Hope Valley
Also within
Condition (Natural England)
| Unit | Feature | Condition | Area (ha) | Assessed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SJ342014 | — | Favourable | 0.39 | 2017-10-19 |
| SJ344013 | — | Favourable | 0.39 | 2017-10-19 |
| SJ346012 | — | Favourable | 2.29 | 2017-10-19 |
| SJ348013 | — | Favourable | 2.29 | 2017-10-19 |
| SJ349016 | — | Favourable | 2.29 | 2017-10-19 |
| SJ351018 | — | Favourable | 2.29 | 2017-10-19 |
| SJ354020 | — | Favourable | 2.15 | 2017-10-19 |
Geology & landscape
Mining / Industrial: Quarry · Geological Period: Ordovician, Silurian
Description
Area, 4.7 ha. 11.7 ac. Description Hope Valley is of great importance for its exposures of Ordovician rocks and for the unconformable contact between them and the overlying Silurian strata. It represents the best Lower Llanvirn section in the Shelve Inlier. Localities within the site have some of the richest faunas in the British Llanvirn Series, rivalling such localities as the famous Llanvirn Quarry, although Hope has distinct faunal peculiarities of its own. The site also shows the unconformable contact of the Llandovery Venusbank Formation Silurian and the Hope Shales Ordovician. The Silurian has a conglomeratic base, including clasts fragments, of Ordovician rocks and a rich brachiopod fauna. This is the type locality for the Hope Shales and for a number of species of the microfossils known as conodonts which are found in these deposits. Hope Valley is a key site which is nationally important stratigraphically and palaeontologically and which displays a regionally significant unconformity.