Site of Special Scientific Interest | |
Location | Greater London |
---|---|
Grid reference | TQ481786 |
Interest | Geological |
Area | 6.3 hectares |
Notification | 1987 |
Location map | Magic Map |
Abbey Wood is a 6.3-hectare (16-acre) geological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Abbey Wood in the London Borough of Bexley. It is located in Lesnes Abbey Woods south-east of the ruins of Lesnes Abbey. [1] Members of the public can dig for fossils in a small area designated as the Fossil Bed with the permission of the Lesnes Abbey ranger.
The site is late Palaeocene [2] and early Eocene [3] 50 to 60 million years ago. Important Palaeocene finds in the Blackheath Beds on the site include 22 species of mammals in 12 orders, which resemble the Wasatchian fauna of North America. It has also yielded one of only two Palaeocene birds found in Britain, the holotype of Marinavis longirostris, a large Procellariiform sea bird, and the site may throw light on Procellariiform/Pelecaniform evolution. [2]
Excavations of the site in the twentieth century produced a rich yield of Eocene mammals and many shark teeth. It is particularly important for fish, including 16 type specimens. [3] It has three entries in the Geological Conservation Review database, for Tertiary mammalia, [4] Mesozoic and Tertiary fish and amphibians, [5] and aves. [6]
Lesnes Abbey is a former abbey, now ruined, in Abbey Wood, in the London Borough of Bexley, southeast London, England. It is a scheduled monument, and the abbey's ruins are listed at Grade II by Historic England.
Bracklesham Bay is a 200.6-hectare (496-acre) biological and geological Site of Special Scientific Interest in West Sussex. It is a Geological Conservation Review site.
Driftwood Canyon Provincial Park is a provincial park in British Columbia, Canada. Driftwood Canyon Provincial Park covers 23 hectares of the Bulkley River Valley, on the east side of Driftwood Creek, a tributary of the Bulkley River, 10 km northeast of the town of Smithers. The park is accessible from Driftwood Road from Provincial Highway 16. It was created in 1967 by the donation of the land by the late Gordon Harvey (1913–1976) to protect fossil beds on the east side of Driftwood Creek. The beds were discovered around the beginning of the 20th century. The park lands are part of the asserted traditional territory of the Wet'suwet'en First Nation.
Boxford Chalk Pit is a 0.4-hectare (0.99-acre) geological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Boxford in Berkshire. It is a Geological Conservation Review site.
Lesnes Abbey Woods, sometimes known as Abbey Wood, is a 73-hectare ancient woodland in southeast London, England. It is located near to, and named after, the ruined Lesnes Abbey in the London Borough of Bexley and gives its name to the Abbey Wood district. The woods are adjacent to the 159-ha Bostall Woods.
Elmstead Pit is a geological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Elmstead in the London Borough of Bromley. Formerly known as Rock Pits, it is a small area of 0.05 hectare. It is a Geological Conservation Review site.
Gilbert's Pit is a 5.2-hectare (13-acre) geological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Charlton in the Royal Borough of Greenwich. It was notified in 1985 and was formerly known as Charlton Sand Pit. It is a Geological Conservation Review site. It is also part of the Maryon Wilson Park and Gilbert's Pit Local Nature Reserve. It adjoins Maryon Park and is close to Maryon Wilson Park.
The La Meseta Formation is a sedimentary sequence deposited during much of the Paleogene on Seymour Island off the coast of the Antarctic Peninsula. It is noted for its fossils, which include both marine organisms and the only terrestrial vertebrate fossils from the Cenozoic of Antarctica.
The Cliff, Burnham-on-Crouch is a 4 hectare geological Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) on the bank of the River Crouch between Burnham-on-Crouch and North Fambridge in Essex. It is also part of the biological SSSI, Crouch and Roach Estuaries. It is a Geological Conservation Review site both for its fossil birds and for its fishes and amphibians.
Harwich Foreshore is a 10.6-hectare (26-acre) geological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Harwich in Essex. It is a Geological Conservation Review site.
The Naze SSSI is a 22 hectare geological Site of Special Scientific Interest on The Naze peninsula north of Walton-on-the-Naze in Essex. It is a Geological Conservation Review site both for its Pleistocene fossils and for its birds. It is part of The Naze Nature Reserve, which is managed by the Essex Wildlife Trust.
Stour Estuary is a 2,523 hectare biological and geological Site of Special Scientific Interest which stretches from Manningtree to Harwich in Essex and Suffolk. It is also an internationally important wetland Ramsar site, a Special Protection Area and a Nature Conservation Review site. It is part of the Suffolk Coast and Heaths Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and there are Geological Conservation Review sites in Wrabness, Stutton, and Harwich Part of the site is managed by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, and a small area is Wrabness Nature Reserve, a Local Nature Reserve managed by the Essex Wildlife Trust.
Viverravus is an extinct genus of placental mammals from extinct subfamily Viverravinae within extinct family Viverravidae, that lived in North America, Europe and Asia from the middle Paleocene to middle Eocene.
Sandwich Bay to Hacklinge Marshes is a 1,790.1-hectare (4,423-acre) biological and geological Site of Special Scientific Interest which stretches between Deal and Sandwich in Kent. It includes two Geological Conservation Review sites, and most of it is a Nature Conservation Review site, Grade I. Part of it is a Ramsar site, a Special Area of Conservation, a Special Protection Area and a National Nature Reserve, It also includes a Kent Wildlife Trust nature reserve and a Local Nature Reserve,
Sheppey Cliffs and Foreshore is a 303.6-hectare (750-acre) biological and geological Site of Special Scientific Interest which stretches between Minster and Leysdown-on-Sea in Kent, England. It includes five Geological Conservation Review sites. This site exposes Eocene London Clay with well-preserved fossil fauna and flora, which have been studied since the eighteenth century.
Tower Hill to Cockham Wood is a 47.8-hectare (118-acre) biological and geological Site of Special Scientific Interest on the northern outskirts of Rochester in Kent. It contains two Geological Conservation Review sites.
Bognor Reef is a 39.7-hectare (98-acre) biological and geological Site of Special Scientific Interest which stretches along the foreshore of Bognor Regis in West Sussex. It is a Geological Conservation Review site.
Kirtlington Quarry is a 3.1-hectare (7.7-acre) geological Site of Special Scientific Interest west of Kirtlington in Oxfordshire. It is a Geological Conservation Review site, and it is part of the 7.4-hectare (18-acre) Kirtlington Quarry Local Nature Reserve.
Highcliffe to Milford Cliffs is a 110.1-hectare (272-acre) geological Site of Special Scientific Interest which stretches along the south coast of England from Christchurch in Dorset to Milford on Seain Hampshire. It includes several Geological Conservation Review sites.
Lee-on-The Solent to Itchen Estuary is a 585.9-hectare (1,448-acre) biological and geological Site of Special Scientific Interest which stretches along the coast between Southampton and Gosport in Hampshire. It is a Geological Conservation Review site. It is part of Solent and Southampton Water Ramsar site and Special Protection Area, and of Solent Maritime Special Area of Conservation. Three areas are Local Nature Reserves, Chessel Bay, Hook with Warsash and Mercury Marshes. One area is Hamble Common, a Scheduled Monument and public common.