Today I am mostly thinking about the way these seawater drainage channels are being formed in intertidal rock and what factors contribute to their sinuosity. They occur low on the beach at Seatown in Dorset, England, in the calcareous mudstones of the Belemnite Member of the Charmouth Mudstone Formation. More thoughts to follow later on the subject of this coastal erosion process.
These are incredible- I’ve never seen anything like it!
I’ll show some more generalised views of this phenomenon later.
These are wonderful. I love the first shot.
Nice compositions Jessica – makes the most of those fantastic shapes.
Thank you, Allison. They are intriguing features and I think maybe I have an idea of the way they have been formed. I’ll write about is soon.
Thank you, Aidy. The channels at a low angle looked like the deep canyons that occur in the States.
Such interesting rock formations Jessica and fabulous pictures….
Thank you, Evelyn. It is always exciting to discover something different. There are so many interesting natural phenomena around, especially on this Jurassic Coast..
Yes, why so (very, in some cases) sinuous? Relative hard and soft areas of the rock for water to scour? Today, I am mostly wondering why! RH
Hi, RH. My theorising about the formation of the sinuous channels is revealed in the following post “Seatown Dissected Mudstone Layers”. Basically, naturally-occurring polygonal cracks are occupied by mud-tube worms that make burrows; water flow wears down these weakened areas; and these surface depressions can join up in series to make channels. In addition, once the channels are formed, pebbles get stuck in them, causing water to flow around them, adding to the slow scouring of the channel walls, accentuating the sinuosity.