Laycock Railway Cutting

50°59′24″N 2°27′36″W / 50.9901°N 2.4601°W / 50.9901; -2.4601InterestGeologicalArea1.3 hectares (0.013 km2; 0.0050 sq mi)Notification1993 (1993)Natural England website

Laycock Railway Cutting (grid reference ST678213) is a 1.3 hectare geological Site of Special Scientific Interest near Milborne Port in Somerset, notified in 1993. It is a Geological Conservation Review site.

Laycock Railway Cutting is the best single exposure of the Bathonian ’Fuller's Earth Rock’ in South Somerset. Ammonites indicating the Morrisi and Subcontractus zones of the Middle Bathonian are frequent. Ammonites are generally extremely rare at this level in Britain and their presence at Laycock is of international stratigraphic importance. The combination of features of both litho- and chrono-stratigraphical importance make Laycock Railway Cutting a key British Bathonian locality.

Sources

  • English Nature citation sheet for the site (accessed 10 August 2006)

External links

  • English Nature website (SSSI information)
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SummarySSSIs
Neighbouring areas
  • Avon
  • Devon
  • Dorset
  • Wiltshire