Influence on the landscape

The rocks of the Ballagan Formation are relatively soft and thus easily eroded by weathering and glacial action. Hence, much of the area they underlie forms low-lying ground and is now covered with Quaternary deposits. Consequently the landscape tends to reflect the nature of the overlying Quaternary deposits rather than that of the bedrock. In a few places, river erosion has exposed fine sections, such as the river cliff of the Coquet at Barrow Scar.

In the Kielder area, the Ballagan Formation produces smooth green slopes that contrast strongly with the adjacent rough heatherclad hills underlain by the Fell Sandstone. Good examples are seen at the Peel Fell escarpment and on either side of the White Kielder. The individual limestones of the formation do not, as a rule, form the prominent fresh green vegetation bands that other limestones in the Carboniferous do. This is probably due partly to their impurity and partly to their thinness which allows the outcrop to be readily covered by soil creep or drift. In places, for example near Otterburn where the top of the formation contains good limestone, sink holes are present at the base of the Fell Sandstone. Sandstones form the prominent knoll of Glanton Pike and the parallel escarpments that run between Whittingham and Alnham where evidence of quarrying can be seen.