56 SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF NOTTINGHAM AND DISTRICT 



When the lake was being extended deposits of peat of considerable 

 thickness were found around its margins and bronze age implements 

 were brought to light. 



H.H.S. 



The Physical Features of the Area 



Between the peneplained plateau of the Derbyshire limestone massif, 

 with its surrounding grit moorlands, and the floor of the Trent valley are 

 to be found traces of successive stages in the physiographic evolution of 

 the area. At each stage no doubt, as now the major features were scarps 

 and vales whose arrangement was determined by the distribution of the 

 more and the less resistant rocks as seen upon the geological map. 

 Generally speaking the crests of the scarps to-day preserve traces of the 

 older peneplains, whilst the later phases of change have been most 

 marked along the vales, which have been progressively deepened, with a 

 consequent emphasising of the scarp features. 



Along the southern flanks of the Pennines distinct evidences of an 

 erosion surface occur at about 700 feet. This surface appears to sink 

 eastwards and to reach a level of about 550 feet in the Mansfield plateau. 

 Another and more extensive surface, which has developed at the expense 

 of the higher one, sinks from a level of about 450 feet at its fringes along 

 the foot of the Charnwood hills, the Ashby plateau and the edges of the 

 700 foot surface, to a level of about 300 feet near the course of the Trent. 

 This erosion surface represents a portion of the pre-glacial Trent basin, 

 and is the surface upon which rest some of the boulder clays and most 

 of the out-wash gravels of the area. Into this surface was etched, during 

 late glacial times, the present system of rather narrow and moderately 

 steep-sided valleys of the Trent and its tributaries. 



H.H.S. 



li. THE CLIMATE OF NOTTINGHAMSHIRE 



BY 



K. C. EDWARDS, MA. 



The broad features of the climate of Nottingham such as the comparative- 

 ly great range of temperature and the comparatively slight rainfall, much 

 of which occurs during the summer half-year, are materially influenced 

 by its inland position. The city itself is situated more than one hundred 

 miles from the west coast and is further sheltered to some extent from 

 westerly maritime influences by the uplands of Derbyshire and north 

 Staffordshire. The east coast at Skegness is almost seventy miles away, 

 though this distance by no means prevents cold easterly winds from 

 sweeping across Lincolnshire to Nottingham and the middle Trent valley. 



