GEOLOGY

• Igneous rock is formed by the cooling and solidification of magma / lava

  This rock is generally located in the north-west of the Tees/Exe Line (highlands)

  Igneous rock (e.g. Granite) is hard, resistant to erosion, impermeable, contains crystals, and is of grey grainy colour
• Sedimentary rock is formed by sediments of other rocks which fuse together in layers

  Its general location is south-east to the Tees/Exe Line (lowlands)
• Examples of sedimentary rock include:

  Limestone - layers, weathers, hard, grey, impermeable

  Clay - soft, dark orange/brown, impermeable

  Chalk - layers, white, permeable, easily eroded
• The main types of metamorphic rock are slate, schist, gneiss, marble.
• Metamorphic rock is formed from the transformation of other rocks through heat or pressure

  Its more commonly found north-west of the Tees/Exe Line (highlands)

  These rocks (e.g. slate) can contain crystals, are hard, impermeable, dark grey/pink and grainy
• How tectonic activity has shaped the UK landscape:

  Volcanoes - igneous rock (e.g. Scotland)

  Due to its hardness, the rock is resistant to weathering and erosion. This creates uplands/mountains.

  Plate Collisions - FOLDING - Sedimentary layers, such as chalk and clay, are folded into a hill. Following years of weathering and erosion, this has lead to chalk hills and clay vales.

  - HEAT AND PRESSURE - metamorphic rocks are formed and due to its hardness, the rock is resistant to weathering and erosion. This created uplands/mountains
• Weathering is the breakdown of rock in its place (in-situ)
• Erosion is when rock is broken-down and removed by a moving force
• Weathering:

  Biological - burrowing animals, plant roots widening cracks

  Chemical - acid rain

  Physical - freeze-thaw, onion skin
• Landscape features caused by glaciation:

  Drumlins, U-shaped valley, glacial till, erratic boulders
• The last ice age was around 10,000 years ago
• North-west of the Tees/Exe Line was covered in ice during the last ice age
• There are lots of glacial till ( pieces of rock left by past glaciers) due to a glacier's ice melted, lost its energy and deposited all the little bits of rock
• An aerate is a ridge in mountainous areas
• Sedimentary rock is found in the South Downs
• There are hills and then flat vales in the South Downs as the hills are chalk and the vales are clay. The vales have weathered and eroded faster, as clay is softer than chalk
• There is a spring in the village of Fulking in the South Downs as it is where permeable rock (chalk) meets impermeable rock (clay), causing a spring to form at the boundary
• There are dry valleys in Fulking as after the ice age the ground was still frozen for many years. This made it impermeable, therefore it created a U-shaped valley
• Land uses in South Downs includes: settlements, agriculture and forestry
• Humans changed the UK's landscape through:

  Agriculture - pasture land, crops

  Forestry - plantations of single species e.g. coniferous trees

  Settlements - cities mostly found in England, concrete buildings and roads