Metheringham Heath Quarry

Also within

Lincolnshire County

Condition (Natural England)

Geology & landscape

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

Description

Area,12.76 ha. Description The geological interest of this site, in technical terms, may be defined as follows. Although showing an excellent and virtually complete exposure through the Lincolnshire Limestone Formation, the particular importance of Metheringham Heath Quarry relates to the basal part of the Formation. It is an essential site for the interpretation of the stratigraphy of the lowermost Lincolnshire Limestones and for their correlation with more attenuated equivalents found at Lincoln. This quarry also provides essential information relating to the paleoenvironmental interpretation of the basal beds of the Upper Lincolnshire Limestone. A key sedimentological and stratigraphic site. 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 provide an almost complete section through the whole of the Lincolnshire Limestone Formation, laid down in a warm, shallow sea during Middle Jurassic times about 170 million years ago. The lower part of the Lincolnshire Limestone is particularly well developed here and the quarry is therefore important as a reference section against which the thinner and more incomplete sequences of the lower part of the Lincolnshire Limestone found elsewhere may be compared. Features found near the base of the upper part of the Lincolnshire Limestone are of value to geologists because of their importance in drawing up reconstructions of the sedimentary environments which existed when these rocks were-deposited.