ENVIRONMENT & GEOLOGY

"Grange Mill Quarry is located on the boundary of the Peak National Park, and is adjacent to a SSSI and European SAC in the Via Gellia. It's commitment towards maintaining and protecting the biodiversity of the area is strengthened by employing consultants to monitor its environmental impact on the local environment."

Grange Mil Quarry lies in the white peak of Derbyshire which is composed mostly of several types of limestone deposited during marine conditions in the early Carboniferous Period around 330 million years ago.

Limestone formed and accumulated in clear, warm shallow seas with localised reef complex formations. The limestones are composed of the shells of organisms which are made up of the mineral Calcium Carbonate (CaCO3) which lived in these tropical environments.

The Grange Mill deposit lies in the Bee Low Limestones which have typically thick beds and are of high chemical purity.

Very few complete fossils are found in the deposit and there are no mineral veins to contaminate the limestone, despite the presence of a number of geological faults.

Thin bands of clay occur due to the presence of volcanoes which deposited ash or tuff during the Carboniferous Period which is now interbedded within the limestone sequence and are locally called way boards.