Clevedon Shore () is a 0.38

hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100- metre sides (1 hm2), or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre is ...

geological Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle o ...

adjacent to the

Severn Estuary The Severn Estuary ( cy, Aber Hafren) is the estuary of the River Severn, flowing into the Bristol Channel between South West England and South Wales. Its high tidal range, approximately , means that it has been at the centre of discussions in t ...

Clevedon Clevedon (, ) is an English seaside town and civil parish in the unitary authority of North Somerset, part of the ceremonial county of Somerset. It recorded a parish population of 21,281 in the United Kingdom Census 2011, estimated at 21,442 ...

North Somerset North Somerset is a unitary district in Somerset, South West England. Whilst its area covers part of the ceremonial county of Somerset, it is administered independently of the non-metropolitan county. Its administrative headquarters is in the ...

, notified in 1991. It is the side of a mineralised fault, which runs east-west adjacent to the pier, and forms a small cliff feature in

dolomitic Dolomite () is an anhydrous carbonate mineral composed of calcium magnesium carbonate, ideally The term is also used for a sedimentary carbonate rock composed mostly of the mineral dolomite. An alternative name sometimes used for the dolomiti ...

conglomerate on the north side of Clevedon Beach, containing cream to pink baryte together with sulphides. The minerals identified at the site include: haematite,

chalcopyrite Chalcopyrite ( ) is a copper iron sulfide mineral and the most abundant copper ore mineral. It has the chemical formula CuFeS2 and crystallizes in the tetragonal system. It has a brassy to golden yellow color and a hardness of 3.5 to 4 on the Mo ...

tennantite Tennantite is a copper arsenic sulfosalt mineral with an ideal formula . Due to variable substitution of the copper by iron and zinc the formula is . It is gray-black, steel-gray, iron-gray or black in color. A closely related mineral, tetrahedri ...

, galena,

tetrahedrite Tetrahedrite is a copper antimony sulfosalt mineral with formula: . It is the antimony endmember of the continuous solid solution series with arsenic-bearing tennantite. Pure endmembers of the series are seldom if ever seen in nature. Of the two, ...

bornite Bornite, also known as peacock ore, is a sulfide mineral with chemical composition Cu5 Fe S4 that crystallizes in the orthorhombic system (pseudo-cubic). Appearance Bornite has a brown to copper-red color on fresh surfaces that tarnishes to v ...

pyrite The mineral pyrite (), or iron pyrite, also known as fool's gold, is an iron sulfide with the chemical formula Fe S2 (iron (II) disulfide). Pyrite is the most abundant sulfide mineral. Pyrite's metallic luster and pale brass-yellow hue giv ...

marcasite The mineral marcasite, sometimes called “white iron pyrite”, is iron sulfide (FeS2) with orthorhombic crystal structure. It is physically and crystallographically distinct from pyrite, which is iron sulfide with cubic crystal structure. Both ...

enargite Enargite is a copper arsenic sulfosalt mineral with formula Cu3AsS4. It takes its name from the Greek word , "distinct". Enargite is a steel gray, blackish gray, to violet black mineral with metallic luster. It forms slender orthorhombic prisms as ...

and sphalerite. Secondary alteration of this assemblage has produced idaite,

Covellite Covellite (also known as covelline) is a rare copper sulfide mineral with the formula CuS. This indigo blue mineral is commonly a secondary mineral in limited abundance and although it is not an important ore of copper itself, it is well known t ...

and other

Copper sulphide Copper sulfides describe a family of chemical compounds and minerals with the formula CuxSy. Both minerals and synthetic materials comprise these compounds. Some copper sulfides are economically important ores. Prominent copper sulfide minerals ...

s.English Nature citation sheet for the site
(accessed 9 July 2006) The site is listed as 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 as several of the minerals found here are rare, in particular the

beudantite Beudandite is a secondary mineral occurring in the oxidized zones of polymetallic deposits. It is a lead, iron, arsenate, sulfate with endmember formula: PbFe3(OH)6SO4AsO4. Beudantite is in a subgroup of the alunite group. It is the arsenate an ...

. The presence of

copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...

and

arsenic Arsenic is a chemical element with the symbol As and atomic number 33. Arsenic occurs in many minerals, usually in combination with sulfur and metals, but also as a pure elemental crystal. Arsenic is a metalloid. It has various allotropes, ...

is unusual for the

Mendip district Mendip is a local government district of Somerset in England. The district covers a largely rural area of with a population of approximately 112,500, ranging from the Wiltshire border in the east to part of the Somerset Levels in the west. T ...

References

{{SSSIs Avon geological Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Avon Sites of Special Scientific Interest notified in 1991 Clevedon