Southerham Grey Pit is a geological
Site of Special Scientific Interest south-east of
Lewes in
East Sussex.
It is a
Geological Conservation Review
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 ...
site.
This site exposes rocks dating to the
Cenomanian stage of the
Late Cretaceous
The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the younger of two epochs into which the Cretaceous Period is divided in the geologic time scale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous Series. The Cretaceous is named after ''creta'', ...
, around 100 million years ago. It has preserved many
inoceramid
The Inoceramidae are an extinct family of bivalves ("clams") in the Class Mollusca. Fossils of inoceramids are found in marine sediments of Permian to latest Cretaceous in age. Inoceramids tended to live in upper bathyal and neritic environment ...
bivalves which are not found elsewhere in Britain and are important for regional correlation. It is also the last remaining source for fossil fish in the area.
References
{{SSSIs East Sussex
Sites of Special Scientific Interest in East Sussex
Geological Conservation Review sites
Glynde