Jurassic Coast

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Lyme Bay.

Location within the United Kingdom.

The Jurassic Coast is a World Heritage Site on the English Channel coast of southern England. The 95 mile (155km) long site starts at Orcombe Point near Exmouth in East Devon and ends at Old Harry Rocks near Swanage in East Dorset. The site consists of Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous cliffs, spanning the Mesozoic Era, documenting 180 million years of geological history. The Jurassic coast was the first natural World Heritage Site to be designated in the United Kingdom.

The site contains a number of unique geological features and shows excellent examples of different landforms, including the natural arch at Durdle Door, the cove and limestone folding at Lulworth Cove and an island, the Isle of Portland. Chesil Beach is a fine example of both a tombolo and a storm beach. The site has stretches of both concordant and discordant coastlines. The site is the subject of international field studies, because of the quality of the geology.

It was featured on the television programme Seven Natural Wonders as one of the wonders of the South West (of the UK).

In a 2005 poll of Radio Times readers, the Jurassic Coast was named as the 5th greatest natural wonder in Britain.

Gateway towns

• Abbotsbury
• Bridport
• Budleigh Salterton
• Charmouth — Charmouth Heritage Coast Centre
• Lulworth
• Lyme Regis
• Sidmouth
• Swanage
• Weymouth

See also

• Mary Anning — local Paleontologist, who studied the fossils of the coastline around Lyme Regis and discovered the first complete Ichthyosaur fossil.
• Geology of the United Kingdom
• UK coastline
• List of Dorset beaches

External links