Landscapes Produced by Humans Exploiting the Geology

The reason that Geology originally became a popular and useful science was because it can be used to tell us where there are things in the ground, like coal, oil and metallic minerals that we can make money from. Our extraction (removal from the ground) of these resources has left its effect on the landscape. Some of these effects we can 'put right', some we can't. Some places need to be protected and are given SSSI or RIGS status.


What the Syllabus Says - and the Details

The landscape has been modified by...

Quarries 

                                           and gravel pits excavated for raw materials such as; building stones, aggregate, cement and road-stone. These material are mainly wanted for the construction industry.

Past mining activity has left; pits and shafts, 

spoil heaps 

and contaminated land (land that is 'poisoned' by waste materials and residues of mining activity).

All of these are now causing us problems.

Pits - people can fall into them.

Shafts - can collapse causing local 'earthquakes' and serious damage to buildings on the surface above them. The photo below shows the Crooked House pub which sits on top of the mines under the Dudley area of the West Midlands.

Spoil heaps can slide if they get wet - this can lead to damage and deaths. They can't be built on as they are too weak to take the weight.

Contaminated land obviously causes health issues for people, other animals and plants.

Cuttings (this one happens to show a rather brilliant syncline)

and tunnels have been excavated for roads and railways. These are unnaturally steep sided and are subject to landslides.

Much evidence of past mining/quarrying activity can be removed by landscaping. Country parks such as the one below in Wakefield (Yorkshire) have been developed on ‘brownfield’ mining/quarrying sites to give people 'nice places to visit' within easy reach of towns.

Sometimes geologists would prefer that sites are not filled in or covered over because old quarries and cuttings can have scientific importance, for example they may show a rare fossil or an important feature such as an unconformity. These places are protected as Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs). SSSI status is also given to sites where geologists have worked out something important in the past. Other sites may be useful for education or may have aesthetic importance. These are protected as Regionally Important Geological or Geomorphological Sites (RIGS).  Both SSSIs and RIGS can also be potential safety hazards unless well managed - see comments on pits, shafts etc above.

Local planning and environmental issues are often raised by the extraction of limestone, aggregate (gravel type material) and brick clay in environmentally sensitive areas. 

You need to be able to analyse these issues. Make comments about; spoiling the landscape , potential hazards, affecting places that are important for leisure or wildlife...

The disposal of domestic and hazardous waste can cause problems with groundwater contamination (which means the water gets poisoned due to waste material dissolving into it) and methane gas production. The methane is produced from the rotting of organic material. It can lead to fires and explosions!

You need to be able to analyse the geological and environmental issues involved in the disposal of domestic and hazardous waste.