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This section of red sandstone cliffs is probably one of my
utter favourite cliff sections in the whole of the UK. Sandstone! Faults! River
channels! Cross bedding! Mineral leaching! Pebble beds! Aahhhh!! It’s so
exciting, I love this cliff section.
The rocks at Budleigh Salterton are Triassic Sandstone,
which incidentally is one of my favourite sedimentary rock types. This rock was
deposited in a dry, arid, desert environment, and has an absolute textbook
example of normal faulting creating a horst & graben structure. The river
channel deposits here are shown in pretty much perfect cross section, and ugh, I
just love this rock section. At the eastern end, towards the car park, there is
an area with lots of caliche.
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| Rock face with a zone of leaching (yellow line) at the base |
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| Close up of the leach layer |
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| Spot the fault! (Diagonal line running top left to bottom right) |
