Portland Stone: a nomination for "Global Heritage Stone Resource" from the United Kingdom

Portland Stone, a well known ooidal limestone of Jurassic age from the United Kingdom is here nominated as a suitable "Global Heritage Stone Resource". Portland Stone is considered to ideally fit the newly proposed designation as it has been utilised since Roman times in England and since the Middle Ages in the construction of major historic buildings including St Pauls Cathedral, British Museum and Bank of England in London. It was also the preferred building stone of Sir Christopher Wren, England's most famous architect. The international use of Portland Stone during the 20th century includes the United Nations building in New York City and the war graves of British and British Commonwealth soldiers. Portland Stone also continues to be quarried today in an environmentally sensitive manner whilst coastal outcrops of the material form a part of the "Dorset and East Devon Coast" World Heritage area (aka The Jurassic Heritage Coast)

Mineral resource information in support of national, regional and local planning : Greater Manchester (comprising cities of Manchester, Salford and the Metropolitan Boroughs of Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford and Wigan)

This report is one of a series prepared by the British Geological Survey for various administrative areas in England for the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister’s research project Mineral Resource Information in Support of National, Regional and Local Planning. The accompanying map relates to Greater Manchester, comprising the cities of Manchester and Salford and Metropolitan Boroughs of Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford and Wigan, and delineates the mineral resources of current, or potential, economic interest in the area and the sites where minerals are or have been worked. It also relates these to national planning designations, which may represent constraints on the extraction of minerals. Three major elements of information are presented: • the geological distribution and importance of mineral resources • the extent of mineral planning permissions and the location of current mineral workings • the extent of selected, nationally-designated planning constraints This wide range of information, much of which is scattered and not always available in a consistent and convenient form, is presented on a digitally-generated summary map on the scale of 1:100 000. This scale is convenient for the overall display of the data and allows for a legible topographic base on which to depict the information. However, all the data are held digitally at larger scales using a Geographical Information System (GIS), which allows easy revision, updating and customisation of the information together with its possible integration with other datasets. The information will form part of a Summary of the Mineral Resources of the North West Region. The purpose of the work is to assist all interested parties involved in the preparation and review of development plans, both in relation to the extraction of minerals and the protection of mineral resources from sterilisation. It provides a knowledge base, in a consistent format, on the nature and extent of mineral resources and the environmental constraints, which may affect their extraction. An important objective is to provide baseline data for the long term. The results may also provide a starting point for discussions on specific planning proposals for mineral extraction or on proposals, which may sterilise resources. It is anticipated that the maps and report will also provide valuable background data for a much wider audience, including the different sectors of the minerals industry, other agencies and authorities (e.g. The Planning Inspectorate Agency, the Environment Agency, the Countryside Agency and English Nature), environmental interests and the general public. Basic mineral resource information is essential to support mineral exploration and development activities, for resource management and land-use planning, and to establish baseline data for environmental impact studies and environmental guidelines. It also enables a more sustainable pattern and standard of development to be achieved by valuing mineral resources as national assets. The mineral resources covered are sand and gravel, crushed rock aggregate, brick clay, building stone, peat, coal, and hydrocarbons

Mineral resource information in support of national, regional and local planning : Cheshire (comprising Cheshire, Boroughs of Halton and Warrington)

This report is one of a series prepared by the British Geological Survey for various administrative areas in England for the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister’s research project Mineral Resource Information in Support of National, Regional and Local Planning. The accompanying map relates to the county of Cheshire (comprising Cheshire, Boroughs of Halton and Warrington), and delineates the mineral resources of current, or potential, economic interest in the area and the sites where minerals are or have been worked. It also relates these to national planning designations, which may represent constraints on the extraction of minerals. Three major elements of information are presented: • the geological distribution and importance of mineral resources; • the extent of mineral planning permissions and the location of current mineral workings; and • the extent of selected, nationally-designated planning constraints. This wide range of information, much of which is scattered and not always available in a consistent and convenient form, is presented on a digitally-generated summary map on the scale of 1:100 000. This scale is convenient for the overall display of the data and allows for a legible topographic base on which to depict the information. However, all the data are held digitally at larger scales using a Geographical Information System (GIS), which allows easy revision, updating and customisation of the information together with its possible integration with other datasets. The information will form part of a Summary of the Mineral Resources of the North West Region. The purpose of the work is to assist all interested parties involved in the preparation and review of development plans, both in relation to the extraction of minerals and the protection of mineral resources from sterilisation. It provides a knowledge base, in a consistent format, on the nature and extent of mineral resources and the environmental constraints, which may affect their extraction. An important objective is to provide baseline data for the long term. The results may also provide a starting point for discussion on specific planning proposals for minerals extraction or on proposals, which may sterilise resources. It is anticipated that the map and report will also provide valuable background data for a much wider audience, including the different sectors of the minerals industry, other agencies and authorities (e.g. The Planning Inspectorate Agency, the Environment Agency, The Countryside Agency and English Nature), environmental interests and the general public. Basic mineral resource information is essential to support mineral exploration and development activities, for resource management and land-use planning, and to establish baseline data for environmental impact studies and environmental guidelines. It also enables a more sustainable pattern and standard of development to be achieved by valuing mineral resources as national assets. The mineral resources covered are sand and gravel, crushed rock aggregate, silica sand, salt, brick clay, building stones, peat, coal, hydrocarbons and metalliferous mineralisation

Mineral resource information in support of national, regional and local planning : Gloucestershire (comprising Gloucestershire and South Gloucestershire)

This report is one of a series prepared by the British Geological Survey for various administrative areas in England for the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister’s research project Mineral Resource Information in Support of National, Regional and Local Planning. The accompanying map relates to the county of Gloucestershire, comprising Gloucestershire and South Gloucestershire, and delineates the mineral resources of current, or potential, economic interest in the area and the sites where minerals are or have been worked. It also relates these to national planning designations, which may represent constraints on the extraction of minerals. Three major elements of information are presented: • the geological distribution and importance of mineral resources; • the extent of mineral planning permissions and the location of current mineral workings; and • the extent of selected, nationally-designated planning constraints. This wide range of information, much of which is scattered and not always available in a consistent and convenient form, is presented on a digitally-generated summary map on the scale of 1:100 000. This scale is convenient for the overall display of the data and allows for a legible topographic base on which to depict the information. However, all the data are held digitally at larger scales using a Geographical Information System (GIS), which allows easy revision, updating and customisation of the information together with its possible integration with other datasets. The information will form part of a Summary of the Mineral Resources of the South West Region. The purpose of the work is to assist all interested parties involved in the preparation and review of development plans, both in relation to the extraction of minerals and the protection of mineral resources from sterilisation. It provides a knowledge base, in a consistent format, on the nature and extent of mineral resources and the environmental constraints, which may affect their extraction. An important objective is to provide baseline data for the long term. The results may also provide a starting point for discussions on specific planning proposals for mineral extraction or on proposals, which may sterilise resources. It is anticipated that the maps and report will also provide valuable background data for a much wider audience, including the different sectors of the minerals industry, other agencies and authorities (e.g. The Planning Inspectorate Agency, the Environment Agency, the Countryside Agency and English Nature), environmental interests and the general public. Basic mineral resource information is essential to support mineral exploration and development activities, for resource management and land-use planning, and to establish baseline data for environmental impact studies and environmental guidelines. It also enables a more sustainable pattern and standard of development to be achieved by valuing mineral resources as national assets. The mineral resources covered are sand and gravel, bedrock sand, crushed rock aggregate, building stone, hydrocarbons, and coal

Mineral resource information in support of national, regional and local planning : Devon (comprising Devon, Plymouth, Torbay, Dartmoor National Park and part of Exmoor National Park)

This report is one of a series prepared by the British Geological Survey for various administrative areas in England for the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister’s research project Mineral Resource Information in Support of National, Regional and Local Planning. The accompanying maps relate to the county of Devon and delineates the mineral resources of current, or potential, economic interest in the area and the sites where minerals are or have been worked. It also relates these to national planning designations, which may represent constraints on the extraction of minerals. Three major elements of information are presented: • the geological distribution and importance of mineral resources; • the extent of mineral planning permissions and the location of current mineral workings; and • the extent of selected, nationally-designated planning constraints. This wide range of information, much of which is scattered and not always available in a consistent and convenient form, is presented on two digitally-generated summary map on the scale of 1:100 000. This scale is convenient for the overall display of the data and allows for a legible topographic base on which to depict the information. However, all the data are held digitally at larger scales using a Geographical Information System (GIS), which allows easy revision, updating and customisation of the information together with its possible integration with other datasets. The information will form part of a Summary of the Mineral Resources of the South West Region. The purpose of the work is to assist all interested parties involved in the preparation and review of development plans, both in relation to the extraction of minerals and the protection of mineral resources from sterilisation. It provides a knowledge base, in a consistent format, on the nature and extent of mineral resources and the environmental constraints, which may affect their extraction. An important objective is to provide baseline data for the long term. The results may also provide a starting point for discussion on specific planning proposals for minerals extraction or on proposals, which may sterilise resources. It is anticipated that the map and report will also provide valuable background data for a much wider audience, including the different sectors of the minerals industry, other agencies and authorities (e.g. The Planning Inspectorate Agency, the Environment Agency, The Countryside Agency and English Nature), environmental interests and the general public. Basic mineral resource information is essential to support mineral exploration and development activities, for resource management and land-use planning, and to establish baseline data for environmental impact studies and environmental guidelines. It also enables a more sustainable pattern and standard of development to be achieved by valuing mineral resources as national assets. The mineral resources covered are sand and gravel, crushed rock aggregate, brick clay, kaolin, ball clay, building stones, hydrocarbons and metalliferous mineralisation

Mineral resource information in support of national, regional and local planning : Suffolk

This report is one of a series prepared by the British Geological Survey for various administrative areas in England for the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's research project Mineral Resource Information in Support of National, Regional and Local Planning. The accompanying map relates to the county of Suffolk and delineates the mineral resources of current, or potential, economic interest in the area and the sites where minerals are or have been worked. It also relates these to national planning designations, which may represent constraints on the extraction of minerals. Three major elements of information are presented: • the geological distribution and importance of mineral resources; • the extent of mineral planning permissions and the location of current mineral workings, and • the extent of selected, nationally-designated planning constraints. This wide range of information, much of which is scattered and not always available in a consistent and convenient form, is presented on a digitally-generated summary map on the scale of 1:100 000. This scale is convenient for the overall display of the data and allows for a legible topographic base on which to depict the information. However, all the data are held digitally at larger scales using a Geographical Information System (GIS), which allows easy revision, updating and customisation of the information together with its possible integration with other datasets. The information will form part of a Summary of the Mineral Resources of the East of England Region. The purpose of the work is to assist all interested parties involved in the preparation and review of development plans, both in relation to the extraction of minerals and the protection of mineral resources from sterilisation. It provides a knowledge base, in a consistent format, on the nature and extent of mineral resources and the environmental constraints, which may affect their extraction. An important objective is to provide baseline data for the long term. The results may also provide a starting point for discussions on specific planning proposals for mineral extraction or on proposals, which may sterilise resources. It is anticipated that the maps and report will also provide valuable background data for a much wider audience, including the different sectors of the minerals industry, other agencies and authorities (e.g. The Planning Inspectorate Agency, the Environment Agency, the Countryside Agency and English Nature), environmental interests and the general public. Basic mineral resource information is essential to support mineral exploration and development activities, for resource management and land-use planning, and to establish baseline data for environmental impact studies and environmental guidelines. It also enables a more sustainable pattern and standard of development to be achieved by valuing mineral resources as national assets. The mineral resources covered are sand and gravel, brick clay, hydrocarbons, building stone, chalk and peat

Stratigraphical framework for the Middle Jurassic strata of Great Britain and the adjoining continental shelf

The Stratigraphy Committee of the British Geological Survey (BGS) is undertaking a review of stratigraphical classification for all parts of Great Britain. Several Stratigraphical Framework Committees (SFC) have been established to review problematical issues for various parts of the stratigraphical column. Each SFC has the following terms of reference: • To review the lithostratigraphical nomenclature of designated stratigraphical intervals for a given region, identifying problems in classification and correlation. • To propose a lithostratigraphical framework down to formation level that can be used as a central reference by geologists working in the region concerned. • To organise peer review of the scheme. • To present the results in a document suitable for publication. • To ensure that full definitions of the lithostratigraphical units are held in the web-accessible BGS Lexicon of Named Rock Units for the areas of responsibility covered by the SFC. The process of erecting a framework requires decisions to be taken about correlations and equivalences leading to a simplified nomenclature. Inevitably, many names will be rendered obsolete. The frameworks are lithostratigraphical and though each is set against a chronostratigraphical reference column, the finer points of the chronostratigraphy of the succession are not the prime concern. The predominantly Middle Jurassic rocks discussed in this report have been considered by the Jurassic Stratigraphical Framework Committee under the leadership initially of M G Sumbler (who compiled an initial draft in 2003) and, after 2001, A J M Barron. The report introduces a lithostratigraphical framework to formation level for the Middle Jurassic succession of Britain and adjoining offshore areas. It applies to the main outcrops and subcrops (where the strata are present at depth), and the offshore occurrences. It follows on, with an extended geographical brief, from the stratigraphical framework report for the Lower Jurassic of England and Wales (Cox et al., 1999). The onshore distribution has been divided into six depositional areas; the Wessex–Weald Basin, the Cotswolds, the East Midlands Shelf, the Cleveland Basin, the Moray Firth and the Hebrides, although for practical reasons the essentially arbitrary lateral limits of the first three may differ for various stratigraphical levels. The economic importance and availability of natural and man-made exposures of Middle Jurassic strata has resulted in well over 200 years of research attempting to classify them. Much of this work occurred long before guidance was available for best practice in naming lithostratigraphical units, and there has been a haphazard approach to the establishment of the hierarchy of units. From an early, relatively simple framework, subsequent publications have greatly added to the complexity of the nomenclature. Often this reflected the localised nature of research with different names being applied to essentially the same unit in different areas. Also, previously laterally contiguous deposits have been separated, eroded or concealed by post-Jurassic tectonic, igneous or sedimentary events and processes. Chapter 1 of this report is an introduction to the Middle Jurassic Series and the included proposals. It indicates the principles for the development of the new lithostratigraphical scheme and sets out the key publications used for reference. Chapter 2 summarises the structural and palaeogeographical setting of Great Britain through the Middle Jurassic and sets out the definitions, history and development of the basins. Chapter 3 briefly describes the key techniques (principally biostratigraphy) for correlation of successions, and sets out the basis for the establishment of the chronostratigraphical framework. Chapter 4 outlines the development of the lithostratigraphical framework. The fifth (Chapters 5 to 8) and largest part of the report provides a fuller description of the stratigraphical framework for each of the six onshore groups – the Inferior Oolite, Great Oolite, Ravenscar and Ancholme groups in England, and the Great Estuarine and Sutherland groups in Scotland, subdivided as appropriate into regions and/or palaeogeographical provinces. Each entry includes a description of the origin and history of the nomenclature, rank and subdivisions, principal lithologies, type area and reference sections, geographical extent, lower and upper boundary, thickness, age range, environment of deposition and key references. Chapter 9 gives a concise account of the framework for the offshore regions, related to the onshore sequences. Definitions of the offshore Fladen, West Sole, Brent and Humber groups and their component formations are not given as the full schemes are formally and satisfactorily published elsewhere (Lott and Knox, 1994; Richards et al., 1993; Ritchie et al., 1996)

The building limestones of the Upper Permian, Cadeby Formation (Magnesian Limestone) of Yorkshire

The late Permian dolomitic limestones (dolostones), which form an almost continuous outcrop from north Nottinghamshire to the Northumberland coast at Teeside, have been an important source of industrial minerals for many centuries. They have been quarried extensively for building stone, aggregate and lime for agricultural, industrial and chemical processes (see Buist & Ineson 1992) The limestones, because of their magnesium-rich carbonate mineralogy are perhaps still best known by their former geological name the (Lower) Magnesian Limestone. However, in Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire the limestones are now named, by geologists, the Cadeby Formation (Smith et al. 1986; Figure 1). Along much of its length, the outcrop is pock-marked by small quarries and lime pits, many now disused and some infilled with waste. Currently there are three quarries producing building stone from the formation in Yorkshire, namely Highmoor, Hazel Lane and Cadeby quarries (Map 1). Many of the most famous quarries of the Tadcaster (Thevesdale) area Smaw’s, Jackdaw Crag, Terry Lug, Hazelwood etc have long ceased operations (Figure 1 ). The Cadeby limestones, which show subtle colour variations from white to pale yellow, have been used widely over the last millenium to construct some of our most famous historic buildings. The best known examples are the cathedral churches of York, Beverley and Southwell, the castles at Conisborough and Pontefract; the abbeys of Selby, Thornton, Welbeck, and Roche and more recently the Houses of Parliament (1839-52). In addition the stone has been extensively used in many towns and villages along the outcrop for the construction of parish churches, local housing (as around Doncaster, Selby, Tadcaster and Wetherby,) and ‘stately’ homes (such as Huddleston Hall, Monk Fryston, Bolsover Castle, & Studeley Park). In addition to the Cadeby Formation, there is a thinner less well known limestone in the Permian sequence. This is the Brotherton Formation, which was formerly called the Upper Magnesian Limestone. It is pale grey to pale yellow colour, generally more compact and slightly porcellanous in nature. However, it generally only forms thin and very thin beds rendering it unsuitable for dimension stone. Locally it is used for walling and buildings along the outcrop, especially around Brotherton where it is currently worked for lime and building stone

Late Triassic, Jurassic and Early Cretaceous geology of the Southern North Sea Basin

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