84-564: The Gaunless is a tributary river of the Wear in County Durham , England . Its name is Old Norse , meaning "useless". The Gaunless Viaduct , built in 1825, was the tallest viaduct on the South Durham & Lancashire Union Railway . Formed just south of the village of Copley , by the confluence of Arn Gill (to the south, coming west from south of Langleydale Common) and Hindon Beck (to
168-491: A hymn for baptism . Between Durham City and Chester-le-Street , 6 miles (10 km) due north, the River Wear changes direction repeatedly, flowing south westwards several miles downstream having passed the medieval site of Finchale Priory , a former chapel and later a satellite monastery depending on the abbey church of Durham Cathedral . Two miles downstream, the river is flowing south eastwards. The only road bridge over
252-504: A deep, wooded gorge, from which several springs emerge, historically used as sources of potable water . A few coal seams are visible in the banks. Twisting sinuously in an incised meander , the river has cut deeply into the "Cathedral Sandstone" bedrock. The high ground (bluffs) enclosed by this meander is known as the Peninsula , forming a defensive enclosure, at whose heart lies Durham Castle and Durham Cathedral and which developed around
336-590: A frost hollow and receives no sunshine between October and March because of its geography. [REDACTED] Media related to River Gaunless at Wikimedia Commons This County Durham location article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This article related to a river in England is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . River Wear The River Wear ( / ˈ w ɪər / , WEER ) in Northern England rises in
420-462: A general northeasterly direction, demonstrating many fluvial features of a mature river, including wide valley walls, fertile flood plains and ox-bow lakes. Bridges over the river become more substantial, such as those at Sunderland Bridge (near Croxdale ), and Shincliffe . At Sunderland Bridge the River Browney joins the Wear. When it reaches the city of Durham the River Wear passes through
504-681: A painting by William Andrews Nesfield showing a fisherman in the river was published in Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book, 1838, along with a poetical illustration by Letitia Elizabeth Landon . Last glacial period The Last Glacial Period ( LGP ), also known as the Last glacial cycle , occurred from the end of the Last Interglacial to the beginning of the Holocene , c. 115,000 – c. 11,700 years ago, and thus corresponds to most of
588-513: A result of melting ice, the land has continued to rise yearly in Scandinavia, mostly in northern Sweden and Finland, where the land is rising at a rate of as much as 8–9 mm per year, or 1 m in 100 years. This is important for archaeologists, since a site that was coastal in the Nordic Stone Age now is inland and can be dated by its relative distance from the present shore. The term Würm
672-477: A salmon leap and fish counter, monitoring sea trout and salmon , and is on the site of a former ford. Considering that 138,000 fish have been counted migrating upriver since 1994, it may not be surprising that cormorants frequent the weir. The river's banks also lend their name to a hymn tune Elvet Banks in the 2006 hymnbook of the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod , used (appropriately) for
756-762: A still lesser extent, glaciers existed in Africa, for example in the High Atlas , the mountains of Morocco , the Mount Atakor massif in southern Algeria , and several mountains in Ethiopia . Just south of the equator, an ice cap of several hundred square kilometers was present on the east African mountains in the Kilimanjaro massif , Mount Kenya , and the Rwenzori Mountains , which still bear relic glaciers today. Glaciation of
840-450: Is a spate river and has been heavily influenced by previous government funded drainage schemes (gripping) with a view to improving marginal agricultural land. The river rises very quickly and has experienced much heavy flooding resulting in enhanced river bank erosion. The river flows eastwards through Weardale , one of the larger valleys of west County Durham , subsequently turning south-east, and then north-east, meandering its way through
924-479: Is considered that most of the mineralisation occurred during the Carboniferous period. It is thought that the course of the River Wear, prior to the last Ice Age , was much as it is now as far as Chester-le-Street . This can be established as a result of boreholes, of which there have been many in the Wear valley due to coal mining . However, northwards from Chester-le-Street, the Wear may have originally followed
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#17328527026231008-594: Is derived from a river in the Alpine foreland, roughly marking the maximum glacier advance of this particular glacial period. The Alps were where the first systematic scientific research on ice ages was conducted by Louis Agassiz at the beginning of the 19th century. Here, the Würm glaciation of the LGP was intensively studied. Pollen analysis , the statistical analyses of microfossilized plant pollens found in geological deposits, chronicled
1092-522: Is generally understood to be Celtic. The River Vedra on the Roman Map of Britain may very well be the River Wear. The name may be derived from Brittonic *wejr (< *wẹ:drā ), which meant "a bend" (cf. Welsh -gwair- ). An alternative but very problematic etymology might involve *wẹ:d-r- , from a lengthened form of the Indo-European root *wed- "water". Also suggested is a possible derivation from
1176-689: Is operated by an American consortium who occasionally work it for specimen minerals. Minco are currently exploring the North Pennines and the upper Wear catchment for potential reserves of zinc at lower levels. Ironstone which was important as the ore was won from around Consett and Tow Law , then around Rookhope , while greater quantities were imported from just south of the southerly Tees in North Yorkshire . These sources were in due course depleted or became uneconomic. The former cement works at Eastgate , until recently run by Lafarge ,
1260-461: The A19 trunk road , the river enters the suburbs of Sunderland . The riverbanks show further evidence of past industrialisation, with former collieries, engineering works and dozens of shipyards . In their time, Wearside shipbuilders were some of the most famous and productive shipyards in the world. The artist L. S. Lowry visited Sunderland repeatedly and painted pictures of the industrial landscape around
1344-701: The Alston Block , an upland area raised up during the Caledonian orogeny . The Devonian age Weardale Granite underlies the headwaters of the Wear and the whole Alston Block, but does not appear at outcrop but was surmised by early geologists, and subsequently proven to exist as seen in the Rookhope borehole. It is the presence of this granite that has retained the high upland elevations of this area (less through its relative hardness, and more due to isostatic equilibrium) and accounts for heavy local mineralisation, although it
1428-967: The Central Rocky Mountains ), Wisconsinan or Wisconsin (in central North America), Devensian (in the British Isles), Midlandian (in Ireland), Würm (in the Alps ), Mérida (in Venezuela ), Weichselian or Vistulian (in Northern Europe and northern Central Europe), Valdai in Russia and Zyryanka in Siberia , Llanquihue in Chile , and Otira in New Zealand. The geochronological Late Pleistocene includes
1512-591: The City of Sunderland , specifically the southern/south-eastern edge of the new town of Washington . At Fatfield the river passes beneath Worm Hill , around which the Lambton Worm is reputed to have curled its tail. Already the riverbanks are showing evidence of past industrialisation, with former collieries and chemical works. A little further downstream the river passes beneath the Victoria Viaduct, (formally called
1596-639: The Himalayas , and other formerly glaciated regions around the world. The glaciations that occurred during this glacial period covered many areas, mainly in the Northern Hemisphere and to a lesser extent in the Southern Hemisphere. They have different names, historically developed and depending on their geographic distributions: Fraser (in the Pacific Cordillera of North America), Pinedale (in
1680-542: The Last Glacial Maximum occurring between 26,000 and 20,000 years ago. While the general pattern of cooling and glacier advance around the globe was similar, local differences make it difficult to compare the details from continent to continent (see picture of ice core data below for differences). The most recent cooling, the Younger Dryas , began around 12,800 years ago and ended around 11,700 years ago, also marking
1764-585: The Lesotho Highlands and parts of the Drakensberg . The development of glaciers was likely aided in part due to shade provided by adjacent cliffs. Various moraines and former glacial niches have been identified in the eastern Lesotho Highlands a few kilometres west of the Great Escarpment , at altitudes greater than 3,000 m on south-facing slopes. Studies suggest that the annual average temperature in
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#17328527026231848-563: The National Glass Centre . A riverside sculpture trail runs alongside this final section of its north bank. The St Peter's Riverside Sculpture Project was created by Colin Wilbourn , with crime novelist and ex-poet Chaz Brenchley . They worked closely with community groups, residents and schools. As the river approaches the sea, the north bank at Roker has a substantial residential development and marina. A dolphin nicknamed Freddie
1932-697: The Owen Stanley Range , and the Saruwaged Range . Mount Giluwe in the Central Cordillera had a "more or less continuous ice cap covering about 188 km and extending down to 3200-3500 m". In Western New Guinea , remnants of these glaciers are still preserved atop Puncak Jaya and Ngga Pilimsit . Small glaciers developed in a few favorable places in Southern Africa during the last glacial period. These small glaciers would have been located in
2016-506: The Pennines and flows eastwards, mostly through County Durham , to the North Sea in the City of Sunderland . At 60 mi (97 km) long, it is one of the region's longest rivers. The Wear wends in a steep valley through the cathedral city of Durham and gives its name to Weardale in its upper reach and Wearside by its mouth. The origin behind the hydronym Wear is uncertain but
2100-688: The Sierra Nevada in northern California . In northern Eurasia, the Scandinavian ice sheet once again reached the northern parts of the British Isles , Germany , Poland , and Russia, extending as far east as the Taymyr Peninsula in western Siberia. The maximum extent of western Siberian glaciation was reached by about 18,000 to 17,000 BP, later than in Europe (22,000–18,000 BP). Northeastern Siberia
2184-702: The Upper Mississippi River , which in turn was formed during an earlier glacial period. In its retreat, the Wisconsin episode glaciation left terminal moraines that form Long Island , Block Island , Cape Cod , Nomans Land , Martha's Vineyard , Nantucket , Sable Island , and the Oak Ridges Moraine in south-central Ontario, Canada. In Wisconsin itself, it left the Kettle Moraine . The drumlins and eskers formed at its melting edge are landmarks of
2268-564: The grooves left by these glaciers can be easily observed. In southwestern Saskatchewan and southeastern Alberta, a suture zone between the Laurentide and Cordilleran ice sheets formed the Cypress Hills , which is the northernmost point in North America that remained south of the continental ice sheets. The Great Lakes are the result of glacial scour and pooling of meltwater at the rim of
2352-576: The isostatically depressed area, a temporary marine incursion that geologists dub the Yoldia Sea . Then, as postglacial isostatic rebound lifted the region about 9500 BP, the deepest basin of the Baltic became a freshwater lake, in palaeological contexts referred to as Ancylus Lake , which is identifiable in the freshwater fauna found in sediment cores. The lake was filled by glacial runoff, but as worldwide sea level continued rising, saltwater again breached
2436-739: The Alpine foreland . Local ice fields or small ice sheets could be found capping the highest massifs of the Pyrenees , the Carpathian Mountains , the Balkan Mountains , the Caucasus , and the mountains of Turkey and Iran . In the Himalayas and the Tibetan Plateau , there is evidence that glaciers advanced considerably, particularly between 47,000 and 27,000 BP, but the exact ages, as well as
2520-606: The Bailey into Durham city. That area is now a UN World Heritage Site . Beneath Elvet Bridge are Brown's Boats (rowing boats for hire) and the mooring for the Prince Bishop, a pleasure cruiser. The River Wear at Durham was featured on a television programme Seven Natural Wonders as one of the wonders of Northern England . In June each year, the Durham Regatta , which predates that at Henley , attracts rowing crews from around
2604-906: The Brittonic root *wei- , which is thought to have meant "to flow". The name Wear has also been explained as being an ancient Celtic name meaning "river of blood". It is possible that the Wear has the same etymology as the River Wyre in Lancashire , the Quair Water in Scotland, the Weser in Germany and the Vistula in Poland. The Wear rises in the east Pennines, high on the moors of
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2688-725: The Center for Arctic Gas Hydrate, Environment and Climate at the University of Tromsø , published a study in June 2017 describing over a hundred ocean sediment craters, some 3,000 m wide and up to 300 m deep, formed by explosive eruptions of methane from destabilized methane hydrates , following ice-sheet retreat during the LGP, around 12,000 years ago. These areas around the Barents Sea still seep methane today. The study hypothesized that existing bulges containing methane reservoirs could eventually have
2772-474: The Greenland climate was dry during the LGP, with precipitation reaching perhaps only 20% of today's value. The name Mérida glaciation is proposed to designate the alpine glaciation that affected the central Venezuelan Andes during the Late Pleistocene. Two main moraine levels have been recognized - one with an elevation of 2,600–2,700 m (8,500–8,900 ft), and another with an elevation of 3,000–3,500 m (9,800–11,500 ft). The snow line during
2856-570: The LGP as the Devensian . Irish geologists, geographers, and archaeologists refer to the Midlandian glaciation, as its effects in Ireland are largely visible in the Irish Midlands . The name Devensian is derived from the Latin Dēvenses , people living by the Dee ( Dēva in Latin), a river on the Welsh border near which deposits from the period are particularly well represented. The effects of this glaciation can be seen in many geological features of England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland . Its deposits have been found overlying material from
2940-505: The North American Laurentide ice sheet. At the height of glaciation, the Bering land bridge potentially permitted migration of mammals, including people, to North America from Siberia . It radically altered the geography of North America north of the Ohio River . At the height of the Wisconsin episode glaciation, ice covered most of Canada, the Upper Midwest , and New England , as well as parts of Montana and Washington . On Kelleys Island in Lake Erie or in New York's Central Park ,
3024-410: The Polish River Vistula or its German name Weichsel). Evidence suggests that the ice sheets were at their maximum size for only a short period, between 25,000 and 13,000 BP. Eight interstadials have been recognized in the Weichselian, including the Oerel, Glinde, Moershoofd, Hengelo, and Denekamp. Correlation with isotope stages is still in process. During the glacial maximum in Scandinavia, only
3108-496: The River Wear is associated with the history of the Industrial Revolution . Its upper end runs through lead mining country, until this gives way to coal seams of the Durham coalfield for the rest of its length. As a result of limestone quarrying, lead mining and coal mining, the Wear valley was amongst the first places to see the development of railways. The Weardale Railway continues to run occasional services between Stanhope and Wolsingham . Mining of lead ore has been known in
3192-437: The Southern Hemisphere was less extensive. Ice sheets existed in the Andes ( Patagonian Ice Sheet ), where six glacier advances between 33,500 and 13,900 BP in the Chilean Andes have been reported. Antarctica was entirely glaciated, much like today, but unlike today the ice sheet left no uncovered area. In mainland Australia only a very small area in the vicinity of Mount Kosciuszko was glaciated, whereas in Tasmania glaciation
3276-410: The Victoria Bridge). Named after the newly crowned queen, the railway viaduct opened in 1838, was the crowning achievement of the Leamside Line , then carrying what was to become the East Coast Main Line . A mile to the east is Penshaw Monument , a local iconic landmark. As the river leaves the environs of Washington, it forms the eastern boundary of Washington Wildfowl Trust . Having flowed beneath
3360-399: The Wear Valley still in County Durham to the North Sea where it outfalls at Wearmouth in the main locality of Monkwearmouth on Wearside in the City of Sunderland . Prior to the creation of Tyne and Wear , the Wear had been the longest river in England with a course entirely within one county. The Weardale Way , a long-distance public footpath, roughly follows the entire route, including
3444-427: The Wear between Durham and Chester-le-Street is Cocken Bridge. As it passes Chester-le-Street , where the river is overlooked by Lumley Castle , its flood plain has been developed into The Riverside , the home pitch of Durham County Cricket Club . Passing through the Lambton Estate and near Lambton Castle the river becomes tidal, and navigable. On exiting the Lambton estate the river leaves County Durham and enters
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3528-409: The Wear passes below Auckland Park and Auckland Castle , the official residence of the Bishop of Durham and its deer park . A mile or so downstream from here, the Wear passes Binchester Roman Fort , Vinovia , having been crossed by Dere Street , the Roman road running from Eboracum (now York ) to Coria (now Corbridge ) close to Hadrian's Wall . From Bishop Auckland the River Wear meanders in
3612-452: The Wisconsin episode. It began about 30,000 years ago, reached its greatest advance 21,000 years ago, and ended about 10,000 years ago. In northwest Greenland, ice coverage attained a very early maximum in the LGP around 114,000. After this early maximum, ice coverage was similar to today until the end of the last glacial period. Towards the end, glaciers advanced once more before retreating to their present extent. According to ice core data,
3696-472: The area of the headwaters of the Wear since the Roman occupation and continued into the nineteenth century. Spoil heaps from the abandoned lead mines can still be seen, and since the last quarter of the twentieth century have been the focus of attention for the recovery of gangue minerals in present mining, such as fluorite for the smelting of aluminium . However, abandoned mines and their spoil heaps continue to contribute to heavy metal mineral pollution of
3780-412: The current route of the lower River Team . The last glaciation reached its peak about 18,500 years ago, from which time it also began a progressive retreat, leaving a wide variety of glacial deposits in its wake, filling existing river valleys with silt, sand and other glacial till . At about 14,000 years ago, retreat of the ice paused for maybe 500 years at the city of Durham . This can be established by
3864-400: The dramatic changes in the European environment during the Würm glaciation. During the height of Würm glaciation, c. 24,000 – c. 10,000 BP, most of western and central Europe and Eurasia was open steppe-tundra, while the Alps presented solid ice fields and montane glaciers. Scandinavia and much of Britain were under ice. During the Würm, the Rhône Glacier covered
3948-403: The end of the last Ice Age , although it almost or entirely lacks the particular rarities that make up the unique "Teesdale Assemblage" of post-glacial plants. This may, in part, be due to the Pennine areas of Upper Weardale and Upper Teesdale being the site of the shrinking ice cap , or to the difference in the surface geology, with none of the 'sugar limestone' outcrops which in Teesdale are
4032-539: The end of the LGP and the Pleistocene epoch. It was followed by the Holocene , the current geological epoch . The LGP is often colloquially referred to as the "last ice age", though the term ice age is not strictly defined, and on a longer geological perspective, the last few million years could be termed a single ice age given the continual presence of ice sheets near both poles. Glacials are somewhat better defined, as colder phases during which glaciers advance, separated by relatively warm interglacials . The end of
4116-414: The extraction of ganister which was used in the steel process at Consett. Around Frosterley , limestone, sand (crushed sandstone) and Frosterley Marble have been worked and the Broadwood Quarry recently expanded into ground held on an old licence. The crushing plant continues to operate. A quarry at Bollihope was also mooted on a similar basis but plans seem to have been discontinued. Frosterley Marble
4200-423: The formation of a single contiguous ice sheet on the Tibetan Plateau, is controversial. Other areas of the Northern Hemisphere did not bear extensive ice sheets, but local glaciers were widespread at high altitudes. Parts of Taiwan , for example, were repeatedly glaciated between 44,250 and 10,680 BP as well as the Japanese Alps . In both areas, maximum glacier advance occurred between 60,000 and 30,000 BP. To
4284-411: The home of many of those plants. The glaciation left behind many indications of its presence, including lateral moraines and material from the Lake District and Northumberland , although surprisingly few drumlins . After the Ice Age, the Wear valley became thickly forested, however during the Neolithic period and increasingly in the Bronze Age , were largely deforested for agriculture. Much of
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#17328527026234368-447: The last glacial advance was lowered approximately 1,200 m (3,900 ft) below the present snow line, which is 3,700 m (12,100 ft). The glaciated area in the Cordillera de Mérida was about 600 km (230 sq mi); this included these high areas, from southwest to northeast: Páramo de Tamá, Páramo Batallón, Páramo Los Conejos, Páramo Piedras Blancas, and Teta de Niquitao. Around 200 km (77 sq mi) of
4452-444: The last glacial maximum, the Patagonian ice sheet extended over the Andes from about 35°S to Tierra del Fuego at 55°S. The western part appears to have been very active, with wet basal conditions, while the eastern part was cold-based. Cryogenic features such as ice wedges , patterned ground , pingos , rock glaciers , palsas , soil cryoturbation , and solifluction deposits developed in unglaciated extra-Andean Patagonia during
4536-401: The last glacial period, which was about 10,000 years ago, is often called the end of the ice age, although extensive year-round ice persists in Antarctica and Greenland . Over the past few million years, the glacial-interglacial cycles have been "paced" by periodic variations in the Earth's orbit via Milankovitch cycles . The LGP has been intensively studied in North America, northern Eurasia,
4620-442: The late glacial (Weichselian) and the immediately preceding penultimate interglacial ( Eemian ) period. Canada was almost completely covered by ice, as was the northern part of the United States , both blanketed by the huge Laurentide Ice Sheet . Alaska remained mostly ice free due to arid climate conditions. Local glaciations existed in the Rocky Mountains and the Cordilleran ice sheet and as ice fields and ice caps in
4704-413: The length of Killhope Burn. There are several towns, sights and tourist places along the length of the river. The market town of Stanhope is known in part for the ford across the river. From here the river is followed by the line of the Weardale Railway , which crosses the river several times, through Frosterley , Wolsingham , and Witton-le-Wear to Bishop Auckland . On the edge of Bishop Auckland
4788-401: The lower Connecticut River Valley . In the Sierra Nevada , three stages of glacial maxima, sometimes incorrectly called ice ages , were separated by warmer periods. These glacial maxima are called, from oldest to youngest, Tahoe, Tenaya, and Tioga. The Tahoe reached its maximum extent perhaps about 70,000 years ago. Little is known about the Tenaya. The Tioga was the least severe and last of
4872-448: The main Wisconsin glacial advance. The upper level probably represents the last glacial advance (Late Wisconsin). The Llanquihue glaciation takes its name from Llanquihue Lake in southern Chile , which is a fan-shaped piedmont glacial lake. On the lake's western shores, large moraine systems occur, of which the innermost belong to the LGP. Llanquihue Lake's varves are a node point in southern Chile's varve geochronology . During
4956-430: The massive Missoula Floods . USGS geologists estimate that the cycle of flooding and reformation of the lake lasted an average of 55 years and that the floods occurred about 40 times over the 2,000-year period starting 15,000 years ago. Glacial lake outburst floods such as these are not uncommon today in Iceland and other places. The Wisconsin glacial episode was the last major advance of continental glaciers in
5040-502: The mountains of Southern Africa was about 6 °C colder than at present, in line with temperature drops estimated for Tasmania and southern Patagonia during the same time. This resulted in an environment of relatively arid periglaciation without permafrost , but with deep seasonal freezing on south-facing slopes. Periglaciation in the eastern Drakensberg and Lesotho Highlands produced solifluction deposits and blockfields ; including blockstreams and stone garlands. Scientists from
5124-456: The north and coming east from Langleydale Common), the Gaunless wends its way east, passing the settlements of Butterknowle , Cockfield and Evenwood and through West Auckland before skirting the south and east of Bishop Auckland on its way to meet the River Wear . An extension of the Copley Met.Office weather station has been placed at the head of the river at Copley Lead Mill to study its unique climate of frost and snow. It lies in
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#17328527026235208-463: The preceding Ipswichian stage and lying beneath those from the following Holocene , which is the current stage. This is sometimes called the Flandrian interglacial in Britain. The latter part of the Devensian includes pollen zones I–IV, the Allerød oscillation and Bølling oscillation , and the Oldest Dryas , Older Dryas , and Younger Dryas cold periods. Alternative names include Weichsel glaciation or Vistulian glaciation (referring to
5292-430: The proglacial rivers' shifting and redepositing gravels. Beneath the surface, they had profound and lasting influence on geothermal heat and the patterns of deep groundwater flow. The Pinedale (central Rocky Mountains) or Fraser (Cordilleran ice sheet) glaciation was the last of the major glaciations to appear in the Rocky Mountains in the United States. The Pinedale lasted from around 30,000 to 10,000 years ago, and
5376-410: The receding ice. When the enormous mass of the continental ice sheet retreated, the Great Lakes began gradually moving south due to isostatic rebound of the north shore. Niagara Falls is also a product of the glaciation, as is the course of the Ohio River, which largely supplanted the prior Teays River . With the assistance of several very broad glacial lakes, it released floods through the gorge of
5460-522: The region for races along the river's course through the city. Seven smaller regattas and head races are held throughout the rest of the year, which attract a lower number of competitors. There are 14 boathouses and 20 boat clubs based on the Wear in Durham. Two weirs impede the flow of the river at Durham, both originally created for industrial activities. The Old Fulling Mill was an archaeological museum. The museum moved to Palace Green in July 2014. The second weir, beneath Milburngate Bridge, now includes
5544-405: The river and its tributaries. This has significance to fishing in times of low flow and infrastructure costs as the River Wear is an important source of drinking water for many of the inhabitants along its course. Fluorite is another mineral sporadically co-present with Weardale Granite and became important in the manufacture of steel from the late 19th century into the 20th century. In many cases
5628-417: The river. Four bridges cross the Wear in Sunderland: the Northern Spire Bridge to the west, the Queen Alexandra Bridge , and the Wearmouth rail and road bridges in the city centre. On both banks at this point there are a number of modern developments, notably Sunderland A.F.C. 's Stadium of Light and others belonging to the University of Sunderland ( St. Peter's Campus ; Scotia Quay residences) and to
5712-399: The same fate. During the last glacial period, Antarctica was blanketed by a massive ice sheet, much as it is today. The ice covered all land areas and extended into the ocean onto the middle and outer continental shelf. Counterintuitively though, according to ice modeling done in 2002, ice over central East Antarctica was generally thinner than it is today. British geologists refer to
5796-413: The sill about 8000 BP, forming a marine Littorina Sea , which was followed by another freshwater phase before the present brackish marine system was established. "At its present state of development, the marine life of the Baltic Sea is less than about 4000 years old", Drs. Thulin and Andrushaitis remarked when reviewing these sequences in 2003. Overlying ice had exerted pressure on the Earth's surface. As
5880-519: The steel industries were able to take fluorite from old excavation heaps. Fluorite explains why iron and steel manufacture flourished in the Wear valley , Consett and Teesside during the nineteenth century. Overlying are three Carboniferous minerals: limestone , Coal Measures as raw materials for iron and steel manufacture, and sandstone , useful as a refractory material . The last remaining fluorite mine closed in 1999 following legislation re water quality. A mine at Rogerley Quarry , Frosterley,
5964-428: The surrounding ice sheets. According to the sediment composition retrieved from deep-sea cores , even times of seasonally open waters must have occurred. Outside the main ice sheets, widespread glaciation occurred on the highest mountains of the Alpide belt . In contrast to the earlier glacial stages, the Würm glaciation was composed of smaller ice caps and mostly confined to valley glaciers, sending glacial lobes into
6048-588: The term Late Cenozoic Ice Age is used to include this early phase with the current glaciation. The previous ice age within the Quaternary is the Penultimate Glacial Period , which ended about 128,000 years ago, was more severe than the Last Glacial Period in some areas such as Britain, but less severe in others. The last glacial period saw alternating episodes of glacier advance and retreat with
6132-607: The timespan of the Late Pleistocene . The LGP is part of a larger sequence of glacial and interglacial periods known as the Quaternary glaciation which started around 2,588,000 years ago and is ongoing. The glaciation and the current Quaternary Period both began with the formation of the Arctic ice cap . The Antarctic ice sheet began to form earlier, at about 34 Mya, in the mid- Cenozoic ( Eocene–Oligocene extinction event ), and
6216-447: The total glaciated area was in the Sierra Nevada de Mérida , and of that amount, the largest concentration, 50 km (19 sq mi), was in the areas of Pico Bolívar , Pico Humboldt [4,942 m (16,214 ft)], and Pico Bonpland [4,983 m (16,348 ft)]. Radiocarbon dating indicates that the moraines are older than 10,000 BP, and probably older than 13,000 BP. The lower moraine level probably corresponds to
6300-459: The types of glacial deposits in the vicinity of Durham City. The confluence of the River Browney was pushed from Gilesgate (the abandoned river valley still exists in Pelaw Woods), several miles south to Sunderland Bridge ( Croxdale ). At Chester-le-Street, when glacial boulder clay was deposited blocking its northerly course, the River Wear was diverted eastwards towards Sunderland where it
6384-538: The western parts of Jutland were ice-free, and a large part of what is today the North Sea was dry land connecting Jutland with Britain (see Doggerland ). The Baltic Sea , with its unique brackish water , is a result of meltwater from the Weichsel glaciation combining with saltwater from the North Sea when the straits between Sweden and Denmark opened. Initially, when the ice began melting about 10,300 BP, seawater filled
6468-713: The whole western Swiss plateau, reaching today's regions of Solothurn and Aargau. In the region of Bern, it merged with the Aar glacier. The Rhine Glacier is currently the subject of the most detailed studies. Glaciers of the Reuss and the Limmat advanced sometimes as far as the Jura. Montane and piedmont glaciers formed the land by grinding away virtually all traces of the older Günz and Mindel glaciation, by depositing base moraines and terminal moraines of different retraction phases and loess deposits, and by
6552-471: Was a frequent visitor to the marina, attracting much local publicity. However, concern was expressed that acclimatising the dolphin to human presence might put at risk the safety of the dolphin regarding the propellers of marine craft. The south bank of the river is occupied by the Port of Sunderland. The River Wear flows out of Sunderland between Roker Pier and South Pier, and into the North Sea . An engraving of
6636-458: Was at its greatest extent between 23,500 and 21,000 years ago. This glaciation was somewhat distinct from the main Wisconsin glaciation, as it was only loosely related to the giant ice sheets and was instead composed of mountain glaciers, merging into the Cordilleran ice sheet. The Cordilleran ice sheet produced features such as glacial Lake Missoula , which broke free from its ice dam, causing
6720-468: Was based on an inlier of limestone. The site recently gained planning permission to form a visitor complex showcasing an eco-village using alternative technology, including a "hot rocks" water heating system. The underlying granite has been drilled and reports confirm their presence. Bardon Aggregates continue to quarry at Heights near Westgate and operate a tarmac "blacktop" plant on site. Mineral extraction has also occurred above St John's Chapel with
6804-540: Was forced to cut a new, shallower valley. The gorge cut by the river through the Permian Magnesian Limestone ( Zechstein limestone) can be seen most clearly at Ford Quarry. In the 17th edition of Encyclopædia Britannica (1990), reference is made to a pre-Ice Age course of the River Wear outfalling at Hartlepool . The upland area of Upper Weardale retains a flora that relates, almost uniquely in England , to
6888-461: Was more widespread. An ice sheet formed in New Zealand, covering all of the Southern Alps, where at least three glacial advances can be distinguished. Local ice caps existed in the highest mountains of the island of New Guinea , where temperatures were 5 to 6 °C colder than at present. The main areas of Papua New Guinea where glaciers developed during the LGP were the Central Cordillera ,
6972-501: Was not covered by a continental-scale ice sheet. Instead, large, but restricted, icefield complexes covered mountain ranges within northeast Siberia, including the Kamchatka-Koryak Mountains. The Arctic Ocean between the huge ice sheets of America and Eurasia was not frozen throughout, but like today, probably was covered only by relatively shallow ice, subject to seasonal changes and riddled with icebergs calving from
7056-469: Was used extensively in church architecture, there are local examples in St Michael's church Frosterley and Durham Cathedral . Rising in the east Pennines , its head waters consist of several streams draining from the hills between Killhope Law and Burnhope Seat . The source of the river is traditionally held to be at Wearhead , County Durham at the confluence of Burnhope Burn and Killhope Burn. The Wear
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