Laycock Railway Cutting

Laycock Railway Cutting
Site of Special Scientific Interest
Laycock Railway Cutting is located in Somerset
Laycock Railway Cutting
Location within Somerset
LocationSomerset
Grid referenceST678213
Coordinates50°59′24″N 2°27′36″W / 50.9901°N 2.4601°W / 50.9901; -2.4601
InterestGeological
Area1.3 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[1] near Milborne Port in Somerset, notified in 1993. It is a Geological Conservation Review site. All of the land designated as Laycock Railway Cutting SSSI is owned by Network Rail.[2]

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.

References

  1. ^ "SSSI detail". designatedsites.naturalengland.org.uk. Retrieved 29 September 2024.
  2. ^ "Mapping the habitats of England's ten largest institutional landowners". Who owns England?. 6 October 2020. Retrieved 29 September 2024.

Sources