Limestone plateau: Chelmorton
The characteristic Carboniferous Limestone landform of the Peak District is a rolling upland plateau surface dissected by river valleys and a network of dry valleys. This is the area of the 'White Peak' with its distinctive pale grey coloured limestone outcrops, stone walls, stone-built farms and villages. Large tracts of unbroken limestone plateau can be seen from the A515 close to Chelmorton, south-east of Buxton.
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Here (weather permitting) there are extensive views over a monotonous, windswept landscape of uniform surface height (around 350 m OD). Occasional deep valleys, solution hollows, dolomite tors and other features can create a more diverse landscape, but the limestone plateau is the major feature of the scenery of the White Peak.The present limestone plateau represents the approximate extent of the shallow water tropical limestone sea in the early Carboniferous. This was surrounded by deeper water within which muddy limestones and shales were deposited (see Tropical limestones and Derbyshire atolls). The shaley rocks have been more easily eroded, often creating a marked scarp at the plateau edge.
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