Geological features and landforms are subject to a range of threats,
including built development, coastal engineering, landscaping and landfill,
not to mention the effects of vandalism and even
over-zealous fossil collecting.
1. Principles
The Earth Science Conservation Classification (ESCC) system provides a framework
for understanding the differing vulnerabilities of different types of geodiversity
sites and features. It classifies them as Exposure/Extensive, Integrity or Finite,
and these categories are related to varying approaches to conserve them.
To find out more about the ESCC visit
Natural England’s website
or read
‘Geological Conservation – A guide to good practice’
by Prosser, Murphy and Larwood (English Nature 2006).
Geological features
Where geological features are concerned, some are more vulnerable than others.
In the case of thick, laterally extensive deposits such as the Chalk we need to
conserve access to their archival resources rather than preserve them outright.
The conservation priority in this case is to maintain access points for scientific
and educational study, such as exposures. However, in cases of finite deposits such,
as a lens of interglacial sediment with animal bones and associated human activity or
an ancient lake deposit, we need to preserve the resource
in situ or, if physical
preservation is not a practical option, record it fully prior to destruction
(i.e. preservation by record).
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Significant features may
temporarily be revealed by quarrying.
Recording and sampling these Pleistocene
lake deposits exposed deep in Timworth
Quarry, Suffolk, is the only way to
preserve the valuable environmental
information they contain. |
Landform features
Geomorphological features are more vulnerable to damage than geological
exposures. They are either one-off features created in the past, or are
currently active features being created by natural processes, and so can
be damaged if the formative processes on which they depend are stopped or
interrupted. We need to preserve the integrity of landforms and their
formative processes with reference to the most natural examples.
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The Weston Hills, Herts. Chalk strata were cut through by the
A505 Baldock Bypass, and the spoil then used to reinstate the former hill
profile. However the integrity of this ancient landscape feature has been
permanently damaged. |
Soil Features
Soils have a complex history of development often over many millennia;
they are a palimpsest resulting from a range of past and present processes.
Here, the conservation priority is to preserve their integrity as structured
products of these processes.
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A soil profile at Westleton Heath Pit, Suffolk showing the grey,
bleached horizon characteristic of a podsol. |
Landscape features
Landscapes are ever-evolving products of interacting cultural, biological and geological factors. However they are vulnerable to a steady erosion of their distinctive qualities and an increasing homogenisation brought about by cultural changes operating in a globalising economic context. We need to conserve their local distinctiveness and integrity by reference to statements of local character.
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The marshes at Cley next the Sea, Norfolk. This is a designated landscape,
and its special qualities are conserved as being part of the Norfolk Coast AONB and
the North Norfolk Coast SSSI. |
Cultural features
The features of economic geology such as mines and brick kilns are part of the history of human activity. They are vulnerable to economic and industrial change, and where physical preservation is not possible preservation by record may be the most practical way to conserve their geodiversity interest.
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The old brick kilns at Winston, Suffolk,
have been excavated and preserved by
their owner. |
2. Examples of geo-conservation in action
For many local geo-conservation groups in the region,
slumping of sediments and vegetation overgrowth are a continual problem
which prevents geological exposures from being seen and appreciated for
scientific and educational study.
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Re-exposing a section in glacial gravels at Thorndon Country
Park, Brentwood, Essex. |
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Buddleia overgrowth on chalk cliffs at Chafford Gorges
County Park, Thurrock, Essex, needs regular clearing to expose features of interest. |
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Removing plant growth from an exposure of the boundary between
the Pliocene Coralline Crag and Red Crag at Sutton Knoll, Suffolk. |
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Hoxnian interglacial deposits with Palaeolithic
evidence have been excavated at East Farm Brick Pit, Barnham, Suffolk.
The British Museum has erected a shelter to protect a sample of these deposits from weathering. |
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