Stout's Cottage

Site of Special Scientific Interest · 50.9644, -3.3566

Also within

Devon County

Condition (Natural England)

Favourable (1)
UnitFeatureConditionArea (ha)Assessed
ST048192 Favourable 0.51 2012-02-08

Geology & landscape

Geological Period: Carboniferous · Rock Type: Limestone

Description

Area, 0.6 ha. 1.5 ac. Description Crucial evidence concerning the age and origin of the Upper Westleigh Limestones has been obtained from this locality. The rare combination here of goniatites and conodonts, has established a Lower Carboniferous age from these rocks and enabled the integrated use of these fossils for correlation in the Visean. The Westleigh Limestone contains fossils and blocks of sediment originally formed in shallow water but transported into this deeper water site by powerful submarine turbidity currents, thus adding considerably to the overall thickness of strata in the area. A key site for studies of both sedimentation and biostratigraphy in the Lower Carboniferous Dinantian.