Geology of the Shepton Mallet area (Somerset)

Bristow, C.R.; Donovan, D.T.. 2003 Geology of the Shepton Mallet area (Somerset). Nottingham, UK, British Geological Survey, 57pp. (IR/03/094) (Unpublished)

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Abstract/Summary

Apart from the urban sprawl of Shepton Mallet, the area is dominantly rural with only a scatter of small hamlets. The area is mostly underlain by Jurassic sediments, with the Blue Lias occupying over 50 per cent of the ground. Carboniferous rocks occur in some of the deeper valleys in the northern part of the area, with the Mercia Mudstone and Penarth groups cropping out mainly in the south-west. Higher parts of the Lias Group, together with the Inferior Oolite and Fuller’s Earth crop out in the east of the area. The highest ground is about 246 m O.D. in the north-east; the lowest ground is about 70 m O.D. in the south-west. The principal drainage is westwards via the River Sheppey in the north, and unnamed streams in the south-west. Outside Shepton Mallet, agriculture is the main industry of the region with a predominance of dairy farming on the heavier soils, and arable farming on the lighter soils developed on the Inferior Oolite. There is very little woodland in the area. In the past, quarrying of limestone (Carboniferous, Blue Lias and Inferior Oolite) was an important industry, but extraction is now limited to the Inferior Oolite in the Doulting area. The Shepton Mallet area of this report comprises 1: 10 000 Sheet ST64SW. Figures in square brackets are National Grid references and fall within 100-km square ST. The grid letters precede the grid numbers.

Item Type:	Publication - Report
Programmes:	BGS Programmes > Geology and Landscape Southern
Funders/Sponsors:	British Geological Survey
Additional Information. Not used in RCUK Gateway to Research.:	This item has been internally reviewed, but not externally peer-reviewed.
Date made live:	04 May 2020 10:34 +0 (UTC)
URI:	https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/527620

Item Type:

Publication - Report

Programmes:

BGS Programmes > Geology and Landscape Southern

Funders/Sponsors:

British Geological Survey

Additional Information. Not used in RCUK Gateway to Research.:

This item has been internally reviewed, but not externally peer-reviewed.

Date made live:

04 May 2020 10:34 +0 (UTC)

URI:

https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/527620