GEOLOGY experts and academics from all over the country will be coming to Lion Salt Works on Saturday to run a free one-day conference. 

Cheshire RIGS, which recommends sites to local authorities for designation as regionally important geodiversity sites, is running the conference.

It aims to take an in-depth look at how the ground beneath our feet has shaped the landscape we see in the Weaver Valley today, viewed as nationally and internationally rare by renowned geologists.

Among the speakers will be Cheshire geologist Dr Ros Todhunter who will give a talk analysing the salt landscape which has made this area of mid Cheshire so well known. 

From brine springs to controlled brine pumping, salt mining to underground gas storage and the challenges brought by the development of infrastructure in areas of past, present and future rock salt extraction and exploitation, Ros’s talk will examine the consequences of 2000 years of exploitation of this natural resource and its resulting heritage.

Cheshire RIGS is a key partner in the Saltscape Landscape Partnership Scheme, a Heritage Lottery-funded programme of developments designed to protect, restore and celebrate the salt history and wildlife of the Weaver Valley.

Rachael Maskill, from Saltscape, said: “This is an important opportunity us to understand how our landscape is viewed as nationally and even internationally rare by renowned geologists.  

“We often take for granted the special features of our own surroundings but what we have here in Cheshire is worth protecting and celebrating.”

To book your free place call 01606 723 160 or email info@saltscape.com