Bovey Formation

The Bovey Formation is a deposit of sands, clays and lignite, probably over 1000 ft. thick, that lies in a sedimentary basin termed the Bovey Basin which extends from Bovey Tracey to Newton Abbot in South Devon, England. The Bovey Basin lies along the line of the Sticklepath fault and owes its existence to subsidence along this fault.

The deposit is evidently the result of the degradation of the neighboring Dartmoor granite; and it was laid down in river flood plains and lakes during the late Eocene and Oligocene periods. Most of the fossilized plant material in the lignite is from Sequoia couttsiae.