West, Ian M. 2016. Budleigh Salterton, Littleham Cove, Devon and the Radioactive Nodules: Geology of the Wessex Coast. Internet site: Budleigh-Salterton.htm. Version: 30th December 2016
Budleigh-Salterton, Littleham Cove and Straight Point, Devon,  geological field guide, Dorset and East Devon World Heritage Coast .

By: Ian West
Romsey, Hampshire,
and Visiting Scientist at: Ocean and Earth Science ,
Faculty of Natural and Environment Sciences Southampton University
Website hosted by iSolutions, Southampton University
Aerial photographs by courtesy of The Channel Coastal Observatory
Website archived at the British Library

Professor Ian Croudace and Andrew Johnson have made valuable contributions regarding radioactive nodules. I thank Jason Mark Scott for more photographs of radioactive nodules. Full acknowledgements are given at the end of the webpage.

Click here for the full LIST OF WEBPAGES

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RADIOACTIVE NODULES OF LITTLEHAM COVE
Note: See: The Vanadium - Uranium Radioactive Nodules - in Permian siltstones and mudstones at Littleham Cove, west of Budleigh Salterton; a special feature (new data being added-

]

Click on images for large, high resolution versions!

A view of the pebble beach and the mouth of the River Otter from the cliff top of Budleigh Salterton, Devon, 2011

Spit almost blocking outlet of the River Otter, east of Budleigh Salterton, Devon

The Budleigh Salterton Pebble Beds at Budleigh Salterton, Devon, with sedimentary structures pointed out by Dr. Alison Jones, 1995

The top of the Budleigh Salterton Pebble Bed is marked by reg or hammada surface with dreikanter or ventifacts, and then the Yellow Bed, west of Budleigh Salterton, Devon, UK

A large radioactive, uranium-vanadium, fish-eye type nodule in the Littleham Mudstones of Littleham Cove near Budleigh Salterton, Devon

A very large, black, radioactive uranium-vanadium nodule, in the Littleham Mudstone, Littleham Cove, near Budleigh Salterton, Devon, in 2016, photograph by Jason Mark Scott

|Home and List of Webpages - Southampton University Version |Dawlish Warren and Langstone Rock, Devon |Sidmouth and Ladram Bay, East Devon| |Beer, Devon| |Lyme Regis, West |Lyme Regis, East to Charmouth |Sabkhas of Qatar |Chesil Beach - Storms, Floods |Chesil Beach - Pebbles |Geosciences Advisory Unit, National Oceanography Centre, Southampton.

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INTRODUCTION

Location Map for Geology of the Wessex Coast websites on Devon and West Dorset, including Torquay, Dawlish, Langstone Rock, Dawlish Warren, Littleham Cove, Budleigh Salterton,  Sidmouth, Beer, Seaton, Lyme Regis, Charmouth etc

The red cliffs near Budleigh Salterton are notable for the remarkable Budleigh Salterton Pebble Beds of Triassic age. The Permo-Trias red bed facies of mudstones, sandstones and pebbles beds contain many interesting features that have developed in the harsh desert environments of the Pangaea supercontinent. These include ventifacts or dreikanter, rhizoconcretions and, at Littleham Cove, radioactive nodules or concretions containing uranium and vanadium and many metallic elements.

The cliffs across the River Otter, immediately to the east of Budleigh Salterton are shown in the related webpage on Sidmouth and Ladram Bay, Devon.

INTRODUCTION

Access

Budleigh Salterton, Devon, general view of the small town from the east

Notice explaining the geology at Budleigh Salterton, Devon, provided by the Jurassic Coast organisation

Budleigh Salterton (map reference - SY 067818) is a pleasant, quiet, small sea-side town which can be reached from Exeter on the A377 and A376 via Exmouth, or by the A3052 to Newton Poppleford and then south by the A376. From the east it can be reached by the A3052 road from Lyme Regis (and Dorchester etc), again turning south from Newton Poppleford. It is most famous geologically for the Budleigh Salterton Pebble Beds which are seen at the high cliffs just west of the town. Beyond at Littleham Cove are radioactive nodules with vanadium and uranium in red marl. The Otter Sandstone is seen on the east side, beneath the hill from which the photograph above was taken, and further east beyond the Otter River. It is also visible on the west side above the Budleigh Salterton Pebble Beds.

It may be possible able to park on the sea-front road. If not there is a large car park behind the sea-front just east of the town (see top picture). There are toilets nearby, and also at the seafront on the west side of the town. There are some cafes and kiosks for food and drink on the seafront.

To see the features of Littleham Cove you can walk about 3 km westward from Budleigh Salterton. The former cliff path down from Sandy Bay caravan holiday map has been steepened by erosion and the route has been closed. A path down to some steps at Otter Bay which gave access at low tide to Littleham Cove has similarly been closed for safety reason. In an emergency these old routes could enable access to the cliff top, with some minor hazard.

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INTRODUCTION:

Safety and Risk Assessment

There are risks in the Budleigh Salterton area of approaching too closely the edge of the cliff, for photography for example. The cliffs are vertical and of sandstone or conglomerate that can crumble or collapse. Keep well back from the edge.

Geologists will inevitably be attracted by the Budleigh Salterton Pebble Bed. It can be seen from the beach a short distance away from the cliff. If, however, the cliff is approached then safety helmets should be worn and a major risk of falling debris recognised. Debris has fallen over the years from the vertical cliffs and formed an accumulation bank at the foot (see photographs below). This is mostly grassed over showing that it is largely quite old. However, material may fall at any time. In particular avoid places where there are signs of freshly fallen debris. Rock falls were bad at times in 2014, after the bad winter storms (personal communication, Andrew Johnson).

Some people will wish to go close to the cliff to see the yellow bed at the junction of the Budleigh Salterton Pebble Bed and the Otter Sandstone. Unless it is essential, it is safer to avoid doing this. No-one should spend long there and it is not wise to take large parties or particularly children close to the cliff. Sedimentary structures, faults etc can be seen from the beach, and the peculiar Budleigh Salterton pebbles can be studied on the beach in relative safety. In bad weather, of course, take additional care and parties should be warmly dressed and having regard to sea and wave conditions.

Crossing the outflow of the River Otter could be dangerous if the water-flow was heavy or the tide high. The throwing of pebbles could, in some circumstances, be hazardous.

The uranium and vanadium bearing nodules of Littleham Cove should be treated with care because of a very small radioactivity risk. They are not ornamental or valuable and just appear as grey lumps. The minerals within them are present in microscopic to submicroscopic grains which can only be identified by electronic laboratory equipment. Except for scientific research purposes, it is best just to leave them in the cliffs where they are harmless and thus avoid any problems associated with storage. They must not be crushed, cut or ground without special precautions; they should not be handled by children and not placed in a pocket. They should not be posted or transported abroad because their low level of radiation might set off sensitive scanners or monitors, and this in turn could lead to questions being asked.

The Straight Point headland is a firing range with a danger area on the east side when it is in use. Abide by the notices and do not enter the firing range territory.

Note that from about 2014 on to late 2016 and probably beyond, the cliffs between Budleigh Salterton and Littleham Cove are becoming increasing dangerous because the beeach has been naturally destroyed and the cliffs are subject to erosion by the sea at high tide. Without careful planning and a cautious approach, there is risk of being cut off by the sea. A particular hazard is that a geologist or field party may be effectively pushed back close to the cliff, when trying to get along the coast (usually at low tide). They could be cut off by the sea, but a greater risk in terms of injury or death is that they may be hit by a falling rock. Such falling rock risks are common in geology, but there are certain places such as this (and at Burton Bradstock to Bridport, and at some locations in the Lulworth Cove area) where the hazard is greater. So between Burton Bradstock and Littleham Cove recognise the fact that you or a party could be hit by a falling rock. Also appreciate that in reality and to be realistic this is fortunately a rare occurrence and is not to any extent as likely a hazard as a road accident. Of course, there are statistical factors involved and direct comparisons are feasible. Just take care and turn back if the risk is too great.

For further information please see the Safety on field trips webpage. Individual geological visitors and field leaders should make their own risk assessment and no liability is accepted.

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INTRODUCTION:

Geological Maps

Devon Geological Map

Old geological map of Dawlish to Budleigh Salterton, Devon, including Exmouth

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STRATIGRAPHY:

Permian Strata

The Littleham Mudstone, discussed further below, was formerly placed at the base of the Triassic System, and it will be found to be discussed under Trias in the older literature. It has now, however, been placed provisionally in the top of the Permian by the British Geological Survey (2011), Geology of South Dorset and Southeast Devon and its World Heritage Coast. It has been placed in the Changsingian Stage of the Lopingian Series at the top of the Permian. This dating is not firmly proven by a specific fossil content within the Devon strata. The dating is by indirect biostratigraphical evidence and by magnetostratigraphy. Older breccias are regarded as Permian and this has not been a disputabble matter.

[This webpage has not yet been fully corrected in accordance with the BGS Permian classification. Thus the Littleham Mudstne may be referred to as Triassic in places. Corrections will be made progressively, if the late Permian age is generally accepted.]

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STRATIGRAPHY

Triassic Strata

The Triassic System consists of pink sandstones, pebble beds and mudstones. This is a classic "red-bed facies" and the upper part of the Permo-Triassic clastic strata that used to be known as the "New Red Sandstone". The Trias has been formed about 230 million years ago (more specifically from 250 to 203 million years) when southern Britain was at about 15 degrees north, the latitude of the modern Sahara desert. As time as has passed the equator has gradually moved away southward, and will continue to do so.

The relatively dry environment of deposition was part of the great supercontinent Pangaea. It was a time when all the all continents had come together as a result of plate-tectonic collisions. The large size of the continent and therefore the distance of most places from the sea and moist sea winds was an additional factor that favoured aridity. Evaporites are common in the Trias, as well as in the Permian, but they are not always seen at the surface because of dissolution in the wet British climate. They are commonly found in boreholes and, not surprisingly, the interstitial water at depth in these rocks is a brine often saturated for salt.

With regard to distribution and outcrop, the Trias occurs, with the Permian, beneath the Wessex Basin of southern England (south of the London Platform and the Worcester Basin). It contains an important oil reservoir at Wytch Farm Oilfield in Poole Harbour and is a source of hot water for geothermal energy at Southampton. It is concealed underground for most of the basin and only appears at the surface in the west, from Seaton and Beer almost on the Devon-Dorset border westward to Budleigh Salterton and Dawlish. Red Permian strata that are not very different extend from west of Budleigh Salterton towards Torquay. The red Permo-Triassic strata produce the red soils of Devon and are well-developed in the general Exeter region. The occurrence at the surface of the Permo-Trias in Devon is partly due to the general tilt of Britain down towards the southeast and up in the west.

Generalised Triassic stratigraphy for East Devon, including Budleigh Salterton

[NB. This is old diagram and it is not yet corrected. It shows a previous stratal classification used until recently. The BGS now place the Aylesbeare Mudstone Group, including the Littleham Mudstone Formation, within the top Permian]

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This diagram shows the general relationships of lithological units to stages for the Trias of Devon, based on Dorset County Council (2000). It is not necessarily accurate in detail though and may need revision. See Smidt et al. (2003) for recent information on Middle Triassic correlation. The Sherwood Sandstone, previously regarded as Lower Triassic (i.e. Bunter) is now considered to represent the Middle Triassic of southern England and is the equivalent of the Muschelkalk of the Germanic Basin.

The Sherwood Sandstone Group was considered to consist mainly of the fluvial products of a syn-rift phase of deposition. Ruffell and Shelton (1999), however, have noted that it is the Mercia Mudstone Group which is seen to thicken markedly into faults imaged on seismic data rather than the Sherwood Sandstone Group. The minor thickening of the Sherwood Sandstone Group into faults was interpreted by them as the results of a combination of minor extension in the early Triassic superimposed on thermal subsidence inherited from the important regional phase of extension in the early Permian. They attributed the increased fluvial activity of the Sherwood Sandstone as rainfall-controlled. The rainfall was probably seasonal with arid seasons in which evaporite deposition occurred.

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BUDLEIGH SALTERTON:

Introduction - the Town

Looking towards the centre of Budleigh Salterton, Devon, October 2011

The Fairlynch Museum at Budleigh Salterton, East Devon, October 2011

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THE BUDLEIGH SALTERTON PEBBLE BEDS

BUDLEIGH SALTERTON PEBBLE BEDS
(This well-known traditional name is used here, but the strata have been
renamed the "Chester Formation" in a report by Ambrose et al. 2014, not seen)

Introduction

The Triassic Budleigh Salterton Pebble Bed in the cliffs west of Budleigh Salterton, Devon, with pebbles from the deposit forming the beach

The Budleigh Salterton Pebble Bed, with sand lenses, and above the Aylesbeare Mudstone in the cliff at West Down, Budleigh Salterton, Devon, 2011

The Budleigh Salterton Pebble Bed in the cliff top, West Down, Budleigh Salterton, Devon, 2011

The Triassic Budleigh Salterton Pebble Bed in the cliffs west of Budleigh Salterton, Devon, with the Otter Sandstone above

Normal fault in the Budleigh Salterton Pebble Bed and overlying Otter Sandstone, Budleigh Salterton, Devon, UK

The Budleigh Salterton Pebble Bed seen along the cliffs towards Littleham Cove, Devon

The Budleigh Salterton Pebble Bed with oblate, very rounded pebbles, and some imbrication, cliffs of Budleigh Salterton, Devon, 2011

Close-up view of the pebbles of the Budleigh Salterton Pebble Bed, Devon

The Budleigh Salterton Pebble Beds, about 30m thick, are well-exposed in the cliffs west of the town. They form a red coarse conglomerate, poorly cemented but with a firm matrix of speckled coarse sand. The Pebble Beds are distinctive in being a thick deposit with well-rounded pebbles of quartzite. Sand lenses occur within the pebbles beds. The Pebble Beds are overlain by a red sandstone, the Otter Sandstone.

The main clastic constituents, the "Budleigh pebbles", include distinctive types of purple quartzite which are found on beaches in many parts of southwest England. The source of the pebbles within the Budleigh Salterton Pebble Beds is not certain although the quartzite has long ago been matched to Ordovician rocks in Normandy on the basis of fossils (Orthis budleighensis) found in some of the pebbles (Durrance and Laming, 1982).

Although a northerly direction of flow is shown by pebble imbrication, it seems doubtful according to Durrance and Laming (1982). as to whether a river could move cobbles of up to 40cm in size a distance of 250 km from one side of a desert basin to the other. A less distant source might have been a Palaeozoic ridge with Ordovician quartzites in the vicinity of Start Point.

The Budleigh Salterton Pebble Beds and much of the Otter Sandstone Formation were probably deposited from ephemeral braided streams in hot, continental, semi-arid environments Holloway et al. (1989). This is indicated by the absence of marine fossils, the rare occurrence of non-marine vertebrate fossils, the oxidation of the iron to a red ferric condition, the widespread occurrence of anhydrite in borehole samples(Milodowski et al. 1986), the development of calcretes and rhizoconcretions (see below), and the occurrence of the reg or deflation surface with ventifacts discussed below (and see: Henson, 1970; Leonard, Moore and Selwood, 1982).

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BUDLEIGH SALTERTON PEBBLE BED

Sedimentary Structures

Sedimentary structures of the Budleigh Salterton Pebble Bed, showing relationships of conglomerate to sandstone, Budleigh Salterton, Devon, 2011

A labelled version of the photograph showing sedimentary structures of the Budleigh Salterton Pebble Bed, with conglomerate and  sandstone, Budleigh Salterton, Devon, 2011

The Budleigh Salterton Pebble Beds at Budleigh Salterton, Devon, with sedimentary structures pointed out by Dr. Alison Jones, 1995

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BUDLEIGH SALTERTON PEBBLE BED

The Pebbles

An artifial wall of pebbles from the Budleigh Salterton Pebble Bed, Budleigh Salterton, Devon, 2011

Percussion marks in a rounded quartzite pebble from the Budleigh Salterton Pebble Bed, Trias, cliff top, Budleigh Salterton, Devon, 2011

Two rounded quartzite pebbles with percussion marks, Budleigh Salterton Pebble Bed, cliff top, Budleigh Salterton, Devon, 2011

Wet pebbles on the beach Budleigh Salterton, Devon, mostly derived from the Budleigh Salterton Pebble Bed

The Budleigh Salterton Pebble Bed is a conglomerate in which the dominant pebbles are of quartzite. They are often about 10 or 20cm in length but can attain up to 40cm. Some of the quartzite pebbles are grey but most are either purple throughout or mottled grey and purple. The purple quartzites are easily recognised in later transported pebble deposits such as the Chesil Beach and are found as far away as Lulworth Cove and the Isle of Wight. Within the pebble bedding is sometimes visible but not very conspicuous in most examples. Some, however, are well-laminated, and to a limited extented, cross-laminated. A fairly fine-grained conglomerate, with quartz clasts within it, occurs.

In addition to the abundant quartzite, there is smaller proportion of scattered black, hard pebbles of tourmalinite, or tourmalinised hornfels. They are conspicous and easily found because of the colour contrast with that of the grey and purple quartzites. These tourmaline-rich pebbles are from the aureole of the Dartmoor Granite (Henson, 1971). They often have white veins of quartz within them, and not usually quite as rounded as the quartzite pebbles, perhaps because of a shorter travel distance.

Pebbles of vein quartz are common. They tend to be relatively small in most cases.

An interesting feature is that percussion marks are very commonly developed in the quartzite pebbles. These curved cracks are probably unusual in a deposit that is assumed to be fluvial. They are developed in flints in the Chesil Beach, and are found in the battered flints of Eocene beach deposits.

Where the larger pebbles are exposed at the land surface at the cliff top, they have a tendency to break at right angles to the longer axes. In other words they split in half fairly easily. This may be a result of compaction stresses on pebbles that have been resting on each other. The split is usually a clean and almost straight fracture, not significantly affected by the percussion marks.

In addition to the quartzites there are some dark red and grey sandstones with occasionally some fossil content ( Perkins, 1971). Careful selection of hard pieces with good bedding is needed, but even then the fossil remains are extremely rare. Orthis budleighensis and Lingula leseuri are small brachiopods which have been found in these sandstones. These are Ordovician and occur in the Gres de May and the Gres Armoricain in Brittany. For more information on the pebbles and their fossils see Vicary and Salter (1864). Occurring in basal Triassic pebble beds in Somerset are some clasts of Devonian and Carboniferous material. Some detritus of this type is rare, but present at Budleigh Salterton. Agates and carnelian have been found very rarely in the modern pebble beach ( Perkins, 1971).

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BUDLEIGH SALTERTON PEBBLE BEDS

The Yellow Band at the Top

the Yellow Band at the top of the Budleigh Salterton Pebble Bed, Trias, Budleigh Salterton, Devon, 10th October 2011

The Dreikanter or Reg Horizon at the top of the Triassic Budleigh Salterton Pebble Beds, Devon

A reg or hammada, stony desert, south of the Qattara Depression, Western Desert, Egypt, with party stranded by a puncture

Here, at the top of the Budleigh Salterton Pebble Bed (just under the yellow bed) is the remains of a reg (a stoney desert), like those widespread deflation features of northern Egypt (see photograph above of a reg in the Western Desert of Egypt - part of the Sahara), Libya and elsewhere. These regs usually are rather waterless, inhospitable stony wastes. There are good examples in many deserts, such as in northern Egypt and Libya. They result mainly from deflation, with the sand being blown away to sand-dunes in another region. Rare flash-floods may also contribute to the removal of sand. The top of the extensive pebble beds of the Devon desert were left exposed probably for a long time. As the residual sand was blown away it was sand-blasting the top pebbles. Thus angular wind-facetted pebbles, known as ventifacts or dreikanter were formed at this surface. Similar ones of modern origin can found today, in a deflation area, on the north side of Kuwait Bay near the border with Iraq (Kuwait suffers deflation and no large sand-dunes; the sand has been transported south by the prevailing wind to Qatar and the Empty Quarter of Saudi Arabia etc.).

Regs usually have a desert varnish, a dark brown, shoe-polish shiny film on the surfaces of the pebbles. This iron-rich coating is usually thin. A rather thick ferruginous desert varnish occurs on the top of the Budleigh Salterton reg. You can see this in the photograph. Because there seems to be iron-depletion just above it producing the yellow band, it may have had additional ferric hydroxide transported down to during diagenesis.

Examine the photograph and consider the sediment immediately above it (for scale - the pen is 13.7 cm long). There are about 20 cm of laminated sand with some ripples. Is it aeolian or fluvial? The horizontal lamination may suggests that it is fluvial and perhaps the 20 cm is the product of one distal flash flood, with insufficient energy to move pebbles.

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THE OTTER SANDSTONE FORMATION, SHERWOOD SANDSTONE GROUP

OTTER SANDSTONE FORMATION:

Introduction

(For more on the Otter Sandstone see the webpage on:
Sidmouth and Ladram Bay, Devon)

Laminated Otter Sandstone of the Sherwood Sandstone, Trias, Budleigh Salterton, Devon

The Otter Sandstone, about 120m thick, is in part, mainly the lower part of aeolian (sand dune) origin. Most of it above is of fluvial origin, with cross- bedded sandstones and thin flash-flood breccias Durrance and Laming (1982).

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OTTER SANDSTONE:

Aeolian Facies

The lower facies of the Otter Sandstone Formation, probably aeolian, at Budleigh Salterton, Devon, August 2005

The lower, aeolian facies of the Otter Sandstone, Sherwood Sandstone, Trias, at Budleigh Salterton, Devon, October 2011

The lower part of the Otter Sandstone can be seen directly above the Budleigh Salterton Pebble Bed in the main cliff section at Budleigh Salterton. There is a lack of the fluvial, flash-flood breccias which are conspicuous higher in the sequence (particularly where the strata dip down eastward, on the east side of the River Otter and beyond). Pebbles or large clasts of any type seem to be absent. The sandstone shows a medium to large-scale cross bedding. Although spectacular dune bedding is not obvious, an aeolian origin seems very likely. This is particularly the case since these sandstone follow above the Yellow Band which has dreikanter or ventifacts proving vigorous aeolian action in a desert environment.

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OTTER SANDSTONE:

Fluvial Facies

The mouth of the River Otter, with a cliff of Otter Sandstone, seen from the end of the pebble spit at Budleigh Salterton, Devon in August 2005 at low tide

The Otter Sandstone in fluvial facies, with flash-flood breccia beds, is seen across the River Otter at Budleigh Salterton, Devon, 10th October 2011

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OTTER SANDSTONE FORMATION:

Rhizoconcretions

Rhizoconcretions in the Otter Sandstone, in the low cliff at the seafront, Budleigh Salterton, Devon, 10th October 2011

Rhizoconcretions in Otter Sandstone of the Sherwood Sandstone, Trias, Budleigh Salterton, Devon

Branching rhizoconcretions in the lower part of the Otter Sandstone, Mouth of the River Otter, east side, near Budleigh Salterton, East Devon, October 2009

Rhizoconcretions in Quaternary dune sandstone, Akrotir, Cyprus

(For more on Triassic rhizoconcretions see:
Sidmouth and Ladram Bay webpage.)

Rhizoconcretions are carbonate (usually calcite) concretions around the roots of plants. They develop in semi-arid areas where carbonate-rich groundwater moves upwards by capillarity because of evaporation at the surface in the dry season. A Quaternary example from aeolianite (i.e. cemented sand-dunes) the seasonally dry southern Cyprus (Akrotiri) is shown for comparison. The Triassic examples have both vertical and subhorizontal roots, but are from some pre-angiosperm plant of unknown type. The Cyprus example is in sand that is grey not red and this is because it contains dark heavy minerals from the Cyprus ophiolite and because unlike the Otter Sandstone it has not suffered severe desert oxidation (nor the usual "red-bed" dehydration under burial of hydrated goethite-type ferric oxides to anhydrous hematite-type oxides).

Durrance and Laming (1982) commented that (after the thesis of Henson, 1971) the Otter Sandstone above the Budleigh Salterton Pebble Beds is composed of a number of sand bodies, comparable to those near Exmouth but with little mudstone in between. Above the base the sands are aeolian, but the rest are fluvial. Derivation of the latter appears to be from the west and southwest. It is interesting that the general basin-ward flow pattern seen in earlier Permo-Triassic strata is thus maintained, despite the temporary but powerful intervention of the Pebble Beds river.

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THE BUDLEIGH SALTERTON BEACH

The Budleigh Salterton Beach with Pebbles

Spit almost blocking outlet of the River Otter, east of Budleigh Salterton, Devon

Pebbles of quartzite on the beach at Budleigh Salterton, Devon, gulls for scale

Pebbles of quartzite on the beach at Budleigh Salterton, Devon, foot for scale

The well-known beach of Budleigh Salterton is well-known. It is composed largely of quartzite pebbles, derived from the Triassic Budleigh Salterton pebble bed in the cliff. Discoidal liver-coloured quartzite pebbles from this are notable in the Chesil Beach and are found on other beaches as far east as the Isle of Wight.

Use of Budleigh Salterton pebbles in art work!

A short account of the history of Budleigh Salterton suggests that many of the larger pebbles were thrown up in the 1824 storm to form the foundations of the present beach (see eastdevon.net - Budleigh Salterton - history. Of course they can be eroded directly from the cliffs, but a stock of the larger and less-mobile pebbles may have been accumulated just offshore.

Another webpage states that in the 1824 hurricane beach pebbles were moved eastward to form a spit blocking the mouth of the river Otter: "Budleigh Salterton, known locally as Salterton (formerly Salterne), derives its name from the manufacture of salt which was once a precious commodity, when it was the main food preservative. Large salt pans were situated at the lower section of the river Otter, the monks at the Otterton Priory holding the rights to this important enterprise. The pebble spit, now blocking what was once an open estuary, was a result of the great storm of 1824" ( Budleigh Diary: community information for Budleigh Salterton ).

Note however that the partial blocking of the outlet of the River Otter has long been a problem. The Otter Valley Association (1984?) in an Historical Guide to the Lower Otter Valley refers to a report by Leland in 1540 - "On the west side is Budleigh, .. it (the haven) is now clene barred" [clean barred]. He said that a hundred years earlier it was a thing "of sum Estimation". Efforts were made to clear a channel and the main channel was navigable to 60 ton vessels until 1810. Thus it is unlikely that the spit was created from nothing in the 1824 storm; it was probably just significantly enlarged and extended.

It is interesting that a hurricane in the English Channel not only seriously damage the Chesil Beach, also seems to be able to move source material from the west in an eastward direction towards Chesil. The movement reported here is on a relatively small scale and a headland prevents further transport. In the Holocene past when sea-level was lower Budleigh Salterton pebbles may have been moved by hurricanes westward on a very much longer spit and moved significantly towards the predecessor of the Chesil Beach. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Footnote: An unlawful bucket of pebbles or an innocent bucket of crabs:
In the year 2000, a painter and decorator, a Mr Robert Pearcey, was convicted of taking pebbles from Budleigh Salterton beach. The mayor of Budleigh Salterton said "I blame Charlie Dimmock and Alan Titmarsh from Groundforce. Children has always taken home the odd pebble from the beach but since we've had fancy gardens it has become a problem because they are disappearing in large numbers. Its got worse because of the number of gardening programmes that suggest making paths or ponds or seaside features out of pebbles." Pearcey, 41, was seen carrying buckets of pebbles from a beach. East Devon Council introducted bylaws three years ago under the 1949 Coastal Protection Act to stop people taking large pebbles from the beach. Pearcy denied taking a bucket of pebbles from the beach and said that he and his wife were, in fact, carrying a bucket of crabs. He was found guilty, conditionally discharged for 12 months and ordered to pay £250 costs. The mayor said "East Devon District Council brought this case because they wanted to make an example of somebody" (de Bruxelles, 2000).
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LITTLEHAM COVE AND THE RADIOACTIVE NODULES
(in top Permian mudstones and siltstones

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LITTLEHAM COVE:

Introduction - Access

The coastal footpath and the Sandy Bay Holiday Park above Littleham Cove, west of Budleigh Salterton, Devon, with cliffs of Littleham Mudstone

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The corner of Littleham Cove at the fault adjacent to Straight Point, west of Budleigh Salterton, Devon, in 2007 when there was still access with the assistance of a rope

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The corner of Littleham Cove at the fault adjacent to Straight Point, west of Budleigh Salterton, Devon, April 2014, photograph courtesy of Andrew Johnson

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The corner of Littleham Cove, southwest of Budleigh Salterton, Devon, a locality where the Littleham Mudstones contain radioactive nodules, and where there has been significant recent erosion by the sea, August 2016, photograph Jason Scott

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Littleham is a village at the eastern suburban edge of Exmouth, Devon. A little more than a kilometre away is Littleham Cove (map reference - SY 040804). This is a quiet embayment of rather slumped, red mudstone cliffs. The cove is to the east of a sandstone headland, Straight Point, which is used as a firing range and not accessible. On the cliff top north of Straight Point and west of Littleham Cove is a large holiday caravan site, Sandy Bay Holiday Park. As mentioned above, there is no easy or official access to the bay from the large holiday camp.

The bay from Littleham Cove northeast has a stony beach of large pebbles from the Budleigh Salterton Pebble Bed, with a wave-cut platform and some rocks accessible at low tide. It is unlikely that, except in storm conditions, you could be cut off by the tide on the beach of Littleham Cove.

Access now is mainly by a fairly long walk access from Budleigh Salterton. There was once a route down from the holiday camp using a rope, as shown above, but because of major coast erosion in the storms of early 2014 this route is no longer feasible. There is normally no major tide problem, except that the Straight Point peninsula has sandstone ledges accessible up to the firing range only at low tide. It is wise to check on the tide conditions before visiting and ideally go at a good low tide. This is not only for access reasons; it is also because the low tide ledge give good exposures of the Littleham Mudstone Formation with green reduction spots. Some of the larger green spots, but not all, contain black radioactive nodules of vanadium and uranium and other elements within them.

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LITTLEHAM COVE:

General Introduction

Littleham Cove and Straight Point from the cliff edge at West Down, Budleigh Salterton, Devon, 2011

Littleham Cove seen from the ledges on the east side of Straight Point, west of Budleigh Salterton, Devon, 2006

Littleham Cove, well-known for radioactive nodules, west of Budleigh Salterton, Devon, 2006

Littleham Cove, near Budleigh Salterton, Devon, seen from the cliff top, 2006

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Southampton University research on radioactive nodules in the Littleham Mudstones at Littleham Cove, west of Budleigh Salterton, Devon, with part of Straight Point in the background, April 2007

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Red cliffs of the Permian, Littleham Mudstone at Littleham Cove, west of Budleigh Salterton, Devon

When I took some of the photograph above in 2006, there was a well-developed and very conspicuous pebble beach of the Budleigh Salterton pebbles (transported southwest from the cliff exposure of the Budleigh Salterton pebble bed. Later, as shown other photographs note that that former pebble beach at Littleham Cove has been eroded away completely. This is quite a drastic change in a (geologically) extremely short time interval. Presumably wind action recently has been even more dominantly than usual from the southwest. The details of this change in the beach have not been investigated here, but are noted as a significant change in coastal morphology.

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Littleham Cove, near Budleigh Salterton, Devon, a special locality for Permian radioactive nodules, seen in eroded state, August 2016

Notice that the cliffs here in the eroded state are in excellent condition for exposing the famous radioactive nodules. Some very specimens have been seen and the place is better for research now, but somewhat hazardous regarding risk of being cut off by the tide.

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Fallen red mudstone blocks from a rockfall in the cliffs of Littleham Mudstone Formation, west of Budleigh Salterton, Devon, 2014, photograph by Andrew Johnson

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Eroding cliffs of Littleham Mudstone, with radioactive nodules, about half-way between Budleigh Salterton and Littleham Cove, Devon, photograph by Alysson Rowan

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Sandstone beds in the Littleham Mudstones at Littleham Cove, near Budleigh Salterton, Devon

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Littleham Cove has slumped red cliffs of mudstone which sweep round northeastward to High Down and Budleigh Salterton. About 2 kilometres away in this direction the prevailing easterly dip brings the Budleigh Salterton Pebble Bed into the upper part of the cliff and it then descends to the beach. This famous formation is described in another section of this webpage.

The red mudstone cliffs of Littleham Cove have some thin greenish sandstone beds at intervals, especially in the lower part. The red mudstone is not in excellent condition for study because it distintegrates very readily into small blocks. In addition there are small slumps down the cliffs and runnels of red mud.

In the corner of Littleham Cove there is a fault and a drastic change in the character of the cliffs. South of this there is fluvial sandstone with beds of coarser dark subangular grains (i.e. beginning to resemble a fine-grained fluvial breccia). This sandstone is easily examined at low tide by walking on the wave-cut ledges. These are full of pot-holes and there is a cave near Otter Cove.

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Littleham Cove - Littleham Mudstones (now regarded as top Permian)

The Littleham Mudstones are red blocky mudstones with very little fossil content. In general they resemble the Mercia Mudstones higher in the Triassic succession. The Littleham Mudstones are close to the Permo-Triassic boundary. The evidence for the precise age is very limited. They have mostly been regarded as uppermost Permian, but sometimes as basal Triassic.

See the British Geological Survey publication:
British Geological Survey (BGS). (Compiled by M.A. Woods) 2011. Geology of South Dorset and South-East Devon and its World Heritage Coast. Special Memoir for 1:50,000 geological sheets 328 Dorchester, 342 West Fleet and Weymouth and 342/343 Swanage and parts of sheets 326/340 Sidmouth, 327 Bridport, 329 Bournemouth and 330 Newton Abbott. 161 pp. In Fig. 3 on p.7, the Littleham Mudstone Formation is listed as belonging to the Changhsingian Stage of the Lopingian Series of the uppermost Permian System. It is about 253 million years old.

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Detailed information is available on the lithology, thicknesses, and sedimentology of the Littleham Mudstones at the Ven Ottery Borehole (SY 0659 9111) at Aylesbeare, north of Budleigh Salterton and east of Exeter. This is described in the British Geological Survey Memoir - Edwards, R.A. and Scrivener, R.C. (1999) Geology of the Country Around Exeter. 183 pp. (with contributions from other authors including sedimentology by N.S. Jones and S.A. Smith). It is obtainable at £50 from the BGS website, bookshop section. Much more detail has been obtained from the cored borehole than from the rather slumped cliff. A small part of the borehole log is given here, without legend, merely as an example. The complete log should be consulted in the Memoir. For more detail see Jones (1992).

An example section of Littleham Mudstones of the Venn Ottery Borehole log

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Littleham Cove - Littleham Mudstones continued

Growth Faulting

Non-parallelism of sandstone beds in the Littleham Mudstone at Littleham Cove, near Budleigh Salterton, Devon

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A wedge-out of some Permian mudstones as a result of growth-faulting in the corner of Littleham Cove, near Budleigh Salterton, Devon

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As shown in photographs above the thin sandstone beds in the lower part of the Littleham Mudstone are not all parallel. There is clear evidence that growth-faulting has occurred and that there has been penecontemporaneous movement with downthrow of a few metres to the southwest. The movement of the fault during deposition of the Littleham Mudstone Formation in the late Permian, perhaps with earthquake shocks, may have caused movement of fluids containing the radioactive elements discussed below.

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LITTLEHAM COVE:

Littleham Mudstone - Green Reduction Features

Steep green reduction feature cross-cutting bedding in the Littleham Mudstones at Littleham Cove west of Budleigh Salterton, Devon

Harder green-mottled bands in the Littleham Mudstones, Littleham Cove, west of Budleigh Salterton, Devon

A phase of ramifying green reduction which seems to avoid earlier green reduction spots; a hard band in the Littleham Mudstones, Littleham Cove near Budleigh Salterton, Devon

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Two very small, black radioactive nodules within green reduction spheres, which in these two examples have red rims; this also suggests two phase greening, location - Littleham cove near Budleigh Salterton, Devon

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Green reduction spots are common in the Littleham Mudstones. Some thin projecting harder bands near the base are quite green. These show ramifying green reductive of a more diffusive and irregular type. It is interesting to observe that the ramifying green reduction seems to avoid well-defined green reduction spots, which perhaps were earlier. The full implications of this are not clear. Even if there were two phases of reduction why did the later phase avoid the green reduction spheres?

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LITTLEHAM COVE:

Littleham Mudstone - Green Reduction Features - Relationship to Compaction and Evaporites

Regarding the green reduction spheres, and contained radioactive nodules of the Littleham Mudstone:

1. They are not penecontemporaneous but are post sediment compaction; about 10 to 30 metres or more of overlying sediment was needed.

2. In at least one case green reduction spheres relate to an early joint or incipient fault. Note that the initiation of faulting in the corner of Littleham Cove was penecontemporaneous - i.e. late Permian growth faulting.

3. Green reduction features with radioactive nodules are preferentially developed at the intersection of vermicular desiccation cracks (of the original playa lake). The desication cracks are sometimes imperfect. With regard to diagenesis, obviously such playa-lake cracks probably one contained halite. This is supported by the fact there are replacements of nodular anhydrite in the Littleham Mudstones.

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LITTLEHAM COVE continued:

Green Reduction - Joint Parallel

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Green reduction at the margin of a vertical joint, or minor fault, Littleham Mudstones, Littleham Cove, near Budleigh Salterton, Devon, photograph by Andrew Johnson, 2014

It should be noted that some reduction of the general red colour (oxidised) to green (reduced) occurs at vertical joints or faults. This is confirmation of some late reduction, which is post-lithification.

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LITTLEHAM COVE continued:

Radioactive Nodules or Concretions of Littleham Cove - General

Two radioactive nodules from the Littleham Mudstones of Littleham Cove, west of Budleigh Salterton, Devon

The Littleham Mudstones Formation is famous for the radioactive nodules or concretions that occur in green reduction spots within the red beds. They were first reported by Carter in 1931 in a paper in the Mineralogical Magazine.

The Littleham Cove nodules have only low radioactivity and are not hazardous in normal circumstances, although see the sensible precautions listed above in the safety section. When the specimen is in contact with a radiation monitor the level is only about 10 times normal background. The radioactive nodules are an interesting geological curiosity of educational and research significance.

The nodules can be found very easily after stormy weather in winter or spring. In summer when the beach sand is banked up and the cliffs are dry and dusty it may not be so easy. Some period of searching may be needed and the nodules may only appear as unimpressive grey lumps in green patches. Examples can be found near the foot of the cliffs at Littleham Cove, and in low tide exposures where there is not too much seaweed. They break up easily, but complete examples can certainly found on the cliffs and foreshore.

The nodules have been studied in detail since the 1930s (see Perutz, 1939). See also the works of Tandy (1974), Harrison (1975) and Durrance and George (1976). The general setting is well-described by Durrance and Laming (1982)

The nodules are always associated with large pale green or cream-coloured reduction spots. As Edwards and Scrivener (1999) mentioned, reduction features in the Aylesbeare Mudstone are of four main types: (a) bands and discontinuous beds and zones; (b) green spherical spots with no apparent nucleus; (c) grey and black radioactive nodules, and varieties with a small dark centre ('fisheyes') that are surrounded by a halo of pale green reduced material; and (d) diffuse patches of reduced material (Bateson and Johnson, 1992).

Edwards and Scrivener (1999) further observed that the reduction features are locally associated with dark grey radioactive nodules that contain high proportions of metallic elements including vanadium, uranium, copper and nickel (Carter, 1931; Perutz, 1939; Harrison, 1975; Durrance and George, 1976; Durrance et al., 1980). The nodules occur mainly within the Littleham Mudstone, and are most abundant near the base of the formation

Tandy (1973, 1974) demonstrated the widespread occurrence of dissolved uranium salts over the Aylesbeare Mudstone outcrop, and showed that the nodules were more widespread than previously known, extending at least 16 km north of the coast; he mapped the distribution of radioactive reduction features between Littleham Cove and Aylesbeare, near Exeter.

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LITTLEHAM COVE continued:

Radioactive Nodules - Fish-Eye Type

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Two radioactive nodules of the fish-eye type in the Littleham Mudstones, uppermost Permian, Budleigh Salterton, Devon

A small radioactive nodule, of small fish-eye type, in a green reduction spot in the Littleham Mudstones, at Littleham Cove near Budleigh Salterton, Devon

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Fish-eye nodules from the basal part of the Sidmouth Mudstone Formation, Trias, Pennington Point, Sidmouth, and similar to radioactive fish-eye nodules in the Littleham Mudstone at Littleham Cove

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Green reduction spheres with small black radioactive cores are known as fish-eye concretions. They occur quite commonly. Incidently, they are also present, but rather rare, in the basal Mercia Mudstone Formation at Sidmouth, Devon which also has other occurrences of radioactive minerals, although on a smaller scale, than in the Littleham Mudstones.

Notice in the example above there are many green reduction spots, but most are smaller and contain no black radioactive cores. Two larger green spots do have spherical, black, vanadium-uranium cores. Notice that there are some recent, narrow open joints (just small fractures. These are probably just unloading joints that developed during uplift and erosion of overlying strata. They have not affected the morphology of the fish-eye nodules during their growth. There is some fracturing and en echelon displacement at the right-hand nodule. This is all compatible with the radioactive nodules having formed under burial and after initial compaction, but before the local uplift.

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LITTLEHAM COVE continued:

Radioactive, Vanadium-Uranium Nodules of Littleham Cove - Large Spherical Type

The most well-known of the late Permian radioactive nodules of Littleham Cove, southwest of Budleigh Salterton, are of the almost spherical type. These are the classic radioactive nodules. They are conspicuous round objects, like a cricket ball in size (at maximum) and black or dark in colour. They show no compaction, but may contain some only very slight indications of symmetrical shrinkage cracks on the exterior. Often they have none. Internally there is a wide-spaced concentric structure. Often there is a reduction zone around the nodules; usually this is irregular, but in one case shown below the outermost zone is perfectly concentric in relation to inner zones. Examine the photographs below.

A very large spherical nodule of the dark radioactive type, from the Littleham Mudstones, Littleham Cove, Budleigh Salterton, Devon, found by Andrew Johnson, April 2014

A large spherical, radioactive vanadium-uranium nodule found at Littleham Cove, Budleigh Salterton, Devon, and placed on a beach ledge of the Littleham Mudstone Formation from which it came - photograph by Jason Mark Scott, August 2016

A large radioactive, uranium-vanadium nodule, of spherical type in the Littleham Mudstones of Littleham Cove near Budleigh Salterton, Devon

A very large, black, radioactive uranium-vanadium nodule, in the Littleham Mudstone, Littleham Cove, near Budleigh Salterton, Devon, in 2016, photograph by Jason Mark Scott

A naturally eroded, cross section through a radioactive vanadium-uranium nodule at Littleham Cove near Budleigh Salterton, Devon, photograph by Jason Mark Scott

Naturally-eroded, cross-section through a radioactive nodule with vanadium and uranium, in Permian strata at Littleham Cove, southwest of Budleigh Salterton, Devon, England

Shown above are the spherical type of radioactive nodule or concretion that are common in the Littleham Mudstones. The larger of these are dark grey spheres, usually of a few centimetres diameter, within the reduction sphere (reduction spot) of pale green mudstone. A particularly large specimen of about 9.6 cm diameter was found by Andrew Johnson in April 2014 and this is shown above.

A cross-section of a large concentric, spherical type of uranium-vanadium concretion in the Littleham Mudstones, Littleham Cove near Budleigh Salterton, Devon, UK

The internal structure of the large spherical nodulces is oftne concentric. These are the most radioactive type of nodule. They contain uranium minerals such as uraninite (pitchblende), vanadium minerals and many rare minerals including various arsenides. Native copper occurs in special circumstances. These minerals are discussed in more detail below

Two large fish-eye type, uranium vanadium nodules in rippled sandstone of the Littleham Mudstone, Littleham Cove, near Budleigh Salterton, Devon, UK

Large fish-eye type concretions occur not only in mudstone but also in rippled sandstone. It is remarkable that neither the dark radioactive nodules or the green concentric spheres are much affected by the porority or permeability differences between the sandy laminae and the more argillaceous ones. This is unusual for concretions in general; they are usually elongated in the direction of maximum permeability. These radioactive concretions do not seem to have developed with morphologies controlled by supply of ions along permeable layers, as in the case of many calcite, siderite nodules etc.

However, it should be noted that there are two black, or radioactive, bands, shown horizontally, in the section through a radioactive nodule. Some field photographs, in this webpage, show veins running through nodules.

Note that the ripple lamination is not normal. Sand linsen (lenses) are visible, but there is some type of disruption that is not understone. Possibly it is related to desiccation or the former presence of evaporites.

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LITTLEHAM COVE continued:

Radioactive Vanadium-Uranium Nodules - Finned Type

Radioactive nodules of the finned type in the Littleham Mudstones of Littleham Cove, near Budleigh Salterton, Devon, UK

Radioactive nodules of type with fins, in the Littleham Mudstones, Littleham Cove, Budleigh Salterton, Devon

Radioactive nodule, finned type, of the Littleham Mudstones, under water at low tide, near Budleigh Salterton, Devon

It is common to see radioactive nodules of a different type in the Littleham Mudstones. These are in green areas of mudstone but are not perfectly concentric. They have fins of dark material, sometimes with arrowhead type of terminations.

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LITTLEHAM COVE continued:

Vein-type, Vanadium-Uranium Mineralisation (re radioactive nodules)

Vein deposition of vanadium and uranium in the extension of a lacustrine desiccation crack, surface of red mudstone on a beach ledge, Littleham Cove, Budleigh Salterton, Devon, April 2014, photograph by Andrew Johnson

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Veins (although not stricly continuous) as opposed to nodules of vanadium-uranium are relatively rare at Littleham Cove. An example has been photographed by Andrew Johnson and the image is shown above. Notice that the precipitation has been towards the end of an early, vermicular desiccation crack. An aura of green reduction spots shows where reducing solutions from the vermicular vein entered the surrounding rock.

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LITTLEHAM COVE continued:

Desiccation Cracks, Evaporite Relics and Comparison with Salt Lakes

Large desiccation polygons in the Littleham Mudstone, Littleham Cove near Budleigh Salterton, Devon

The Akrotiri Salt Lake, Cyprus, when dry in September, 2006

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Relationship of radioactive nodules to old desiccation cracks in the Littleham Mudstone Formation at Littleham Cove near Budleigh Salterton, Devon

Another association of green reduction spots and uranium-vanadium mineralisation with an early desiccation crack, Littleham Mudstones, Littleham Cove, near Budleigh Salterton, Devon, UK

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A black, uranium-vanadium rich nodule, cut by a white vein, Budleigh Salterton, Devon, photograph courtesy and copyright of Andrew Johnson, 2014

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Details of vanadium-uranium rich nodules, dark in colour and in association with double, vermicular veins, probably of desiccation crack origin, Littleham Cove, near Budleigh Salterton, Devon, photograph copyright of Andrew Johnson

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Early supply veins for reduced fluids in the Littleham Mudstones, Littleham Cove, Budleigh Salterton, Devon, 2014, photograph by Andrew Johnson

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As might be expected for fine sediments of a desert playa lake there are desiccation polygons in the Littleham Mudstone. They are large with sides of about a metre or more. The former fissures now contain a white mineral which does not seem to have been investigated.

Some of the dark uranium-vanadium nodules are closely associated with the desiccation cracks and seem to have developed penecontemporaneously. The dark mineralisation is not normally within the former fissure, though but is often present on both sides. This may suggest that it became localised to the fissure site at an early stage in the fissure development.

A probable explanation is that concentrated evaporitic brines, very low in oxygen content (common with satured halite) seeped into early fissures and produced local areas of reduction. The uranium and associated metals could be precipitated in such environments. These conditions also produced the green reduction spots.

Similarity of polygonal desiccation cracks in the Littleham Mudstones, near Budleigh Salterton, Devon, and those in the dried Karum salt lake of the Danakil Depression, East Africa

Large polygons with similar crenulation features occur at the present day in the dried-out Karum Salt Lake of the Danakil Depression of East Africa. This is a good analogue for the centre of the East Devon Permo-Triassic Basin in terms of latitude, desert environment and the proximity of volcanic mountains (cf. the Dartmoor Volcano). There is even rifting that is similar but on a smaller scale.

The following is a comment on the Karum Salt Lake polygons by Willock (1974):

"The great, dried-out expanse of the Karum salt lake in the Danakil Depression was once an arm of the Red Sea, from which its vast quantities of sodium chloride - sea salt are mostly derived. It is entirely flat for the 45 miles of its width except at the centre, where volcanic buckling has raised a cluster of strangely contorted salt hills.

For most of the year, the salt lake is compact and glistening like marble but, when drenched by the short rains of late summer, it undergoes a strange metamorphosis. The marble-like surface softens and grows dull. Then, once more exposed to the powerful sun, it begins to dry out and shrinks rapidly, both horizontally and vertically. The horizontal contraction cracks off large hexagonal sections, five to six feet across, leaving gaps between. When the desert winds blow, these gaps may be filled by grains of gypsum, dust and sand, which harden like cement. In this case, as the salt hexagons continue to dry in the sun, shrinking downwards, the thin, dividing sections of harder materials are left upstanding in ridges. Gradually, however, the ridges are worn down by sand storms, and the smooth surface is finally restored."

Replaced enterolithic anhydrite or gypsum in the fault plane in the corner of Littleham Cove, near Budleigh Salterton, Devon

The presence of replaced enterolithic veins of gypsum or anhydrite in the major fault plane at Littleham Cove is probably a relic of evaporites that were once present in the Littleham Mudstones or associated strata. It is possible that the calcium sulphate comes from former (or existing) beds of gypsum or anhydrite beneath the Littleham Mudstones and downfaulted below the beach.

Enterolithic veins are typical features of sabkhas and the most likely origin of the Littleham Mudstone is a playa lake or continental sabkha. This relates well to the large polygonal desiccation cracks discussed above.

Budleigh Salterton, Devon

A small normal fault at Littleham Cove is probably related to the large normal fault in the corner of the bay. The small fault is well-shown by the displacement of rippled green sandstones. It is of significance that the radioactive nodules are displaced and cut by the fault and therefore predate the faulting.

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LITTLEHAM COVE continued:

Littleham Cove Nodules - Field Investigation of Radiation and Geochemistry

X-ray fluorescent spectrometry in the field of a radioactive, uranium-vanadium nodule in the Littleham Mudstones of Littleham Cove near Budleigh Salterton, Devon, UK

Emma makes a field investigation of the gamma radiation from a uranium-vanadium nodule, Littleham Mudstones, Littleham Cove, Devon, UK

Close-up - field use of a gamma ray spectrometer on radioactive, uranium-vanadium nodule in the Littleham Mudstones of Littleham Cove near Budleigh Salterton, Devon, UK

Students of the School of Ocean and Earth Sciences, National Oceanography Centre, Southampton University and taking an Masters of Geology course are working with Dr. Ian Croudace, director of the Geoscience Advisory Unit (GAU - Radioanalytical) at the the NOCS. They are investigating the geochemistry of the Littleham Cove radioactive nodules. In the photographs above they are using field geochemical and radiation monitoring equipment, together with GPS. These are a NITON Portable XRF and an EXPLORANIUM gamma spectrometer

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LITTLEHAM COVE continued:

Littleham Cove Radioactive Nodules - Laboratory Investigation at the GAU

Recording radiation from uranium and vanadium-rich nodules of the Littleham Mudstone, Littleham Cove

Cut section through a radioactive nodule from the Littleham Mudstones of Littleham Cove, near Budleigh Salterton, Devon

Laboratory work at the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, Southampton University will follow. The Geosciences Advisory Unit, GAU - Radioanalytical, here is much involved with radiation monitoring and is equiped with a range of high-quality gamma ray spectrometers, X-ray fluorescent spectrometers etc. Some further information on GAU - Radioanalytical is given below. Contact the Head of the organisation, Dr Ian Croudace (iwc@noc.southampton.ac.uk) for further information.

Geosciences Advisory Unit.

The Geosciences Advisory Unit is a scientific consultancy that operates in the School of Ocean and Earth Science at the University of Southampton. The unit was set up in 1988, and since then has generated over £4 million in research contracts. The Unit specialises in the assessment of radioactive and trace metal contaminants in the workplace and in the environment. Measurement quality is regularly assessed through participation in national/international intercomparison exercises and publication of methodologies and data in international peer-reviewed journals. In 1995 the Unit moved from its original base at the Highfield campus at the University of Southampton into new laboratories at the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton (The Dockside Campus of the University of Southampton).

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LITTLEHAM COVE continued:

Littleham Cove Nodules - Mineral Composition

Minerals recorded from the vanadiferous nodules include:

native silver;

the copper minerals -
native copper, algodonite, bornite, chalcocite, chalcopyrite, covellite, digenite, djurleite and malachite, cuprite, azurite,

the nickel minerals -
maucherite, niccolite, rammelsbergite and skutterudite;

the cobalt minerals -
langisite, modderite and safflorite;

the uranium minerals -
coffinite, uraninite (pitchblende);

the vanadium minerals -
vanadian mica, montroseite, vanadian illite

the arsenic mineral -
freirinite;

the lead minerals -
clausthalite, galena and molybdomenite;

the zinc mineral -
sphalerite

the clay and micaceous minerals -
illite, smectite, chlorite, biotite,

the iron minerals -
pyrite, hematite,

the titanium minerals -
ilmenite, anatase,

the carbonate minerals;
dolomite, calcite,

Other minerals, unclassified here into type include -
algodonite, maucherite, arhbarite, domeykite, krutovite, parammmelsbergite, posnjakite, brochantite, ramelaconite, roscoelite, clausthalite,

The sources of information for the above are: Milodowski et al. (2002) and Edwards and Scrivener (1999). These also incorporate data from Harrison (1975); Durrance and George (1976) and Nancarrow (1985) and others.

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LITTLEHAM COVE continued:

Radioactive Nodules in Leicestershire

Comparable radioactive nodules occur in the Triassic Mercia Mudstone (higher in the Permo-Trias) in Leicestershire. The beds of interest are beneath the Newark Gypsum. There are greenish reduction spots in the red mudstone (as at Littleham Cove, in the Permian Littleham Mudstone) and these reduction spots contain the rare uranium and vanadium minerals, coffinite and vesignieite (a bright green mineral). Coffinite is very strongly, radioactive mineral, potentially hazardous, and precautions have to be taken if it is handled. It is a black, uranium silicate related to zircon. The occurrence is recorded in Ford (1999), King and Wilson (1976), Faithfull and Hubbard (1988), and Bevins et al. (2010).

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LITTLEHAM COVE continued:

Radioactive Minerals in the Mercia Mudstone at Sidmouth

There is some limited occurrence of radioactive material at the base of the Sidmouth Mudstone in the cliffs at Peak Hill, west of Sidmouth. See the Sidmouth Webpage. The discovery was made by Dr. Ramues Gallois. Details are not given here.

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LITTLEHAM COVE continued:

Littleham Cove Nodules - Theories of Origin

Edwards and Scrivener (1999) have succinctly reviewed the theories of origin. They stated that Harrison (1975) considered that the nodules originated by precipitation of mineralised solutions at permeable/ impermeable interfaces, the ultimate source of the solutions being hot springs associated with waning phases of the metalliferous mineralisation of south-west England. However, Durrance and George (1976) suggested that precipitation took place around fragments of contemporaneous plant material; Bateson and ]ohnson (1992) disagreed in view of the lack of plant material in the Littleham Mudstone. Hofmann (1991) concluded that the reduction spheroids developed as a result of bacterial activity, using dissolved reductants such as methane or low molecular weight organic acid anions, or inorganic compounds such as ammonia or hydrogen. Durrance et al. (1978) proposed that the 'reduction' spots of the Aylesbeare Mudstone were caused by the inhibition of oxidation in sediments buried beneath about 1000 m of overburden.

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LITTLEHAM COVE continued:

Radioactive Nodules - Radon and Uranium Distributions

Map of radon in stream water around the Exe Estuary, Devon, after Durrance (1980), and relationship to the Littleham Cove radioactive nodules

In 1978 Durrance attempted to determine the inland extent (northward) from Littleham Cove of the uranium-bearing nodules. He sampled 91 streams for their radon content. Radon is a gaseous daughter product of uranium with a half life of only just under four days. The results of this were also given in Durrance (1980) and a modified version of his map is shown above.

It is important not to misinterpret this map and therefore any readers with a special interest should refer to the original work. See Durrance (1980) for an explanation of just what is represented on the map. Note that the broken lines on the map show the general trend rather than true contours and are not precise in location. Some very low values occur within the general region of higher values, as for example at the village of Littleham. It also should be emphasised that these values are only for stream water, not for land in general.

The map represents an original piece of work of much interest. The interpretation, however, is not obvious or straightforward. It is thus sensible to refer directly to the comments of Durrance (1980):

"Obviously the distribution of the radon is not related specifically to the known occurrence of the uranium bearing nodules, as none have been recorded from the rocks west of the Exe Estuary. Neither is the radon randomly distributed throughout the area. The actual pattern is simple and like that to be expected from a single source area, but the centre of the anomaly is displaced to the west from the known occurrence of the nodules. Although the streams in the nodule bearing ground flow to the west, this cannot be the primary cause of the displacement, as high values also occur on the west side of the Exe Estuary where the streams flow eastwards. Artificial contamination from a source at the mouth of the Exe Easutary can also be ruled out as the sampling sites lay well above any tidal influence. Possibly a uranium source occupied the area off the mouth of the Exe Estuary during the formation of the uranium bearing nodules at Littleham Cove, when migrating ground water carried the uranium to sites where plant debris caused its precipitation. Some quantities of uranium were also probably deposited at suitable sites elsewhere in the New Red Sandstone sequence. Today, some radon from the uranium source may still find its way to the ground surface and enter the stream waters, but radon produced by disequilibrium in the uranium decay series in the nodules is probably the main contributor to the concentrations found in the stream waters (Durrance et al., 1980)".

Note that with regard to homes, a quite different matter which is not discussed in detail here, the Radon Atlas of England and Wales (Green et al.), does not show the Budleigh Salterton - Exmouth region as a high area for radon, in contrast with other places in southwest England. It is at 1 km grid square probability mapping for southwest England.

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LITTLEHAM COVE continued:

Nodules - Radioactive Waste Research

A major area of research in recent times has been the safe underground storage of radioactive waste. To the specialists who investigate the problems of safe storage for very long time intervals the nodules of the Littleham Mudstones are of great interest. Radioactive material has been stored naturally in the Devon strata for millions of years and its history, particularly its geochemistry and diagenetic changes, can be studied. The red cliffs of Littleham Cove and West Down are thus important for showing how radioactive material behaves over long periods of geological time.

New work on the Littleham Cove nodules and radioactive material higher in the sequence has been undertaken by Milodowski and co-workers in a number of British Geological Survey reports from 2000 onwards. These are given in the reference list below. Emphasis has been on the discovery of natural native copper shielding to certain of the radioactive nodules. It has been possible to assess whether the copper has been much damaged by long exposure to radiation, and it does not seem to have been. In addition there has been significant oxidation of ferrous iron minerals by the effects of radiation on the associated water. These reports seems to indicate that radioactive material can be stored for millions of years without appreciably damaging copper containers, and a natural process resembling this has actually taken place near Littleham Cove. One version is available on the internet as a downloadable pdf file - go to Milodowski in the reference list below.

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LITTLEHAM COVE continued:

Littleham Cove Nodules - Relationship to Oil Field NORM

At Wytch Farm Oilfield the Sherwood Sandstone contains NORM, naturally occurring radioactive material. The NORM at the Wytch Farm Oilfield is in the Triassic Sherwood Sandstone Reservoir above the level of the Littleham Mudstones, but laterally equivalent to the Otter Sandstone at Budleigh Salterton. The radioactivity is encountered in the form of unusual thin metallic coating of 210Pb (lead 210, part of the uranium 238 radioactive decay series) and of 210Pb (polonium 210 which decays rapidly to lead 206) (Worden et al. 2000). The source material for the radiation is believed to be natural radioactive material in the Permo-Trias red bed facies and related to the uranium-thorium nodules of Littleham Cove. For more about NORM at Wytch Farm refer to (Worden et al. 2000) and see the webpage on Petroleum Geology, South of England., and in particular the part onSherwood Sandstone NORM at Wytch Farm. There is not necessarily a likelyhood that NORM is present so far to the east of the Wytch Farm oilfield, and, in any case, the pumping at Southampton is on a much smaller scale than at Wytch Farm.

Thus Littleham Cove is important as a location where a potential source material for one type of oilfield NORM or radioactivity can be seen in the cliffs. This increases the importance of the coast around Budleigh Salterton, already well-known for the Sherwood Sandstone Reservoir, as an educational resource relating to oil exploration and production.

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LOCALITY - STRAIGHT POINT

STRAIGHT POINT:

Introduction

Straight Point is a prominant headland, of roughly 30m in height, at map reference SX 038798. It is at about 3km southwest of Budleigh Salterton. It is immediately to the south of Littleham Cove and adjacent to the Devon Cliffs Holiday Park, near Littleham, Exmouth. It is a firing range and so there is no acces to the greater part of it. However, the cliffs at the landward end on both sides can be reached. It is notable as a location exposing sandstone and breccia of the Permian Exmouth Formation.

Diagrammatic vertical section of Exmouth Sandstones and Mudstones Formation in the Exmouth area, Devon

Straight Point, near Exmouth, Devon, seen in September 2006 from the west side, with cross-bedded Exmouth Formation sandstones in the cliff

Details of fluvial sandstone cross-bedding in the Exmouth Formation, west side of Straight Point, near Exeter, Devon

Straight Point, shows an interesting sequence of sandstones in the Exmouth Formation. Much of the west side is accessible at low tide from Sandy Bay, a holiday beach that can be reached either from the coastal footpath or through the large Sandy Bay holiday camp of caravans. Part of the eastern side is accessible at low tide. Care should be taken because the top of the headland above is a firing range with a danger area on the east side.

A rusting ladder crosses a graded bed of sandstone at Straight Point, west of Budleigh Salterton, Devon

A graded bed, fining upward from sand with pebbles to sand at Straight Point, west of Budleigh Salterton, Devon, 10 September 2006

Trace fossils in the Straight Point Sandstone, Exmouth Mudstone and Sandstone Formation, Triassic red beds, west of Budleigh Salterton, Devon

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STRAIGHT POINT:

Straight Point, East - Pebbles and Potholes

The sandstone rock platform can be seen easily at low tide on the east side of Straight Point. This can only be examined as far as the iron ladder because the area beyond is within a firing range.

Littleham Cove seen from the ledges on the east side of Straight Point, west of Budleigh Salterton, Devon

Erosion of sandstone by pebble abrasion, east side of Straight Point near Budleigh Salterton, Devon

Pothole eroded by quartzite pebbles from the Budleigh Salterton pebble bed, on the east side of Straight Point, Devon

A cave in the Triassic, Straight Point Sandstone, on the east side of Staight Point, Devon

The east side of Straight Point is of particular interest because it has an erosional platform just above low tide level that has been cut and abraded by quartzite pebbles from the Budleigh Salterton pebble bed. A beach of such pebbles is present a short distance further north in Littleham Cove but is not in contact with most of this intertidal platform. Clearly the soft mudstone cliffs of Littleham Cove are retreating fast and at one time the pebble beach was further south. It has over a period of time swept northwards along the eastern edge of the Staight Point Sandstone outcrop. The pebbles are able to abrade and pothole the sandstone on an appreciable scale only where the pebble beach is in contact. Thus, the east coast of Straight presents an interesting history of erosional processes.

Whether it is detectable or not the rock platform should be a lower level to the south because of the progressive rise in sea-level (and thus the abrasion level).

Incidently notice that barnacles are largely absent within potholes but Patella and Litorina littorea can move into them. Debris of dead Mytilus edulis is common.

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LOCALITY - SANDY BAY (near Exmouth):

Introduction

The western part of Straight Point and the eastern end of Sandy Bay, near Exmouth, East Devon, 2006

A view westward of Sandy Bay and the Permian cliffs from Devon Cliffs Holiday Park, near Exmouth, Devon, 2006

A view westward from the eastern end of Sandy Bay at low tide towards the High Land of Orcombe, near Exmouth, East Devon, 2006

Sandy Bay, seen from near Orcombe Point looking eastward to Straight Point, near Exmouth, Devon, 2011

The beach at Sandy Bay extends, with some rocky parts (with sandstone) from Straight Point, where there is a large caravan holiday park (Devon Cliffs Holiday Park) westward to Orcombe Point, near Exmouth. The cliffs consist of nearly horizontal Exmouth Formation of the Aylesbeare Group of Permian age. Most of the succession consists of interbedded red mudstones and thin sandstone, but with some thick channel-sandstone lenses which form the headlands of this stretch ( (Laming, Chapter 7, The New Red Sandstone in: Durrance and Laming (1982). Above the Permian red beds, there is a Pleistocene gravel terrace for part of the stretch of cliffs. This has been mapped at an approximate height of about 46 metres and above (see photograph above).

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LOCALITY - ORCOMBE (near Exmouth):

High Land of Orcombe and Orcombe Point and Orcombe Rocks

The Orcombe area is at the southeastern end of Exmouth and is about 1.5 km east of Straight Point. It can be reached by walking eastward from Sandy Bay, or by driving to Exmouth and proceeding along Marine Drive eastward to Rodney Point and Orcombe Rocks.

The Geoneedle at Orcombe Point, near Exmouth, marks the western end of the UNESCO Dorset and East Devon World Heritage Coast, or Jurassic Coast, 2011

A notice explaining the Geoneedle at the western end of the UNESCO Dorset and East Devon World Heritage Coast, or Jurassic Coast, Orcombe Point, near Exmouth, Devon, 2011

At Orcombe Point there is a Geoneedle, a stone monument, with an explanatory notice, which marks the western end of the UNESCO Dorset and East Devon World Heritage Coast, or Jurassic Coast. The Geoneedle is on the cliff top, easily reached from the eastern of Marine Drive, by steps up the cliff.

From Orcombe Point to Sandy Bay the Exmouth Mudstone and Sandstone Formation (Aylesbeare Group of Permian age) dips gently eastward at 5 to 10 degrees and is cut by small faults. Sandstones are conspicuous in the top of the cliff and there is some sandstone at the base. A few fossil plant fragments have been found in marly blocks which have fallen from the upper part of the cliff (Perkins, 1971).

The accumulation of sand on the beach is interesting here. It is not present in significant quantities on the eastern side of Straight Point. The beach, in contrast, consists of large Budleigh Salterton pebbles with a wave-cut platform.

Rodney Point, Orcombe, of Permian sandstone and situated at the end of Marine Drive from Exmouth, East Devon, 2011

Rodney Point, near Orcombe Rocks, southeast of Exmouth, Devon and exposing Permian sandstones

Orcombe Point, east of Exmouth, seen from the cliff top at Sandy Bay, Devon, 2011

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LOCALITY - EXMOUTH

Exmouth sea front, much developed, but with relicts of the former natural environment, East Devon, October 2011

The old cliff line at Exmouth, Devon

The town of Exmouth is not discussed in detail here, but is relevant as the western end of cliff exposures east of the Exe Estuary. It is also interesting in that it is opposite the sand spit of Dawlish Warren, which is very different and much more natural in terms of environment.

Exmouth has an old low shore area, A large part of the whic has been converted into a road, promenade and gardens. Some has been build over, even though it is quite low ground, and includes some conspicuous new blocks of flats. Behind, landwards, of this area of former accretion of sand and other recent sediments there is an old cliff line. This old cliff, as shown in a photograph above, is still quite steep but is now covered with vegetation, including ornamental palm trees. Older large hotels seem to have been built mainly above the old cliff. Probably the major development of some parts of the low former shoreline area has only been taken place fairly recently in the last property boom.

The Maer is an area of Quaternary sediment accretion, and with sand dunes, in the southeastern part of Exmouth, East Devon, October 2011

The Maer is an area of sand accretion in the southeast part of Exmouth. It is alongside the outflow channel of the River Exe. Much of the sand may have been derived from Dawlish Warren and adjacent sandbanks on the other side of the river. The prevailing wind direction is from the southwest and this is likely to transport sand in this direction.

For good coastal exposures in the Exmouth area, not covered by vegetation or development, go to Orcombe, discussed above, Sandy Bay and eastward to Budleigh Salterton (all shown higher in this webpage).

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Go east to:
Sidmouth and Ladram Bay, Devon? .

Go west to:
Dawlish and Dawlish Warren?

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I particularly thank Professor Ian Croudace for discussion and demonstration of uranium exploration techniques in the field. He has provided other helpful information and advice regarding the radioactive nodules of Littleham Cove, near Budleigh Salterton. I am much obliged to Emma, Claire and Simon, former Master of Geology students of Southampton University for working with us in the field. I thank the Star Energy field trip group of October 2011 for helpful discussion in the field, and other field parties at these localities in the past. Environmental Science field courses from Southampton University have contributed to discussion and photography in the field. I am very grateful to Andrew Johnson, who in 2014 kindly supplied me with some excellent photographs of the Littleham Mudstones at Littleham Cove, taken after the beach was cleared by storms early in the year. Some of Andrew Johnson's photographs are now in this webpage. Andrew Johnson also drew the present writer's attention to reports of radioactive minerals in Leicestershire. Dr. Ramues Gallois has kindly shown the author the location of radioactive minerals in the Sidmouth Mudstone at Sidmouth. Jason Mark Scott kindly sent me more photographs, including some of particularly large radioactive nodules and I am very grateful. Others have kindly helped me on these cliffs and beaches and I really much appreciate their assistance or guidance. I thank Alysson Rowan, in late 2016, for kindly providing me with information and a photograph used in this website.

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REFERENCES AND SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY

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Ambrose, K., Hough, E., Smith, N.J.P. and Warrington, G. 2014. Lithostratigraphy of the Sherwood Sandstone Group of England, Wales and south-west Scotland. British Geological Survey, Geology and Regional Geophysics Directorate Research Report RR/14/01. The well-known Budleigh Salterton Pebble Beds are apparently assigned to the Chester Formation in this report (not seen).


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Barbier , M.J. 1974. Continental weathering as a possible source of vein-type uranium deposits. Mineralium Deposita, vol. 9, no. 3, September 1974.
Abstract Geochemical and geochronological data presently available, concerning pitchblende vein-type deposits in France, seem altogether too contradictory for use in building a genetic model. Mostly hydrothermal hypotheses have however been suggested, although the previously mentioned idea of formation through continental weathering remains quite relevant; indeed, it may be noted that: a) Uraniferous areas are predominantly connected with granites where geochemical uranium, found as uraninite, can easily be leached through slight weathering, in the absence of any vegetation, along with Si, Al, Na and Ca. b) Apart from Na, these are elements essentially found in mineral deposits of pitchblende with a quartz, clay or calcite matrix. c) Such weathering conditions occurred during the Permian period, about 245 million years ago, at which time these mineralizations may have been laid (geochronology U-Pb); d) Veined pitchblende deposits show much analogy in their mineral associations and sequences to the uraniferous concentrations from superficial sources, as is the case with certain deposits in the United States, formed by the circulation of vadose waters. If such a model proves correct, this type of deposit would be contemporaneous with red-bed series whose presence could then become a valuable guide-line for regional-scale exploration. [end of abstract]
[This is not on the Devon deposits, but may of use for background information regarding the radioactive nodules. It considers Permo-Triassic weathering and uranium mobilisation. Some French uranium deposits may be of round about the same age as the Littleham Cove nodules.]
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Bateson , J.H. (compiler) 1987. Geochemical and geophysical investigations of Permian (Littleham Mudstone) sediments of part of Devon. British Geological Survey Mineral Reconnaissance Programme Report, No. 89.

Bateson, J.H. and Johnson, C.C. 1992. Reduction and related phenomena in the New Red Sandstone of south-west England. British Geological Survey Technical Report, WP/92/1.
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Bevins, R.E. et al. 2010. Mineralisation in England and Wales. Geological Conservation Review, vol. 36, Joint Nature Conservation Committee, Peterborough, book of 595 pp.
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Boalch, G.T. (editor), 1980. Essays on the Exe Estuary, The Devonshire Association for the Advancement of Science, Literature and Art, Special Volume No. 2, Exeter, 1980, 185 pages, paperback. [contains paper by Durrance - see below].

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British Geological Survey (BGS). (Compiled by - Dr. M.A Wood) 2011. Geology of South Dorset and South-East Devon and its World Heritage Coast.

The cover of the 2011 South Dorset Memoir of the British Geological Survey

An example page from the British Geological Survey, South Dorset Memoir, 2011

Special Memoir for 1:50,000 geological sheets 328 Dorchester, 342 West Fleet and Weymouth and 342/343 Swanage and parts of sheets 326/340 Sidmouth, 327 Bridport, 329 Bournemouth and 330 Newton Abbott. Compile by M.A. Woods. By Barton, C.M., Woods, M.A., Bristow, C.R., Newell, A.J., Westhead, R.K., Evans, D.J., Kirby G.A., and Warrington, G. Contributors: Biostratigraphy - J.B. Riding; Stratigraphy - E.C. Freshney; Economic Geology - D.E. Highley and G.K. Lott; Engineering Geology - A. Forster and A. Gibson. British Geological Survey, Keyworth, Nottingham, 2011. 161 pp. This is the new version of the Geological Survey Memoir for the Dorset Coast etc. and replaces Arkell (1947) and the earlier memoir by Strahan (1898). It covers a wider area than these old memoirs, though, and includes all of "Jurassic Coast", UNESCO World Heritage Coast. It is a key reference work. Available from BGS Online Bookshop at 24 pounds stirling (in Jan. 2012).

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Carter , G. E. L. 1931. An occurrence of vanadiferous nodules in the Permian beds of south Devon. Mineralogical Magazine, 22, 609 - 613.
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Craik-Smith , B. 1999. Glow in the dark; fish eyes from the Devon coast. Russell Society Newsletter, 35, 42-43.


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De Bruxelles , S. 2000. TV shows blamed for theft of Devon pebbles. The Times, London. Tuesday, February 15th, 2000. By Simon de Bruxelles. (short article, page number not recorded). A painter and decorator, Robert Pearcey was convicted of taking pebbles from a beach. The mayor of Budleigh Salterton said "I blame Charlie Dimmock and Alan Titmarsh from Groundforce. Children has always taken home the odd pebble from the beach but since we've had fancy gardens it has become a problem because they are disappearing in large numbers. Its got worse because of the number of gardening programmes that suggest making paths or ponds or seaside features out of pebbles." Pearcey, 41, was seen carrying buckets of pebbles from a beach. East Devon Council introducted bylaws three years ago under the 1949 Coastal Protection Act to stop people taking large pebbles from the beach. Pearcy denied taking a bucket of pebbles from the beach and said that he and his wife were carrying crabs that he had just landed. He was found guilty, conditionally discharged for 12 months and ordered to pay £250 costs. The mayor said "East Devon District Council brought this case because they wanted to make an example of somebody".
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Dorset County Council. 2000. Nomination of the Dorset and East Devon Coast for Inclusion in the World Heritage List. 149 pp. By Dorset County Council, Devon County Council and Dorset Coast Forum, June 2000, with the help of various contributors. Published by Dorset County Council on behalf of Dorset County Council, Devon County Council and Dorset Coast Forum. Publication of this nomination has been supported by English Nature and the Countryside Agency, and has been advised by the Joint Nature Conservation Committee and the British Geological Survey.
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Durrance , E.M. and M.C. George. 1976. Metatyuyamunite from the uraniferous-vanadiferous nodules in the Permian marls and sandstones of Budleigh Salterton, Devon. Proceedings of the Ussher Society, 3, 435-440.

Durrance, E.M. 1978. Radon in the stream waters of East Devon. Proceedings of the Ussher Society, 4, 220-228.

Durrance, E.M. 1980. A review of the geology of the Exe Estuary. pp. 41-71 in: Boalch, G.T. (editor), Essays on the Exe Estuary. The Devonshire Association for the Advancement of Science, Literature and Art, Special Volume No. 2, Exeter, 1980, 185 pages, paperback. By E.M. Durrance, then at the Department of Geology, University of Exeter.
Abstract: "Hot deserts and Ice Ages", the geology of the Exe Estuary presents a picture of contrasts. The rocks which underlie and border the estuary are of Permian age and form part of the New Red Sandstone Series, a sequence of sediments which were deposited in a hot desert environment; while the form of the estuary itself, and the deposits which infill its channels, largely owe their origin to events that occurred during the glacial periods of the Pleistocene.
During Permian times Devon occupied the interior of a continental area situated between the equator and about 10 degrees N, and experienced a generally arid climate. However, only some of the Permian sediments, particularly the dune sands, indicate arid conditions; the greater proportion is waterlain and indicates periods of flash-flooding. Beneath and to the west of the Exe Estuary the sediments are usually coarse breccias and breccio-conglomerates, formed as alluvial fans. These represent deposition at the base of the New Red Sandstone of material eroded from a highland area which lay to the west. Away from these highlands and higher in the succession, to the east of the Exe Estuary, the New Red Sandstone largely consists of sandstones and mudstones deposited in a flood plain environment, although at Budleigh Salterton a coarse fluvial horizon comprises the Pebble Beds which also marks the base of the Triassic System in Devon.
Little evidence now remains ofthe geological history of the area of the Exe Estuary between Triassic and Cretaceous times, but prior to the deposition of the Cretaceous Greensand which is still preserved as a roughly horizontal capping to the Haldon Hills and the East Hill-Peak Hill ridge, the Permian and Triassic rocks were gently tilted to the east. At the end of Cretaceous times a general uplift of the area occurred, and easterly flowing rivers worked the flint gravels which mantle the Cretaceous rocks in Devon.
During Tertiary times, southerly tilting and further warping occurred, and downcutting of southerly flowing rivers, like the Exe, caused the drainage pattern to become superimposed on the New Red Sandstone, Devonian and Carboniferous rocks. Relative sea level continued to fall throughout Tertiary and Quaternary times, leading to the formation of the terrace deposits recognised at different heights within the valley of the Exe; but during the Pleistocene, glacial periods were accompanied by such dramatic falls in sea level that the last two episodes (Wolstonian and Devensian) had sea levels very much lower than that of the present day. Certainly two phases of buried channel formation consequent upon these low sea levels, have been recognised in the Exe Estuary. However, whether these are of Wolstonian and Devensian age, or represent two periods of low sea level within the Devensian; is uncertain.

Durrance, E.M. 1984. Uranium in the New Red Sandstone of southeast Devon. Proceedings of the Ussher Society, January 1984, pp. 108-115.

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Durrance, E.M. and Laming, D.J.C. (Editors) 1982 (reprinted 1985, paperback, and 1993). The Geology of Devon. University of Exeter Press. 346 pp. ISBN 0 85989 247 6. [This is a very useful guide to the geology of the East Devon area discussed here. Particularly see the New Red Sandstone Chapter (7) by D.J.C Laming.
"Preface to the book: Geological Field Work: It has often been remarked that geology is a subject best studied by actually looking at rocks, minerals and fossils, and their structures and relationships, in the field. Therefore, although this book mainly deals with descriptions from an interpretative viewpoint, at the end of each appropriate chapter a number of localities are listed which will serve to illustrate the main points dealt with in the text. The localities are mainly arranged in subject groupings, although some geographical subdivision is also present. Excursions to specific areas of Devon, to include visits to a number of sites of different character, may thus be constructed with the aid of the appropriate Ordnance Survey and Geological Survey maps, according to individual requirements. Excursion Guides to different parts of Devon are also published by the Geologists' Association:
Dartmoor: the North West Margin and Other Selected Areas, by W. R. Dearman, 1962; The Coast of South Devon and Dorset between Branscombe and Burton Bradstock, by D. V. Ager and W. E. Smith, 1965; The Plymouth Area, by D. M. Hobson, 1978.
Copies may be obtained from the Geologists' Association, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London;
Geological field work is an interesting and rewarding endeavour, but it should be borne in mind that in many cases rock exposures are situated on private land, and may be in hazardous localities or be hazardous themselves. The inclusion of a locality in this book, even where specific mention of the need for access permission or the presence of hazardous conditions is not made, does not imply that access is freely available and the localities are safe: it is the responsibility of the user of this book to obtain permission to enter private land and to avoid hazards of all kinds. To help establish an acceptable framework of conduct, the Geologists' Association has published a Code for Geological Field Work which is reproduced (with permission) overleaf. It is hoped that users of this book will follow all recommendations given in the Code. January 1982, E. M. Durrance and D. J. C. Laming, Exeter.
Contributors:
K. E. Beer, Institute of Geological Sciences, Exeter - Chapter Six: Metalliferous Mineralisation.
R. A. Cullingford, Department of Geography, University of Exeter - Chapter Eleven: The Quaternary.
J. Dangerfield, Institute of Geological Sciences, London-Chapter Ten: The Tertiary Igneous Complex of Lundy.
E. M. Durrance, Department of Geology, University of Exeter - Chapter One: Introduction, Chapter Two: The Devonian Rocks, Chapter Four: The Variscan Structures.
R. A. Edwards, Institute of Geological Sciences, Exeter - Chapter Nine: The Tertiary Sedimentary Rocks.
E. C. Freshney, Institute of Geological Sciences, London-Chapter Four: The Variscan Structures, Chapter Nine: The Tertiary Sedimentary Rocks.
M. B. Hart, School of Environmental Sciences, Plymouth Polytechnic - Chapter Eight: The Marine Rocks of the Mesozoic.
J. R. Hawkes, Institute of Geological Sciences, London-Chapter Five: The Dartmoor Granite and Later Volcanic Rocks.
D. J. C. Laming, Herrington Associates, Exeter - Chapter One: Introduction, Chapter Seven: The New Red Sandstone.
C. Nicholas, ECC Quarries Ltd, Exeter - Chapter Twelve: Industrial Minerals.
R. C. Scrivener, Institute of Geological Sciences, Exeter - Chapter Six: Metalliferous Mineralisation.
E. B. Selwood, Department of Geology, University of Exeter-Chapter Two: The Devonian Rocks, Chapter Four: The Variscan Structures.

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Durrance, E.M. and M.C. George. 1976. Metatyuyamunite from the uraniferous-vanadiferous nodules in the Permian marls and sandstones of Budleigh Salterton, Devon. Proceedings of the Ussher Society, 3, 435-440.

Durrance, E.M., Meads, R.E., Ballard, R.R.B. and Walsh, J.N. 1978. Oxidation states of iron in the Littleham Mudstone Formation of the New Red Sandstone Series (Permian - Triassic) of southeast Devon, England. Bulletin of the Geological Society of American, 89, 1231-1240.

Durrance, E.M., Meads, R.E., Brindley, R.K. and Stark, A.G.W. 1980. Radioactive disequilibrium in uranium-bearing nodules from the New Red Sandstone (Permian-Triassic) of Budleigh Salterton, Devon. Proceedings of the Ussher Society, 5, 81-88.

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Edwards, R.A. 1997. Budleigh Salterton. Technical Report for 1:10,000 Sheet SY08NE. British Geological Survey.

Edwards, R.A. 1997. Newton Poppleford. Technical Report for 1:10,000 Sheet SY08NE. British Geological Survey.

Edwards , R.A. and Scrivener, R.C. 1999. Geology of the Country around Exeter. Memoir of the British Geological Survey, for 1:50,000 Geological Sheet 325 (England and Wales). 183 pp., The Stationery Office, London. With 21 contributors in addition to the main authors. The memoir was compiled by Dr. Edwards and edited by Dr. Ramues W. Gallois and Mr. J.I. Chisholm. It is obtainable from the BGS website, bookshop section. This memoir contains much useful and detailed information. It does not deal with the coast at Budleigh Salterton and the southern end of the Exe Estuary. For that area see the Newton Abbott or Teignmouth Sheet, and the memoir of Ussher (1913). However, the memoir is very good for information and references on the Budleigh Salterton Pebble Bed, which was studied to the north of Budleigh Salterton (see p. 87). It also has information on the Aylesbeare Mudstone and a thorough reference list.
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Faithfull, J.W. and Hubbard, N. 1988. Coffinite from Gypsey Lane brickpits. Journal of the Russell Society, vol. 12, pp. 25-28.
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Ford, T.D. and Ambrose, K. 2014. Brick-pits of Leicestershire. Mercian Geologist, vol. 18 (3). By Trevor Ford and Keith Ambrose. This mentions the occurence of the rare uranium and vanadium minerals, coffinite and vesignieite in the Triassic Mercia Mudstone of the Gypsy Lane area of Leicestershire.


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Green , B.M.R., Miles, J.C.H., Bradley, E.J. and Rees, D.M. 2006? Radon Atlas of England and Wales. ISBN 0-85951-497-8. 15.
This Radon Atlas can be purchased as hardcopy or downloaded as a pdf file: Radon Atlas of England and Wales. If these links do not work then Google - "Radon Atlas England".

Abstract: This new report brings together and updates the information in three earlier reports on radon levels in English and Welsh homes. In particular, data from measurements in over 400,000 homes in England and Wales are presented in tabular format. The tables give the data by various administrative divisions, down to electoral wards for Cornwall, Devon and Somerset and council areas elsewhere and to sector level of the postcode system. The radon probability maps are based on the national grid system and show significantly more locational detail than the previous publications, an extra division in the probability banding to coincide with current Government initiatives on radon in England and, in southwest England, more detailed probability mapping than before - by 1 km grid squares in place of the 5 km grid squares used in Wales and the rest of England.
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Harrison, R.K. 1975. Concretionary concentrations of the rarer elements in Permo-Triassic red beds of southwest England. Bulletin of the Geological Survey of Great Britain, 52, 1-26
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Henson, M.R. 1970. The Triassic Rocks of south Devon. Proceedings of the Ussher Society, vol. 2, pp. 172-177.

Henson , M.R. 1971. The Permo-Triassic Rocks of South Devon. Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis, University of Exeter.

Henson, M.R. 1972. The form of the Permo-Triassic basin south east Devon. Proceedings of the Ussher Society, 2, 447-457.

Henson, M.R. 1974. Clay minerals from the Lower New Red Sandstone of South Devon. Proceedings of the Geologists' Association, vol. 84, pp 429-445.
The clay mineral composition of 41 samples from localities within the South Devon Lower New Red Sandstone succession was determined using X-ray diffraction. The clay mineralogy of the succession is dominated by illite with subordinate amounts of kaolinite and chlorite, except in the Budleigh Salterton Pebble Beds where kaolinite is predominant. Swelling chlorite and a mixed-layer illite are restricted to the Exmouth Sandstones and Mudstones and Littleham Mudstones. Interpretation of depositional environments based on the clay mineral assemblages are consistent with the sedimentological interpretation of the succession as piedmont fan and fluviolacustrine complexes.
[Note: Teignmouth Breccias have some kaolinite, higher than in the Exmouth Sandstone and Mudstones, but not as high as in the Budleigh Salterton Pebble Bed, the main kaolinite-rich unit. The sequence studied does not extend down to the Watcombe Formation with the Petit Tor Member etc.]
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Hoffmann, B.A. 199?. Mineralogy and chemistry of reduction spheroids in Red Beds. Mineralogy and Petrography, 44, 107-124.
Summary The mineralogy and geochemistry of reduction spheroids from continental and marine red beds of Europe, North America and Oman were investigated. Reduction spheroids are spheroidal, isolated reduction sites in hematitic rocks. They consist of a mineralized core (0.1 to 5 cm diameter) and a hematite-dissolution halo (1 to 20 cm diameter). Irrespective of origin and age of host rocks, all reduction spheroid cores show a very similar mineralogy dominated by the vanadian mica roscoelite and a similar pattern of element enrichment relative to their host rocks dominated by V and U. Element enrichments in most reduction spheroids are very similar to those of sandstone-hosted vanadium-uranium deposits except for a lack of a molybdenum enrichment. Isotopically light sulfide of in-situ, low-temperature origin is an indication for the involvement of bacterial sulfate reduction during reduction spheroid formation.

Hoffman, B.A. 1990. Reduction spheres in hematitic rocks from northern Switzerland: implications for the mobility of some rare elements. Nagra Technical Report, 89-17?.

Hoffman, B.A. 1990. Reduction spheroids from northern Switzerland: mineralogy, geochemistry and genetic models. Chemical Geology, 81, 55-81.
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Holloway , S., Milodowski, A.E., Strong, G.E. and Warrington, G. 1989. The Sherwood Sandstone Group (Triassic) of the Wessex Basin, southern England. Proceedings of the Geologists' Association, London, 100 (3), 383-94. Data from released wells indicate that the subdivision of the Sherwood Sandstone Group into the Budleigh Salterton Pebble Beds and the Otter Sandstone Formation is equally applicable in both the outcrop and subcrop of the Group in the Wessex Basin. The Sherwood Sandstone Group was deposited largely from braided streams but an inland sabkha may have occupied the depocentre during deposition of the lower parts of the Otter Sandstone Formation. The Budleigh Salterton Pebble Beds may have been removed from parts of the Wessex Basin by erosion prior to deposition of the Otter Sandstone Formation. [See also the related paper: Morton, A., Knox, R. and Frei, D. 2016. Heavy mineral and zircon age constraints on provenance of the Sherwood Sandstone Group (Triassic) in the eastern Wessex Basin, UK. Proceeedings of the Geologists' Association, vol. 127 (2016), pp. 513-516.]
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Hounslow, M.W. in press (2016). Palaeozoic geomagnetic reversal rates following superchrons have a fast restart mechanism. Nature Communication, in press, 2016.

Hounslow, M.W. and McIntosh, G. 2003. Magnetostratigraphy of the Sherwood Sandstone Group (Lower and Middle Triassic): South Devon. U.K. Detailed correlation of the marine and non-marine Anisian. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, vol. 193, pp. 325-348. By Dr. Mark Hounslow, geophysicist, Lancaster Univesity and G. McIntosh Canterbury Christchurch University.

Hounslow, M.W., McIntosh, G., Edwards, R.A., Laming D.J.C and Karloukovski, V. 2016. End of the Kiaman Superchron in the Permian of SW England: magnetostratigraphy of the Aylesbeare Mudstone and Exeter Groups. By Mark W. Hounslow, Gregg McIntosh, Richard A. Edwards, Deryck J.C. Laming and Vassil Karloukovski. Journal of the Geological Society, London. 2016. Already published online in September 2016, and ready to publish in the Journal.
Abstract: The chronology of Permian strata in SW England is fragmentary and largely based on radiometric dating of associated volcanic units. Magnetostratigraphy from the c.2 km. of sediments in the Exeter and Aylesbeare Mudstone groups was undertaken to define a detailed chronology, using the end of the Kiaman Superchron and the overlying rerverse normal polarity in the middle and upper Permian as age constraints. The palaeomagnetic directions are consistent with other European Permian palaeopoles, with data passing fold and reversal tests. The end of Kiaman Superchron (in the Wordian) occurs in the uppermost part of the Exeter Group. The overlying Aylesbeare Mudstone Group is early Capitanian to latest Wuchiapingian in age. The Changhsingian and most of teh Lower Triassic is absent. Magnetostratigraphic comparison with the Southern Permian Basin shows that the Exeter and Aylesbeare Mudstone groups are closely comparable in age with the Havel and Elbe Subgroups of the Rotliegend II succession. The Altmark unconformities in these successions appear similar in age to the sequence boundaries in SW England, indication that both may be climatically controlled. Clasts in the Exeter Group, from unroofing of the Dartmoor Granite, first occurred at a minimum of c. 8 myr [million years] after formation of the granite.
Hounslow, M.W. McIntosh, G., Edwards, R.A. and Warrington, G. The magnetostratigraphy of the Permo-Triassic of south Devon. .....
The Budleigh Salterton Pebble Beds and the Otter Sandstone Formation of the Sherwood Sandstone Group were sampled for magnetostratigraphy at 94 horizons between Budleigh Salterton and Sidmouth. The palaeomagnetic signal is predominantly carried by haematite, with some additional signal from goethite. The Budleigh Salterton Pebble Beds are entirely reversely magnetised. The Otter Sandstone has a complex pattern of polarity changes. The lowest beds, west of the River Otter, have predominantly normal polarity. The lower c.100m of the formation exposed east of the River Otter is predominantly reversely magnetised but has two short normal polarity intervals; the upper c.70m of the formation has dominantly normal polarity but includes six reversed intervals. The lowest 15m of the Mercia Mudstone Group was also studied and displays normal polarity, except at the very base. Combined bio- and magnetostratigraphic evidence indicates that the Otter Sandstone Formation is Mid Triassic in age, ranging from early Anisian in the lowest beds to late Anisian to possibly early or mid Ladinian in the upper c.70m. The Sherwood Sandstone Group-Mercia Mudstone Group boundary therefore probably lies within the Ladinian Stage (upper Middle Triassic). The Budleigh Salterton Pebble Beds may, on the basis of these results and bio- and magnetostratigraphic evidence from the underlying Aylesbeare Group and older formations, lie within the Olenekian Stage and are possibly latest Early Triassic in age.

Hounslow, M.W., McIntosh, G. and Jenkins, G. 2001. Magnetostratigraphy of the Middle Triassic: Sherwood Sandstone Group, South Devon, UK, EGS Nice.


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Hull, E. 1892. A comparison of the red rocks of the south Devon coast with those of the Midlands and Western counties. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, London, vol. 48, pp. 60-67.


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Jones , N.S. 1992. Sedimentology of the Permo-Triassic of the Exeter area, S.W. England. British Geological Survey Technical Report, WH/92/122R.
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King, R.J. and Wilson, R.N. 1976. The occurrence of vesignieite in Leicestershire. Mineralogical Magazine, vol. 40, pp. 533-555.
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Krinsley , P. H., Friend, P. F., and Klimentidis, R. 1976 Eolian transport textures on the surfaces of sand grains of early Triassic age. Bulletin of the Geological Society of America, 87, 130--132.


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Laming , D. J. C. 1954. Sedimentary processes in the formation of the New Red Sandstone of south Devonshire. PhD Thesis, University of London.

Laming, D. J. C. 1958. Fossil winds. In Polar wandering and continental drift - a symposium, Journal of the Alberta Society of Petroleum Geologists, 6, Calgary, 179-183.

Laming, D. J. C. 1965. Age of the New Red Sandstone in south Devonshire. Nature, London, 207, 624-625.

Laming, D. J. C. 1966. Imbrications, palaeocurrents and other sedimentary features in the Lower New Red Sandstone, Devonshire, England. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology, 36, 940-959.
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Milodowski , A.E., Strong, G.E., Wilson, K.W., Allen, D.J. Holloway, S. and Bath, A.H. 1986. Diagenetic influences on the aquifer properties of the Sherwood Sandstone in the Wessex Basin. Investigation of the geothermal potential of the UK. British Geological Survey, Keyworth.

Milodowski, A. E., Styles, M. T. and Hards, V. L. 2000. A natural analogue for copper waste canisters: The copper-uranium mineralised concretions in the Permian mudrocks of south Devon, United Kingdom.. SKB Technical Report, TR-00-11.

Milodowski, A.E., Styles, M.T., Horstwood, M.S.A. and Kemp, S.J. 2002. Alteration of uraniferous and native copper concretions in the Permian mudrocks of [Littleham Cove, near Budleigh Salterton] south Devon, United Kingdom: A natural analogue study of the corrosion of copper canisters and radiolysis effects in a repository for spent nuclear fuel. By A. E. Milodowski, M. T. Styles, M. S. A. Horstwood and S. J. Kemp of the British Geological Survey, Keyworth, Nottingham, March 2002. Technical Report, TR-02-09 for SKB, Svensk Karnbranslehantering AB, Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Co., Stockholm, Sweden.
Example extract of a part of the Executive Summary:
"This report presents the results of a study of the mineralogy and alteration characteristics of unusual concretions containing sheets of native copper, and uranium-vanadium mineralised concretions, in mudstones and siltstones of the Permian Littleham Mudstone Formation, at Littleham Cove (near Budleigh Salterton), south Devon, England. The study was undertaken by the British Geological Survey (BGS) on behalf of the Svensk Kärnbränslehantering AB (SKB), between August 2000 and June 2001. The main objectives of the study were:
1. To investigate the corrosion characteristics of the native copper as a natural analogue for the long-term behaviour of copper canisters, sealed in a compacted clay (bentonite) backfill, that will be used for the deep geological disposal of spent fuel and high-level radioactive waste (HLW). This study developed from an earlier pilot study /Milodowski et al, 2000/, which demonstrated that the alteration of the native copper in the concretions from Littleham Cove was mineralogically and chemically complex. A more detailed investigation was undertaken to refine the geological relationships, confirm the identity of the alteration products, to establish the relationships between the alteration phases more precisely, and to constrain the age of mineralisation and alteration.
2. To investigate the alteration and oxidation of minerals containing reduced species (e.g. ferrous iron) within the uranium-rich concretions as a natural analogue for the potential effects of oxidation induced by a-radiolysis of water in a HLW repository environment."
[Executive Summary continues for two more pages]
[The report contains detailed information on the geochemistry, petrography, electron microscopy etc regarding the radioactive uranium and vadanium-bearing nodules of Littleham Cove, the 'fish-eye' nodules. It is substantial, running to 121 pages, and is well-illustrated with colour field photographs from Littleham Cove and West Down Beacon (near Budleigh Salterton) and a geological map. It has many photomicrographs, backscattered electron images, numerous plots and diagrams. It refers to a number of minerals, including various arsenides, cuprite, azurite, native copper, algodonite, maucherite, arhbarite, uraninite (pitchblende), domeykite, chalcocite, krutovite, parammmelsbergite, posnjakite, brochantite, paramelaconite, ilmenite, anatase, hematite, montroseite, roscoelite, vanadian illite, biotite, pyrite, chlorite, illite, smectite, coffinite, dolomite, calcite, clausthalite, etc. Stratigraphically, there is discussion on Permian and Triassic strata, particularly the Aylesbeare Mudstone Group in general and on its subdivisions, the Exmouth Sandstone and Mudstone Formation and the Littleham Mudstone Formation. The latter is the main topic of the report. There is mention of the Exmouth and Dawlish Beds and the Exeter volcanic Series. There is a good reference list. See also the pdf file referred to below, which contains similar but less detailed information.]

Milodowski, A.E., Styles, M.T., Werme, L. and Oversby, V.M. 2006(?). Native Copper in Permian Mudstones from [Littleham Cove] South Devon: A Natural Analogue of Copper Canisters for High-Level Radioactive Waste. Available as a PDF file on the internet:-
Native Copper in Permian Mudstones from South Devon... pdf download. By Antoni E. Milodowski, Michael T. Styles, Lars Werme and Virginia M. Oversby. The authors are from the British Geological Survey, and from Svensk Kärnbränslehantering AB (SKB), Swedish Nuclear Fuel, Sweden.
Abstract: Native copper (>99.9 percent Cu) sheets associated with complex uraniferous and vanadiferous concretions in Upper Permian mudstones from south Devon (United Kingdom) have been studied as a natural analogue for copper canisters designed to be used in the isolation of spent fuel and high-level radioactive wastes (HLW) for deep geological disposal. Detailed analysis demonstrates that the copper formed before the mudstones were compacted. The copper displays complex corrosion and alteration. The earliest alteration was to copper oxides, followed sequentially by the formation of copper arsenides, nickel arsenide and copper sulphide, and finally nickel arsenide accompanied by nickel-copper arsenide, copper arsenide and uranium silicates. Petrographic observations demonstrate that these alteration products also formed prior to compaction. Consideration of the published history for the region indicates that maximum compaction of the rocks will have occurred by at least the Lower Jurassic (i.e. over 176 Ma ago). Since that time the copper sheets have remained isolated by the compacted mudstones and were unaffected by further corrosion until uplift and exposure to present-day surface weathering.
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Morton, A.C. 1992. Heavy mineral assemblages in the Budleigh Salterton Pebble Beds and the overlying Otter Sandstone from a borehole near Exeter. British Geological Survey Technical Report, WH/92/216C. By Andrew Morton.

Morton, A., Hounslow, M.W. and Frei, D. 2013. Heavy-mineral, mineral-chemical and zircon-age constraints on the provenance of Triassic sandstones from the Devon coast, southern Britain. Geologos, vol. 19, (2013), pp. 67-85. By Andrew Morton, Mark W. Hounslow and Dirk Frei. (available free online).
An integrated heavy-mineral, mineral-chemical and zircon-dating study of the Triassic succession exposed on the south Devon coast, in the western part of the Wessex Basin, indicates derivation from a combination of granitic and metasedimentary lithologies of ages of mostly over 550 Ma. These sources were probably located at a relatively proximal location near the southern margin of the basin. Derivation from more distal sources in the Armorican Massif or local Variscan sources to the west appears unlikely in view of the scarcity of Permo-Carboniferous (Variscan-age) zircons. The Budleigh Salterton Pebble Bed Formation was derived from a different combination of source lithologies than the Otter Sandstone Formation, the former including staurolite-grade metasediments that were absent in the catchment area of the Otter Sandstone. The Devon coast succession has provenance characteristics that differ from equivalent sandstones further east in the Wessex Basin, and from sandstones in the East Irish Sea Basin to the north. These differences indicate that sediment supply patterns to the linked Triassic basin systems in southern Britain are complex, involving multiple distinct sub-catchment areas, and that heavy-mineral studies have considerable potential for unravelling these sub-catchment area sources.

Morton, A., Knox, R. and Frei, D. 2016. Heavy mineral and zircon age constraints on provenance of the Sherwood Sandstone Group (Triassic) in the eastern Wessex Basin. Proceedings of the Geologists' Association, vol. 127, pp. 514-516. By Andrew Morton, Robert Knox and Dirk Frei.
Abstract: Heavy mineral and zircon age data demonstrate that in the Sherwood Sandstone Group of the Marchwood-1 and Southampton-1 boreholes on the eastern margin of the Wessex Basin, sediment was supplied from both the south (Variscan Highlands) and the east (recycled Old Red Sandstone). Interplay of these two sources led to a well-defined heavy mineral stratigraphy in the area. However, the Sherwood Sandstone Group in the Wytch Farm oilfield in the centre of the Wessex Basin, contains only sandstones derived from the Wessex highlands to the south and lacks significant amounts of recycles Old Red Sandstone detritus. The equivalent sandstones (Otter Sandstone Formation) on the western margin of the Wessex Basin have a different provenance to both the central and eastern parts of the basin, since they lack input from Variscan granitoids. Heavy mineral and zircon provenance data therefore demonstrate sediment input from a number of discrete source areas into the Wessex Basin during the Early and Middle Triassic, and that the "Budleighensis River" system may not have been a single river, at least in the southern Wessex Basin area. It is also evident that provenance-based correlation schemes sucha as heavy mineral analysis or whole rock geochemistry should be used with caution over long distances and require careful evaluation of lateral changes in provenance. [Keywords: Provenance, Correlation, Trias, Triassic, Wessex Basin, Zircon, Budleigh Salterton, Sherwood Sandstone, Wytch Farm Oilfield, Southampton].


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Nancarrow , P.H.A. 1985. Vanadiferous nodules from the Littleham Marl, near Budleigh Salterton, Devon. British Geological Survey Mineralogy and Petrology Report, No. 85/12.
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Nichols, G.J. and Fisher, J.A. 2006. Processes, facies and architecture of fluvial distributary system deposits. Sedimentary Geology. The full version is available online a corrected proof from Science Direct.
Abstract: There is evidence from the stratigraphic record of examples of fluvial deposits that were the products of deposition from river systems which had decreasing discharge down-flow and transitions from proximal, channelised to distal, unconfined flow. These deposits form fan-shaped bodies several tens of kilometres in radius, and their stratigraphic architecture is aggradational, with no evidence of deep incision driven by base-level fall. The fluvial systems that generated these deposits formed under conditions for which there is no complete analogue today: an endorheic basin with a relatively arid climate adjacent to an uplifted area with higher precipitation. A conceptual model for fluvial systems of this type has therefore been built on the basis of outcrop examples and a consideration of the controls on sedimentation. Proximal areas are characterised by amalgamated coarse, pebbly and sandy channel deposits with little preservation of overbank facies. Channel dimensions are generally smaller in the medial areas, but sizes are variable: deposits are of braided, meandering and simple channels which show varying degrees of lateral migration. The channel-fills may be mud or sand, with overbank flow processes playing an important role in filling channels abandoned on the floodplain after avulsion. The proportion of overbank deposits increases distally with sheets of sand deposited as lateral and terminal splays by unconfined flow. Interconnection of sandstone bodies is poor in the distal areas because channel-fill bodies are sparse, small and are not deeply incised. The radial pattern of the sediment body forms by the repeated avulsion of channels: active channels build up lobes on the alluvial plain and rivers switch position to follow courses on lower lying areas. The term ‘fluvial distributary system’ is here used to describe a river system which has a downstream decrease in discharge and has a distal zone which is characterised either by terminal splays on to a dry alluvial plain or a lake delta during periods of lake highstand.
[This paper is not on the Trias, but because it deals with unconfined flow in endorheic basins, it may be of interest to those concerned with Triassic stratigraphic architecture.]
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Otter Valley Association. 1984?. Historical Guide to the Lower Otter Valley. Published by the Otter Valley Association, Budleigh Salterton, East Devon, 96 pp. Printed by Optima Graphics, Topsham, Exeter, Devon, EX3 OEA. Available for £3.90 at the Tourist Information Office, Budleigh Salterton.
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Parthasarathi Ghosh, Soumen Sarkara and Pradip Maulika, 2006. Sedimentology of a muddy alluvial deposit: Triassic Denwa Formation, India. Sedimentary Geology, 191, Issues 1-2, pp. 3-36. Available online in full at Science Direct.
Abstract: Triassic Upper Denwa Formation (380 m) in the Satpura Gondwana basin, central India is a mudstone-dominated fluvial succession that comprises isolated ribbon-shaped (2–5-m-thick) channel-fill bodies encased within fine-grained extra-channel deposits. Eight architectural elements are recognized, of which five belong to channel-fill deposits and the remaining three to extra-channel deposits. Majority of channel-fill deposits are characterized by sandy or muddy inclined heterolithic strata (IHS) that record limited lateral accretion of point bars or benches (constrained by cohesive banks) in mixed- to suspended-load sinuous channels. A few ribbon bodies are mud rich and attest to nearly stagnant conditions in partly abandoned channels. A few single- or multistorey ribbon bodies that are dominantly sandy and lack inclined strata represent deposits of straight, laterally stable channel. The smallest ribbon bodies ( 1 m thick) of calcirudite/calcarenite possibly represent deposits of secondary channels in the interfluves. Coexistence of channel-fill bodies of different dimension, lithology and internal organization in restricted stratigraphic intervals suggests an anabranching system having channels with different fill histories.
The extra-channel deposits mainly comprise red mudstone (1–5 m thick) that indicates pervasive oxidation of overbank sediments in well-aerated and well-drained setting. Sporadically developed calcic vertisols suggest a hot, semi-arid climate during the Upper Denwa period. Sandy to heterolithic sheets (70 cm to 2 m thick) with sharp, planar basal surfaces are replete with features suggestive of unconfined sheet flow. Also at places there are indications of subaqueous emplacement of sands. These bodies with paleocurrent oblique to that of the channel-fills are interpreted as crevasse splay deposits. Tabular heterolithic bodies (3–5 m thick) are characterized by undulating basal surface, complex organization of sandstone lenses interwoven with heteroliths and red mudstone (in decimeter-scale) with desiccation cracks. Such tabular bodies are attributed to repetitive, sheet-like and poorly channelized splaying.
Very thick (10 to 20 m) mudstones intervals are inexplicable in terms of overbank flooding only. Poorly developed pedogenic features in sandy to muddy heterolithic sheets and certain mudstone intervals and well-developed cumulative paleosols in surrounding mudstone highlights the contrast between rapidly emplaced splay deposits and slowly accumulated floodplain deposits.
The Denwa channels are comparable with modern, low-gradient and low-energy anabranching river system in which the sediment load is dominantly fine-grained. The semi-arid climate possibly facilitated enhanced supply of fines to the Upper Denwa system. However, sediment partitioning and distribution in a particular channel was controlled by flow diversion to and from other channels in that anabranching system. Low flow strength with periodic flood events, high bank strength and a rate of sediment supply that slightly exceeded that of onward transport probably were important factors for the development of the Upper Denwa anabranching system.
[end of abstract] [This interesting paper does not refer to Devon, but deals with a Triassic semi-arid red bed facies in India. It includes channels sandstones, inclined heterolithic facies, and red mudstones (some of which have green reduction spots). It describes and interprets architectural elements, and because of this may be of use in comparison to Triassic red beds of Devon. Bear in mind, though, that it is from a higher palaeolatitude 930 to 40 degrees) and south of the equator, not north. The paper is also useful as a route to recent Triassic red bed literature.]
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Perkins, J.W. 1971. Geology Explained in South and East Devon. David and Charles, Newton Abbot, 192pp. By John W. Perkins. Clearly written with very good, well-labelled, sketch illustrations by the author.
Extract from the Introduction:
"The basic ingredients of the county's rolling landscape are the high moorland centre, the surrounding low lands bevelled to various heights and deeply trenched by rivers, and the sinuous coastline with its penetrating estuaries and grand cliffs. Written for all who love South Devon, either as a tourist area or a place to live in, this book aims to deepen their understanding and enjoyment. It may also help to popularise geology in a wider sense, and should remind us that we are tenants of a heritage millions of years old, and one that we must do our best to conserve. It has been assumed throughout that the reader will constantly have a compass, a one-inch geological map and a one inch Ordnance Survey map at hand."
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Perutz, M, 1939. Radioactive nodules from Devonshire, England. Mineralogische und Petrographische Mitteilungen, 51, 141–161.
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Purvis, K. and Wright, V.P. 1991. Calcretes related to phreatophytic vegetation from the Middle Triassic Otter Sandstone of South West England. Sedimentology, vol. 38, 539-551.


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Radley, J.D. and Coram, R.A. 2014. Derived Skolithos pipe rock in the Budleigh Salterton Pebble Beds (Early Triassic, East Devon, UK). Proceedings of the Geologists's Association, vol. ?, pp. ?. By Jonathan D. Radley, School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, and Robert A. Coram, Battlemead, Swanage, Dorset.
Abstract:
Quartzite clasts preserving a Skolithos burrow ichnofabric are described from the Early Triassic fluvial Budleigh Salterton Pebble Beds at Budleigh Salterton, East Devon, south-west England. Representing typical Skolithos pipe rock, the clasts are provenanced with a high degree of confidence to the Ordovician of the Armorican Massif, north-west France. The tubiform biogenic structure Trachyderma serrata Salter, earlier described and documented from quartzite clasts at Budleigh Salterton and in the English Midlands, represents an atypical preservational mode of the ichnogenus Skolithos.


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Ruffell, A. and Shelton, R. 1999. The control of sedimentary facies by climate during phases of crustal extension: examples from the Triassic of onshore and offshore England and Northern Ireland. Journal of the Geological Society, London, 156, 779-789. Abstract: Crustal extension controls the tectonic accommodation space available for sediments in rift settings and may be defined by the structural and depositional geometry of sedimentary successions observed on seismic data and the rate of subsidence through time as represented by the accommodation of sediment. The characteristic features of each are dependant on three variables: the time taken for deposition; the interplay between tectonics and eustasy and the lithology (thus facies) of the succession observed. The Sherwood Sandstone Group has been considered to represent a syn-rift phase of fluvial deposition throughout Europe, with the overlying Mercia Mudstone Group interpreted as the succeeding phase of deposition in an evaporitic seaway during post-rift thermal subsidence. More recently, however, there has been the recognition that it is the Mercia Mudstone Group which is seen to thicken markedly into faults imaged on seismic data rather than the Sherwood Sandstone Group. This work demonstrates the Mercia Mudstone Group to be a syn-rift phase of deposition, with the fine grained nature of the sedimentary record at this time controlled by the prevailing arid climate. Such conditions were not conducive to the large-scale and rapid movement of sediments from the hinterlands raised by relative footwall uplift, thus the sediments are fine grained. The minor thickening of the Sherwood Sandstone Group into faults is interpreted to be a combination of minor extension in the early Triassic superimposed on thermal subsidence inherited from the important regional phase of extension in the early Permian. Analysis of the timing of fault growth indicates a larger proportion of fault-controlled, synsedimentary movement occurred during the mid-to-Late Triassic (Mercia Mudstone Groupp) rather than the early Triassic (Sherwood Sandstone Group).
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Sadler, P.M. 1974. Trilobites from the Gorran Quartzites, Ordovician of South Cornwall. Palaeontology, vol. 17, 71-93. The trilobites of the quartzite pebbles of the Budleigh Salterton Pebble Bed, are similar to these.
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Schmid, S., Worden, R. and Fisher, Q. 2003. The time has changed: middle Triassic climate changes revealed by carbon isotopes. Geophysical Research Abstracts, vol. 5, 00325. European Geophysical Society. Abstract: The Middle Triassic stratigraphy in Europe can be subdivided into a marine sectionof the Germanic and Paris Basin and a continental red-bed succession of Western Europe (Irish Basin, Wessex Basin). The link between the marine and continental is uncertain due to a lack of biostratigraphic information but recent palaeomagnetic studies have given a better understanding of the two environments (Hounslow et. al, 2001). In this study we have produced geochemical evidence which emphasize the implications of the palaeomagnetic data. We show that the marine and continental strata can be correlated using carbon isotopes. Throughout Europe the Middle Triassic is characterized by limestone deposits of the Muschelkalk Formation that contain evidence of a hiatus in sedimentation due to sea-level fall in the Middle Muschelkalk with the consequent deposition of evaporites. The Sherwood Sandstone Group (SSG) characterizes the Middle Triassic of Western Europe. The SSG is dominated by fluvial deposits with intercalated floodplain deposits, sand-flats and playas, which are penetrated by dolocretes and calcretes. The abundance of fluvial channels and sand flats are dependent on the fluvial activity and the water table height. In both depositional environments water plays a major rolein the type of sediment. The volume of water is controlled by the prevalent climate. Climate signals are stored in carbon isotopes in both the marine Muschelkalk and the continental SSG. Carbon isotopes from the SSG from the Corrib Field, Slyne Basin, west of Ireland and from the Muschelkalk of the Germanic Basin have thus been interpreted in terms of climate change linked to stratigraphy. The continental sediments show a distinct positive carbon isotope excursion (taken from dolocretes),which is interpreted to present a more arid climate. In contrast the marine limestones exhibit a negative carbon isotopes excursion from a sea level low stand for the same time interval. The plot of both carbon isotopes curves against depth (using the Anisian-Ladinian boundary as a correlation marker) with a correction of sediment thickness show the same general climatic conditions for the Middle Triassic in Europe. Carbon isotope data from the Muschelkalk of the Germanic Basin and the SSG of the Slyne Basin reveal that the Middle Triassic was a time that witnessed a change from a humid to an arid climate with less fluvial activity in the continental parts and evaporite deposition in the marine part of Europe.
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Selwood, E.B., Edwards, R.A., Simpson, S., Chesher, J.A., Hamblin, R.J.O, and Waters, R.A. 1984. Geology of the Country Around Newton Abbott. Memoirs of the British Geological Survey, Sheet 339, England and Wales.
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Smith, S.A. 1989. The sedimentology of the Budleigh Salterton Pebble Beds: a preliminary report. British Geological Survey, Technical Report WH/89/198C.

Smith, S.A. 1990. The sedimentological and accretionary styles of an ancient gravel-bed stream: the Budleigh Salterton Pebble Bed (Lower Triassic), southwest England. Sedimentary Geology, 67, 199-219.

Smith, S.A. and Edwards, R.A. 1991. Regional sedimentological variations in Lower Triassic fluvial conglomerates (Budleigh Salterton Pebble Beds), southwest England: some implications for palaeogeography and basin evolution. Geological Journal, Vol. 26, 65-83.
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Spencer, P.S. and Isaac, K.P. 1983. Triassic vertebrates from the Otter Sandstone Formation of Devon, England. Proceedings of the Geologists' Association, London, Vol. 94, 267-269.


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Tandy, B.C. 1973. A radiometric and geochemical reconnaissance of the Permian outcrop and adjacent areas in south-west England. Radioactive & Metalliferous Minerals Unit Report, Institute of Geological Sciences, Report No. 315.

Tandy, B. C. 1974. New radioactive nodule and reduction feature occurrences in the Littleham-Larkbeare area of Devon. Radioactive & Metalliferous Minerals Unit Report, Institute of Geological Sciences, Report No. 316.
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Thomas, H.H. 1909. A contribution to the Petrography of the New Red Sandstone in the West of England. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, London, vol. 65, pp. 229-245. By Herbert Henry Thomas, M.A., B.Sc., F.G.S. (Read March 10th, 1909).
The following example text from p.242 brings out the major conclusions, including the interesting aspect of a distant source of staurolite:

From a study of the distribution and quantity of certain mineral species, it is possible in most instances to gather some idea of the relative amounts of material derived from various sources. This is more especially true in the case of the Lower Breccias and Sandstones and the Pebble-Bed. The material forming the marls, however, as might be expected from its finely comminuted nature, appears to have been supplied from an directions, and by a greater variety of rocks than those yielding detritus towards the formation of the other New Red sediments.
With regard to the source of the various mineral species it is most difficult to speak, except in certain cases; but, so far as can be judged, all the minerals detected in the New Red deposits, with the exception of staurolite, could be supplied by the older rocks of the West of England. The greater abundance of such minerals as blue tourmaline, topaz, rutile, and brookite appears to indicate that the rocks in which they occur were largely derived from the granite masses of Devon aud Cornwall, but more especially points to their attendant metamorphic rocks aud veinstones.
The garnets of the New Red deposits are clearly in no way dependent on the distribution of staurolite, but, on the contrary, are of most frequent occurrence in the northern part of the district where staurolite is less abundant. The fact that garnet, in the Pebble-Bed, makes its appearance together with an increased proportion of blue tourmaline, points to its derivation, at any rate in part, from the metamorphic rocks surrounding the West of Englnnd granites. Its absence from certain horizons might be accounted for, either by the direction of the sediment-bearing currents, or by the extremely local occurrence of garnets in the metamorphic aureoles of this district. It is only where subordinate calcareous bands of the Devonian and Carboniferous rocks and diabase-intrusions come within the influence of the granites that this mineral has been produced. It is not suggested that all the garnets in the New Red rocks were supplied by these metamorphic areas; but, should it be so, it would appear from the distribution of this mineral that all the New Red rocks of North Devon and West Somerset were formed in part of material carried from the west and southwest.
The Lower Breccias have always been considered as deposits derived from sources near at hand, for, as pointed out by De La Beche, Godwin-Austen, Conybeare and Phillips, and Mr. R. H. Worth, among the rock-fragments found in them are numerous examples of well-known rock-types present in Devon. The minerals and grains forming the finer material of these deposits point towards the same conclusion; but, in addition, especially in South Devon, they suggest strongly the influence of certain rock-masses non existent within the south-western area as now known. There is, also, nothing in the finer material to prove that the granite-masses themselves were undergoing denudation at the time when the Lower Breccias were being deposited.." [continues]
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Ussher, W.E. 1913. The Geology of the Country around Exeter. Memoirs of the Geological Survey of Great Britain, Sheet 325. (See new edition - Edwards and Scrivener, 1999).

Ussher, W.E. The Geology of the Country around Newton Abbot. Memoirs of the Geological Survey of Great Britain, Sheet 339 (Teignmouth Sheet - includes Newton Abbot). (See new edition - Selwood et al. 1984).
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Vicary, W. and Salter, J.W. 1864. On the pebble bed of Budleigh Salterton with a note on the fossils. Quaterly Journal of the Geological Society, London, vol. 20, pp. 283-302.


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Warrington, G. and Ivimey-Cook, H.C., 1992. Triassic. In: Cope, J.C.W., Ingham, J.K. and Rawson, P.F. (eds). 1992. Atlas of Palaeogeography and Lithofacies. Geological Society, London, Memoirs, 13, 97-104.

Warrington, G. and Scrivener, R.C. 1980. The Lyme Regis (1901) Borehole succession and its relationship to the sequence of the east Devon coast. Proceedings of the Ussher Society, 5, 24-32.

Warrington, G., Audley-Charles, M.G., Elliot, R.E., Evans, W.B., Ivimey-Cook, H.C., Kent, P.E., Robinson, P.L., Shotton, F.W. and Taylor, F.M. 1980. A correlation of Triassic rocks in the British Isles. Special Reports of the Geological Society of London, 13.
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Willock , C. 1974. Africa's Rift Valley. The World's Wild Places, Time-Life Books, Amsterdam. 184pp. By Colin Willock and the Editors of Time-Life Books, with photographs by Goetz D. Plage.
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Woodward , H.B. and Ussher, W.A.E. 1899. Excursion to Seaton, Sidmouth, and Exeter. Proceedings of the Geologists' Association, London, vol. 16, pp. 133-153. By Horace B. Woodward, F.R.S., F.G.S. and W.A.E. Ussher, F.G.S.
[There is a good section on the Budleigh Salterton Pebble Bed, with discussion of pebbles, associated sands and the fossil content of the pebbles. See pp. 145-148, by W.A.E. Ussher.]
[Example extract - pp. 133-134]
"Twenty-eight years ago, Prof. James Buckman and Mr. J. Logan Lobley conducted an excursion of the Geologists' Association to the Yeovil district, and spent a short time on their fourth and last day along the cliffs east of Seaton. It seems strange, however, that forty years should have elapsed since the foundation of this Association before any expedition was made to the South Devon coast between Seaton and Exmouth, with its iringes of Blackdown Beds and its famous pebble-bed of Budleigh Salterton.
In 1889 an excursion was made to Lyme Regis, under the guidance of the present Director, and the members then advanced as far as the eastern portion of the Great Landslip. It was now planned to continue the exploration from the Landslip westwards to the mouth of the Exe.
On Thursday evening, March 30th, the members of the party, which numbered nearly forty, arrived at the Royal Clarence Hotel, Seaton. On Friday, March 31st, the members started at 9 a.m. along the esplanade to Axmouth Bridge, where the Director pointed out that the trend of the beach turned the outlet of the river eastwards, and had been the means of choking the harbour of the once flourishing little fishing-town. At the close of the last century, a large tract of salt marshes extended above Axmouth, but these had been drained to the advantage of the neighbourhood. In far earlier times, when the river was more potent in action, spreads of valley-gravel were laid down, and from these at Broom, in the parish of Hawkchurch, above Axminster, some fine palaeolithic implements, fashioned from Upper Greensand chert, had been obtained. Remains of Mammoth had been found in the Sid Valley, further west.
The party now proceeded by Squire's Lane to the lime-kiln beyond the Coastguard Station, where the Middle Chalk, zone of Rhynchonella cuvieri, had been noted by Mr. A. J. Jukes-Browne. This division cropped out along the 300 ft. contour-line. Several specimens of Inoceramus mytiloides and poor examples of the characteristic Rhynchonella were obtained. Passing on through Barn Close and Stony Close Lanes, a pleasant walk over the grassy Chalk-plateau, here, in places 400 ft. high, led to the western end of the Great Landslip at the Bindon Cliffs. The view eastwards through the chasm was grand and striking, the slipped masses of Chalk and Greensand forming a platform about 100 ft. lower than the cliffs from which they had broken away. As some account of this Great Landslip, which happened at Christmas, 1839, has already been published by the Association, no particular description need now be given.
Leaving the chasm, the members proceede4 a short distance westwards along the brow of the cliffs and descended by a foot-path to the shore a little west of Culverhole Point. Here in the low cliffs fringing the beach a fine section of Rhaetic Beds was exposed."
[continues]

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Ian West, M.Sc. Ph.D. F.G.S.

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at his private address, Romsey, Hampshire, kindly supported by Southampton University,and web-hosted by courtesy of iSolutions of Southampton University. The website does not necessarily represent the views of Southampton University. The website is written privately from home in Romsey, unfunded and with no staff other than the author, but generously and freely published by Southampton University. Field trips shown in photographs do not necessarily have any connection with Southampton University and may have been private or have been run by various organisations.


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