St Osyth Pit facts for kids
| Site of Special Scientific Interest | |
 |
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| Area of Search | Essex |
|---|---|
| Interest | Geological |
| Area | 0.1 hectares |
| Notification | 1987 |
| Location map | Magic Map |
St Osyth Pit is a special place in Essex, England. It's called a Site of Special Scientific Interest, or SSSI for short. This means it's protected because it has something very important for science, in this case, geology. Geology is the study of Earth's rocks and how our planet has changed over time.
This small area, about the size of a tennis court, is like a history book written in layers of soil and rock. It helps scientists understand big changes that happened hundreds of thousands of years ago!
Contents
What Makes St Osyth Pit Special?
St Osyth Pit is a very important spot for understanding Earth's past. It's part of something called the Geological Conservation Review. This review identifies the best places in Britain to study geology.
A Journey Back in Time: The Ice Age
The most exciting thing about St Osyth Pit is what it tells us about the Anglian Ice Age. This was a super cold period that happened about 450,000 years ago! During this time, huge sheets of ice covered much of Britain.
How the River Thames Changed Course
Before the Anglian Ice Age, the River Thames (the famous river that flows through London today) used to flow in a different direction. It actually flowed much further north, right through the area where St Osyth Pit is now!
The layers of ground at St Osyth Pit show us how the Thames changed its path.
- Old River Bed: The lowest layers of the pit have gravel. This gravel was left behind by the River Thames when it flowed through this area, long before the ice age. It's like finding old toys in a forgotten box!
- Ice Age Blockage: Then, during the Angian Ice Age, the huge ice sheets blocked the Thames. This made the river change its course and start flowing south, towards where it is today.
- Meltwater Deposits: Above the old river gravel, there are layers of sand and very fine gravel. These were left by water flowing from the melting ice. It shows us a brief time when the river was blocked by ice and meltwater was everywhere.
So, St Osyth Pit is like a natural timeline, showing us how a massive river was forced to change its path by the power of ice!
Visiting St Osyth Pit
St Osyth Pit is on private land, which means it's not open to the public. This helps protect the special geological features for scientists to study.
