Langport Railway Cutting
Encyclopedia
Langport Railway Cutting is a 0.5 hectare
geological Site of Special Scientific Interest at Langport
in Somerset
, England, notified in 1992. It is a Geological Conservation Review
site.
Gravel
s exposed at Langport Railway Cutting show scour-and-fill structures consistent with braided stream deposition. This site is of importance as one of the few permanently exposed localities for coldstage Pleistocene
gravels in south Somerset and more particularly because it is the first site in Britain in which typical calcrete features have been recorded. As such it is of national significance and has considerable research potential.
Hectare
The hectare is a metric unit of area defined as 10,000 square metres , and primarily used in the measurement of land. In 1795, when the metric system was introduced, the are was defined as being 100 square metres and the hectare was thus 100 ares or 1/100 km2...
geological Site of Special Scientific Interest at Langport
Langport
Langport is a small town and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated west of Somerton in the South Somerset district. The town has a population of 1,067. The parish includes the hamlets of Bowdens and Combe...
in Somerset
Somerset
The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...
, England, notified in 1992. It is a Geological Conservation Review
Geological Conservation Review
The Geological Conservation Review is produced by the UK's Joint Nature Conservation Committee and is designed to identify those sites of national and international importance needed to show all the key scientific elements of the geological and geomorphological features of Britain...
site.
Gravel
Gravel
Gravel is composed of unconsolidated rock fragments that have a general particle size range and include size classes from granule- to boulder-sized fragments. Gravel can be sub-categorized into granule and cobble...
s exposed at Langport Railway Cutting show scour-and-fill structures consistent with braided stream deposition. This site is of importance as one of the few permanently exposed localities for coldstage Pleistocene
Pleistocene
The Pleistocene is the epoch from 2,588,000 to 11,700 years BP that spans the world's recent period of repeated glaciations. The name pleistocene is derived from the Greek and ....
gravels in south Somerset and more particularly because it is the first site in Britain in which typical calcrete features have been recorded. As such it is of national significance and has considerable research potential.
Sources
- English Nature citation sheet for the site (accessed 10 August 2006)
External links
- English Nature website (SSSI information)