Bolter End Sand Pit facts for kids
| Site of Special Scientific Interest | |
 |
|
| Area of Search | Buckinghamshire |
|---|---|
| Interest | Geological |
| Area | 0.33 hectares |
| Notification | 1988 |
| Location map | Magic Map |
Bolter End Sand Pit is a very special place in Bolter End, Buckinghamshire, England. It's a small area, only about 0.33 hectares (which is roughly the size of half a football field). This site is officially known as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) because it holds important clues about Earth's ancient past.
Scientists study this site to understand geology, which is the science of rocks, soil, and how our planet has changed over millions of years. Bolter End Sand Pit is especially important for understanding how rivers and landscapes looked long, long ago.
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What is Bolter End Sand Pit?
Bolter End Sand Pit used to be a place where people dug out sand. Now, it's no longer used for digging, but it's still very valuable for scientific research. It's like an open-air history book written in layers of sand and stone.
Layers of Time: The Reading Formation
The sand and rocks you find at Bolter End are part of something called the "Reading Formation." This is a specific layer of rock that formed about 53 million years ago. To give you an idea, that was long before dinosaurs went extinct, and even longer before humans appeared on Earth!
Clues from Ancient Pebbles
What makes this sand pit so special are the small stones, or "pebbles," found within the sand. These pebbles are quite unusual for the Reading Formation. Scientists study them very carefully.
By looking at these pebbles, geologists can figure out what the Earth was like millions of years ago. They can tell that these pebbles were carried by ancient rivers. These rivers flowed from places where older rocks, from the Lower Cretaceous and Upper Jurassic periods, were found.
This helps scientists create "palaeogeographical reconstructions." This fancy term just means they can draw maps of what the land and rivers looked like millions of years ago, even though no one was there to see it!
Visiting Bolter End Sand Pit
Bolter End Sand Pit is located on private land. This means it is not open to the public for visits. However, its scientific importance is still very high, even if you can't visit it in person.
