| Site of Special Scientific Interest | |
 | |
  Location within Somerset | |
| Area of Search | Avon |
|---|---|
| Grid reference | ST452744 |
| Coordinates | 51°27′57″N2°47′25″W / 51.46590°N 2.79027°W Coordinates: 51°27′57″N2°47′25″W / 51.46590°N 2.79027°W |
| Interest | Geological |
| Area | 12.55 hectares (0.1255 km2; 0.0485 sq mi) |
| Notification | 1993 |
| Natural England website | |
Weston-in-Gordano SSSI (grid reference ST452744 ) is a 12.55 hectare geological Site of Special Scientific Interest near the village of Weston in Gordano, North Somerset, notified in 1993.
The Ordnance Survey National Grid reference system is a system of geographic grid references used in Great Britain, distinct from latitude and longitude. It is often called British National Grid (BNG).
The hectare is an SI accepted metric system unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides, or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre is about 0.405 hectare and one hectare contains about 2.47 acres.
Weston in Gordano is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England. It is situated in the middle of the Gordano valley on the north side, and in the Unitary Authority of North Somerset, on the road between Clevedon and Portishead. The parish has a population of 301.
Note that there is also a separate biological and geological SSSI covering the Gordano Valley.
Gordano is an area of North Somerset, in England. It has been designated as a National Nature Reserve.
This is a Geological Conservation Review site because temporary exposures here have shown Pleistocene sediments, including interglacial fluvial sands and marine gravels and cold-stage fluvial gravels. Rich molluscan faunas have been reported from the section. The presence of freshwater and marine interglacial deposits gives it great potential importance for the understanding of the Quaternary sequence of the Vale of Gordano and Avonmouth lowlands. [1]
The Geological Conservation Review (GCR) is produced by the UK's Joint Nature Conservation Committee and is designed to identify those sites of national and international importance needed to show all the key scientific elements of the geological and geomorphological features of Britain. These sites display sediments, rocks, minerals, fossils, and features of the landscape that make a special contribution to an understanding and appreciation of Earth science and the geological history of Britain, which stretches back more than three billion years. The intention of the project, which was devised in 1974 by George Black and William Wimbledon working for the Governmental advisory agency, the Nature Conservancy Council (NCC), was activated in 1977. It aimed to provide the scientific rationale and information base for the conservation of geological SSSIs (Sites of Special Scientific Interest, protected under British law. The NCC and country conservation agencies were established in 1990 when JNCC became established and took over responsibility for managing the GCR site assessment process, and publishing accounts of accepted sites.
The Pleistocene is the geological epoch which lasted from about 2,588,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the world's most recent period of repeated glaciations. The end of the Pleistocene corresponds with the end of the last glacial period and also with the end of the Paleolithic age used in archaeology.
