Saltern Cove is a Site of Special Scientific Interest. It is on the coast of

Tor Bay Tor Bay (sometimes written as Torbay) is a bay on the south-east coast of the county of Devon, England. Facing east into the English Channel, it is about wide from north to south. The settlements of Torquay, Paignton and Brixham, which lie alo ...

, south of

Paignton Paignton ( ) is a seaside town on the coast of Tor Bay in Devon, England. Together with Torquay and Brixham it forms the borough of Torbay which was created in 1998. The Torbay area is a holiday destination known as the English Riviera. Paignt ...

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devo ...

, England. It is one of the coves which make up the local area known as "Three Beaches".

Flora and fauna

The rocky coastline at Saltern Cove supports diverse communities of intertidal plants and animals. Along the lower shore the coarse grained rocks are partly covered by brown seaweeds such as Flat wrack ''(

Fucus spiralis ''Fucus spiralis'' is a species of seaweed, a brown alga (Heterokontophyta, Phaeophyceae), living on the littoral shore of the Atlantic coasts of Europe and North America. It has the common names of spiral wrack and flat wrack. Description '' ...

)'' and Knotted wrack ''Ascophyllum nodosum'', while pools and crevices in the rocks provide shelter for a wide variety of algal species, such as the red seaweed ''

Corallina officinalis ''Corallina officinalis'' is a calcareous red seaweed which grows in the lower and mid-littoral zones on rocky shores. It is primarily found growing around the rims of tide pools, but can be found in shallow crevices anywhere on the rocky shor ...

''. Animals include the

Snakelocks anemone The snakelocks anemone (''Anemonia viridis'') is a sea anemone found in the eastern Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. The latter population is however sometimes considered a separate species, the Mediterranean snakelocks anemone (''Anem ...

''Anemonia viridis'', the Spotted goby ''Gobius ruthensparri'', Periwinkles ''

Littorina ''Littorina'' is a genus of small sea snails, marine gastropod molluscs in the family Littorinidae, the winkles or periwinkles.WoRMS (2011). Littorina Férussac, 1822. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespe ...

'' spp. and the

Squat lobster Squat lobsters are dorsoventrally flattened crustaceans with long tails held curled beneath the cephalothorax. They are found in the two superfamilies Galatheoidea and Chirostyloidea, which form part of the decapod infraorder Anomura, alongsi ...

''Galathea strigosa''. At low tide, sandy areas are exposed between the rocks and these support a fauna characteristic of sediment shores including

Common starfish The common starfish, common sea star or sugar starfish (''Asterias rubens'') is the most common and familiar starfish in the north-east Atlantic. Belonging to the family Asteriidae, it has five arms and usually grows to between 10–30 c ...

''Asterias rubens'' and burrowing animals such as the

Razor shell A razor is a bladed tool primarily used in the removal of body hair through the act of shaving. Kinds of razors include straight razors, safety razors, disposable razors, and electric razors. While the razor has been in existence since before ...

''Ensis arcuata'', the Thin tellin ''Tellina fabula'' and the Sea potato ''Echinocardium cordatum''.

Geology

The cliff face is an exposed face of a greatly disturbed Devonian sequence, overlain in places by

Permian The Permian ( ) is a geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system which spans 47 million years from the end of the Carboniferous Period million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Triassic Period 251.9 Mya. It is the last ...

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates ...

s and

breccia Breccia () is a rock composed of large angular broken fragments of minerals or rocks cemented together by a fine-grained matrix. The word has its origins in the Italian language, in which it means "rubble". A breccia may have a variety of ...

s. The succession is composed of

Givetian The Givetian is one of two faunal stages in the Middle Devonian Period. It lasted from million years ago to million years ago. It was preceded by the Eifelian Stage and followed by the Frasnian The Frasnian is one of two faunal stages in the ...

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

s, which are separated by a thrust from a

Frasnian The Frasnian is one of two faunal stages in the Late Devonian Period. It lasted from million years ago to million years ago. It was preceded by the Givetian Stage and followed by the Famennian Stage. Major reef-building was under way during th ...

–

Famennian The Famennian is the latter of two faunal stages in the Late Devonian Epoch. The most recent estimate for its duration estimates that it lasted from around 371.1 million years ago to 359.3 million years ago. An earlier 2012 estimate, still used b ...

sequence of slates and limestones on top of

dolerite Diabase (), also called dolerite () or microgabbro, is a mafic, holocrystalline, subvolcanic rock equivalent to volcanic basalt or plutonic gabbro. Diabase dikes and sills are typically shallow intrusive bodies and often exhibit fine-grain ...

and

tuff Tuff is a type of rock made of volcanic ash ejected from a vent during a volcanic eruption. Following ejection and deposition, the ash is lithified into a solid rock. Rock that contains greater than 75% ash is considered tuff, while rock ...

s. These beds are adjacent to interbedded thin bands of shales, fine greenish tuffs, red crinoidal limestones, contorted coarse tuffs and red shales and shale limestone. Inshore, an intrusive

albite Albite is a plagioclase feldspar mineral. It is the sodium endmember of the plagioclase solid solution series. It represents a plagioclase with less than 10% anorthite content. The pure albite endmember has the formula . It is a tectosilicate ...

dolerite sill rests on the tuffs. The next layer up comprises limestones in which

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

s of the

coral Corals are marine invertebrates within the class Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact colonies of many identical individual polyps. Coral species include the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and ...

s '' Macgeea'', '' Thamnopora'', and '' Alveolites'' have been found. A seven-meter layer of crinoidal limestone contains the fossil coral '' Peneckiella salternensis''. At the back of the beach, these rock forms are found again, but here including tuff lenses and pale green reduction bands. On the northeast side of the point are the Saltern Cove

Goniatite Goniatids, informally goniatites, are ammonoid cephalopods that form the order Goniatitida, derived from the more primitive Agoniatitida during the Middle Devonian some 390 million years ago (around Eifelian stage). Goniatites (goniatitids) survi ...

Band outcrops of the Upper Frasnian age. Limestone

clast Clastic rocks are composed of fragments, or clasts, of pre-existing minerals and rock. A clast is a fragment of geological detritus,Essentials of Geology, 3rd Ed, Stephen Marshak, p. G-3 chunks, and smaller grains of rock broken off other rocks ...

s above and below this level however, have revealed conodonts of the quadrantinodosa Zone of the

(Upper Cheiloceras – lower Platyclymenia Zone) indicating that the Goniatite Bed is an intraformational slump. Eight metres above the Goniatite Band is a metre-thick limestone conglomerate. This displays grading, contains blocks up to 50 cm across, as well as small micritic limestone clasts, which contain Frasnian and Famennian conodonts.

Conservation problems

As Saltern Cove lies between the major tourist beaches at

Goodrington Goodrington is a coastal village in Devon, England. It is situated in Tor Bay and lies between Torquay and Brixham, less than south of Paignton. Its beach is known as Goodrington Sands. History Goodrington is mentioned in the Domesday Book ...

and

Broadsands Broadsands is a beach on the coast of Torbay in South Devon, England. It is also the name of an area of housing inland from the beach, in the Churston Ferrers part of Torbay between Paignton and Brixham. It is a tourist attraction, with a ran ...

, there is continual disruption to the site due to

rockpool A tide pool or rock pool is a shallow pool of seawater that forms on the rocky intertidal shore. Many of these pools exist as separate bodies of water only at low tide. Many tide pool habitats are home to especially adaptable animals that ...

ing and collecting. It is believed that the diversity of the site's fauna has decreased over the last 25 years."Saltern Cove Marine Conservation Area" in

References

{{coord, 50.416, -3.556, dim:2000_region:GB, display=title Paignton Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Devon Geology of Devon Coves of Devon