This second edition of 'The Geology of England and Wales' is considerably expanded from its predecessor, reflecting the increase in our knowledge of the region, and particularly of the offshore areas. Forty specialists have contributed to 18 chapters, which cover a time range from 700 million years ago to 200 million years into the future. A new format places all the chapters in approximately temporal order. Both offshore and economic geology now form an integral part of appropriate chapters.

Covers circa 37 sites - including famous Chalk sites such as the white cliffs of Dover and the banded cliffs at Hunstanton. This work explains the stratigraphical systems to give context to the detailed site reports.

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

Britain, Ireland and their surrounding areas have a remarkably varied geology for so small a fragment of continental crust. This region contains a fine rock record from all the geological periods from Quaternary back to Cambrian, and a less continuous but still impressive catalogue of events back through nearly 2500 million years of Precambrian time. This protracted geological history would have been interesting enough to reconstruct if it had been played out on relatively stable continental crust. However, Britain and Ireland have developed instead at a tectonic crossroads, on crust traversed intermittently by subduction zones and volcanic arcs, continental rifts and mountain belts. The resulting complexity makes the geological history of this region at once fascinating and perplexing. Geological History of Britain and Ireland tells the geological story of the region at a level accessible to undergraduate geologists, as well as to postgraduates, professionals or informed amateurs. The book takes a multi-disciplinary rather than a purely stratigraphical approach, and aims to bring to life the processes behind the catalogue of historical events. Full coverage is given to the rich Precambrian and Early Palaeozoic history, as well as to later events more relevant to hydrocarbon exploration. The book is profusely illustrated and contains guides to further reading and full references to data sources, making it an essential starting point for more detailed studies of the regional geology. All British Earth science undergraduates will be required to spend some time studying British Geological History, and this book will be the only one available to British undergraduates The book takes a process-based approach, rather than simply describing the regional stratigraphy Lavishly illustrated with high-quality diagrams

Essential reading for first- and second-year Geology undergraduates, A-Level Geology teachers and students and enthusiastic amateur geologists. The book includes a comprehensive glossary, maps and excellent full-colour illustrations, and is based on part of a second-level Open University short course of the same name. The landscape and surface environment of the continental crust that now forms the islands of Great Britain, Ireland and the adjacent lesser isles has undergone dramatic changes during the geological history of the Earth. This book takes the reader on a geological tour of the British Isles, showing how changes in climate, sea-level and relief can be recognized and understood in the geological record. The reader is asked to use a variety of data and geological principles to interpret how and why different rocks formed, and to identify past environments and tectonic settings. By unravelling the geological history of the British Isles, a remarkable insight is gained into the geological evolution of the whole Earth.