The
Parish of Radley (National Grid Reference SU 525
990) is an area measuring approximately 3km east-to-west
by 4.5km north-to-south in the Thames valley just
south of Oxford. The topography is fairly uniform
with the land sloping from 93m above mean sea
level in the northwest (Sugworth) to 52 metres
above msl along the River Thames, which marks
the eastern and southern boundaries of the parish.
Radley lies on the narrow belt of
140 million year old Kimmeridge
Clay, which, in southern England, extends
from Aylesbury through Abingdon and Swindon. This
belt marks the southern edge of the Upper Jurassic
rocks which extend in a broad band across the
SE midlands. At Radley, this is overlaid with
alluvium with first terrace sand and gravel deposits
to the south, which have been extensively worked
over many years; and older second terrace deposits
to the north. However, in other parts of Oxfordshire,
as well as in Wiltshire and Dorset, Upper Jurassic
clay beds, in the course of being mined for the
production of bricks, have proved to be a rich
source of dinosaur remains.
Across the river, to the south of
Radley, in the parish of Culham, the underlying
rocks are of the more recent Cretaceous period.
In the
present day, the geology of southern Radley is
being altered by man through the extraction of
sand and gravel and the infilling of the pits
with pulverised fuel ash (PFA) from Didcot Power
Station. |
