page_title: Exmoor Group
section_title: Morte Slates Formation
hierarchical_section_title: Exmoor Group / Morte Slates Formation
caption_attribution_description: English: Devonian Morte Slates Rock formations between Woolacombe and Morte Point, which can be seen in the distance.
context_page_description: The Exmoor Group is a late Devonian to early Carboniferous lithostratigraphic group in southwest England whose outcrop extends from Croyde in north Devon east across Exmoor to Minehead in west Somerset. The group comprises the following formations the:
  Pilton Mudstone Formation
  Baggy Sandstones Formation
  Upcott Slates Formation
  Pickwell Down Sandstones Formation
  Morte Slates Formation
  Ilfracombe Slates Formation
  Hangman Sandstone Formation
  Lynton Formation
  Each of these divisions has been given different names by different authors in the past including those shown in brackets above. Some that had been classed as 'formations' are now 'members'.
context_section_description: The Morte Slates are a series of silvery-grey to green coloured slates with some subordinate sandstone and siltstone. A well-developed cleavage has removed what fossils may have earlier been present in these one-time submarine muds. These rocks extend from Morte Point, where they form the coast between Woolacombe and Flat Point, south-southeastwards through West Down and Arlington then east to Withypool. Further east the outcrop broadens to form the Brendon Hills and the rolling country around Clatworthy Reservoir. The eastern extent of the main outcrop reaches the villages of Stogumber and Tolland. An outlier forms the southeastern part of the Quantock Hills between Goathurst and West Monkton.
  Over the centuries the Brendon Hills have been mined for minerals, notably ironstone from which iron is extracted for making steel. During the 19th century this activity reached a peak with the West Somerset Mineral Railway, including an 800 feet (244 m) incline, being built to take the ore to Watchet from where it was sent to Ebbw Vale for smelting. The main mining operations ended when the mines were worked out towards the end of the 19th century.
caption: Morte Slates at Woolacombe
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