Focus on Sedimentary Environments

Ancient marine carbonate sands

Caswell Bay, Gower, South Wales, UK

Caswell Bay	outcrop	structure	thin section	thin section	thin section

Caswell Bay lies on the south coast of Wales, just southwest of the city of Swansea. The Lower Carboniferous rocks along this coast are responsible for the impressive scenery of the Gower Peninsula. These rocks, part of the Carboniferous Limestone Group, are well exposed on the raised beach platform on the east side of the bay (National grid reference SS 595874). The rocks shown in this short virtual field trip illustrate the Caswell Bay Oolite, just one of several varied marine carbonate units exposed here.

Links

• Focus on some interesting beds within the Caswell Bay Oolite
• A field guide to the solid geology of the Gower Peninsula
  

The following non-geological web sites give a good impression of the location and geography

• The Gower Peninsula
• Gower: 10 things not to miss

Page © Roger Suthren; last updated 28 April, 2020