Greetwell Hollow Quarry

Also within

Lincolnshire County

Condition (Natural England)

Geology & landscape

Mining / Industrial: Quarry · Geological Period: Jurassic · Rock Type: Limestone

Description

Area,58.17 ha143.74 ac Description The geological interest of this site, in technical terms, may be defined as follows, Greetwell Quarry is one of the most historically significant exposures in the Lincolnshire Limestone Formation. It has provided the bulk of the very rare ammonites from the Lincolnshire Limestone. This is of considerable stratigraphic significance for the correlation of this unit with other horizons in Southern England. It also shows excellent exposures in the lower Lincolnshire Limestone, which has a considerable sedimentological interest, being a thinner more attenuated sequence than that found in South Lincolnshire. In layman's terms, the interest of this site may be expressed more simply and such a statement is provided below. This should not be taken as definitive and further information as to details of the interest can be obtained from the Nature Conservancy Council. The rocks which occur here were laid down in a warm shallow sea during the Middle Jurassic period of geological times, about 170 million years ago. Most of the ammonite fossils used for relating the Lincolnshire Limestone to rocks of similar age elsewhere in Britain have come from this locality, a fact which endows the site with very considerable importance. The thin sequence of rocks representing the lower part of the Lincolnshire Limestone is also of importance.