Stormy Down

Site of Special Scientific Interest · 51.5165, -3.6620

Also within

Mid Glamorgan County

Climate exposure

This is about exposure to a nationwide pressure this habitat type carries — not a verdict on this site's own management.

Coastal

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: Jurassic · Rock Type: Sandstone

Landscape processes: Coastal

Description

Description A locality in the Rhaetian Quarella Sandstone, a littoral deposit characteristic of the area between the Lias - L. Jurassic “Cowbridge Island” and the “mainland”. Here these sandstones have produced the fish Hybodus, and “Schizodus” with a limited molluscan fauna, as well as the dinosaur Zanclodon cambrensis. Associated marls yield Rhaetavicula contorta. An important site in facies and palaeogeographic analysis of the 'Rhaetic' in South Wales.