Mid Triassic of Devon

The Mid Triassic of Devon is represented by the Otter Sandstone Formation. Inland, the formation has a poorly exposed outcrop in east Devon around the districts of Budleigh Salterton and Sidmouth and further inland beyond Honiton, but on the coast, between Sidmouth and Budleigh Salterton, it is exposed in a series of fine sea cliffs and the fossil vertebrate specimens come from these coast sections (Figure 4.7). The recent discovery of a rich vertebrate fauna from several localities between Budleigh Salterton and Sidmouth has provoked interest in the Otter Sandstone as a productive source of Middle Triassic vertebrates. The locality was known to the late Victorians, who had collected among the first known remains of Rhynchosaurus and good material of the amphibian Mastodonsaurus from the same localities, but their finds were rather sparse.

Two sites, one at Otterton Point, near Budleigh Salterton, and the other covering the cliffs nearer to Sidmouth, are selected. The former is primarily of historic interest as the locality at which the remains of Triassic vertebrates were first recognized from Devon.

4. Sidmouth coast section [SY 092 838]–[SY 131 873]. Middle Triassic (Anisian), Otter Sandstone Formation.

5. Otterton Point, near Budleigh Salterton [SY 0775 8196]. Middle Triassic (Anisian), Otter Sandstone Formation.

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