Hornsleasow Quarry

Hornsleasow Quarry
Site of Special Scientific Interest
Location within Gloucestershire
Area of Search Gloucestershire
Grid reference SP131322
Coordinates 51°59′19″N 1°48′36″W / 51.98855°N 1.809915°W / 51.98855; -1.809915Coordinates: 51°59′19″N 1°48′36″W / 51.98855°N 1.809915°W / 51.98855; -1.809915
Interest Geological
Area 3.5 hectare
Notification 1974
Natural England website

Hornsleasow Quarry (grid reference SP131322) is a 3.5-hectare (8.6-acre) geological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Gloucestershire, notified in 1974.[1][2] The site is listed in the 'Cotswold District' Local Plan 2001-2011 (on line) as a Regionally Important Geological Site (RIGS).[3]

Location and geology

The quarry (Snowshill Hill) lies in the Cotswold Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and exposes a relatively thick sequence of Bathonian (Middle Jurassic) oolitic limestones, and thin clays of significant importance in correlating similar sequences in north Gloucestershire. The rocks, which belong to the Clypeus Grit, Chipping Norton Formation, Sharps Hill Formation and the Taynton Limetone Formation, are considered to have been laid down c. 170 million years ago. This would have been in a warm, shallow sea which covered much of the Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire areas. The conditions then would have been similar to those in the present day Bahama Banks in the Caribbean.[1]

Evidence for the dating is provided by the sedimentary structures and the type of fossils found within the rocks which are well preserved. Hornsleasow Quarry is important, therefore, for the reconstruction of an ancient sea.[1]

References

SSSI Source


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.