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Geological Society, London, Special Publications; 1999; v. 162; p. 65-74;
DOI: 10.1144/GSL.SP.1999.162.01.05
© 1999 Geological Society of London

The British Isles

Crustal anisotropy and differential uplift: their role in long-term landform development

Y. Battiau-Queney

Department of Geography, University of Science and Technology of Lille, F-59655 Villeneuve d’Ascq Cedex, France

The British Isles belong to a passive continental margin where recently acquired geophysical data have confirmed the great heterogeneity of the crust. In such an area, models based on time-related landform evolution leading to planation fail to explain the long-term development, at least since the North Atlantic began to open. The concept of a morphotectonic system taking into account a continuous input of energy (due to plate tectonics) and a state of stress controlled by pre-existing crustal discontinuities is well adapted to the British area and other similar areas. The spatial units of a morphotectonic system are defined by the crustal framework and do not generally coincide with drainage basins. Regional-scale landforms are not time-related but depend on crustal properties, and denudation rates might strongly differ on either side of main crustal hinges, whatever the proximity of the sea.





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D. J. Blundell
Cenozoic inversion and uplift of southern Britain
Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 2002; 196: 85 - 101.
[Abstract] [PDF]