Site of Special Scientific Interest | |
Location | Oxfordshire |
---|---|
Grid reference | SU 757 997 [1] |
Interest | Geological |
Area | 20.4 hectares (50 acres) [1] |
Notification | 1986 [1] |
Location map | Magic Map |
Chinnor Chalk Pit is a 20.4-hectare (50-acre) geological Site of Special Scientific Interest south of Chinnor in Oxfordshire. [1] [2] It is a Geological Conservation Review site. [3]
This site is described by Natural England as "important for its excellent exposures of Totternhoe Stone", dating to the mid-Cenomanian stage of the Cretaceous period, around 100 million years ago. It has yielded many fossils of ammonites from the Lower and Middle Chalk. [4]
The site is private land with no public access. Much of the former chalk pit is flooded and now known as Old Kiln Lakes. The lakes are freshwater but highly alkaline. In the summer of 2012 the public was warned to stay away and not swim in the lakes. [5]
However, fish including carp and tench have lived in the lake, and since the late 20th century a Chinnor Works Angling Society has had permission to fish the lakes. [6]
Aston Rowant Cutting is a 3.5-hectare (8.6-acre) geological Site of Special Scientific Interest south of Aston Rowant in Oxfordshire. It is a Geological Conservation Review site.
Catton Grove Chalk Pit is a 0.6-hectare (1.5-acre) geological Site of Special Scientific Interest on the northern outskirts of Norwich in Norfolk. It is a Geological Conservation Review site.
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.
Seale Chalk Pit is a 1.2-hectare (3.0-acre) geological Site of Special Scientific Interest west of Guildford in Surrey. It is a Geological Conservation Review site and part of the Seale Chalk Pit and Meadow 3-hectare (7.4-acre) private nature reserve, which is managed by the Surrey Wildlife Trust.
Southerham Grey Pit is a 8.5-hectare (21-acre) geological Site of Special Scientific Interest south-east of Lewes in East Sussex. It is a Geological Conservation Review site.
Southerham Works Pit is a 1-hectare (2.5-acre) geological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Lewes in East Sussex. It is a Geological Conservation Review site.
Harefield Pit is a 1.8-hectare geological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Harefield in the London Borough of Hillingdon. It occupies much of a partially filled-in chalk quarry. It has two entries in the Geological Conservation Review database.
South Lodge Pit is a 0.5-hectare (1.2-acre) geological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Taplow in Buckinghamshire. It is a Geological Conservation Review site.
Purfleet Chalk Pits is a 10.7-hectare (26-acre) geological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Purfleet in Essex. It is a Geological Conservation Review site.
Barrington Chalk Pit is a 97.1-hectare (240-acre) geological Site of Special Scientific Interest near Barrington in Cambridgeshire. It is a Geological Conservation Review site.
Winterbourne Chalk Pit is a 0.05-hectare (0.12-acre) geological Site of Special Scientific Interest west of Winterbourne in Berkshire. It is a Geological Conservation Review site. It is located within the North Wessex Downs.
Folkestone Warren is a 316.3-hectare (782-acre) biological and geological Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) which runs along the coast between Folkestone and Dover in Kent. It is a Nature Conservation Review site and it contains three Geological Conservation Review sites and part of a fourth. An area of 83.6 hectares is a Local Nature Reserve,
Wouldham to Detling Escarpment is a 311.2-hectare (769-acre) biological and geological Site of Special Scientific Interest which stretches from Wouldham to Detling, north of Maidstone in Kent. Part of it is a Geological Conservation Review site, and it is part of the North Downs Woodlands Special Area of Conservation and the Kent Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It is a Nature Conservation Review site, Grade I and it includes three Kent Wildlife Trust nature reserves and a Local Nature Reserve,
Caistor St Edmund Chalk Pit is a 23.6-hectare (58-acre) geological Site of Special Scientific Interest south of Norwich in Norfolk. It is a Geological Conservation Review site.
Wells Chalk Pit is a 4-hectare (9.9-acre) biological and geological Site of Special Scientific Interest on the eastern outskirts of Wells-next-the-Sea in Norfolk. It is a Geological Conservation Review site, and it is in the Norfolk Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
Dry Sandford Pit is a 4.2-hectare (10-acre) biological and geological Site of Special Scientific Interest north-west of Abingdon-on-Thames in Oxfordshire. It is a Geological Conservation Review site and it is managed as a nature reserve by the Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust.
Duncroft Farm Pit is a 0.1-hectare (0.25-acre) geological Site of Special Scientific Interest west of Kingsclere in Hampshire. It is a Geological Conservation Review site.