Pennines in Scotland. Pennines The Pennines , also known as the Pennine Chain or Pennine Hills, are a range of mountains and hills in England separating North West England from Yorkshire and North East England. Often described as the "backbone of England", the Pennine Hills form a more-or-less continuous range stretching northwards from the Peak District in the northern Midlands, through the South Pennines, Yorkshire Dales and North Pennines up to the Tyne Gap, which separates the range from the Cheviot Hills. Some definitions of the Pennines also include the Cheviot Hills while excluding the southern Peak District. South of the
Mountain range is drier, having been stripped of much of its moisture. Often, a rain shadow will affect the leeward side of a range. Mountain ranges are constantly subjected to erosional forces which work to tear them down. The basins adjacent to an eroding mountain range are then filled with sediments which are buried and turned into sedimentary rock. Erosion is at work while the mountains are being uplifted until the mountains are reduced to low hills and plains. The early Cenozoic uplift of the Rocky Mountains of Colorado provides an example. As the uplift was occurring some of mostly Mesozoic sedimentary