Groverake Lead - Fluorspar Mine - geograph

The Alston Block is a term used by geologists to describe the geological structure of the

North Pennines The North Pennines are the northernmost section of the Pennines, a range of hills which run north–south through northern England. They run along the border between County Durham and Northumberland in the east and Cumbria in the west, and are ...

of northern

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

and which forms a part of the Pennine Block & Basin Province which originated during the

Carboniferous The Carboniferous ( ) is a Geologic time scale, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), system of the Paleozoic era (geology), era that spans 60 million years, from the end of the Devonian Period Ma (million years ago) to the beginning of the ...

period. It is defined by the Stublick and Ninety Fathom faults to the north, the Pennine Fault to the west and the Stainmore Trough to the south. It is in essence a horst underlain by the Weardale Granite which provides sufficient buoyancy to maintain this piece of the upper crust as an area of raised relief. To its west lies the Vale of Eden and to its north is the

half-graben A half-graben is a geological structure bounded by a fault along one side of its boundaries, unlike a full graben where a depressed block of land is bordered by parallel faults. Rift and fault structure A rift is a region where the lithosphere ...

of the Northumberland Trough.British Geological Survey. 1996, ''Tectonic Map of Britain, Ireland & adjacent areas'', Pharaoh et al. 1:1500 000 (Keyworth, BGS) The area is also known for its mineral wealth.

References

Carboniferous England Geology of the Pennines Horsts (geology) {{UK-geology-stub

See also

References