Abstract Gypsum and anhydrite are both soluble minerals that form rocks that can dissolve at the surface and underground, producing sulphate karst and causing geological hazards, especially subsidence and sinkholes. The dissolution rates of these minerals are rapid and cavities/caves can enlarge and collapse on a human time scale. In addition, the hydration and recrystallization of anhydrite to gypsum can cause considerable expansion and pressures capable of causing uplift and heave. Sulphate-rich water associated with the deposits can react with concrete and be problematic for construction. This paper reviews the occurrence of gypsum and anhydrite in the near surface of the UK and looks at methods for mitigating, avoiding and planning for the problems associated with these rocks.

Abstract Nottingham was built near a crossing point on the River Trent in the East Midlands of England. Initially, the city developed on a low sandstone hill close to the north bank of the river, which provided a secure, well-drained location above the marshes that bordered the river. Geologically, Nottingham stands at the boundary between Palaeozoic rocks to the north and west, and Mesozoic and Cenozoic strata to the south and east. The area is underlain by coal-bearing Carboniferous Coal Measures, Permian dolomitic limestones, Permo-Triassic mudstones and weak sandstones, Jurassic clays and Quaternary glacial and alluvial deposits. Artificial deposits, resulting from the social, industrial and mineral extraction activities of the past, cover the natural deposits over much of the area. This geological environment has underpinned the economic development of the area through the mining of coal (now largely ceased), oil extraction that was important during World War II, brickmaking from clays, alluvial sand and gravel extraction from the Trent Valley, and gypsum extraction from the Permo-Triassic mudstones. The Permo-Triassic sandstone is a nationally important aquifer, and has also been exploited at the surface and from shallow mines for sand. However, this history of the use and exploitation of mineral deposits has created a number of environmental problems, including rising groundwater levels, abandoned mine shafts and mining subsidence, and, within the city itself, the occasional collapse of artificial cavities in the sandstone and contaminated land left by industrial activities. Natural constraints on development include gypsum dissolution, landslides, rockfalls, swell–shrink problems in Jurassic clays and flooding. Occasional minor earthquakes are attributed to movements related to coal mining or natural, deep geological structures. Thus, Nottingham's geological context remains an important consideration when planning its future regeneration and development.

Abstract The distribution of Permian rocks in England and Wales ( Fig. 12.1 ) is more complex than that of the overlying Mesozoic formations, which in the onshore area form a broad swathe displaying, as William Smith noted, an overall NE–SW-trending strike. Permian sediments, by contrast, are more patchily developed but rest in many locations on Carboniferous rocks, with a palaeotopography generated by Variscan mountain building and later erosion. Assessment of how the Permian landscape might have appeared is best achieved through consideration of the sedimentary evidence from both the Permian and the preceding Carboniferous strata. There are strong indications in the rock record of a changing tectonic and palaeoclimatic regime in NW Europe during this time, which reflected broader, even global, events. The general tectonic scene was one in which the southern supercontinent Gondwana moved north through Carboniferous time to collide with its northern counterpart Laurasia in the latest Carboniferous and earliest Permian. This continental collision was achieved as the Devonian–Carboniferous Rheic Ocean closed and Pangaea formed ( Fig. 12.2 ). Simultaneously, the Ural Mountains were forming as the Kazakstan microplate collided with Fennos- candia, the final coalescence of Pangaea. The sedimentary fill of the Rheic Ocean is now preserved as deformed and locally metamorphosed pre-Permian successions in Cornwall, Devon, northern France,Belgium and Germany.