Overview 
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. 

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

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 downfaulted, causing the Eype Clay Bed to appear at sea level to the east of the river.

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Fossils 

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. 

Zones and sub-zones 

 

Zone

Subzone

Amaltheus margaritatus

Amaltheus stokesi 

 

Beds and fossils 


Bed name Bed
No. 		 Geology Fossils found
Starfish Bed 22 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
Day's Shell Bed 20 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.
Eype Nodule Bed
(Pseudoradians Band) 		18a 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
-   25' micaceous blue marl -
-   1' impersistant calcareous sandstone -
-   15' micaceous blue marl -
-   1' impersistant calcareous sandstone -
-   68' micaceous blue marl -


Bed photographs

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An Ophioderma egertoni brittle-star measuring just over 3 inches. Usually found on the underside of the Starfish Bed. Examples are best found (if lucky) on the fallen rocks at the base of Thorncombe Beacon at Great Ebb near to Eype Mouth.

Taken from the beach at Eype Mouth, looking along the coast towards the east. The layering of the Bridport Sands in the Easy Cliff can easily be seen.  At West Cliff there is a feature called 'Fault Corner'. This is where the Eype Clay Bed (A) is interrupted to the east by a sharp fault.

A closer view of Hope Corner near to Eype Mouth. The only area of exposed Eype Nodule Bed is marked.

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The Eype Nodule Bed in situ in the Eype Clay Bed, some 20m west of Eype Mouth. The bed is approximately 2m above the level of the beach.

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A close-up of a piece of Day's Shell Bed, found on the beach under Thorncombe Beacon. The shells include ammonites, bivalves and gastropods. The matrix of the bed is VERY hard and extraction of individual shells is impossible.

Other Eype Clay Bed references

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