Investigation of suspected gulls in the Jurassic limestone strata of the Cotswold Hills, Gloucestershire, England using electrical resistivity tomography

•Dry linear hollows in the English Cotswolds investigated as possible gulls•Underlying structures found to be vertical 80 metre-deep rubble-filled zones•Electrical resistivity tomography confirmed as ideal to investigate cambering

An electrical resistivity tomography survey has clearly indicated the presence of substantial vertical zones of contrasting material beneath a set of conspicuous linear surface hollows that cut across a spur forming part of the Cotswold Hills escarpment in Gloucestershire. These zones are compared with nearby quarry exposures and are inferred to be gulls – graben-like structures at least 80 m deep filled with collapsed blocks of bedrock with intervening air-filled spaces, lying within areas of relatively undisrupted gently dipping strata, and which under some circumstances would present a significant geohazard. Our results confirm the great potential of this non-invasive and rapid survey technique for investigating such phenomena, and provide an exemplar for comparison with surveys elsewhere, to assist identification of similar features.