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The re-interpretation of surface karst landforms in Northern England has led to a reexamination of well-known erratic-pedestal sites that were the origin for karst denudation rates applied extensively, on the supposition that erratics protect underlying limestone from rainwater solution. Height of the pedestal has been used to calculate long-term solutional-lowering, as much as 50 cm in 15 ka (33.3 mm/ka) from UK sites. The sites include Norber and Scar Close, Yorkshire, UK. This paper shows that the sites have been misinterpreted, in particular at Norber where the erratics lie on a pre-existing structurally stepped surface. Norber and several other sites also experience much mechanical weathering, in relatively weak, well-fractured limestones, a process which must be distinguished from solution. Sites in strong, less-fractured limestones demonstrate lower rates, which are sounder indications of land surface lowering. Some pedestals have been confirmed as partly resulting from solutional weathering in surrounding soil and vegetation. Re-evaluation reduces solution rates to 3-13 cm in 15 ka. Applying such rates has profound implications for understanding limestone landscapes, challenging orthodox views.

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UDC: 552.54:911.2(410) 551.435.2(410) Aniko Zseni & Helen Goldie & Ilona Bárány-Kevei: Limestone pavements in Great Britain and the role of soil cover in their evolution The goal of the research was to verify the connection between the solutional power of soil and the shape of rocky features in limestone. Soil samples from runnels, grikes, foot of pavements, top of limestone, grass patches and dolines were collected on limestone pavement areas of North England and examined for the pH and carbonate content. The results of the measurements proved that the soils with lower pH are related to deeper solution features and that proximity to limestone causes a higher soil-pH.