John o' Groats
Also within
Condition (NatureScot)
| Unit | Feature | Condition | Area (ha) | Assessed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| F1 | Silurian - Devonian Chordata | Favourable | — | 2008-12-18 |
Climate exposure
This is about exposure to a nationwide pressure this habitat type carries — not a verdict on this site's own management.
Coastal habitats are exposed to sea-level rise and storm erosion. Where hard sea defences sit behind them, there's nowhere landward to retreat to — a squeeze that keeps compressing the habitat no matter how well it's managed.
Geology & landscape
Geological Period: Devonian · Rock Type: Sandstone, Siltstone
Landscape processes: Coastal
Description
JOHN O’GROATS John O’Groats SSSI is located on the foreshore, just to the east of the pier at John O’Groats in Caithness. The site has been notified due to the exposure of a layer of sedimentary rock which contains fossil fish. The John O’Groats fossil fish-bed is a thin (0.25cm) band of light grey, thinly laminated, calcareous siltstone. The fish bed at John O’Groats was deposited in a lake about 380 million years ago during the Middle Devonian geological time period. It is significant because it is the youngest Middle Devonian fish bed in northern Scotland and is the only fish bed within the John O’Groats Sandstone Group. This is the only known site where this fish bed is exposed in Caithness. Equivalent rocks containing similar, but not identical, mixes of fossil fish occur in Shetland and Orkney. So far, five species of fossilised fish have been found at John O’Groats. John O’Groats is the type locality (the first place in the world from which a fossil species is found and described) for three species of fossil fish: Microbrachius dicki, Pentlandia macroptera and Tristichopterus alatus. The site has potential for future research to extend the understanding of Orcadian Basin fish and the environment in which they lived.