Geology Site Account

Site name: Newney Green Pit SSSI

Grid reference: TL 6482 0647

Brief description of site:

Former gravel quarry providing exposures of Kesgrave Sands and Gravels (laid down by a former route of the Thames) dating from the early Ice Age, overlain by boulder clay (till) laid down by the Anglian Ice Sheet about 450,000 years ago. Ancient temperate and arctic climate soil horizons were present in the Kesgrave Formation. Although the pit has been infilled, a small area has been retained as a geological SSSI.

----------------------------------------

Details

The former Newney Green Gravel Quarry had exposures of Kesgrave (Thames) Gravel, with a Cromerian Palaeosol (fossil soil horizon), overlain by the Anglian boulder clay (till). Occasional patches of glacial gravel were also found, and an (Anglian) arctic structure soil was found to be superimposed on the Cromerian palaeosol marking a change from warm interglacial to intensely cold glacial conditions.

This site is of prime importance for the correlation between Pleistocene sites in the Thames and East Anglian areas. It is a vital locality in working out the sequence of events in the evolution of the Thames.

(text adapted from the SSSI citation).

The pit has now been infilled except for small area of the SSSI.

The succession at Newney Green Gravel Pit in 1978. The face shows the succession of Chalky Boulder Clay, decalcified at the base, resting on red and brown mottled sandy clays with involution structures which in turn pass down into bedded sands and gravels. Photo © British Geological Survey (P212173).