Charnage Down Chalk Pit () is a 3.7
hectare geological Site of Special Scientific Interest in
Wiltshire, England, lying east of the town of
Mere
Mere may refer to:
Places
* Mere, Belgium, a village in East Flanders
* Mere, Cheshire, England
* Mere, Wiltshire, England
People
* Mere Broughton (1938–2016), New Zealand Māori language activist and unionist
* Mere Smith, American televisi ...
. The former quarry site was
notified in 1971 for its importance in the study of
chalk rock
Chalk is a soft, white, porous, sedimentary carbonate rock. It is a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite and originally formed deep under the sea by the compression of microscopic plankton that had settled to the sea floor. Chalk i ...
from the late
Turonian and
Coniacian
The Coniacian is an age or stage in the geologic timescale. It is a subdivision of the Late Cretaceous Epoch or Upper Cretaceous Series and spans the time between 89.8 ± 1 Ma and 86.3 ± 0.7 Ma (million years ago). The Coniacian is preceded by t ...
ages.
Sources
Natural England citation sheet for the site(accessed 23 March 2022)
External links
Natural England website(SSSI information)
Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Wiltshire
Sites of Special Scientific Interest notified in 1971
Chalk pits
Mere, Wiltshire
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