As you walk east along the shore at Seatown in Dorset, you reach Ridge Cliff from which numerous boulders have fallen over the years, and accumulated across the beach and into the water. What is most interesting is the great variety of shapes, colours, textures, and compositions. They represent all the different strata that make up the 80 metre high cliffs.
The 80 metre high cliffs on the east shore at Seatown in Dorset along the Jurassic Coast are subject to land slips and rock falls. Large lumps of shattered blue-grey clay are common on the beach. They come from cascades of Eype Clay Member material that forms the lower part of the cliff exposures.
Broughton Bay is a wide sandy expanse on the north shore of the Gower Peninsula in South Wales, facing the Loughor Estuary or Burry Inlet. A small promontory called Twlc Point at the western end of the beach has an interesting geology with an exposure of Hunts Bay Oolite from the Carboniferous Period. I have written about these strata in earlier posts such as:
Rocks on the west side of Broughton Bay Part 1
Rocks on the west side of Broughton Bay Part 2
Rocks on the west side of Broughton Bay Part 3
Brachiopod fossils in Hunts Bay Oolite at Broughton Bay
On this particular visit I was content to appreciate the way that pebbles of many types and colours on the upper shore were clustered around outcrops and boulders of the limestone which were often pink-tinged and sometimes fossiliferous.
Flint nodules embedded in the low cliff between two minor faults in Studland Chalk Formation exposures at South Beach on Studland Bay, Dorset, England. At the top of the cliff face is a layer of ironstone and iron-stained flints that has caused the rusty stain on the chalk below. Elsewhere the rocks are covered with a fine coating of green algae.
A couple of useful references for the geology of the area in which these photographs of the chalk and flints were taken:
Barton, CM, Woods, MA, Bristow, CR, Newell, AJ, Weathead, RK, Evans, DJ, Kirby, GA, Warrington, G, Riding, JB, Freshney, EC, Highley, DE, Lott, GK, Forster, A, and Gibson, A. 2011. Geology of south Dorset and south-east Devon and its World Heritage Coast. Special Memoir of the British Geological Survey. Sheets 328, 341/342, 342/343, and parts of 326/340, 327, 329 and 339 (England and Wales), 9–100.
Cope, JCW, 2012 Geology of the Dorset Coast, Geologists’ Association Guide No. 22, Guide Series Editor SB Marriott, The Geologists’ Association, 191-194. A serious guide for the more dedicated amateur and professional.
Ensom, P and Turnbull, M 2011 Geology of the Jurassic Coast, The Isle of Purbeck, Weymouth to Studland, published for the Jurassic Coast Trust by Coastal Publishing, ISBN 978-1-907701-00-9, pages 96-117. A beautifully illustrated beginner’s guide to the geology of the area – one of a series of excellent publications by the Jurassic Coast Trust.
Swanage Solid and Drift Geology (map), British Geological Survey (Natural Environment Research Council) 1:50,000 Series, England and wales Sheets 342 (East) and part of 343
The entire coastline north and south of Louisbourg on Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia, Canada, is composed of Neoproterozoic volcanic rocks dating back 575 million years. A few hundred metres north of the Louisbourg Lighthouse along the Trail to Morning Star Cove and Gun Landing Cove, lies an area of seashore that offers the chance to take a close-up look at the compositions and natural patterns in rock made of pyroclastic breccia.
Pyroclastic literally means ‘fire-broken’ and is used to describe volcanic rocks made up of fragmented pieces that are normally the result of an explosive volcanic event. Clasts are pieces of broken down rock. According to the Oxford Dictionary of Earth Sciences edited by Michael Allaby (ISBN 978-0-19-921194-4) “breccia is a coarse clastic sedimentary rock, the constituent clasts of which are angular. Breccia literally means rubble and implies a rock deposited very close to the source area. The term may also be applied to angular volcanic rocks from a volcanic vent.
Rock of a similar type of origin, although not identical, has been used by the sculptor Emily Young in the creation of the carved heads that were recently on display on Neo Bankside in London. Stillness Born of History II is described as being made of “onyx with volcanic pyroclastic brecchia”.
Beautifully textured and patterned onyx with volcanic pyroclastic breccia has been used by the famous sculptor Emily Young to create this fabulous head called Stillness Born of History II displayed (courtesy of Bowman Sculpture) at Neo Bankside in London, England, just south of the Tate Modern Gallery. Pyroclastic breccia is composed of fine-grained volcanic ash, pumice, and rock fragments larger than 2.5 inches (63.5 mm). When the fragments are smaller than this, the rock is called tuff.
The upper part of the sandy beach at South Beach, Studland in Dorset is littered with pebbles and stones of many colours and interesting patterns and textures. They are mostly flint and ironstone that has weathered out of the chalk that forms impressive cliffs from here to Old Harry Rocks and the Foreland or Handfast Point in the distance.
Click on any image to enlarge and view in a gallery.
REFERENCES
Barton, CM, Woods, MA, Bristow, CR, Newell, AJ, Weathead, RK, Evans, DJ, Kirby, GA, Warrington, G, Riding, JB, Freshney, EC, Highley, DE, Lott, GK, Forster, A, and Gibson, A. 2011. Geology of south Dorset and south-east Devon and its World Heritage Coast. Special Memoir of the British Geological Survey. Sheets 328, 341/342, 342/343, and parts of 326/340, 327, 329 and 339 (England and Wales), 9–100.
Cope, JCW, 2012 Geology of the Dorset Coast, Geologists’ Association Guide No. 22, Guide Series Editor SB Marriott, The Geologists’ Association, 191-194.
Swanage Solid and Drift Geology (map), British Geological Survey (Natural Environment Research Council) 1:50,000 Series, England and wales Sheets 342 (East) and part of 343
Joggins Rock Textures 15a – Ripples from water movement over fine sediments deposited in the Carboniferous Period, preserved in boulders from a rock fall at Coal Mine Point (also known as Hard Scrabble Point) at Joggins Fossil Cliffs, Nova Scotia, Canada.
Joggins Rock Textures 15b – Ripples preserved in stone.
Joggins Rock Textures 15c – Ripples preserved in stone.
There is nothing I like better than strolling along the seashore and looking not only at the view but in detail at all the rocks, shells, and seaweeds. I love the colours, patterns and textures. I am curious about what they are called and how they came to be there. What happened geologically to form the rocks, when did it happen, what processes have worn the rocks away to leave their present formations? The living organisms like the seaweeds, limpets and periwinkles are connected to the rocks as part of their habitat preferences. Birds live, feed and die around the seashore. Everything is inter-related and I am one with them all. The feeling of being a part of it all is hard to beat. I capture these moments with my camera and relive the experiences by looking at the photographs later. They lift my mood and make me feel happy. The pictures in this post record some of the sights and natural treasures that I discovered walking along the rocky shore at Rousse Point in the Channel Island of Guernsey. Enjoy.
Joggins Rock Textures 14 – Texture of water-worn coal outcropping on the beach at Joggins Fossil Cliffs in Nova Scotia, Canada.
