Geography of the United Kingdom

The United Kingdom consists of the island of Great Britain with England, Scotland and Wales and the northeastern sixth of the island of Ireland, which is known as Northern Ireland. The area of the country is 244,820 km ².

To the main island of the United Kingdom there are several smaller islands and island groups. The most important are the Shetland and Orkney in the North Sea north of Scotland, Hebrides in the Atlantic Ocean west of Scotland, Anglesey in the Irish Sea north of Wales, the Isles of Scilly in the Celtic Sea south west of England and the Isle of Wight off the English south coast. The Channel Islands in the English Channel and the Isle of Man in the Irish Sea are politically not part of the United Kingdom. The only land border is on the island of Ireland with the Republic of Ireland, this is about 360 km long. The Euro tunnel linking the UK with France.

The main island is located between the 49th and 59th degree of north latitude ( the Shetland Islands reach almost to the 61st degree of latitude), and between 8 and 2 western eastern longitude. The Royal Greenwich Observatory in London is the defining point of the Prime Meridian.

Physical Geography

The physical geography of the United Kingdom varies greatly. It includes the chalk cliffs of Kent and Dorset, the hills South East England, the granite cliffs of Cornwall, the mountains of Wales, the uplands of the Peak District and the Pennines, the lakes and mountains in the Lake District, the Lowlands, Highlands and Islands of Scotland and the lakes and hills of Northern Ireland. The main island can be divided along the Tees- Exe line between the rivers Tees in Yorkshire and the Exe in Devon geologically into two distinct regions. The North and West is characterized by low mountain ranges of metamorphic and igneous rocks, the south and east by plains and rolling hills of sedimentary rocks.

The geomorphology of the United Kingdom was formed by the combined forces of tectonics and climate change, mainly the glaciation during the ice ages. The location of the exact center of the island of Great Britain has been calculated in 2002 by the Ordnance Survey. Although the place Haltwhistle in Northumberland takes still claim for themselves in the exact center of the island lie, but, depending on the calculation of the Wolf Hole Crag at Dunsop Bridge or at Whalley in Lancashire.

Geology

The geology of the United Kingdom is very complex and consists of many different rock zones with correspondingly diverse landforms. This diversity and the leading position of British geologists influenced the naming of many geological concepts. These include several names of geological eras such as that under the strain of Ordovizier named Ordovician, the. Based on the eponymous county in southwestern England named Devonian and named after the tribe of the Silures Silurian age

The oldest rocks in the UK are gneisses, which date back to the Archean before 2.7 billion years. These can be found in the far north west of Scotland and the Hebrides. South of the gneiss formation is a complex composition of rocks, in the northwest of the Highlands and the Grampian Mountains in Scotland as well as in the mountains of Connemara, Donegal and Mayo in the north of Ireland. It is folded sediments that have accumulated around 1 billion years ago over the gneiss. Then encamped before 800 mya a seven km thick layer of sandstone from, followed by sediment that was transported here during the Gunz glaciation glaciers before 670 mya.

Remains of ancient volcanic islands form the basis for most of central England, in some places the rock comes to the surface. The English and Welsh countryside was around 600 mya piled up into a mountain, together with the rest of north-western Europe.

The Welsh Skiddaw slate deposits originated about 500 mya during the Ordovician. Before 425 mya the north of Wales and the south of County Mayo in Ireland were volcanically active. The remains of these volcanoes are still visible today. ( Known as the Borrowdale Volcanics ) Large amounts of volcanic lava and ash covered both Wales and the Lake District, recognizable by the form of individual mountains as Helvellyn and Scafell Pike.

In the Silurian age before 425-400 mya the Caledonian mountains emerged (see Caledonian orogeny ) that covered most of the present-day United Kingdom and were up to 2500 meters high. Deposits of ash and lava from this period can be found in the Mendip Hills and in Pembrokeshire. The Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in the British Isles, was formed by volcanic deposits in the Devonian period. Sea levels varied significantly, resulting in the deposition of numerous sedimentary rocks. The Old Red Sandstone of the county of Devon gave its name to this geological epoch

During the Carboniferous period, about 360 mya ago, the United Kingdom was at the equator, covered by shallow Rheischen Ocean. At that time, limestone was deposited, which can be found today, especially in the Mendip Hills and the Pennines. In this era, the emergence of the coal layers falls in swamps and rainforests. Coal is found in many areas of the United Kingdom, of Sutherland in the north to Kent in the south. The largest deposits there were in the Midlands, the North of England and in Wales.

During the age of the Permian and Triassic of the largest part of the United Kingdom was again below sea level. This led to the deposition of shale, sandstone, gravel and marl. The seas retreated, leaving a flat desert with salt flats. At the beginning of the Jura, the country was again under water. Were deposited sedimentary rocks that now form the base of the greater part of England, including clay minerals and Oolite. The cover of algae and bacteria under the mud of the sea floor resulted in the formation of petroleum and natural gas reserves in the North Sea.

The United Kingdom was during the Cretaceous period again below sea level, chalk and flint camped off. Most visibly, these rocks occur in the southern English chalk formation revealed, consisting of Salisbury Plain, Chiltern Hills, South Downs, North Downs and other ranges of hills.

The last volcanic rocks were formed in the early Tertiary in front 63-52 mya. Powerful eruptions formed the Antrim Plateau and the basalt columns of the Giant's Causeway. Other deposits made ​​in the south of England, the English Channel was a watt. The geological changes also held during the Quaternary; advancing glaciers during the ice ages created in the mountains of the typical U-shaped valleys and left behind in southern England fertile (but rocky ) soil.

Mountains and waters

The ten highest mountains in the United Kingdom are all in Scotland. Highest mountain (also of the British Isles ) is the Ben Nevis ( 1344 m above sea level. NN ). The highest peak in Wales is Snowdon ( 1085 m), in England Scafell Pike (978 m) and in Northern Ireland, the Slieve Donard ( 849 m). Parts of the Fens in East Anglia are up to 4 meters below sea level.

Longest river in the United Kingdom is the Severn, which rises in central Wales and flows into the Bristol Channel after 354 km in the English county of Gloucestershire. The longest rivers in the individual States are part of the River Thames in England ( 346 km ), the Tay in Scotland (193 km), the ban in Northern Ireland (129 km ) and the Tywi in Wales (103 km).

The largest lake in the British Isles is the Lough Neagh in Northern Ireland with an area of ​​381.74 km ². In Scotland this is the Loch Lomond ( 71.12 km ²), of Windermere in England ( 14.74 km ²) in Wales and the Lake Vyrnwy ( 8.24 km ²). At the deepest Loch Morar is 310 meters, followed by Loch Ness with 226 meters. Reservoirs are mainly used for storing drinking water, hydroelectric power stations only just 2% for electricity production.

As a result of its industrial history of the United Kingdom has an extensive network of canals. These have been for the most part in the early days of the industrial revolution, before they were displaced by the cheaper railways.

See also:

  • List of mountains and inquiries in the United Kingdom
  • List of rivers in the United Kingdom
  • List of lakes in the United Kingdom
  • Channels in the UK

Coast

The length of the British coastline measures approximately 12,500 km, almost twice as much as eg the coast of Italy, but about 1100 km less than the coast of Greece.

The coastline is so long because the British Isles consist of hundreds of different islands and the main island of Britain is cut by numerous bays. These include Cardigan Bay, Lyme Bay, Bristol Channel, the Thames Estuary, Morecambe Bay, The Wash, the mouth of the Humber, Solway Firth, Firth of Clyde, Firth of Forth, Firth of Tay and the Moray Firth. No point Britain is more than 125 km from the sea.

The United Kingdom claimed jurisdiction over the continental shelf, an exclusive fishing zone of 200 nautical miles ( 370.4 km ) and territorial sea of 12 nautical miles ( 22.2 kilometers ).

Some sections of the British coast are affected by severe erosion, especially in Holderness, Norfolk and Suffolk. Numerous settlements such as Dunwich drowned in the sea. In other places, the land could be reclaimed from the sea, such as in the Fens, in the Somerset Levels and Romney Marsh.

Islands

Overall, the United Kingdom consists of more than 1000 small islands. Below are some Crannogs artificially created. The most important of these archipelagos and islands are as follows:

Scottish Lowlands Scottish Highlands River Tees River Exe County Donegal Mya (unit) Rheic Ocean River Bann List of islands of the British Isles Canvey Island St Kilda, Scotland Rathlin Island Geography of Bulgaria Geography of Ireland Geography of Montenegro Geography of Serbia Geography of Slovakia Geography of Ukraine Geography of Kosovo Geography of Africa
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