Studies in the Ecology of Breckland: I. Climate, Soil and Vegetation
1936; Wiley; Volume: 24; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
10.2307/2256271
ISSN1365-2745
Autores Tópico(s)Botany and Plant Ecology Studies
ResumoBRECKLAND is a well-defined physiognomic unit whose vegetational features are primarily determined by a dry soil in a dry climate. Breckland (Fig. 1) rests on a foundation of chalk and lies in south-west Norfolk and north-west Suffolk at the angle made by the chalk outcrop as it swings round from a south-west-north-east to a south-north direction. Here the chalk strata are practically horizontal and there is no escarpment. The Cretaceous escarpment running south from Hunstanton is interrupted near Swaffham by a gap about twenty-five miles (40 km.) in width, which extends from that place to a point north-east of Newmarket, where the Chalk Hills of the Gog-Magogs commence (Harmer, 1910). Opposite the gap lies Breckland. Set back from the line of the Lower Greensand and Gault outcrops, Breckland's western boundary is formed by the Fen, which here has extended eastwards partly at least at Breckland's expense. To the north and north-east, and south and south-east lies higher ground (61 m. to over 122 m.), separated by the trough of the joint basin of the west-flowing Little Ouse and the east-flowing Waveney: possibly of pre-glacial origin, it was clearly in existence in glacial times (Harmer, 1910).
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