St Austell Clay Pits
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St Austell Clay Pits
St Austell Clay Pits, (Cornwall, England, UK,) are a group of locations within active china clay quarries that form a single Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and Special Area of Conservation, noted for its biological characteristics. In particular, the site is known for the rare western rustwort, a plant that grows only at two other sites in the UK. Geography The SSSI, notified in 2000, comprises three separate sites that are all about north of the town of St Austell.Ordnance Survey: Landranger map sheet 200 ''Newquay & Bodmin'' They all lie within china clay workings which are still active and are situated on either pits, spoil tips or vegetation-covered granitic debris. The combined site is also designated a Special Areas of Conservation (SAC). Wildlife and ecology The SSSI owes its importance to a rare liverwort, the western rustwort ('' Marsupella profunda''), which in the UK can be found only at this site and at two others: Lower Bostraze and Leswidden and ...
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Kaolinite
Kaolinite ( ) is a clay mineral, with the chemical composition Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4. It is an important industrial mineral. It is a layered silicate mineral, with one tetrahedral sheet of silica () linked through oxygen atoms to one octahedral sheet of alumina () octahedra. Rocks that are rich in kaolinite are known as kaolin () or china clay. Kaolin is occasionally referred to by the antiquated term lithomarge, from the Ancient Greek ''litho-'' and Latin ''marga'', meaning 'stone of marl'. Presently the name lithomarge can refer to a compacted, massive form of kaolin. The name ''kaolin'' is derived from Gaoling (), a Chinese village near Jingdezhen in southeastern China's Jiangxi Province. The name entered English in 1727 from the French version of the word: , following François Xavier d'Entrecolles's reports on the making of Jingdezhen porcelain. Kaolinite has a low shrink–swell capacity and a low cation-exchange capacity (1–15 meq/100 g). It is a soft, earthy, ...
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Marsupella Profunda
''Marsupella profunda'', the western rustwort, is a liverwort native to Europe and known only from Portugal (Mainland, Azores and Madeira) and Great Britain (Cornwall) and has been sighted in the Canary Islands. It is a small reddish liverwort and can be confused with '' Marsupella sprucei'' which has a more widespread distribution. Distribution and habitat ''Marsupella profunda'' is a saxicolous plant, commonly found on open but shady sites, in wet rock crevices or on slopes. It has a very disjunct population, from Santa Maria Island and Madeira Island in Macaronesia to mountainous areas in Continental Portugal, to Cornwall in England. The species was also sighted in La Palma on the Canary Islands though its presence on the archipelago is not confirmed. Less than 1000 individuals are known, occupying an area of about from in altitude. In Portugal the species is mainly reported from the Peneda-Gerês National Park, the Serra da Estrela Natural Park, the Serra de São Mamede N ...
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Sites Of Special Scientific Interest Notified In 2000
Site most often refers to: * Archaeological site * Campsite, a place used for overnight stay in an outdoor area * Construction site * Location, a point or an area on the Earth's surface or elsewhere * Website, a set of related web pages, typically with a common domain name It may also refer to: * Site, a National Register of Historic Places property type * SITE (originally known as ''Sculpture in the Environment''), an American architecture and design firm * Site (mathematics), a category C together with a Grothendieck topology on C * ''The Site'', a 1990s TV series that aired on MSNBC * SITE Intelligence Group, a for-profit organization tracking jihadist and white supremacist organizations * SITE Institute, a terrorism-tracking organization, precursor to the SITE Intelligence Group * Sindh Industrial and Trading Estate, a company in Sindh, Pakistan * SITE Centers, American commercial real estate company * SITE Town, a densely populated town in Karachi, Pakistan * S.I.T.E Indust ...
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Sites Of Special Scientific Interest In Cornwall
Site most often refers to: * Archaeological site * Campsite, a place used for overnight stay in an outdoor area * Construction site * Location, a point or an area on the Earth's surface or elsewhere * Website, a set of related web pages, typically with a common domain name It may also refer to: * Site, a National Register of Historic Places property type * SITE (originally known as ''Sculpture in the Environment''), an American architecture and design firm * Site (mathematics), a category C together with a Grothendieck topology on C * ''The Site'', a 1990s TV series that aired on MSNBC * SITE Intelligence Group, a for-profit organization tracking jihadist and white supremacist organizations * SITE Institute, a terrorism-tracking organization, precursor to the SITE Intelligence Group * Sindh Industrial and Trading Estate, a company in Sindh, Pakistan * SITE Centers, American commercial real estate company * SITE Town, a densely populated town in Karachi, Pakistan * S.I.T.E Indust ...
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St Austell And Clay Country Eco-town
The St Austell and Clay Country Eco-town is a plan to build a new town on a cluster of sites owned by mining company Imerys near St Austell, in Cornwall, UK. The plan was given outline government approval in July 2009. The plan would need to gain full planning permission before construction commenced. A number of organisations are involved in the development. A joint venture company called ECO-BOS has been set up by Imerys, and Orascom, with assistance from the Eden Project. This company will prepare the planning application and build the development if granted. Cornwall Council will lead on some part of the project. Background The plan was provisionally termed Imerys China Clay Community, in 2008 it was shortlisted by the UK's Department for Communities and Local Government as one of the 10 eco-towns proposed for construction in the UK. Under the company's plans, 5,000 eco-homes would be built on former china clay quarries and other sites owned by Imerys over a 20-year period ...
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Colonisation (biology)
Colonisation or colonization is the process in biology by which a species spreads to new areas. Colonisation often refers to ''successful'' immigration where a population becomes integrated into an ecological community, having resisted initial local extinction. In ecology, it is represented by the symbol ''λ'' (lowercase lambda) to denote the long-term intrinsic growth rate of a population. One classic scientific model in biogeography posits that species must continue to colonize new areas through its life cycle (called a '' taxon cycle'') in order to achieve longevity. Accordingly, colonisation and extinction are key components of island biogeography, a theory that has many applications in ecology, such as metapopulations. Scale Colonisation occurs on several scales. In the most basic form, as biofilm in the formation of communities of microorganisms on surfaces. In small scales such as colonising new sites, perhaps as a result of environmental change. And on larger scales w ...
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Important Plant Area
Important Plant Areas (IPA) is a programme set up in the UK, by the organisation Plantlife, to provide a framework for identifying and maintaining the richest sites for plant life, possibly within existing protected areas; though the protection of the IPA itself is not legally enforced. The term plant life in this case refers to any number of species, encompassing algae, fungi, lichens, liverworts, mosses, and wild vascular plants. IPAs are selected with the intention of focusing on the conservation of the important wild plant populations in these areas, and act as a subset in the broader context of Key Biodiversity Areas. Designating an IPA is intended to gain awareness and encourage long-term conservation through an 'ecosystem-based' approach. The identification of IPAs is based on three criteria: A. Presence of threatened plant species: the site holds significant populations of one or more species that are of global or regional conservation concern B. Presence of botanical rich ...
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Plantlife
Plantlife is the international conservation membership charity working to secure a world rich in wild plants and fungi. It is the only UK membership charity dedicated to conserving wild plants and fungi in their natural habitats and helping people to enjoy and learn about them. HM King Charles III is patron of the charity. Plantlife works across all key plant ecosystems and habitats focussing on specific habitats and species depending on need. They promote the importance of all plants and fungi for a sustainable and healthy planet and at present have a particular focus in the UK on grasslands temperate forests due to their acute vulnerability and on at-risk species recovery. Founded in 1989, Plantlife now has 15,000 members and many more supporters. Plantlife enhances, restores, protects and celebrates natural heritage through working with landowners, other conservation organisations, public sector bodies, the private sector and the wider public. Through their work they connec ...
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Mica
Micas ( ) are a group of silicate minerals whose outstanding physical characteristic is that individual mica crystals can easily be split into extremely thin elastic plates. This characteristic is described as perfect basal cleavage. Mica is common in igneous and metamorphic rock and is occasionally found as small flakes in sedimentary rock. It is particularly prominent in many granites, pegmatites, and schists, and "books" (large individual crystals) of mica several feet across have been found in some pegmatites. Micas are used in products such as drywalls, paints, fillers, especially in parts for automobiles, roofing and shingles, as well as in electronics. The mineral is used in cosmetics and food to add "shimmer" or "frost." Properties and structure The mica group is composed of 37 phyllosilicate minerals. All crystallize in the monoclinic system, with a tendency towards pseudohexagonal crystals, and are similar in structure but vary in chemical composition. Micas are ...
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Tregonning Hill
Tregonning Hill is the westerly of two granite hills overlooking Mount's Bay in west Cornwall, United Kingdom, the other being Godolphin Hill. They are approximately west of the town of Helston. The Plymouth chemist William Cookworthy mixed china stone with kaolin, mined from the hill to make Plymouth porcelain in 1768; which was the first time hard-paste porcelain was made in Britain. Part of the hill is designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and at the date of notification (1994) was the only known site of western rustwort ('' Marsupella profunda'') in Great Britain. Wildlife and ecology The main vegetation types on the hill are western lowland heath and scrub. The heath consists of a mixture of heather ('' Calluna vulgaris''), bell heather (''Erica cinerea'') and western gorse (''Ulex gallii''] with cross–leaved heath (''Erica tetralix'') replacing ''E. cinerea'' in wet areas. Bilberry (''Vaccinium myrtillus'') and tormentil (''Potentilla erecta'') al ...
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Lower Bostraze And Leswidden SSSI
Lower Bostraze And Leswidden SSSI is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest, located on the Penwith Peninsula, Cornwall, England, a little to the east of St Just, approximately 8 km west of Penzance. Geography There are two discrete parts of this site – Lower Bostraze China Clay Works and Leswidden Block Works; together they are 23,000 m² in size. Lower Bostraze is located at , and Leswidden at . The site was notified as an SSSI in 1996. The site lies within the Cornwall Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and the Penwith Heritage Coast and is partly within the West Penwith Environmentally Sensitive Area. The site has also been designated a Special Area of Conservation. Both parts of the site are underlain by the Land's End granite, part of the Cornubian batholith. Zones within the granite, altered by kaolinisation, have been extensively worked for china clay until recent years. China clay was discovered in the Balleswidden sett in 1880 and both areas are located ...
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