Belemnite Marl	Black Ven Marl	Down Cliff Sands	Eype Clay Bed
Green Ammonite Bed	Junction Bed	Shales with Beef	Thorncombe Sands	Three Tiers Bed

Eype Clay Bed

Overview

Previously this bed has been known as the Blue Clays Bed, the Micaceous Beds, the Margaritatus Marls and the Margaritatus Bed.

The Eype Clay Bed (averaging 66m, Bed numbers 9-19), appears near to sea level at Broom Cliff/St. Gabriel's Mouth and to the east of Seatown. It is a thick blue clay that weathers to a yellow-buff loam .

It is not easily studied at either Stonebarrow Hill or Black Ven. Due to a fault line that appears at Seatown and the River Winniford, the Green Ammonite Beds to the west are down-faulted, causing the Eype Clay Bed to appear at sea level to the east of the river.

Eype Clay Bed [A] to the east of Seatown.

About 40m above the base of the bed is the Eype Nodule Bed (Bed 18a 0.5m). This is formed from a layer of irregularly scattered nodules containing the ammonite Amaltheus stokesi.

Eype nodules.

Exposures

Eype Clay Bed as found between Charmouth and St. Gabriel's Mouth:

Eype Clay Bed as found between St. Gabriel's Mouth and Seatown:

Eype Clay Bed as found between Seatown and Eype Mouth:

Eype Clay Bed as found between Eype Mouth and West Bay:

Fossils

Amaltheus stokesi ammonite
sourced from Herve Chatelier

Zones, sub-zones and fossils

Zone	Sub-zone	Fossils
Amaltheus margaritatus	Amaltheus stokesi	Amaltheus stokesi

Beds, geology and fossils

Bed	Name	Geology	Fossils found
22	Starfish Bed	4' irregular doggers in greenish-grey micaceous and calcareous sandstone, that is stained pink or red in places. Lower surface of bed is smooth and flat.	Brittle-stars: Ophioderma egertoni Ophioderma tenuibrachiata Palaeocoma egertoni
22
20	Day's Shell Bed	11" indurated marl	Crinoid stems Crinoid sp Belemnite sp Entolium Chlamys Plagiostoma Astarte Liostrea Modiolus Passaloteuthis Pseudohastites Amaltheus stokesi
		5" laminated shale
		2" clayey sand

-		62' blue marl	-
	(Day's Mudstone Bed or Hard Marl Bed)	3' calcareous sandstone	Montlivaltia sp Furcirhynchia furcata sp Lingula sacculus Spiriferina sp Chlamys sp Lucina sp Oxytoma inequivalve Procerithium ilminsterense Amaltheus sp.
18a	Eype Nodule Bed (Pseudoradians Band)	Two small bands of irregularly scattered nodules, reaching no more than 3" in size, that contain mainly fragments of ammonites. The bands are 18" to 2ft apart, although one band sometimes disappears.	Amaltheus stokesi
18a
-		25' micaceous blue marl	-
-		1' impersistant calcareous sandstone	-
-		15' micaceous blue marl	-
-		1' impersistant calcareous sandstone	-
-		68' micaceous blue marl	-

Photographs

Boulders from the Starfish Bed litter the beach at Eype Mouth.
Small pieces of Starfish may still be seen (the complete specimens having
been collected a long time ago!

The most commonly recovered specimens of
the Eype Nodule Bed.

Eype Nodules formed from only pieces of Amaltheus stokesi ammonite.

Eype Nodules formed around pieces
of Amaltheus stokesi ammonite.

Close up of an Eype Nodule showing
the surface striations on the Amaltheus stokesi ammonite fossil.

Eype Clay Bed to the west of Eype Mouth.

The Eype Nodule Bed as seen under Hope Corner.
[Oct 2003]

All images copyright © Graeme Caselton