Coastal Plateau Research Articles

The Upper Towy Drainage-System

The most remarkable feature in the physical geography of Wales is undoubtedly the great plateau which extends almost without interruption from near the coast of Denbighshire in North Wales through Central and South Wales, where it occupies a large area of the counties of Cardigan, Carmarthen, Radnor, and probably also of Brecon. It truncates alike the highly folded Lower Palæozoic rocks of North and Central Wales and the gently inclined Old Red Sandstone marls of Breconshire. Its surface is apparently little influenced, either by the attitude of the rocks or by their lithological characters. It abuts against the mountains of North Wales between Cader Idris and Snowdonia, which in places rise abruptly above its level, while southwards it extends to the foot of the great Upper Old Red Sandstone escarpment of Breconshire and Carmarthenshire, which overlooks it as a line of high cliffs overlooks a level foreshore. Sir Andrew Ramsay attributed the formation of the plateau to marine denudation, and at one time regarded the escarpment of the Brecon Beacons as an ancient line of cliff. Occasional references to the plateau occur in later publications. I have given reasons for distinguishing in Central Wales two distinct plateaux: namely, the Higher Plateau described above, and the Coastal Plateau which lies south of the Dovey Estuary and, extending inland from the coast of Cardigan Bay for a distance of 3 to 15 miles, is sharply marked off from the High Plateau on the east. The Coastal Plateau was attributed to marine erosion

Some Results of a Survey of the Agricultural Zoology of the Aberystwyth Area

During the period 1913–16, I conducted a Survey of the Agricultural Zoology of the Aberystwyth Area, for which purpose the University authorities received a grant from the Board of Agriculture. The area thus examined comprised N. Cardiganshire and some adjacent borders of Montgomeryshire, roughly about 250 sq. miles. It falls into three main physical divisions:I. The mountainous upland (or high plateau) of solid rocks frequently covered by a considerable depth of peat. The rock succession is only irregularly exposed in deep stream cuttings, while these valleys are occupied by boulder clay and river deposits.II. The surface of the coastal plateau shows exposures of rock and of boulder clay. The clay is usually exposed and rarely covered with peat.III. The fall line, which is intermediate. Here the boulder clay generally follows the valleys, and it is usually covered with a thin layer of peat. Much of this is readily cut through by small streams.