Fluvial geomorphology of central and southern England

Abstract

The boundary between the ‘Highland Zone’, of the north and west of Britain, and the ‘Lowland Zone’, of the south and east, is usually taken as a line running approximately from the mouth of the River Exe to the mouth of the River Tees. The area defined here as central and southern England includes some portions of the Highland Zone. These are principally found in south-west England, where three upland plateau areas of western Cornwall rise above a landscape that is dominated by coastal low plateaux cut across resistant Palaeozoic rocks. Also representing the upland scenery and resistant rock theme of the Highland Zone are the Mendips and the Quantocks, although the limestone features of such areas as the Mendips are included in another volume in this series. The central and southern Pennines also have the relief, scenery and resistant rock outcrops characteristic of the Highland Zone.