This KS3 Geography quiz looks at limestone scenery. Limestone was formed from the remains of organisms that lived in ancient seas. Large areas of beautiful countryside in the UK consist of limestone formed when our country was under water. It forms in shallow tropical seas and so it shows that Britain was once much further south than it is today. This is possible because of continental drift created by the movement of the Earth's tectonic plates.
There are two types of limestone in Britain, or three if you count chalk which is a softer and more powdery rock. The oldest formed in the Carboniferous period between about 363 and 325 million years ago. It is hard, greyish-white in colour and in places contains a lot of fossils. This weathers to form characteristic scenery, which is referred to by geographers as limestone scenery. The other type of limestone is younger, being formed during the Jurassic period and typically forms rounded ridges, without the spectacular caves, gorges, cliffs and other features associated with the Carboniferous limestone.
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This is referred to as Carboniferous limestone and is the type that gives rise to spectacular landscape features. There is also limestone formed more recently during the Jurassic period, which is interesting in its own right but without the dramatic features of the Carboniferous limestone
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The scenery is a big tourist attraction to the area. There are other ares of the UK in which Carboniferous limestone can be found
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Thick sediments were squashed together over time
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Limestone pavement consists of clints and grykes but do you know which is which?
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Formed from drops of water containing dissolved limestone. As the drops slowly evaporate, the dissolved limestone is precipitated out and so the stalactite slowly grows
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There are other materials in there too like particles of mud, but it is mainly calcium carbonate
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This is why limestone has underground features like potholes and caves
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Permeable means it lets water through. It is permeable because it contains lots of cracks and rainwater can dissolve it, widening the cracks
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It's in North Yorkshire
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Rock climbing on limestone cliffs and walking through limestone scenery are also very popular
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