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The Mendip Hills are the most southerly Carboniferous Limestone Upland in Britain and are found in northern Somerset. They are composed of three major anticlinal structures, each with a core of older Devonian sandstone and Silurian volcanic rocks. The latter are quarried for use in road construction and as a concrete aggregate. In recent centuries the hills, like the Cotswolds to the north, have been quarried for stone to build the cities of Bath and Bristol, as well as smaller towns in Somerset. The quarries are major suppliers of road stone to southern England, between them producing around twelve million tonnes a year, employing over two thousand people with an annual turnover of £150m.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 url=http://www.bgs.ac.uk/planning4minerals/Economics_13.htm ) 〕 There are two main rock types on the Mendips: the Devonian Sandstones visible around Black Down and Downhead and the Carboniferous Limestones, which dominate the hills and surround the older rock formations.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 url=http://www.somerset.gov.uk/media/087/B7/Report.pdf )〕 An outcrop of basalt is also quarried at Moon's Hill. A large proportion of the stone (about 5 million tonnes per year) is moved by rail company Mendip Rail. As transportation constitutes a significant proportion of the cost of supplying stone, the Mendips, along with Leicestershire, are important as the nearest sources of hard stone for London and the South East. == Active quarries == 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Quarries of the Mendip Hills」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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