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Introducing the Chalk
Chalk geodiversity plays an important role in the
life of the region. It influences the landscape, wildlife, economic and cultural life. Read on
to find out more. |
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Geology
Chalk originated in warm seas of the Cretaceous period between
99 and 65 million years ago. It is a limestone made from the calcareous shells of miniscule planktonic organisms
which became deposited on the sea-bed and which later hardened into chalk rock; flints formed in it
from silica-rich debris. The Chalk has variations in hardness,
clay and flint content which influence the shape of today's
landscape, and which reveal a story of climatic change in the
remote past. It often includes beautifully preserved marine fossils.
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here to find out more.
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Microscopic chalk fossils (magnified 2000x)
Picture courtesy Project Gutenberg |
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Landscape and landforms
The Chalk outcrops in all six counties of the region (see map), and is an important part of the landscape. It forms a ridge of high ground ranging from the northern Chiltern hills, through the East Anglian Heights to the cliffs of the north Norfolk coast; it has smaller outcrops along the valleys of the Yare, Wensum and Gipping, and in south Essex. It gives rise to many interesting landforms, including dry valleys and disappearing streams, and soil types ranging from rendzinas to calcareous loams.
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here to find out more. |
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The sub-drift outcrop of the Chalk.
Click map for enlargement. |
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Chalkland biodiversity
The soils of the Chalk gives rise to a distinctive range of habitats, each with its suite of flora and fauna, including
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chalk grassland
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chalk rivers
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chalk heath
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springs and wetlands
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beech woodland
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Chalk grassland on the Sundon Hills, Beds. |
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Economic and cultural life of the Chalk
Chalk is an important economic and functional resource for the
region. It is the region’s major source of drinking water; it is also a historic source of lime and building stone,
which has left a legacy of pits and quarries. It has been settled by humans for many thousands of years, leaving a
legacy of field monuments such as burial mounds, banked enclosures and linear earthworks like the Devil's Dyke; its
flint was widely used for tool-making in prehistoric times. Museum collections of specimens from the Chalk have been
built up over the last 150 years, and are an important cultural resource for education and enjoyment. Chalk has been
used by artists and craftworkers for making turf-cut figures and other carvings.
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here
to find out more |
Lime burners at work - a pub sign from Offton, Suffolk
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Resources
Click
here
for further Chalk-related resources, including further reading and web links. |
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