An assessment of the need for a resurvey of the Cheviot Hills

This report is an assessment of the currently available maps of the Cheviot Hills, the extensive upland area that lies partly within the Northumberland National Park, and extending across the Scottish border into the Borders Region. The task was initiated by B Young under the Northern England Responsive Surveys Project, though responsibility for the geology of the Cheviot massif falls within the remits of both this project, and those covering the Southern Uplands terrane evolution and the Quaternary geology of Southern Scotland.
The Cheviot Hills are underlain mostly by Lower Devonian igneous rocks belonging to the Cheviot Volcanic Formation and the Cheviot Pluton. The solid geology is generally poorly exposed and obscured by a variable cover of Quaternary deposits. The igneous rocks crop out over an area of about 730 km², comparable in size to the recently remapped Borrowdale Volcanic Group in the English Lake District.
The aims and objective of this report are:
1. To review the available published and unpublished data on the area;
2. To assess the quality of the existing maps and their fitness for purpose;
3. To consider whether a resurvey of the area is required and to provide an outline of how that might be achieved in a cost-effective and efficient manner.