The Market Weighton Axis is a

geological Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Eart ...

feature which forms the south-eastern part of

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. The feature goes under a number of names such as 'block' or 'area' while the name of the town,

Market Weighton Market Weighton ( ) is a town and civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is one of the main market towns in the East Yorkshire Wolds and lies midway between Hull and York, about from either one. According to the 2011 UK cen ...

is retained. 'Block' seems to be the most modern version but the most distinctive and widely known is 'axis'. It takes the form of a ridge of

tectonic uplift Tectonic uplift is the geologic uplift of Earth's surface that is attributed to plate tectonics. While isostatic response is important, an increase in the mean elevation of a region can only occur in response to tectonic processes of crustal thick ...

which has progressed during the period of deposition of the newer rocks from at least the end of the

Triassic The Triassic ( ) is a geologic period and system which spans 50.6 million years from the end of the Permian Period 251.902 million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Jurassic Period 201.36 Mya. The Triassic is the first and shortest period ...

(205 million years ago) onwards. Its uplift has more or less kept pace with the deposition so that on the north and south sides of it, each stratum thins to nothing and in most cases, picks up again on the other side. During the

Carboniferous The Carboniferous ( ) is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic that spans 60 million years from the end of the Devonian Period million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Permian Period, million years ago. The name ''Carbonifero ...

, the relationship between the Market Weighton Axis and the

London-Brabant Massif The London-Brabant Massif or London-Brabant Platform is, in the tectonic structure of Europe, a structural high or massif that stretches from the Rhineland in western Germany across northern Belgium (in the province of Brabant) and the North Sea t ...

affected the weaker rocks between them so influencing the geography at the surface. Features in the intervening district were the Widmerpool Gulf and the equatorial swamps which led to the deposition of the

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The traditi ...

and

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ; postal abbreviation Leics.) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, England. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire t ...

coalfields.

External links

*The Market Weighton Block'
position
{dead link, date=June 2017 , bot=InternetArchiveBot , fix-attempted=yes (go to page 3) in the North of England of the

.
Rifle Butts Quarry Site of Special Scientific Interest and Nature Reserve, exposed geology
Geology of Yorkshire Historical geology Geology of South Yorkshire