Geological Features

Features  

Minerals - are formed at high temperatures and pressures, most commonly from deep in the Earth's rocks as a molten mixture of chemicals which crystalize as they cool or the pressure is released nearer the surface.  The molten mixture can sqeeze into gaps, cracks and faults so they tend to form sheets or layers between other rocks - the so-called dykes or pipes.  Any one such mineralized feature might contain may minerals formed from many elements and compounds, including rare metals.

Examples of minerals that occur i n RIGS sites include:

Gold at Whitwick and Bardon quarries,

Copper at Newhurst and Bardon

Vanadium at Newhurst and Bardon1 - Mineralization

Lead at Newhurst (it was also found at Shepshed in the past)

Zeolites have been found at Croft.



Fossils are the remains of animals and plants that have been filled or replaced by minerals to leave an exact rock replica in in their place.

Examples of Jurassic fossils can be found at Clipsham where there is a variety of marine corals, brachiopods, gastropods present.

Carboniferous fossils of corals, brachiopods, gastropods, crinoids from a much earlier time can be found at  Breedon.


Faults where blocks of rock have moved against each other can be seen at Bardon, Longcliffe and Breedon.


Folding of rock showing the way solid rock can be softened and bent by the huge forces in the Erth's surface can be clearly seen at Breedon.

Intrusions, where one type of rock is forced into another under great pressure can be seen at Longcliffe, where the inrusion is called a dyke, and Whitwick where there is a series of so-called 'minor' intrusions.

Metamorphic rocks, where one type of rock has been transformed into another type by heat and pressure, can be seen at Longcliffe

Volcanoes form the main remaining structures of the Bardon and Whitwick quarries.

Unconformities, where one type of rock of one age meets another of a different type and age, can be seen at Bardon and Whitwick.

Wadis and Yardangs  are physical features of a desert climate where water or wind, respectively, have helped to cut channels in the underlying rocks.  These have then become filled with new rocks which have preserved the shape when modern quarrying has cut across it.  The examples at Croft ad Mountsorrel are amongst our best examples.

Outliers are types of rock set away from the main occurrences - a good example here is the outlier of Carboniferous Limestone at Breedon many miles from the main outcrop in Derbyshire to the north.  Erosion over millions of years has removed the rocks in between.


Sedimentary structures like cross-bedding and grading of sand particles of differing sizes can be seen at Acresford and Clipsham.