Geology of London, UK Katherine R. Royse1, Mike de Freitas2,3, William G. Burgess4, John Cosgrove5, Richard C. Ghail3, Phil Gibbard6, Chris King7, Ursula Lawrence8, Rory N. Mortimore9, Hugh Owen10, Jackie Skipper 11, 1. British Geological Survey, Keyworth, Nottingham, NG12 5GG, UK.
[email protected] 2. Imperial College London SW72AZ, UK & First Steps Ltd, Unit 17 Hurlingham Studios, London SW6 3PA, UK. 3. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Imperial College London, London, SW7 2AZ, UK. 4. Department of Geological Sciences, University College London, WC1E 6BT, UK. 5. Department of Earth Science and Engineering, Imperial College London, London, SW7 2AZ, UK. 6. Cambridge Quaternary, Department of Geography, University of Cambridge CB2 3EN, UK. 7. 16A Park Road, Bridport, Dorset 8. Crossrail Ltd. 25 Canada Square, Canary Wharf, London, E14 5LQ, UK. 9. University of Brighton & ChalkRock Ltd, 32 Prince Edwards Road, Lewes, BN7 1BE, UK. 10. Department of Palaeontology, The Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD, UK. 11. Geotechnical Consulting Group (GCG), 52A Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BE, UK. Abstract The population of London is around 7 million. The infrastructure to support this makes London one of the most intensively investigated areas of upper crust. however construction work in London continues to reveal the presence of unexpected ground conditions. These have been discovered in isolation and often recorded with no further work to explain them. There is a scientific, industrial and commercial need to refine the geological framework for London and its surrounding area. This paper reviews the geological setting of London as it is understood at present, and outlines the issues that current research is attempting to resolve.