HOST Class 4

Geology:: hard fissured Dalradian, Cambrian or Ordovician limestones or sandstones. Some well weathered intrusive and metamorphic rocks (England and Wales only).
Landforms - Limestone region -: Few areas of true Karst, predominantly undulating with ridges (eg Lismore ), rocky knolls or craggy outcrops on steep-sided valleys. Much of the land has been extensively glaciated.
Landforms - Sandstone region -: varies from gently undulating lowlands (e.g. Black Isle) with few rock outcrops to the rock-dominated hill tops of Sutherland and Caithness. In Shetland, the topography can be very rocky with a stepped appearance or strongly undulating lowlands.
Soils:: freely drained (wetness class I) brown earths, humus-iron podzols, brown and podzolic rankers, brown rendzinas and lithosols. They are often shallow.
Vegetation:: semi-natural grasslands and herb-rich heather moorland in the uplands to arable, improved pastures, coniferous plantation and occasionally broadleaved woodlands in the lowlands.
Flow:: flow in substrate is mainly through rock fissures though some rock is porous.

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