East Anglia and the Chilterns

Abstract

The geology of East Anglia is quite varied with a variety mudstones, sandstones, shales and of course chalk. The chalk is visible in many areas but is often overlaid by other deposits such as boulder clay and the widespread London clay. In some areas, there are many layers of rocks, the older layers dating back around 350 million years and laying up to 300 m below ground level. However, East Anglia is also home to the youngest rocks in Britain, some strata being little more than a million years of age. The varied geology has supported equally varied habitats over the years which, in turn, have supported a variety of life, as reflected in a particularly curious fossil record which includes remnants of elephants and hippos as well as a variety of marine life. The variety of deposits and their various states of erosion makes for an interesting variation of exposed rocks and soils which can take various expressions within a given geographic area, apparently rendering East Anglia a fairly complex geological entity. However, all the visible rocks of this area are relatively young, laid down mostly in the Palaeogene and Cretaceous periods, with some Jurassic strata as one moves inland towards the lower Midlands. The area is also characterised by a tilting towards the east by south-east, a factor which may continue to raise concerns in coming years.