Editing Lake District (section)

== Geology ==
{{main|Geology of the Lake District}}
[[File:Lake District Geology Map.svg|thumb|Geological map of the Lake District showing the main structures and areas of mineralisation]]
[[File:Skiddaw (cropped).JPG|thumb|Skiddaw seen from Derwentwater]]
The Lake District's geology is very complex but well-studied.<ref name="Gannon, Rock Trails Lakeland">Gannon, ''Rock Trails Lakeland''</ref> A [[granite]] [[batholith]] beneath the area is responsible for this upland massif, its relatively low density causing the area to be "buoyed up". The granite can be seen at the surface as the Ennerdale, Skiddaw, Carrock Fell, Eskdale, and Shap granites.

Broadly speaking the area can be divided into three bands, divisions which run southwest to the northeast. Generally speaking, the rocks become younger from the northwest to the southeast. The northwestern band is composed of early to mid-[[Ordovician]] [[sedimentary rock]]s, largely [[mudstone]]s and [[siltstone]]s of marine origin. Together they comprise the [[Skiddaw Group]] and include the rocks traditionally known as the [[Skiddaw Slate]]s. Their [[friability]] generally leads to mountains with relatively smooth slopes such as Skiddaw itself.

The central band is a mix of [[volcanic]] and sedimentary rocks of mid-to-late Ordovician age comprising the [[lava]]s and [[tuff]]s of the [[Borrowdale Volcanic Group]], erupted as the former [[Iapetus Ocean]] was [[subduction|subducted]] beneath what is now the Scottish border during the [[Caledonian orogeny]]. The northern central peaks, such as Great Rigg, were produced by considerable lava flows. These lava eruptions were followed by a series of [[Pyroclastic flow|pyroclastic]] eruptions which produced a series of calderas, one of which includes present-day Scafell Pike. These pyroclastic rocks give rise to the craggy landscapes typical of the central fells.<ref name="Gannon, Rock Trails Lakeland"/>

The southeastern band comprises the mudstones and [[wacke]]s of the [[Windermere Supergroup]] and which includes (successively) the rocks of the Dent, Stockdale, Tranearth, Coniston, and Kendal groups. These are generally a little less resistant to erosion than the sequence of the rock to the north and underlie much of the lower landscapes around Coniston and Windermere.{{citation needed|date=December 2017}}

Later [[intrusion]]s have formed individual outcrops of [[igneous rock]] in each of these groups.
Around the edges of these Ordovician and Silurian rocks on the northern, eastern, and southern fringes of the area is a semi-continuous outcrop of [[Carboniferous Limestone]] seen most spectacularly at places like [[Whitbarrow Scar]] and [[Scout Scar]].
<ref>British Geological Survey Regional memoir ''Northern England'' 5th edn 2010</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lakedistrict.gov.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/171188/factsheet_geology.pdf|title=Geology Factsheet|publisher=Lake District National Park Authority Web|date=24 May 2017|access-date=2 December 2017|archive-date=4 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304073034/http://www.lakedistrict.gov.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/171188/factsheet_geology.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>