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Former opencast, Burnside, New Cumnock, Ayrshire |
The
decline and demise of the deep mining industry in Scotland, depressed
agricultural land values and the accessibility of shallow coal seams
combined to make opencast coal mining an attractive proposition.
Extensive areas of (mostly) lowland Scotland have been, and continue
to be, worked over in this manner. Overburden (the upper layers of
soil and rock) is put aside and reinstated once extraction has been
completed.
The area in the foreground has been worked in this way. Although some
attempt has been made to vary the new topography, all traces of former
human activity have been erased from this piece of Scotland. |
Resource pack
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