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Quiz yourself on UK Physical Landscape ManagementGet your flashcardsBuild my revision planTrack my progress📋 Rock Types, Landscapes and UK Examples
| Rock Type | How It Forms | Hardness | Landscape Type | UK Examples |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Granite (igneous) | Magma cools slowly underground | Very hard — highly resistant | Upland moorland; tor formation; thin acid soils; high rainfall | Dartmoor; Lake District; Cairngorms; Bodmin Moor |
| Basalt (igneous) | Lava erupts and cools at surface | Very hard | Dramatic cliffs; columnar formations; lava plateaux | Giant's Causeway (N. Ireland); Fingal's Cave (Scotland) |
| Schist / gneiss (metamorphic) | Rocks transformed by heat + pressure during mountain-building | Hard — resistant | Rugged ancient highlands; thin poor soils | Scottish Highlands; Outer Hebrides |
| Slate (metamorphic) | Mudstone transformed by pressure | Hard; splits into layers | Steep rugged hills; quarrying; thin soils | Snowdonia; Cumbria; Cornish slate belt |
| Limestone (sedimentary) | Compressed marine shells in shallow seas | Moderate; soluble in acid rain | Karst scenery; pavements; caves; pot holes; steep gorges | Yorkshire Dales; Peak District; Mendips |
| Chalk (sedimentary) | Compressed coccoliths in warm seas | Soft; porous | Rolling downland; dry valleys; dramatic white cliffs | North/South Downs; White Cliffs of Dover; Chilterns |
| Clay (sedimentary) | Fine particles deposited in shallow seas | Soft; impermeable | Flat lowlands; floodplains; poor drainage; rapid coastal erosion | Vale of York; East Anglia; Holderness (boulder clay) |
Quick Check: Why does the Holderness coast erode at 1.7 m per year while the White Cliffs of Dover erode much more slowly?
Holderness is made of boulder clay — a soft, glacially deposited material with no resistant rock layers. Clay offers little resistance to wave attack; once it is saturated with water it slumps easily. The coast also faces the long fetch of the North Sea from Scandinavia, giving waves high energy. The White Cliffs of Dover are made of chalk — harder and more resistant than clay. Dover also sits in the relatively sheltered English Channel, away from the full force of Atlantic and North Sea swells. Rock hardness and wave energy together control the rate of erosion.
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