Geological Sites | Leeds
| Bradford | Calderdale
| Kirklees | Wakefield
 STATUS: RIGS
OTHER DESIGNATIONS:
COUNTY: West Yorkshire
DISTRICT: Calderdale
OS GRID REF. SD 983 274 – 962 282
OS 1:50,000 Landranger 103 Blackburn and Burnley
OS 1:25,000 Explorer OL 21 South Pennines
BGS 1:50,000 Sheet 77 Huddersfield
FIRST DESIGNATED by West Yorkshire RIGS Group in 2000
MOST RECENT SURVEY
SITE DESCRIPTION:
Colden Clough is the finest example in Calderdale of a rejuvenated river
system. The lower reaches form a steep, rocky clough, where the stream
is eroding deeply into the bedrock, in response to the deepening of
the Colden Valley at the end of the Ice Age approximately 10,000 years
ago.
Jack Bridge marks the position of a knick point, where the steep clough
levels out to form the original valley of Noah Dale. Here the stream
has not been rejuvenated and flows through the broad valley at a gentle
gradient.
The river has incised into the alternating shales and sandstones of the
Upper Carboniferous Lower Kinderscout Grit, which is a coarse and massive
sandstone. McCabe (reference below, p275) mentions that two giant cross-bedding
sets can be seen on both sides of the valley at Colden Water and they
can be followed for 300m. This represents a very large fluvial channel
eroded into a delta top.
HISTORICAL ASSOCIATIONS:
The Colden Valley is an important industrial archaeological site, because
of the history of cotton mills during the industrial revolution.
EDUCATIONAL VALUE:
AESTHETIC CHARACTERISTICS:
Colden Clough is valued for its unique landscape and wildlife habitats.
There are prominent exposures of Lower Kinderscout Grit above the clough.
ACCESS AND SAFETY:
By footpaths and tracks from Mytholm, Heptonstall and Jack Bridge - Colden
Clough lies
within an area of access land.
|
