Tynemouth to Seaton Sluice (SSSI)
Location and Access Information
Grid Reference: NZ 346755, NZ 365716, NZ 373694
This 6km coastal section is centred on Whitley Bay, east of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. The low cliff and foreshore sections can be accessed from many points along the frontage, although the best exposures are on the southern side of Whitley Sands and St. Mary’s Island. Car parking is available at several locations.
View the site map on Nature on the Map
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Geological Interest
The coast from Tynemouth to Seaton Sluice provides one of the best exposures of rocks belonging to the Upper Carboniferous Coal Measures (approximately 300 million years old) in Great Britain. It includes outcrops of numerous coal seams, and several mudstone horizons yielding non-marine bivalves. Of particular importance are outcrops of sandstones within the rock sequence, which have been interpreted as braided river deposits. These contrast with the meandering river deposits which dominate the same rocks in the Pennines Coalfields to the south. Geologists suggest from this evidence that the Northumberland and Durham Coalfields formed in a more elevated area relative to the Pennines Coalfield, and this area was thus probably rather further from the sea.
