Geology Site Account

Site name: Sandon Pit

Grid reference: TL 747 043

Brief description of site:

The disused Sandon gravel pit has good exposures in Kesgrave Sands and Gravels (Thames gravel). Much of the pit has not been restored and the quarry slopes and edges are much as they were when quarrying ceased. This makes the site of interest for geology as well as wildlife. Sandon Pit is also a Local Wildlife Site.

The Kesgrave Sands and Gravels were laid down during the early Ice Age by the River Thames when it flowed through Essex and Suffolk and out across what is now the southern North Sea to become a tributary of the Rhine. The gravel is mostly flint but also contains exotic pebbles of rocks from far upstream, some of which are ignimbrite (a volcanic rock) from North Wales.

Bristow (1985) states that up to 10 metres of cross-bedded sand and gravel was formerly exposed at Sandon Pit.

Sandon Gravel Pit. Photo: G.Lucy