Northcott Mouth anticline 1

A chevron fold anticline in mainly sandstones of the Bude Formation (upper Carboniferous), just south of Northcott Mouth, near Bude, north Cornwall. A smaller crumple fold is visible in the higher part of the cliff, to the left of the main fold crest; this fractures and becomes a thrust as it is traced downwards towards lower left quadrant.

The Bude Formation consists mainly of deltaic and some turbidite sandstones interbedded with shales. The sandstones are relatively thick, compared with those in the underlying Crackington Formation, and as a result, more competent.

The response to the Variscan earth movements at the end of the Carboniferous was to form more open, mostly upright or slightly asymmetric angular folds, compared with the cascades of tight recumbent folds which characterise the Crackington Formation a few kilometres to the south.