Stepped topography at Shatton and Abney Moor

Originally posted for the Guesswhere UK group.

This is a view eastwards from Overdale towards Abney Moor and the Shatton wireless mast, near the Hope Valley in the Peak District.

The step-like topography indicates the presence of relatively hard sandstone bands alternating with softer shales, within the Shale Grit - a distinct group of strata within the 'Millstone Grit' (Namurian) sequence. Dark bands of heather growth pick out the sandstone beds upon which it grows preferentially. Small pock marks are the remains of small quarries, also in the sandstone beds, from which stone was extracted in the 18th and 19th centuries to build the dry-stone enclosure walls.

The highest ground in the upper right is formed of Kinderscout Grit, the overlying major gritstone horizon in the sequence.