Penlee Quarry
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Condition (Natural England)
| Unit | Feature | Condition | Area (ha) | Assessed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SW467276 | — | Favourable | 25.08 | 2021-11-10 |
Geology & landscape
Mining / Industrial: Quarry · Rock Type: Granite
Landscape processes: Volcanic / Igneous
Description
Penlee Quarry SSSI Description Penlee Quarry is situated in a mixed sequence of metasediments and metavolcanics at their contact with the Land’s End Granite. The exposures exhibit a great variety of mineralisation types, including early pegmatite mineralisation, pyrometasomatic mineralisation in metabasic igneous rocks (consisting of pyrrhotite, pyrite, marcasite, arsenopyrite – lollingite and copper sulphides in a tin-copper lode and a late mineralised cross-course. The site is important by virtue of the diversity of the mineralisation types which can be seen and the opportunity it provides to study the effects of host rock chemistry on this mineralisation over a wide temperature range.