary — the Great Ice Age
