Beacon Hill Formation

The Beacon Hill Formation is a geologic formation in Leicestershire, and lies within the wider Beacon Hill area. It preserves fossils dating back to the Lower Ediacaran period.

Beacon Hill Formation
Stratigraphic range: Ediacaran 569–561 Ma[1] PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Beacon Hill, which gave the name to the formation, which itself can be found here.
Type	Formation
Unit of	Maplewell Group
Sub-units	Old John, Outwoods Member, Buck Hills, Sandhills Lodge, Beacon Tuffs, Charnwood Lodge, Benscliffe Members
Underlies	Bradgate Formation[2]
Overlies	Blackbrook Reservoir Formation[2]
Thickness	1119 m (3,671 ft)[2]
Lithology
Primary	Tuff
Other	Pelite, Greywacke, Breccia
Location
Region	Leicestershire
Country	United Kingdom
Type section
Named for	Beacon Hill

Paleobiota

The Beacon Hill Formation contains the oldest best preserved fossils within the Charnian Supergroup, most of which can be found in the Outwoods Member, with some found in the overlying and underlying members. ^[3][4]

Color key Taxon Reclassified taxon Taxon falsely reported as present Dubious taxon or junior synonym Ichnotaxon Ootaxon Morphotaxon		Notes Uncertain or tentative taxa are in small text; crossed out taxa are discredited.

Petalonamae

Genus	Species	Notes	Images
Charnia[4]	C. masoni	Sessile frondose organism.

incertae sedis

Genus	Species	Notes	Images
Aspidella[1][5]	Aspidella sp.	Enigmatic discoidal fossil.
Cyclomedusa[5]	C. davidi	Enigmatic discoidal fossil.
Hiemalora[5]	Hiemalora sp.	Discoid organism, possibly holdfasts of petalonamids.

Ivesheadiomorph

Genus	Species	Notes	Images
Pseudovendia[6]	P. charnwoodensis	Poorly preserved organism, originally thought to be an early arthropod.

See also

• Earth sciences portal
• United Kingdom portal
• Paleontology portal

• List of fossiliferous stratigraphic units in the United Kingdom