Granite landscapes

Abstract

This chapter examines the granite terrains of South-West England, and contains descriptions of two groups of sites: 1. those with a direct bearing on the genesis of major granite landforms; and 2. those which have allowed a detailed reconstruction of Devensian late-glacial and Holocene environmental changes in such terrains (Figure 4.1). The granite landscapes of the South-West, particularly those of Dartmoor, are some of the best known and most intensively studied in Britain: the principal GCR sites selected to represent the geomorphology of non-glaciated granite terrains are located here. In contrast, GCR sites demonstrating key features of glaciated granite landscapes have been selected in north-east Scotland and in the Cairngorms (Gordon and Sutherland, 1993). The distinctiveness of the non-glaciated granite landscapes of the South-West, the controversies over their evolution and the importance of the selected GCR sites, merit the detailed introduction given below. In addition, an introduction to the geomorphology of Dartmoor and a brief history of relevant local research is given as a preface to the selected GCR sites.