Bourne SSSI, Avon

Bourne
	Site of Special Scientific Interest
	Location within Somerset
Area of Search	Avon
Grid reference	ST484600
Coordinates	51.33674°N 2.74210°W
Interest	Geological
Area	20.93 acres (0.0847 km2; 0.03270 sq mi)
Notification	1992
	Natural England website

Bourne SSSI, Avon (grid reference ST484600) is an 8.47 hectare geological Site of Special Scientific Interest near the village of Burrington, North Somerset, notified in 1992.

This site is of considerable importance because it has provided detailed information upon the composition of a north Mendip Pleistocene alluvial fan. An alluvial fan is a fan-shaped deposit formed where a fast flowing stream flattens, slows, and spreads typically at the exit of a canyon onto a flatter plain.

At Bourne sections have shown highly weathered gravels overlain by sandy silts and clay loams, the highest levels in the sequence showing evidence of cryoturbation. Two phases of fan sediment deposition were separated by a long period of subaerial weathering, which may represent an interglacial period.[1]

References

English Nature citation sheet for the site Archived October 13, 2006, at the Wayback Machine (accessed 9 July 2006)

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[sssicitation-1] English Nature citation sheet for the site Archived October 13, 2006, at the Wayback Machine (accessed 9 July 2006)