Styrrup Quarry

Also within

Nottinghamshire County

Condition (Natural England)

Geology & landscape

Mining / Industrial: Quarry · Geological Period: Triassic · Rock Type: Sandstone

Landscape processes: Fluvial

Description

Description Styrrup Quarry is a non working quarry lying at the south western edge of the village of Styrrup in north Nottinghamshire. The north eastern face of the quarry provides an extensive exposure of the Nottingham Castle Formation Sherwood Sandstone Group, Triassic. The face shows a succession of accreted sand bodies in a section approximately at right angles to the palaeo current direction. As such, the section is complementary to that seen in the nearby Scrooby Top Quarry, where exposures are parallel to the current direction. Study of both sites together is therefore essential to the understanding of the facies of the Nottingham Castle Sandstone. The bounding surfaces between the larger packages of sediment seen at Styrrup have a lenticular form and a hierarchy of such surfaces can be recognised. The most persistent surfaces are interpreted as representing the migration of the channel belt. Lower order forms are interpreted as defining laterally and vertically accreted packages of sediments and the form of second order channel fills. Study of these structures provides a valuable insight into the nature of British Triassic palaeo environments and depositional processes. Styrrup Quarry is a key site for studies of Triassic fluvial sediments and has additional educational potential.