Natural England - Lindisfarne SSSI, Northumberland
Lindisfarne SSSI, Northumberland
Coastal cliffs and foreshore, exposure site, integrity site for geomorphology, finite buried interest site for quaternary sediments, National Nature Reserve.
Lindisfarne SSSI, Northumberland comprises more than 25 km of coastal sections, islands and inland outcop. The SSSI encompasses Lindisfarne National Nature Reserve (NNR). There are several geological interests on the site including:
- Carboniferous sediments at Spittal Shore, important for stratigraphy, palaeontology and sedimentology;
- large sections of the Whin Sill dolerite, intruded into the Carboniferous sediments about 295 million years ago;
- extensive stretches of coastal dunes, barrier beaches and cliffs, important for its active geomorphology;
- a Quaternary stratigraphic site on Holy Island which provide an important dateable record of Flandrian sea-level changes and which includes the only known raised beach of Flandrian age on the east coast of England.
The geological interests are generally robust although some unusual features of the Whin Sill, such as ropy textured dolerite, are finite in extent and would be destroyed by hammering. The soft sediment deposits associated with the Flandrian sea-level changes also need careful managmement.
