Purfleet Chalk Pits

Purfleet Chalk Pits is a 10.7 hectare geological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Purfleet in Essex.[1][2] It is a Geological Conservation Review site.[3]

Purfleet Chalk Pits
Site of Special Scientific Interest
Area of SearchEssex
Grid referenceTQ560784
TQ563785
TQ566785
TQ 569 786
InterestGeological
Area10.7 hectares
Notification1986
Location mapMagic Map

The chalk pits expose sands and gravels which are associated with the ancient course of the River Thames. They have yielded varied animal, mollusc and plants remains which throw light on the environmental and fluvial conditions at the time when they were deposited.[1] The site is over 280,000 years old, and laid down when this section of the Thames was flowing westwards. There also broken flints in several layers, showing occupation by early humans at several different periods.[4] MIS9, between about 335,000 and 280,000 years ago, is often informally called the Purfleet interglacial, and the mammalian assemblage on the site is the type for the Purfleet Mammalian assemblage zone.[5]

The site consists of Greenlands Quarry, Bluelands Quarry, Botany Pit and Esso Pit. Most of it has been filled in and is covered by a housing estate. A section of Greenlands Quarry has been created for research, but this is closed to the public.[4]

References
  1. "Purfleet Chalk Pits citation" (PDF). Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Natural England. Retrieved 1 May 2016.
  2. "Map of Purfleet Chalk Pits". Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Natural England. Retrieved 1 May 2016.
  3. "Purfleet: Bluelands, Greenlands, Esso and Botany Pits". Joint Nature Conservation Committee. Retrieved 1 May 2016.
  4. "Purfleet Chalk Pits SSSI, Thurrock District, TQ569786, Site of Special Scientific Interest". Essex Field Club. Retrieved 1 May 2016.
  5. Pettit, Paul; White, Mark (2012). The British Palaeolithic: Human Societies at the Edge of the Pleistocene World. Abingdon, UK: Routledge. p. 106. ISBN 978-0-415-67455-3.

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