{{Short description|5.3 hectare geological Site of Special Scientific Interest}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}} {{Infobox SSSI |image=200px |name=Aust Cliff |aos=Avon |interest=Geological |gridref={{gbmappingsmall|ST565894}} |coordinates = {{coord|51.60175|-2.62947|type:landmark_region:GB|display=inline,title}} |displaymap=Gloucestershire |area={{convert|13.1|acre|km2 sqmi}} |notifydate={{Start date|1954}} |enref=1000724 }} '''Aust Cliff''' ({{gbmapping|ST565894}}) is a 5.3 hectare geological Site of Special Scientific Interest adjacent to the Severn Estuary, near the village of Aust, South Gloucestershire, notified in 1954. The Severn Bridge crosses the cliff.

Its SSSI designation is due to the presence of fossil beds. The site is famous for its Rhaetic bone bed, and is also the most productive locality in Britain for Triassic insects.

The lower part of the cliff is a red mudstone, with bands of nodules of pinkish-white alabaster. Above the red mudstone is green mudstone, followed by the Rhaetic bone bed at the base of a band of black shale. Above the shale are cream-coloured limestone beds.<ref>[http://www.brerc.eclipse.co.uk/files/rigs_boards/geo_landscape_sglos.pdf The story of landscape and geology in South Gloucestershire] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080908012724/http://www.brerc.eclipse.co.uk/files/rigs_boards/geo_landscape_sglos.pdf |date=2008-09-08 }} p.16</ref>

==Paleofauna== {{Table to prose|section|date=December 2025}} {| class="wikitable" align="center" |- |+ Pterosaurs of Aust Cliff |- ! Taxa ! Abundance ! Notes ! Images |- | '''Genus:''' * ''Dimorphodon''<ref name="jurptersum">Wellnhofer, Peter (1991). "Summary of Lower Jurassic Pterosaurs." ''The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Pterosaurs.'' London, UK: Salamander Books Limited. p. 79. {{ISBN|0-86101-566-5}}.</ref> # ''D. macronyx''<ref name="jurptersum"/> | | | 175px<br />''Dimorphodon'' |- |}

==References== {{Reflist}}

== External links == * [https://web.archive.org/web/20061013122356/http://www.english-nature.org.uk/citation/citation_photo/1000724.pdf English Nature citation sheet for the SSSI] (accessed 9 July 2006) {{Commons category|Aust Cliff|position=left}}

{{Portal|Geology|Paleontology}}

{{SSSIs Avon geological}}

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Category:Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Avon Category:Sites of Special Scientific Interest notified in 1954 Category:Geology of Gloucestershire Category:Cliffs of England Category:River Severn

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