Boulby Quarries
Also within
North Yorkshire County NORTH YORK MOORS National Park Cleveland Way National TrailKing Charles Way - Filey Brigg to Newport Bridge National Trail
Condition (Natural England)
| Unit | Feature | Condition | Area (ha) | Assessed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NZ746198 | — | Favourable | 42.4 | 2021-11-15 |
Climate exposure
This is about exposure to a nationwide pressure this habitat type carries — not a verdict on this site's own management.
Coastal habitats are exposed to sea-level rise and storm erosion. Where hard sea defences sit behind them, there's nowhere landward to retreat to — a squeeze that keeps compressing the habitat no matter how well it's managed.
Geology & landscape
Geological Period: Jurassic · Rock Type: Shale
Landscape processes: Coastal
Description
Area, 22.12 hectares 54.66 ac Description Boulby Quarries provide a series of highly important cliff top exposures which cut through the base of the mid Jurassic Ravenscar Group into Upper Lias deposits of the Lower Jurassic Period. great stratigraphic importance is attached to the unusually thick and complex Dogger Formation, at the base of the middle Jurassic beds which includes the only coastal section of murchisonae shale, named after the fossil ammonite Ludwigia murchisonae. The main Toarcian Upper Lias interest is in the extensive beds of Alum Shales which are exposed within vast areas of commercial workings dating back to the 17th century. These old alum workings are well known for their fossil reptiles and, having produced an important marine reptile fauna, represent a key Upper Lias vertebrate site. Type specimens of two plesiosaurs Eretmosaurus macroptera and Thaumatosaurus zetlandicus and ichthyosaur Ichthyosaurus crassimonus and the only Upper Lias pterosaur known in Britain, Parapsicephalus, were found in the bifrons zone. Although not abundant this fossil fauna is unique and quite different from that found 20 kilometres to the south at Whitby.