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Thursday 25 February 2021

Irish Sea till and peat bed on Traeth Mawr, Newport

Surface of clay-rich sticky Irish Sea Till exposed within 5m of the northern slipway after
the removal of c 50 cms of beach sand during recent storms.

Broken, striated and gouged sandstone erratic, just a few m from the slipway.  
Embedded in clay-rich till.

Surface of peat bed exposed near the end of the southern slipway at the top of the sandy beach. The peat exposure covers an area of approx 100 sq m.

Irregular peat bed surface projecting above the sand near the southern slipway.   The peat appears to rest directly on Irish Sea till.


I think we'll count this as another exposure of the submerged forest, although there is no sign here of treestumps, branches or root systems. There are some bits of woody material lying around, but I'm not certain they have come from the newly exposed peaty surface.

The other exposure of submerged forest material on Traeth Mawr is further out on the beach, in association with a cemented exposure of Irish Sea till.  It is always submerged at high tide, and is sometimes buried beneath the beach sand as well.

PS.  1st March 2021
Had another look at the peat exposure, and there is now a piece of a tree sticking out of the peat.  Confirms that this is indeed the submerged forest.














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