Teffont Evias Quarry and Lane Cutting is a 3.6 hectare geological Site of Special Scientific Interest at Teffont Evias in Wiltshire, England, notified in 1989. It consists of two parts, Teffont Evias Quarry (), and Teffont Evias Lane Cutting (). Forest trees are currently growing on both sites, but there are small accessible exposures on the sides of quarry and roadway cuttings.
The sites offer exposures of a mid-Purbeck Lagerstätte, fine-grained limestone rock with good conditions for fossilization.Wiltshire (including Swindon). Natural England. Our work: England's geology. http://www.naturalengland.org.uk/ourwork/conservation/geodiversity/englands/counties/area_ID39.aspx Accessed 3 August 2013 These rocks and fossils were deposited after shallow seas receded about 146 million years ago. They record a warm environment of lakes and coastal lagoons, with occasional marine transgressions such as the Cinder Bed, and fresh-water phases, the Cherty Freshwater Member (in which the charophyte, Clavator reidi, grew in clear water perhaps 1-2m deep),Saline lake charophytes and their geological significance. R. V. Burne, J. Bauld, P. De Deckker. Journal of Sedimentary Research (1980) 50 (1): 281–293. https://doi.org/10.1306/212F79D2-2B24-11D7-8648000102C1865D "For example the Purbeckian evaporites of Dorset (England) and the Tertiary evaporites of the Paris Basin (France) both contain charophyte and evaporite-bearing units which are similar to the deposits of these Recent Australian lakes [adjacent to the Coorong and continental lakes around northern Spencer Gulf]. We suggest that sediments containing associations of charophyte oogonia and evaporites formed as a result of seasonally varying salinity within lakes of the semi-arid, Mediterranean-type, climatic zone." https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/sepm/jsedres/article-abstract/50/1/281/97341/Saline-lake-charophytes-and-their-geological accessed 19 September 2026 and the Intermarine Member.Harris, T.M. 1939. British Purbeck Charophyta. British Museum (Natural History). London, Printed by Order of the Trustees of the British Museum, Issued 22 April 1939. 83 pp + 17 plates. (by Professor Thomas Maxwell Harris). As reported in: Purbeck Formation - Jurassic-Cretaceous. Lithology, fauna, facies and palaeoenvironments. Geology of the Dorset Coast. Ian West, Romsey, Hampshire and School of Ocean and Earth Science, National Oceanography Centre, Southampton University, Southampton. 2009. https://wessexcoastgeology.soton.ac.uk/purbfac.htm accessed 5 August 2013 Large fossils are rare, but there are insects of at least four Orders, fish, and crocodilians, also remains of vegetation including a large tree.Forests of the Dinosaurs: Wiltshire’s Jurassic Finale. John E Needham. Hobnob Press 30/09/2011. . https://www.hobnobpress.co.uk/books/p/forests-of-the-dinosaurs-wiltshires-jurassic-finale-by-john-e-needham.Purbeck Formation - Jurassic-Cretaceous. Lithology, fauna, facies and palaeoenvironments. Geology of the Dorset Coast. Ian West, Romsey, Hampshire and School of Ocean and Earth Science, National Oceanography Centre, Southampton University, Southampton. 2009. https://wessexcoastgeology.soton.ac.uk/purbfac.htm accessed 5 August 2013
Teffont Evias Quarry
This includes a pit with a recorded section from the early Jurassic Lias Group up to the Cinder Bed (formerly identified as the boundary between Jurassic and Cretaceous rocks, now regarded as early Cretaceous). With a wealth of fossils this is one of the most important Purbeck Bed localities outside Dorset.Natural England fact sheet on Teffont Evias Quarry Lane Cutting. COUNTY: WILTSHIRE. SITE NAME: TEFFONT EVIAS QUARRY/LANE CUTTING Status: Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) notified under Section 28 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. https://designatedsites.naturalengland.org.uk/SiteDetail.aspx?SiteCode=S1002868&SiteName=Teffont&countyCode=48&responsiblePerson=&SeaArea=&IFCAArea= accessed 5 Jan 2025
Teffont Evias Lane Cutting This is a key site in the history of British palaeoentomology; it has produced rare, but well-preserved insects and is the best exposure of the Purbeck beds (Lower Cretaceous, Berriasian c. 144 Ma) for collecting fossil insects. These beds formed the main material for Peter Bellinger Brodie's "Insects in the Secondary Rocks of England", a seminal work and still significant today.
References
External links Location of the SSSI on Natural England's interactive map