Mount Pleasant Quarry

Site of Special Scientific Interest · 54.0940, -0.8798

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Also within

North Yorkshire County Howardian Hills Scenic Area

Condition (Natural England)

Favourable (1)
UnitFeatureConditionArea (ha)Assessed
SE733670 — Favourable 1.03 2012-01-31

Climate exposure

This is about exposure to a nationwide pressure this habitat type carries — not a verdict on this site's own management.

Coastal

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.

Habitats

Fast flowing river and stream

Geology & landscape

Geological Feature: Gorge / Ravine · Mining / Industrial: Quarry

Landscape processes: Coastal, Fluvial

Description

Area, 1.0 hectares 2.5 ac Description The Mount Pleasant quarry provides the last significant exposure in the once extensively quarried 'Whitwell Oolite'. Apart from its sedimentological features and faunas, the prime importance of this site lies in the stratigraphic correlation of these marine beds in the Howardian Hills, with their equivalents on the Yorkshire coast, particularly the Cayton Bay Formation and their relation to the non marine deltaic deposits further north. Other Information 1. The site is listed as of national importance in the Geological Conservation Review, under the name Whitwell Quarry.2. This GCR site falls within the former Kirkham Abbey Gorge SSSI, parts of which are now notified as Kirkham Park and Riverside SSSI and part of River Derwent SSSI. * 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