Please scroll down, past the photographs, for more links on the Wessex Coast, including Jurassic Coast:
Click on images for large, high resolution versions!
(do not use browser zoom on the low resolution versions)
This is the first page of a large set of Geological Field Guides to the Wessex Coast of southern England, much of it a UNESCO World Heritage Site ("Jurassic Coast"). This is a classic area of East Devon, Dorset, Hampshire, West Sussex and the Isle of Wight. These guides form one of the world's largest geological web sites with more than 100 separate web pages. The first versions were placed online in 1997 and they are improved and enlarged on a daily basis. There are now thousands of full screen, colour photographs of varied geological and geomorphological features and there are also associated geological bibliographies. The text in each guide has linked references to the appropriate bibliography. The study and descriptions have emphasis on the superb coastal exposures of Dorset, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. Triassic, Jurassic, Cretaceous and Palaeogene strata are well-seen in the cliffs of this beautiful coastline. The various localities, many of them well-known classic sites, are described in terms of stratigraphy, sedimentology, geomorphology, faunal content and coast erosion and progradation, in addition to general background information on the environment. In additional there are some associated webpages on other specific geological topics such as sabkhas and Pyrenean geology. A search entry box will be found below.
This site has very heavy use - more than half a million requests per week, including each photographic image. Thus, it is no longer necessary to keep any records of use, and there is no objective in obtaining additional visitors, although they are, of course, very welcome. The main aim is to improve the quality of the site academically for existing users and to provide an even greater quantity of detailed and reliable geological information.
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Selected Links on the Wessex Coast
Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site. The Dorset and East Devon Coast World Heritage Site is England's first natural World Heritage Site - it is known as The Jurassic Coast. It covers 95 miles of truly stunning coastline from East Devon to Dorset, with rocks recording 185 million years of the Earth's history.
Southampton University - Fossil Collection
Southampton University - Rocks & Minerals
CCPEM. The Centre for Coastal Processes, Engineering and Management. Southampton University. See also:
CCPEM News (Online Newsletter), for various points of information regarding the Solent Estuarine System, and other matters.
Large-scale, vertical, aerial photographs of the Wessex Coast are available free for downloading to persons who register with this organisation. You will require ER viewer software (available free on the internet) to see the pictures which are in ECW format, but they can afterwards be converted to other formats, as in the reduced JPG example of Sandbanks shown above (even if you click on the picture and zoom up this is still not at full resolution - see the original on an ER viewer for details). They are excellent images and well-worth examining. This is a highly recommended website! The following notes are from the Channel Coastal Observatory website.
"Welcome to the website of the South-East strategic regional coastal monitoring programme.
The Channel Coastal Observatory is the data management and regional coordination centre for the Southeast Regional Coastal Monitoring Programme. The programme provides a consistent regional approach to coastal process monitoring, providing information for development of strategic shoreline management plans, coastal defence strategies and operational management of coastal protection and flood defence. The programme is managed on behalf of the Coastal Groups of the Southeast of England and is funded by DEFRA, in partnership with local Authorities of the southeast of England and the Environment Agency. The Channel Coastal Observatory is hosted by New Forest District Council, in partnership with the University of Southampton and the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton."
"Eye in the Sky" - superb oblique aerial photographs of the Wessex Coast.
See Home Page of Wessex Hang Gliding and Paragliding Club.
EXTERNAL LINKS ETC. FOR THE DORSET AND DEVON JURASSIC COAST AND OTHER PARTS OF THE WESSEX COAST
Exmouth to Milford on Sea 1800-2000 (including the East Devon and Dorset World Heritage Site).
by Doreen Smith of the Dorset Group of the Geologists' Association.
These pages grew out of an original project to celebrate 150 years of the Geologists' Association and 200 years of the Geological Society. The Dorset GA Group celebrated with a 'Local Heroes' weekend at Sutton Poyntz Pumping Station, Weymouth (thanks to Wessex Water and it's curator John Willows. Our heroes were Michael Robert House 1930-2002 (formerly a Dorset GA member), William Jocelyn Arkell 1904-1958 and Peter Colley Sylvester-Bradley 1913-1978, all eminent Dorset Geologists, members of the aforesaid Institutions and with many other geological talents. Added to the geologists were displays on the Dorset and East Devon World Heritage Site and the changes our heroes would have seen through their lives and careers.
To this end I began collecting postcards, magic lantern slides, etchings and whatever else I could obtain on the subject of the WHS coastline. I added in a little of Hampshire as Highcliffe and Barton on Sea featured in the Dorset GA book 'Coast & Country, geology walks in Dorset and neighbouring Counties'. Most items came from ebay auctions, some from members of the Dorset GA. I have recently added scans of relevant magic lantern slides from the magnificent Bournemouth Natural Science Society Collections. Mrs Felicity House, widow of Prof. Michael House, gave the Dorset GA a vast boxful of his slides of the Dorset coast which he had taken for over 50 years and which were used as a computer display for the 'Local Heroes' event and subsequently as power point presentations on many occasions. Michael's slides of views and rock thin sections are now on web pages on the Dorset GA site as are Keith Abineri's photomicrographs of the rocks and minerals.. [continues]
This is the major source of onshore seismic data for the UK, including that of the Wessex Coast area, suc as Devon, Dorset, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. This is primarily of use to the oil industry, but can be used by others with geophysical interests.
"With over 75,000km of available seismic survey data as acquired by the onshore exploration industry, the Library strives to locate all available data items pertaining to each seismic profile, with the aim of providing a fully reconciled archive of:
Original pre-stack field records de-multiplexed to SEG-Y.
Supporting scanned observers reports and associated acquisition documents.
Line location data in UKOOA format.
Processed post-stack and migrated data in SEG-Y.
Hardcopy and scanned seismic sections."
A school project is given at:
Seismic Aquisition Onshore - School Project.
Example regarding the Weymouth Anticline
Shown here is a north-south seismic section across the Weymouth Anticline, modified and with some notes added. See the original seismic section by going to the website:
UK Onshore Geophysical Library.
By agreement with the DECC and HMSO, the Library operates as a registered charity, funded by revenues raised from data sales and donations, with the long term objective of bringing all available UK onshore seismic data into secure archival storage, whilst providing efficient access to all interested parties:
* Oil and Gas Exploration
* Gas Storage, Mining, Coal Bed Methane Extraction
* Water Resources and Environmental Issues
* Planning and Engineering
* Academic Studies and Teaching Resources
Presented by DIGS - Dorset's Important Geological Sites Group. Supported by the Purbeck Keystone Project, and Lottery Funded. The project has involved creating a virtual geology field trip, on a CD, to the Purbeck Limestone Quarries. This is being made available to teachers, lecturers, students and outdoor education centres. The CD has very high quality photographs, colour diagrams and information. It is in the format of PowerPoint presentations, that are very clear and are very well-organised. For more details see: DIGS in the Purbeck Formation Bibliography.
Selected External Links of General Relevance
Gesource: geography and environment gateway for UK HE and FE.
GEsource is the geography and environment hub of the Resource Discovery Network (RDN). GEsource provides access to high quality Internet resources for students, researchers and practitioners in geography and the environment through five distinct subject gateways: Environment, General Geography, Human Geography, Physical Geography, and Techniques and Approaches.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I am very grateful to the many people and organisations who have helped in one way or another to make it possible to run this website. Individual acknowledgements are given in particular webpages on specific places. The School of Ocean and Earth Sciences of the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton University has supported this site over the years. I particularly thank the Head of the School of Ocean and Earth Sciences, the Dean of the Faculty of Natural Science and the Environment, Professor Jonathon Bull, Dr. Ian Croudace and others who have helped keep the website running. I thank Frances Bradbury for regular help over the years in assisting in renewing my Visiting Scientist status in order to be able to run the website from the University.
I appreciate the generous cooperation of iSolutions, Southampton University.
My wife and family have assisted in many ways and their help is greatfully acknowledged. I very much appreciate the cooperation of the Channel Coastal Observatory in making available excellent aerial photographs of the region of study.
Dr. Ian West is a retired university geologist, a carbonate-evaporite sedimentologist and Jurassic enthusiast, who has studied and researched on the Wessex Coast (and in North Africa etc) since the middle of the last century. He started by collecting vertebrate fossils from the local strata, when a schoolboy in Bournemouth in the early 1950s. He is often out on the cliffs of the Wessex Coast studying and photographing for this website. When not doing geology he is involved with family horses in the New Forest, and he is a member of the British Horse Society.
This website is run, privately and unfunded, from his study at home in Romsey, Hampshire with the helpful cooperation of the Ocean and Earth Science , National Oceanographic Centre, Southampton and iSolutions (computer services) Southampton University. Ian is a Visiting Scientist at Southampton University. These webpages could never have been written without the generous background support and guidance of Ian's wife, Cathy and the daughters, Tonya and Joanna, and this is very much appreciated.
Ian West has been awarded the R.H. Worth Prize for 2008 of the
Geological Society of London for the application to amateur geology of the website, the Geology of the Wessex Coast, of which this webpage is the introductory part.
Agents and assistants regarding this website are:
Disclaimer: Geological fieldwork involves some level of risk; part may come from chance events that are unpredictable; part, however, can be greatly reduced by awareness of hazards and good judgement based on experience. Persons undertaking field work must assess the risk, as far as possible, and this will vary in accordance with weather, conditions on the day and the type of persons involved. In providing field guides on the Internet no person is advised or recommended here to undertake geological field work in any way that might involve them in unreasonable risk from cliffs, ledges, rocks, sea or other causes. Individuals and leaders should carefully consider the safety aspects on the occasion of their visit, take appropriate safety precautions, and in bad conditions be prepared to cancel part or all of the field trip if necessary. Permission should be sought for entry into private land and clearly no damage should take place. Attention should be paid to weather warnings, local warnings and danger signs. No liability for death, injury, damage to, or loss of property in connection with a field trip is accepted by providing these websites of geological information. See the safety sections in individual webpages. Descriptions of geological and geomorphological features, discussion of coast erosion, coastal retreat, storm surges etc are given here for academic and educational purposes only. They are not intended for assessment of risk to property or to life. No liability is accepted and this website should not be used beyond its purpose of providing academic information.
Note that the website has been written at Ian West's private address, Romsey, Hampshire, kindly supported by Southampton University, and generously web-hosted by courtesy of iSolutions of Southampton University. The website is an unfunded, private activity, and does not necessarily represent the views of Southampton University. It has no staff, other than Ian West, and no funding for field work or computer work or any related activity. All practical expenses are paid privately by the author and all diagrams are drawn by the author. It is not edited. Various geologists have kindly contributed photographs or data. Field trips shown in photographs do not necessarily have any connection with Southampton University and may have been private or have been run by various organisations. Southampton University has been consistently helpful with running this website on the server for about 15 years, and this is very much appreciated.
Tonya West, Bartley, Hampshire, email - tonyawesty@hotmail.co.uk (copyright and photography agent)
and
Joanna Bentley, Albrighton, West Midlands, (IT specialist)