The uppermost part of the cliffs at Easton Wood are glacial beds, a mixture of find laminated silts and clays, pebble and gravel beds which becomes more intrusive heading Northwards and later forms the spectucular beds of Covehithe and Benacre..
Below this the Baventian Clay, a Silty Blue fine layer between 0.5 and 1m thick, this is from the Baventian Stage. Below this starts the Antian and which is where the Norwich Crag begins.
The Norwich Crag is split into the following Zones (2003 - Alister and Ian Cruickshanks)
Crag Sands
Beds XI and IX |
Very Fine Orange Sands, occasionally yield small mammal remains, bird and fish remains. |
1st Series Upper Shell Bed
Beds X |
Thin layer, less dense that other shell beds, smaller shells, many are often broken. Bed X only appears at the South End of Easton Wood Cliff. |
1st Series Middle Shell Bed
Beds VIII |
Dense thick shell bed, wide rariety of shells all are very good condition. Occasional small mamal remains such as vole and screw have been found. |
1st Series Lower Shell Bed
Beds VII |
Very hard and compact shell bed, contains small pebbles, fish remains are commonly found. Bird remains also found but are not common. |
Crag Sands
Bed VI |
Very thick Fine Orange Sands, up to 1.5m in places. This bed marks normal beach level conditions, often gives the beach a dark orange appearance, specially during extreme low tides along the extreme foreshore. Unfossiliferious. Thinnest at the South and North end of the cliff. |
2nd Series Upper Shell Bed
Bed V
|
Well preserved molluscs, often with a bright white appearance. Many eaten by predators (marked by small holes in the centre of the shells). Often seen exposed at the extreme foreshore during extreme low tides or scouring tides. |
Cockle
Bed IV |
Highly compressed Cockle Bed, packed full with Cockles, this bed is easy to identify and can be seen exposed during scouring tides. |
2nd Series Lower Shell Bed
Bed III |
Mainly broken shells but also contains a wide variety of molluscs that are not present in other shell beds. A very thin layer, no more than 5cm but highly rich in mammal remains such as vole, shrews etc and fish remains. |
Crag Sands
Bed II |
Marks the base of the shell beds, the last layer of crag sands contains occasional small pebbles and is between 30cm and 1m thick. Contains occasional Marine Animal Remains such as Whale. This bed is rarely exposed, the last time was in 2006 when the sea scoured the beach and in addition scoured further into a deep channel. The sea often washes out bones from this layer after stormy waters. |
Norwich Crag Basement Bed
Bed I |
A very hard, approximately 20cm deep dark orange coloured bed, compressed with gravels and pebbles. This bed is the main Easton Wood Bone Bed, and is extremely fossilferious, rich in large mammal remains such as Mammoth, Deer, Horse etc. Only exposed during extreme scouring, the last time was in 2006 when only a small area was scoured out, but the last full scour was 1983. Bones can be washed from this layer during storms and can occasionally collected from the foreshore The last recorded occurrence produced hundreds of bones along the foreshore, with several locals using several wheelbarrows to take the best specimens. |
