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Thursday, 10 September 2020

Submerged forest at Llanrhystyd, Ceredigion

 

It's unusual for new submerged forest sites to be recorded in the summer or early autumn, but Storm Francis has exposed peat beds and tree stumps in a previously unknown site on the Ceredigion coast -- in the bay of Llanrhystyd.   This is a long way south of Borth, about halfway between Aberystwyth and Aberaeron.

The discovery has been reported on the BBC web site.  I will add it to the list.......

2 comments:

BRIAN JOHN said...

This is from the Cofelin record for the site: The exposure is capped by a layer of peat on average about 0.15m deep. It exhibits root systems, twigs/branches, plant macrofossils and even occasional tree stumps. This peat lies upon what appears to be an organic soil up to 0.15m deep, itself developed over a fine blue-grey anaerobic clay of roughly the same thickness. The entire eroding exposure rests directly upon a cryoturbated periglacial deposit consisting of highly compacted angular fragmented rock cemented in clay, the uppermost component of a local glacial head deposit itself containing broken and rounded locally-derived galets again strongly cemented in clay with occasional sands and gravels, best seen in cliff sections to the south.
https://coflein.gov.uk/en/site/417481/

BRIAN JOHN said...

This suggests there is till and fluvioglacial materials at the base, then above that a cryoturbated periglacial deposit, then c 15 cms of blue anaerobic clay, then an organic soil layer c 15 cms thick, then the peat with abundant organic remains.