Haven Cliff at Seaton, has had some large landslides in recent years. The Chalk and Upper Greensand contains fossil echinoids, ammonites and bivalves. There are plenty of rocks and fresh falls to look through, especially at low tide along the foreshore.
FIND FREQUENCY: ♦♦♦ – The variety of geology at Seaton means you never know what you might find. Echinoids and ammonites are the most common find.
CHILDREN: ♦ – This location is not suitable for children as the cliffs are too dangerous
ACCESS: ♦♦♦♦ – Free parking and an easy walk to the foreshore. Plenty of parking and lots of shops nearby. Seaton is a major tourist resort and so can be busy during peak times.
TYPE: Most fossils are found in the fallen blocks, which can be seen on the foreshore and at the bottom of the cliffs in the scree.
DIRECTIONS
♦ The best place to park to access Haven Cliff, is the small parking area along the B3172 before crossing the bridge into Seaton. Parking is free.
♦ Follow the footpath to the East which takes you down Harbour Cottages road, just before the harbour and round by the Seaton Angling & Kayak Centre.
♦ Continue down the concrete path all the way until it comes to an end. Continue to walk East along the pebble beach.
♦ Parking: Postcode EX12 4AA, Google Maps
♦ Fossil Location: What3Words: ///bicker.trend.undertook
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FOSSIL HUNTING
Haven Cliff at Seaton (east of the River Axe) can be surprisingly productive because the beach and foreshore are constantly replenished by fallen blocks and washed-out material from the cliffs and slips. The best collecting is always from the loose shingle, fresh rockfall and recently exposed boulders on the foreshore, where fossils weather free naturally. Do not dig into the cliffs or banks, and do not hammer in-situ faces — this is both unsafe and unnecessary here, as the worthwhile specimens come to the beach through erosion and collapse.
Most finds at Haven Cliff are from hard, pale blocks and nodular pieces that stand out among the darker, more rubbly material. These are the ones to target, as they most often yield clean, recognisable fossils. The most characteristic and regularly encountered finds are echinoderms and bivalves. Look for isolated echinoid spines (often robust, pencil-like or tapered) from cidarids, and fragments of echinoids such as Micraster and Holaster (often as worn tests or plates). Bivalves are common as internal moulds and battered shells — thick-shelled oysters such as Pycnodonte and Gryphaea-type oysters are typical beach finds, along with frequent plate-like fragments of Inoceramus (often preserved as chunky, prismatic shell pieces).
Cephalopods also turn up, though less consistently than the shells and echinoid material. Small ammonites occur occasionally, especially as limonitic casts or impressions in harder blocks; likely finds include Sciponoceras and Neocardioceras-type fragments where the moulding is crisp. Straight, pencil-like belemnite guards are occasional too — typically weathered, brown-grey “bullets” — and when they appear they are often referable to Praeactinocamax-type guards rather than the more slender Jurassic forms. These are most often found by slow scanning of the shingle and the base of fresh falls rather than by breaking rock.
Other fossils are more sporadic but worth watching for. Fish material is usually fragmentary: isolated teeth (small, glossy points) and enamelled bone fragments. Trace fossils can be common in the right stones: burrowed, mottled blocks and tube-like structures are worth a second look, especially if the surface is freshly cleaned by the sea.
The most fossiliferous ground is usually where new debris has accumulated: the margin of recent slips, the fresh apron of blocks at the foot of the cliffs, and the “sorting zones” where the tide leaves lines of shingle and pebbles. After storms or strong onshore winds, a quick visit can be far more productive than hours at low-energy times, because new surfaces and fresh fragments appear overnight. Work methodically: scan for shapes first (spines, guards, shells), then check any pale, harder blocks for impressions and moulds. If you do break anything, only split loose material that is already on the beach, and keep it minimal — many of the best pieces here are found intact, already weathered proud on the surface.
Finally, this is a location where patience pays. Most fossils are not large showpieces, but there is a steady chance of good, displayable oyster shells and inoceramid fragments, crisp cidarid spines, and the occasional standout ammonite fragment or belemnite guard — especially if you focus on freshly fallen blocks and the most recently washed shingle lines rather than older, weeded-over rubble.
Some of the most significant fossil and geological milestones from Haven Cliff, Seaton include early work on the Cretaceous succession, the recognition of important ammonite and echinoid horizons, and later studies which established the Haven Cliff Hardground as a key marker at the Cenomanian–Turonian boundary.
1903 – A. W. Rowe recorded important chalk fossils from the Seaton area
Rowe recorded Micraster species from the Seaton cliffs, helping to show the age of parts of the chalk succession in this area. This early work was important in establishing the fossil zonation of the Seaton coast and its relationship to the wider Upper Cretaceous of southern England.
1965 – the Cenomanian deposits between Haven Cliff and Pinnacles were described in detail
A detailed study of the Cenomanian succession between Haven Cliff and Pinnacles showed the lateral variation in the limestones, sands and associated fossil-bearing beds. This helped clarify the geology of the Haven Cliff section and its ammonite- and echinoid-bearing horizons.
1984 – the Haven Cliff Neocardioceras Hardground was formally recognised
Jarvis and Woodroof formally recognised the Haven Cliff Neocardioceras Hardground at the top of the Pinnacles Member. This hardground contains moulds of terminal Cenomanian ammonites including Neocardioceras juddii and Sciponoceras, together with echinoid spines such as Hirudocidaris hirudo.
1984 – the Haven Cliff Hardground was shown to mark the base of the Seaton Chalk
The same work demonstrated that the surface of the Haven Cliff Neocardioceras Hardground marks the base of the Seaton Chalk Formation in this area. This made Haven Cliff a key reference point for the boundary between the Beer Head Limestone and the overlying chalk succession.
Late 20th century – Haven Cliff became recognised as a key Cenomanian–Turonian boundary section in south-east Devon
Later work confirmed that the Haven Cliff Hardground coincides with the Cenomanian–Turonian boundary in the Seaton area. This made Haven Cliff important not just for collectible fossils such as ammonites, bivalves and echinoids, but also as a marker section for one of the most important boundaries in the Upper Cretaceous.
Modern understanding – Haven Cliff remains important for chalk and Upper Greensand fossils
Modern collecting guides still recognise Haven Cliff as a productive fossil locality, especially for ammonites, echinoids and bivalves in fallen Upper Greensand and chalk blocks on the foreshore. Although fewer famous named discoveries are tied to the exact spot than at some other localities, Haven Cliff remains important for both fossil collecting and Cretaceous stratigraphy.
GEOLOGY
The cliffs between the outfall of the River Axe at Seaton and Culverhole Point are a two-tier coastal section, with a low sea cliff cut into Late Triassic rocks and an upper cliff made of much younger Cretaceous strata. The lower sea cliff gives a near-continuous exposure of the highest part of the Mercia Mudstone Group, dominated by red and green mudstones that weather into steep, ribbed faces and slumped foreshore blocks. In the lowest exposed parts the mudstones are typically reddish-brown and silty, often with lines of green mottling and occasional thin green bands, the classic “Keuper Marl” look. Up-section the colour banding becomes more obviously striped as red and green beds alternate more regularly, reflecting a shift away from the driest desert conditions. Above this, the succession passes into greener and greyer mudstones with thin limestone ribs, marking the Blue Anchor Formation and recording a late Triassic change from hot, inland sabkhas to wetter coastal flats and increasingly brackish, marginal-marine conditions. Gypsum nodules and subtle soft-sediment disturbance can occur toward the higher parts, consistent with shallow coastal lagoon and tidal-flat settings.
Structurally, this low sea cliff is not a simple “layer cake”: faults trending roughly parallel to the coastline can repeat parts of the sequence, so the same packages of red–green mudstones and greener Blue Anchor beds may reappear along the shore. Above the Triassic sea cliff there is typically a bench or undercliff covered in debris derived from the upper cliff, formed where landslides have shed large volumes of Cretaceous material down onto the slope. The upper cliff itself is built of Upper Greensand and Chalk, and it is the contrast between relatively permeable sands above and weaker mudstones below, combined with active coastal erosion, that helps drive instability and keeps exposures changing. At the eastern end toward Culverhole Point, the relationship between the Triassic rocks and the overlying units becomes more complex, with faulting and unconformable contacts locally visible where beach cover is minimal; this is also where freshly undermined blocks and toppled masses can reveal clean surfaces and sharp boundaries.
This is a composite stratigraphic breakdown of Haven Cliff, Seaton, where the upper Triassic mudstone section beneath Haven Cliff is exposed separately from the landslip-affected White Cliff–Haven Cliff Cretaceous cliffs and foreshore. Together these exposures show the uppermost Mercia Mudstone Group, the full Upper Greensand at White Cliff, the condensed Beer Head Limestone and the lower Turonian chalk succession, making the locality important both for regional correlation and for fossil-bearing Greensand and Chalk debris.
Section Architecture
Haven Cliff is not a single simple cliff log. In practical field terms the locality is a composite one: the upper Triassic mudstones are exposed east of the Axe mouth beneath Haven Cliff and toward Sparrowbush Ledge, whereas most fossil-bearing Cretaceous material comes from the White Cliff–Haven Cliff cliff-and-foreshore sector in landslip blocks, foreshore reefs and fresh falls. Faulting, slumping, hardground convergence, local overstep and a major pre-Cretaceous unconformity all have to be allowed for when reconstructing the succession.
MERCIA MUDSTONE GROUP
Branscombe Mudstone Formation (Upper Triassic: Norian–Rhaetian)
Seaton Mudstone Member
Bed HC1 — Upper Seaton Mudstone Member (Highest c. 25 m Exposed Beneath Haven Cliff)
The highest part of the Seaton Mudstone Member is fully exposed below Haven Cliff between the River Axe outfall and Sparrowbush Ledge. It consists of relatively uniform red-brown to orange-brown mudstones and silty mudstones with only a few distinctive marker horizons, so the interval is better treated as a broad upper-member unit rather than as a series of formal beds. Thin fibrous gypsum veins are common in less weathered material and, where weathered, may survive as white sheets and films of secondary minerals on joint and bedding surfaces. Interpretation: deposition on an arid continental mudflat to low-relief sabkha plain; body fossils are rare to absent, and the unit is mainly important here as the immediate substrate below the Haven Cliff variegated beds.
Haven Cliff Mudstone Member
Bed HC2 — Haven Cliff Mudstone Member (19 m; Base Marked By A 0.9 m Green Siltstone)
This is the classic variegated upper Branscombe Mudstone developed beneath Haven Cliff. The base is defined at the base of a prominent green siltstone about 0.9 m thick, above which the member comprises interbedded red and green mudstones in beds mostly 0.2–0.4 m thick. The alternation of oxidised red beds and reduced green beds gives the cliff a strongly colour-banded appearance and makes the unit one of the easiest Triassic markers to recognise in the Seaton–Axmouth coast. Lithology: mainly mudstone with subordinate siltstone; blocky weathering; colour-banding far more conspicuous than in the Seaton Mudstone below. Interpretation: fluctuating oxidation and reduction on a saline mudflat or playa-margin surface, still dominantly continental and evaporitic in character but more internally differentiated than the Seaton Mudstone.
Blue Anchor Formation (Upper Triassic: latest Norian–Rhaetian)
Bed HC3 — Blue Anchor Formation (c. 29 m In The Sparrowbush Ledge–Culverhole Point Reference Section)
Included here because it completes the upper Triassic succession developed east of the main Haven Cliff mudstone section, the Blue Anchor Formation is exposed on the south Devon coast between Sparrowbush Ledge and Culverhole Point. It is a pale green-grey to grey dolomitic mudstone and silty mudstone succession with thin laminae, lenses and a few harder dolomitic or porcellanous beds, the base being taken at the lowest prominent dolomitic limestone above the red-and-green mudstones of the Haven Cliff Member. Darker grey mudstones occur locally, and the overall colour shift from variegated red-green mudstone below to cooler green-grey dolomitic beds above is very distinctive. Interpretation: supratidal to intertidal dolomitic mudflat and sabkha deposition with increasing marine influence toward the top, forming the final pre-Rhaetian phase above the classic Mercia red beds.
Upper Triassic Section Note
At Haven Cliff the exposed upper Triassic interval is substantial, but it is not a single uninterrupted measured log. The highest c. 25 m of the Seaton Mudstone Member, the full 19 m Haven Cliff Mudstone Member, and the overlying Blue Anchor Formation are best treated as adjoining reference sections linked by coastal walk-out and regional mapping, not as one perfectly continuous cliff face.
SELBORNE GROUP
Upper Greensand Formation (Upper Albian)
Unconformity Note
At White Cliff, the Cretaceous succession rests unconformably on eroded Mercia Mudstone, so the normal Jurassic cover and the Gault are absent locally. That omission is one of the most striking features of the Haven Cliff–White Cliff area: upper Triassic red beds and upper Albian shallow-marine sands are brought together within a very short coastal distance by pre-Cretaceous erosion, later faulting and landslip.
Foxmould Member
Bed HC4 — Foxmould Member (25–30 m At White Cliff)
The Foxmould Member forms the lower and thickest part of the Upper Greensand at White Cliff, where the full thickness and both bounding junctions have been recorded. It consists of fine- to medium-grained weakly cemented glauconitic sandstones with variable silica and calcium carbonate, fresh colours ranging from faint green-grey to bright green and weathered faces breaking down to soft grey, yellow and brown sands. The basal junction on Mercia Mudstone is marked by a pebble bed intensely let down by burrowing into the red mudstones. Shell debris and broken shells are common at many levels, especially oysters, pectinids and serpulids, and weak hardgrounds occur in the upper part. Typical Fossils: robust bivalves, gastropods, echinoderm debris, brachiopods and serpulids; ammonites are uncommon and mostly ex situ on the Devon coast. Ammonite Age: regional ammonite evidence places the member in the Mortoniceras inflatum Zone, with Hysteroceras varicosum and related forms recorded from comparable horizons and some ex situ Devon coast material suggesting the Callihoplites auritus Subzone higher in the unit. Depositional Environment: relatively deep subtidal marine sand deposition above storm wave base.
Whitecliff Chert Member
Bed HC5 — Whitecliff Chert Member (12–18 m)
The base of the Whitecliff Chert Member is taken at a dark green pebbly glauconite-rich sand infilling an irregular mineralised erosion surface above the Foxmould, marking a major change from weakly cemented quiet-water sands to strongly cemented calcareous sandstones and shell-rich calcarenites. Cherts are abundant above the basal hardground interval and are mostly translucent dark brown with pale shell-derived inclusions; individual chert beds are commonly 0.15–0.3 m thick and may reach 0.5 m. Hardgrounds, scour hollows and shell-debris-rich or clast-rich infills recur through the member, and some cherts preserve cross-bedding and bioturbation. Typical Fossils: thick-shelled oysters dominate, with other bivalves, serpulids, brachiopods and echinoderm debris; in situ ammonites are not known from this member on the Devon coast. Ammonite Age: loose material suggests correlation with the Callihoplites auritus Subzone. Depositional Environment: shallow, strongly current-agitated fully marine conditions, at times possibly intertidal or very near shoreface shoal conditions.
Bindon Sandstone Member
Bed HC6 — Bindon Sandstone Bed 1 — Basal Coarse Band
The Bindon Sandstone begins at the Whitecliff Hardground and the overlying pebbly glauconite-rich Coarse Band. This bed infills relief on the hardground and provides one of the most reliable markers in the upper Upper Greensand succession. Pebbles and glauconitic granules are concentrated in a sandy, locally shell-rich matrix, and the erosive base records a renewed sedimentary break before deposition of the uppermost Greensand sands and calcarenites. Interpretation: transgressive or erosive lag resting on a prominent hardground surface in a high-energy shallow-marine setting.
Bed HC7 — Bindon Sandstone Bed 2 — Chert-Bearing Glauconitic Calcarenites
Above the Coarse Band lies a glauconitic calcareous sandstone to calcarenite with up to six chert horizons, some individual cherts reaching about 0.6 m thick. The rock is typically shell-detrital and calcareous, and where fresh may be tough and massive. This is the most conspicuously chert-bearing part of the Bindon Sandstone in expanded sections. Typical Fossils: shell debris, bivalves, gastropods and echinoderm debris; age-diagnostic ammonites are uncommon in situ. Interpretation: shallow marine calcarenite shoals or bars subjected to repeated cementation, erosion and silicification.
Bed HC8 — Bindon Sandstone Bed 3 — Chert-Free Cross-Bedded Sandstones
Bed 3 has a matrix similar to Bed 2 but is distinguished by the absence of chert and by wavy bedding and low-angle trough cross-bedding picked out by glauconite-rich stringers. The junction with Bed 2 is locally sharp and channelled, and chert-free channel fills may cut out much or all of Bed 2. Because of this channelisation the bed can change thickness rapidly across short distances. Interpretation: mobile sand bodies and channels in a strongly current-swept shallow shelf or shoreface setting.
Bed HC9 — Bindon Sandstone Bed 4 — Upper Cross-Bedded And Shell-Rich Sandstones
The highest Bindon Sandstone is sedimentologically distinct, showing festoon trough cross-bedding and, in its upper part, local contortion attributed to slumping and/or dewatering. The topmost beds contain concretionary shell accumulations rich in bivalves and gastropods, and one such shell concentration at Shapwick has yielded the only in situ ammonite assemblage yet recorded from the member. Typical Fossils: abundant bivalves and gastropods in shell pockets, with rarer ammonites. Ammonites: species of Callihoplites, Discohoplites, Hyphoplites, Idiohamites, Stoliczkaia and Stomohamites indicate the Arrhaphoceras (Praeschloenbachia) briacensis Subzone of the Stoliczkaia dispar Zone. Interpretation: very shallow high-energy marine sand bodies with local soft-sediment instability immediately below the basal chalk unconformity.
Total Thickness Of Upper Greensand Formation At White Cliff: Approximately 50–55 Metres Where Complete
CHALK GROUP
Structural And Stratigraphic Note
The Cenomanian and lower Turonian succession in the Haven Cliff–White Cliff–Hooken system is highly variable over short distances. Synsedimentary fault control around the Hooken–Wilmington trough caused local thickening of arenaceous Cenomanian beds and lower Turonian chalks, while adjacent structural highs show sharp attenuation, onlap and convergence of hardgrounds. At Haven Cliff itself the uppermost Cenomanian interval may collapse to little more than a thin composite hardground bed, so the section must be treated as laterally variable rather than diagrammed as a falsely uniform cliff log.
Beer Head Limestone Formation (Cenomanian)
Pounds Pool Sandy Limestone Member
Bed HC10 — Pounds Pool Sandy Limestone Member (Up To c. 3.5 m Where Fully Developed)
This basal member rests on the Small Cove Hardground at the top of the Upper Greensand and consists of very coarse calcareous sandstones with common glauconitised intraclasts passing up into pale brown, strongly indurated sandy bioclastic limestone. It is the basal chalk-equivalent unit of the Devon coast and may be locally attenuated or entirely cut out on palaeotopographic highs. Typical Fossils: sparse to moderate shell debris, with the ramose chaetetid-like form Acanthochaetetes ramulosus classically used as a recognition fossil where the bed is well developed. Interpretation: shallow marine, winnowed, sand-rich carbonate deposition on an erosive surface at the base of the Cenomanian limestone succession.
Hooken Nodular Limestone Member
Bed HC11 — Hooken Nodular Limestone Member (Up To 5 m, But Locally Much Thinner Or Absent)
The Hooken Nodular Limestone is a medium- to light-grey bioclastic and rubbly nodular limestone above the Weston Hardground and below the Kings Hole Hardground. It is one of the most fossiliferous members of the Beer Head Limestone where expanded, but it is notably variable and can thin to less than 0.25 m or disappear altogether on local highs. Typical Fossils: reworked and indigenous ammonites, echinoids, brachiopods and bivalves are all characteristic, and the member commonly has a shell-rich, condensed aspect. Interpretation: condensed shallow-shelf limestone deposition with repeated sediment starvation, winnowing and hardground development.
Little Beach Bioclastic Limestone Member
Bed HC12 — Little Beach Bioclastic Limestone Member (c. 1.5 m In Expanded Sections)
This member is an indurated bioclastic limestone capped by the Humble Point Hardground and locally underlain by a phosphatised cavernous hardground shortly above its base. Around Beer Head and westward it may be strongly attenuated or absent, but where present it forms a distinct condensed bioclastic interval above the Hooken Nodular Limestone. Typical Fossils: the echinoid Holaster subglobosus is especially characteristic, whereas the broader macrofauna is less diverse than in the Hooken Member. Stratigraphic Significance: a widespread hiatus occurs at the top of this member and appears to span much of the Middle Cenomanian. Interpretation: highly condensed shallow-marine limestone on a sediment-starved shelf, terminated by hardground formation and omission.
Pinnacles Glauconitic Limestone / Haven Cliff Neocardioceras Hardground Interval
Bed HC13 — Pinnacles Glauconitic Limestone Interval And Haven Cliff Neocardioceras Hardground
The uppermost condensed Cenomanian interval is represented by glauconitic nodular limestone with phosphatised intraclasts and hardgrounds, but in the Haven Cliff area it may be reduced to a very thin composite bed comprising the Haven Cliff Hardground and a little subjacent nodular chalk. In thicker developments the interval includes a lower glauconitic accumulation, a central limonitic nodule hardground and the upper Haven Cliff Neocardioceras Hardground. Typical Fossils: Orbirhynchia wiesti, Sciponoceras gracile, Neocardioceras juddii, locally Praeactinocamax plenus, and common cidarid echinoid spines cemented to the hardground surface. The fauna is mixed and condensed, with both late Cenomanian and earliest Turonian affinities. Stratigraphic Significance: the surface of the Haven Cliff Neocardioceras Hardground marks the Cenomanian–Turonian boundary in the classical Devon succession. In modern national correlation this highly condensed glauconitic interval approximates the Plenus Marls level.
Total Thickness Of Beer Head Limestone Formation In The Haven Cliff–White Cliff System: Extremely Variable, From More Than c. 13 m In Expanded Trough Sections To Less Than 1 m On Adjacent Structural Highs
Holywell Nodular Chalk Formation (Lower Turonian; Equivalent Here To Most Of The Traditional Connetts Hole Nodular Chalk Member)
Bed HC14 — Lower Holywell Nodular Chalk Below The West Ebb Marl
Immediately above the Haven Cliff Hardground the chalk becomes hard, yellow-stained and nodular, with abundant shell detritus and a strongly condensed appearance. At White Cliff this lower Holywell interval expands much more than it does farther west, and in the wider Hooken–Wilmington system the lower part may pass laterally into the calcarenitic Beer Stone facies within the structural trough, although that freestone development is not present everywhere in the Haven Cliff sector. Typical Fossils: inoceramid debris and early Mytiloides, with other shelly fossils subordinate. Interpretation: lower Turonian chalk sedimentation on an uneven tectonic surface, locally still strongly influenced by reworking and hardground formation after the boundary condensation.
Bed HC15 — West Ebb Marl
The West Ebb Marl is a thin but regionally important marker bed within the lower Holywell Nodular Chalk. It provides one of the best practical correlation horizons through this otherwise laterally variable nodular chalk interval and separates lower nodular shell-detrital chalk from the more strongly condensed hardground-rich beds above. Interpretation: a brief increase in marl input and quieter pelagic deposition within an otherwise condensation-prone lower Turonian succession.
Bed HC16 — Upper Holywell Nodular Chalk To The Branscombe Hardground
Above the West Ebb Marl the chalk remains nodular and yellow-stained, with hardgrounds and sporadic flints toward the top. At White Cliff the full traditional Connetts Hole succession reaches about 13.5 m, but elsewhere it may thin to only a few metres or disappear completely, and the erosive Branscombe Hardground may cut out a large part of the higher Holywell interval. Where preserved, Flinty Hardground 5 and related surfaces may occur near the top. Typical Fossils: abundant inoceramids including Mytiloides, with Orbirhynchia cuvieri characteristic in the broader facies. Biozone: Mytiloides spp. Zone. Interpretation: condensed lower Turonian open-marine chalk on a structurally active shelf, repeatedly interrupted by omission and hardground formation.
New Pit Chalk Formation (Turonian; Equivalent Here To The Traditional Beer Roads Flinty Chalk Member)
Bed HC17 — Basal New Pit Chalk / Lower Beer Roads Flinty Chalk
The Branscombe Hardground marks an abrupt lithological change from nodular, largely non-flinty chalk below to smooth-textured marly chalk with abundant flints above. The basal New Pit at Haven Cliff and White Cliff contains small finger-like and spiky flints, marl seams and smoother white chalk that contrasts sharply with the hard lower Turonian nodular facies. The first persistent flint line above the Branscombe Hardground is close to the base of the modern Terebratulina lata Zone in the Devon succession. Typical Fossils: inoceramids, brachiopods and sparse echinoid material; fossils are generally less concentrated than in the condensed nodular chalk below. Interpretation: more open-marine pelagic chalk deposition after a major break in sedimentation, though still influenced by local Devon flint development and structural control.
Bed HC18 — Main Beer Roads Flinty Chalk Interval
The main New Pit equivalent is a smooth white chalk with abundant small, spiky to nodular flints, wavy-bedded marly chalk intervals and marl seams. In the Devon coastal succession the local Beer Roads facies is more flinty than typical New Pit Chalk farther east in southern England, but the overall lithology remains that of marly white chalk rather than nodular condensed chalk. Regionally recognised marly or relatively flint-poor intervals occur within it, but at Haven Cliff the practical field character is that of flint-rich smooth chalk in fallen blocks and cliff sections. Typical Fossils: Terebratulina lata, Inoceramus cuvieri and Labyrinthidoma are characteristic of the broader local facies. Biozone: Terebratulina lata Zone. Interpretation: open marine pelagic chalk sedimentation with periodic marl input and strong silica concentration, forming the upper part of the lower chalk succession normally encountered in the Haven Cliff collector area.
Total Thickness Of The Holywell Nodular Chalk And New Pit Chalk Interval At White Cliff: About 36.5 Metres In The Classical Devon Succession, But Strongly Variable Over Short Distances
Higher Chalk Note
Higher Lewes Nodular Chalk and Seaford Chalk are better developed and more usefully logged in the Hooken–Pinhay and Dowlands sections eastward rather than at Haven Cliff itself. They are therefore not forced into this locality page, which is best restricted to the upper Triassic section beneath Haven Cliff and the White Cliff–Haven Cliff Upper Greensand, Beer Head Limestone and lower Turonian chalk succession that actually characterise the site.
Depositional Environment
The Haven Cliff composite succession records a major environmental sweep. The upper Mercia Mudstone Group represents arid continental mudflat, playa-margin and sabkha deposition with evaporitic influence; the Blue Anchor Formation records a cooler grey-green dolomitic mudflat phase with increasing marine influence. After a major unconformity, the Upper Greensand records fully marine upper Albian sedimentation, passing upward from relatively deeper subtidal glauconitic sands of the Foxmould into shallower, high-energy chert-bearing calcarenites and cross-bedded sand bodies of the Whitecliff Chert and Bindon Sandstone members. The Beer Head Limestone is a highly condensed shallow-marine Cenomanian succession rich in hardgrounds and omission surfaces, and the overlying Holywell Nodular Chalk and New Pit Chalk represent lower Turonian open-marine chalk seas, still strongly modified in Devon by local tectonic control, condensation and lateral facies change.
References
Gallois, R.W. (2001). The stratigraphy of the Mercia Mudstone Group (Mid to Late Triassic) of the south Devon coast. Geoscience in south-west England, 10, 195–204.
Howard, A.S. and others (2008). A formational framework for the Mercia Mudstone Group of England and Wales. British Geological Survey Research Report RR/08/04.
British Geological Survey Lexicon of Named Rock Units: Branscombe Mudstone Formation, Blue Anchor Formation, Foxmould Member, Whitecliff Chert Member, Bindon Sandstone Member and Beer Head Limestone Formation.
Gallois, R.W. (2004). The stratigraphy of the Upper Greensand (Cretaceous) of south-west England. Geoscience in south-west England, 11, 21–29.
Jukes-Browne, A.J. & Hill, W. (1900). The Cretaceous Rocks of Britain, Volume I: The Gault and Upper Greensand of England.
Jarvis, I. & Woodroof, P.B. (1984). Stratigraphy of the Cenomanian and basal Turonian (Upper Cretaceous) between Branscombe and Seaton, S.E. Devon, England. Proceedings of the Geologists’ Association, 95, 193–215.
Jarvis, I. & Tocher, B.A. (1987). Field Meeting: the Cretaceous of S.E. Devon. Proceedings of the Geologists’ Association, 98, 51–66.
JNCC Geological Conservation Review: Hooken Cliff site account in British Upper Cretaceous Stratigraphy.
Gallois, R. (2021). The stratigraphy of the Chalk Group (Cretaceous) of the Devon coast, UK. Proceedings of the Geologists’ Association, 132, 573–592.
SAFETY
Common sense when collecting at all locations should be used and prior knowledge of tide times is essential. The sea often reaches the base of the cliffs at Seaton and it is easy to be cut off with no access back to Seaton. The main danger is falling rocks, landslides and cliff falls frequently occur so stay away from the base of the cliff face.
EQUIPMENT
Fossils here are very hard, so either containers or bags are suitable to get them home. However, you will need a heavy hammer, chisel and safety goggles to split some of the rocks. It is also a good idea to take a trowel to extract some excellent fossil shells.
CLEANING AND TREATING
Begin by removing any loose sediment very carefully using a soft toothbrush. Take your time, as many fossils—particularly pyritic specimens—are fragile and easily damaged. Once cleaned, fossils should be desalinated by soaking them in fresh water for at least 24 hours to remove residual salt. After soaking, allow specimens to dry naturally at room temperature. Do not dry them on radiators or other heat sources, as rapid drying can cause cracking or long-term damage.
Once fully dry, we recommend sealing fossils with Paraloid B-72, dissolved in acetone. This is a museum-grade consolidant that is widely available in pre-mixed bottles. Paraloid B-72 is stable, long-lasting, and does not yellow or react chemically over time. Importantly, it is also fully reversible, making it suitable for scientifically important or display-quality specimens.
ARTICLES
ACCESS RIGHTS
Seaton is an SSSI and is part of the Jurassic World Heritage Coastline. You can collect fossils but hammering the Bedrock (insitu deposits), is not allowed.
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