Cold Ash Quarry

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Cold Ash Quarry
Site of Special Scientific Interest
Cold Ash Quarry.jpg
View towards Cold Ash Quarry
Location Berkshire
Grid reference SU 500 714 [1]
InterestGeological
Area0.4 hectares (0.99 acres) [1]
Notification 1984 [1]
Location map Magic Map

Cold Ash Quarry is a 0.4-hectare (0.99-acre) geological Site of Special Scientific Interest north of Newbury in Berkshire. [1] [2] It is a Geological Conservation Review site. [3] [4]

The quarry is unique in Britain for the collection of fossil plants and insects which occur in a layer of silt and clay within the Reading Beds. The fossils date to about 60 million years ago. The fossil flora consists of well-preserved angiosperm leaves, in some of these fossils there is evidence of the activity of contemporary leaf-miner insects. This is the only location in Britain at which fossil leaf-miner activity have been discovered. [5]

The site is private land with no public access.

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Designated Sites View: Cold Ash Quarry". Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Natural England. Retrieved 27 January 2020.
  2. ↑ "Map of Cold Ash Quarry". Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Natural England. Retrieved 27 January 2020.
  3. ↑ "Cold Ash (Palaeoentomology)". Geological Conservation Review. Joint Nature Conservation Committee. Retrieved 4 October 2019.
  4. ↑ "Cold Ash (Tertiary Palaeobotany)". Geological Conservation Review. Joint Nature Conservation Committee. Retrieved 4 October 2019.
  5. ↑ "SITE NAME: COLD ASH QUARRY" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 4 March 2017.

Coordinates: 51°26′20″N1°16′55″W / 51.439°N 1.282°W / 51.439; -1.282

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