Budleigh Salterton Cliffs
Also within
Devon County East Devon Scenic Area King Charles Way - Kingswear to Lyme Regis National TrailSouth West Coast Path National Trail
Condition (Natural England)
| Unit | Feature | Condition | Area (ha) | Assessed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SY062817 | — | Favourable | 7.64 | 2023-02-15 |
| SY063817 | — | Favourable | 3.08 | 2023-02-15 |
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: Ordovician, Triassic · Rock Type: Quartzite, Sandstone
Landscape processes: Coastal, Fluvial
Description
Budleigh Salterton Cliffs SSSI Description A magnificent coastal section exposing the full thickness of the Lower Triassic Budleigh Salterton Pebble Beds, a sequence of texturally mature conglomerates deposited by braided rivers. These include pebbles of Ordovician quartzite with an indigenous fauna derived from the erosion of a ridge of much older Palaeozoic rocks lying to the south or south-west. The conglomerates are overlain by fluvial and aeolian sandstones of the Otter Sandstone Formation which contain at the base a layer of wind-facetted pebbles (dreikanter), and also well developed columnar calcrete horizons.