Scafells
The Scafells, or Scafell Massif, are a range of fells in the Cumbrian Mountains of England, made up of the remains of a caldera volcano. Fells in the range include Broad Crag, Ill Crag, Scafell, and Scafell Pike, England's tallest mountain. Great End, Lingmell and Slight Side are also usually included within the definition. These hills form part of the Southern Fells.
Geology
Geologically, parts of the Scafell massif are the remnants of a volcano that erupted in the Ordovician period over 400 million years ago. This volcano, geologically described as a caldera and an "inverse stratovolcano", as well as all other volcanoes of the Lake District, are long since extinct.The volcano is an example of a piecemeal caldera whose collapse, in contrast with a wholesale piston-like subsidence, occurred in a piece-by-piece fashion along faults and whose measurements suggest formation from an eruption of a VEI-7 magnitude, comparable to the Minoan eruption at Santorini in the Greek Aegean in c. 1600 BCE. The Scafell dacite, between Little Narrowcove and Aaron Crags, is a lava dome formed during the last stages of volcanic activity at Scafell massif.
English Munros
An English Munro is a mountain summit that exceeds and has a prominence of more than. In England there are six peaks that meet those criteria and four of those are part of the Scafell Massif.| Peak | Height | Prominence | OSI Grid Reference | Highest Class |
| Scafell Pike‡ | 978 | 912 | P600 | |
| Sca Fell | 964 | 133 | Hewitt | |
| Ill Crag | 935 | 57 | Hewitt | |
| Broad Crag | 934 | 52 | Hewitt |
Have the prominence of over to qualify as a "Real Munro".
Protected area
The Scafells are situated within a Site of Special Scientific Interest designated in 1988 called Scafell Pikes. This protected area includes Seathwaite Fell, Great Slack, Great End, Long Pike, III Crag, Symonds Knott, Slight Side and Scafell Pike and the area of this SSSI is 1102 hectares. This area is protected because of the lichens found in the summit boulder field.Details of Scafell Pikes SSSI
The summit boulder field is the highest in England and is covered in shattered rock debris. Lichens on these rocks include species from Rhizocarpon, Umbilicaria, Sphaerophorus, Lecidea and Cladonia. The moss species Rhacomitrium lanuginosum and the beetle Nebria nivalis have also been recorded here.The crags of Great End have alpine herbs such as roseroot, alpine cinquefoil, alpine saw-wort and bearberry, as well as juniper. To the north of Scafell Pike herbs on rock ledges include mountain sorrel, alpine lady's mantle, alpine meadow-rue, starry saxifrage, purple saxifrage, mossy saxifrage and mountain saxifrage. The ferns lemon-scented fern, beech fern, oak fern, scaly male-fern and broad buckler fern have also been recorded here.
North of Great End is Sprinkling Tarn and Styhead Tarn that have aquatic plants including intermediate water-starwort, quillwort, shoreweed, floating bur-reed and awlwort. Water lobellia is found in Styhead Tarn.
The wet habitats of Seathwaite Fell support populations of a butterfly called the small mountain ringlet.