The geology of Eyam

John S Beck (self published)

This slim pamphlet is available in the Eyam museum. It contains a (very!) brief introduction to the geology and 3 geology walks in the Eyam area.

 

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Lead mining in the Peak District (4th edition)

T.D. Ford & J.H. Rieuwerts (2000) Landmark Publishing

Introduction: Geology

The common ores mined in the Peak District are GALENA (lead sulphide), SPHALERITE (zinc sulphide), FLUORITE (calcium fluoride), BARYTE (barium sulphate) and CALCITE (calcium carbonate).

RAKES are major veins formed in vertical fissures often 2-3 m wide but up to 15 m wide. They can be 4-5 km long and some have been mined to 200 m deep.

SCRINS are smaller versions of rakes not often more than 50 cm across and 1 km long.

FLATS are horizontal deposits laying parallel to the bedding.

PIPES are irregular deposits parallel to the bedding.

Pipes and flats are often close to or capped by thin volcanic deposits know as wayboards.

The mineral deposits were formed from hot fluids which came from 2-3 km below the surface and picked up minerals on the way. These were precipitated by cooling, mixing with cooler surface waters, reaction with sulphur compounds in pore waters or reaction with oxygen in such waters. This reached a climax at the end of the Carboniferous 270 million years ago.

Galena (PbS) is easily recognised by its silvery metallic lustre. Veins contained form as much as 10% to as little as 2%. The veins along the eastern margin of the mineral field also contained sphalerite (ZnS) recognised by its dark brown chocolate colour and also known as blende or blackjack. It had little value until brass (an alloy of zinc and copper) became popular in Victorian times. In a few areas the sulphides have been oxidised to carbonates, cerussite (lead carbonate) and smithsonite (zinc carbonate, commonly known as calamine). Cerussite is the raw material for white lead and several White Rakes are allegedly named after it. The gangue minerals of metal extraction were fluorspar, barytes and calcite. Nowadays these are the main products and metallic ores are byproducts. Fluorspar (CaF) is the chief source of fluorine for the chemical industry. It is largely confined to a 2 km wide strip at the eastern margin of the ore field. Baryte (BaSO4) and calcite (CaCO3) complete the 5 minerals which form the bulk of the mining activity in the Peak District.

This is followed by a comprehensive history of mining in the Peak District and then a list of itineries.

Itineraries:

1. Castleton

2. Peak Forest

3. Hucklow, Eyam, & Stoney Middleton Area

4. Sheldon & the Magpie Mine

5. The Ashford Black Marble Mines & Mill

6. The Lathkill Dale Mines

7. Hillocks & Knotlow Mines, Monyash

8. The Alport Mines

9. The Lead Mining Village of Winster

10. The Wensley-Darley Area & Mill Close Mine

11. The Matlock Area

12. Cromford & Bole Hill

13. Good Luck Mine, Middleton-By-Wirksworth

14. Wirksworth

15. Carsington Pasture & Brassington

16. The Crich Area

17. Stonedge Cupola, Ashover

18. The Ecton Copper Mines

 

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Geological excursions in the Sheffield region

Various (1967) University of Sheffield

1. The Wye Valley

2. Earl Sterndale Area

3. The Castleton Reef Belt and adjoining areas

4. The Carboniferous Limestone of the Stony Middleton Area

5. The Visean Rocks of the Matlock—Wirksworth—Monyash Area

6. The Ashover Area

7. The Crich Inlier

8. Volcanic Rocks in the Peak District

9. Some Mineral deposits of the Carboniferous Limestone of Derbyshire

10. Fossiliferous localities in the Namurian Rocks of Edale

11. Namurian Sedimentation in the High Peak

12. The Bradfield—Ewden Area

13. The Ashover and Chatsworth Grits in North-East Derbyshire

14. The Namurian and Basal Westphalian Rocks of the Beeley—Holymoorside Area

15. The Namurian and lowermost Westphalian Rocks in the southern part of the Goyt Syncline

16. Westphalian A Palaeontology and Stratigraphy of the Langsett—Penistone Area

17. The City of Sheffield

18. The litho-facies of a Lower Coal Measure Sandstone Unit between Sheffield and Brighouse

19. The Middle and Upper Coal Measures (Westphalian B and C) north-east of Sheffield

20. Conisborough

21. The Permo-Triassic Rocks of the Worksop Area

22. Scunthorpe

23. Kirton, Lincolnshire

24. Nettleton, Lincolnshire

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Rocks and Fossils: The Peak District

I.M. Simpson (1982) Unwin Paperbacks

1 Edale and Kinder Scout

2 Castleton Area: Treak Cliff and Mam Tor

3 Castleton Area: Cave Dale and Dirtlow Rake

4 Eyam, High Rake and Coombs Dale

5 Tideswell Dale and Miller's Dale

6 Ashford and Monsal Dale

7 Lathkilldale

8 Youlgreave and Alport

9 Black Rock and Steeple Grange

10 Thorpe Cloud and Lower Dovedale

11 Hartington, Wolfscote Dale and the Tissington Trail

12 Ecton and the Manifold Valley

13 Hen Cloud, The Roaches and The Ramshaw Rocks

14 Parsley Hay, the High Peak and Tissington Trails

15 Goyt's Moss

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Rocky Rambles in the Peak District

Fred Broadhurst (2001) Sigma Leisure

A short introduction to Peak geology is followed by the walks. Nice overview section of the geology.

The walks:

Walk 1: Castleton - Cave Dale - Pin Dale

Limestones, Lava and Lead

Walk 2: Castleton - Lose Hill - Mam Tor

Ridge, Landslip and a Resurrected Sea Floor

Walk 3: Edale - Kinder Scout

Sandstone Scenery, Wind Sculptures

Walk 4: Monsal Dale

Landslips and Fossils

Walk 5: Millstone Edge - Stanage Edge

Millstones and Concretions

Walk 6: Wirksworth

National Stone Centre and Dolomite

Walk 7: Dovedale

Limestone Scenery

Walk 8: The Roaches, Lud's Church

Geology and Scenery

Walk 9: Earl Sterndale - Parkhouse Hill - Chrome Hill

Limestone 'Reefs'

Walk 10: Lyme Park - Cage Hill - Bowstones

Sandstones, Glacial features

Walk 11: Lyme Park - West Parkgate

Glacial Spillway, Fossil Soils and Fossil Ripple marks

Walk 12: Lathkill Dale

Limestones, Fossils and Lead Mines

Walk 13: Goyt's Moss - Shining Tor

Sandstone Scenery and Coal

Walk 14: Ashford-in-the-Water - Magpie Mine

'Black Marble' and Lead

Walk 15: Tegg's Nose

Sandstone and Sandstone Quarries

Walk 16: Tideswell Dale - Miller's Dale

Limestones and Lavas

Walk 17: Rowarth - Cown Edge

Faults, Folds and Landslips

Walk 18: Rowarth - Lantern Pike

Rocks and Topography

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Geology Explained in the Peak District

F. Wolverson Cope (1998). Scarthin Books

This was the first Peak geology book I bought and I found it hard going when I first got into geology (before I started on my OU degree!), so we shall see if it makes more sense now!

Oh dear. After a somewhat superfluous set of introductory chapters this book ploughs on with descriptions of specific areas. It is written for someone with a degree in geology and lacks the idea of a specific itinary which is present in the other 3+ geology walk books available. It is also very old fashioned. Give it a miss.

1 Geology In The Field Field equipment - the Countryside Code - the Peak DistrictNational Park

2 Identifying Rocks, Minerals and Fossils Rocks - minerals - fossils

3 The Geological Time-scale

4 Geological Structure of the Peak District

5 The Valley of the River Wye: Buxton to Little Longstone The Carboniferous basement - the sequence east of Woo Dale - the massif fades

6 The Valley of the River Goyt Millstone Grit and Namurian - pre-Namurian denudation - the Goyt Syncline - Namurian cyclic sedimentation - contorted beds

7 Castleton, Edale and Mam Tor Reef limestones - caves of the Castleton district - the Speedwell Vent - fossils of the reef limestones - the use of goniatites - the Namurian of the Edale valley

8 Bradwell Dale and Eyam Bradwell Dale - Eyam - the Eyam and Woo Dale boreholes

9 Monsal Dale and Ashford-in-the-Water The Hobs House Coral Band - igneous rocks in Monsal Dale - the Ashford marble

10 Matlock, the Via Gellia, and Brassington The Grangemill vents - lead mining in the Peak District - dolomitisation of limestones - Tertiary pocket deposits

11 Ashover Dinantian rocks of Ashover - Namurian rocks of Ashover

12 The Valley of the River Dove Reef limestones of Thorpe Cloud and Bunster

13 Chrome Hill and Parkhouse Hill

14 The Valley of the River Manifold

15 The Roaches and Goldsitch Moss The Rough Rock of Quarnford and Goldsitch - Namurian successions in the Peak District

16 Kinder Scout The Mam Tor Beds - the Shale Grit - the Kinder Scout Grit

17 Economic Geology of the Peak District General and water supply - mining - quarrying

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Rock Trails Peak District

A hillwalker's guide to the geology and scenery

Paul Gannon (2010) Pesda Press Ltd

This is one of several books which contain geology walks. I hope to do some of these next year, maybe combining walks from several books. In this blog entry I will be going through the first 8 chapters which are about the Peak District geology.

Chapter 1 - basement blocks

We start off with a description of the position of the PD at this time, south of the equator and slowly moving north. To the north is a mountain range, and an arc of higher ground to the south (the Wales-Brabant high) from which the Peaks High pokes out. To the north of the Peaks High is the Edale Basin and the the west the Widermerepool Gulf. The area is under extension causing the basins to sink.

Chapter 2 - layers of limestone

Limestone was formed in the shallow seas of the continually sinking basins and on the Peaks High when it went below sea level. Occasionally the sedimentation stopped as the plateau was above sea level (plant roots and soil found between some bedding. This forms the shelf limestone which was a lagoonal environment. At the edge of the shelf are apron reefs which are made from an algal reef and often have fore-reef and back-reef structures. The form a rim around the shelf limestone except in the south west where there is a ramp down to the Widermerepool Gulf. Knoll reefs formed within the main platform and are also known as mud mounds.

Chapter 3 - grains of grit

Sandstone formed by erosion of mountains in north forming deltas into freshwater (and occasionally seawater) in the sinking basin. It is the presence of layers of shale which forms the distinctive step and shelf topography.

Chapter 4 - lingering lignin

Coal was formed in a swampy tropical forest closer inland from the delta lobes. These forests were formed by plants which had a much higher proportion of bark and therefore lignin than modern trees.

Chapter 5 - faulted and folded

At the end of the Carboniferous and into the Permian plates crashed together to the south (finishing the assembly of Pangea). This halted the subsidence and instead the subsided land popped up on existing faults. The harder base of the white peak prevented serious folding resulting in the gentle dome of limestone. Especially to the west much folding took place resulting in many synclines and anticlines. Faults caused by the movement were mineralised by this tectonic activity.

Chapter 6 - drainage delights

Spring lines and landslips.

Chapter 7 - solution and superimposition

Sink holes, caves, dry valleys, stalactites and superimposed drainage.

Chapter 8 - peak and people

Exactly what it says.

The walks:

Walk #1 Kinder Scout

Walk #2 Bretton Clough

Walk #3 Mam Tor & Back Tor

Walk #4 Upper Dove & Manifold Valleys

Walk #5 Chrome Hill

Walk #6 High Wheeldon

Walk #7 Dove Valley - Wolfscote Dale

Walk #8 Lower Dovedale

Walk #9 Stanage Edge

Walk #10 Curbar Edge

Walk #11 The Roaches & Gradbach Hill

Walk #12 Lathkill Dale

Walk #13 Cave Dale & Winnats

Walk #14 NSC, Middleton Moor & Black Rock

Walk #15 Wye Valley

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