This photo, taken across Bleaklow Head shows how the peat has been totally eroded in places.
This exposes the underlying mineral soil (the grey, sandy and rocky material in the foreground of the photo), rocks and boulders. This mineral soil is light and not adhesive in any way, making it vulnerable to erosion and displacement.
When the surface layers dry out, the sandy material is blown across the plateau, covering the surrounding peat and up onto the vegetated peat haggs.
The large exposed boulders in the foreground were originally covered by blanket peat. They are probably glacial boulders, exposed by the local peat erosion.
Revegetated areas of bilberry (the green shrubs) can be seen in the background.
