Wear River Bank

Site of Special Scientific Interest · 54.9129, -1.4403

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Also within

Tyne & Wear County

Condition (Natural England)

Favourable (1)
UnitFeatureConditionArea (ha)Assessed
NZ359577 — Favourable 3.89 2012-03-08

Habitats

Fast flowing river and stream

Geology & landscape

Geological Period: Carboniferous, Permian

Description

Area, 4.8 ha. 11.9 ac. Description The Wear river bank provides the best exposure of the highest Carboniferous, early Westphalian C age, strata in the Northumberland and Durham Coalfield. It has yielded a diverse fossil fauna and flora, including non marine bivalves of the Upper Similis Pulchra Biozone not the Phillipsi Biozone as earlier believed, insects of the so called ‘Portbarnettian provincial age’, fish fragments and various types of arthropods including limulids. Sedimentation evidently stopped here much earlier than in many of the other British Coalfields, possibly due to the southwestwards migration of the landmass known as the Proto Mid North Sea High, the source of much of the sediment which formed the Keele Formation in the English Midlands. The sediments exposed in this river section are coloured red, due to subaerial exposure sometime between the Westphalian C and Permian, again probably related to this general trend of uplift. This colouration is in marked contrast to that of the Keele and Etruria formations of the English Midlands, which is believed to have been the result of chemical processes more or less contemporaneous with the sedimentation. This exposure is of considerable importance in Carboniferous stratigraphy and palaeontology. Other Information 1. This site is listed as of national importance in the Geological Conservation Review. 2. At the 1989 Revision the site boundary has been amended to both include land not previously notified* and exclude some land previously notified*. * Under Section 23 of the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act, 1949.

Plant communities

A9 — Fast flowing river and stream, Marginal and inundation, Pond ditch and canal, Sluggish river and stream

Potamogeton natans community

Schoenoplectus lacustris, Juncus bulbosus, Sparganium angustifolium, Sparganium erectum, Sparganium minimum, Alisma plantago-aquatica, Lobelia dortmanna, Equisetum fluviatile, Myriophyllum alterniflorum, Elodea canadensis, Lemna minor, Lemna trisulca, Nymphaea alba, Callitriche platycarpa, Callitriche stagnalis, Littorella uniflora, Potamogeton natans, Ranunculus trichophyllus, Glyceria fluitans, Chara subspinosa

A14 — Fast flowing river and stream

Myriophyllum alterniflorum community

Isolepis fluitans, Juncus bulbosus, Fontinalis antipyretica, Lobelia dortmanna, Equisetum fluviatile, Myriophyllum alterniflorum, Lemna minor, Callitriche stagnalis, Littorella uniflora, Potamogeton filiformis, Potamogeton gramineus, Potamogeton natans, Ranunculus peltatus, Chara spp., Nitella hyalina

A17 — Chalk river and stream, Fast flowing river and stream

Ranunculus penicillatus ssp. pseudofluitans community

Berula erecta, Nasturtium officinale, Elodea canadensis, Lemna minor, Callitriche stagnalis, Veronica beccabunga, Polygonum amphibium, Polygonum hydropiper, Potamogeton crispus, Potamogeton pectinatus, Ranunculus penicillatus ssp. pseudofluitans

A18 — Fast flowing river and stream

Ranunculus fluitans community

Fontinalis antipyretica, Fontinalis squamosa var. curnowii, Myriophyllum alterniflorum, Myriophyllum spicatum, Elodea canadensis, Mentha aquatica, Lemna gibba, Lemna minor, Potamogeton perfoliatus, Ranunculus fluitans, Glyceria fluitans, Phalaris arundinacea