INTRODUCTION:

The Cliff Section

Burton Cliff is similar to East Cliff at West Bay but in its middle part the Bridport Sands are succeeded by the full thickness (3.7m) of Inferior Oolite and a little of the Fuller's Earth. The Inferior Oolite is not safely accessible in the cliff but large fallen blocks are present on shore and in these almost the full thickness of the unit can be studied. There is access to the beach near to the stream, the River Bride or Bredy, and 155m east of this point a fault downthrowing eastwards cuts the cliff, dropping the Inferior Oolite capping sufficiently to bring in Fuller's Earth in a cliff top outcrop. Beyond the fault are the large fallen blocks of Inferior Oolite and the details of these should be compared to the graphic log given below.

On the shore at Burton Hive, below Burton Villas, where a rough path descends from the road to the beach, a peculiar white limestone occurs ( Davies, 1956 ). It is unlike any other bed in the neighbourhood. It lies in, on or against Bridport Sands, but is close to a fault that throws Frome Clay and Forest Marble down some 60m to a level with the Bridport Sands. It has yielded a nautilus and a species of the ammonite Garantiana. Buckman (1910 and 1922) regarded it as part of the Inferior Oolite, in age between the Red Bed and the Astarte Bed. He believed it to have been deposited on a plane of erosion cutting through the Red Bed onto the Bridport Sands; later erosion removed this White Bed from the area to the north and northwest before the Astarte Bed was laid down, and a third period of erosion removed the higher beds of the Inferior Oolite at this spot before the Fuller's Earth was deposited. Richardson , on the other hand, suggested in 1915 and 1928-1930 that the White Bed was a neptunian dyke, an infiltration of lime-mud from the sea-floor into the Bridport Sands in the vicinity of the fault.

The old cliff at Cliff End is of Forest Marble and Frome Clay, but it is much degraded at its base as it is protected by a stretch of shingle, part of the Chesil Beach. In this cliff, 200m east of the car park the Boueti Bed can be traced in eroded ground between the footpath and the cliff top House, 1993 ). It yields the brachiopods Goniorhynchia boueti, Avonothyris, Digonella with bivalve and other fossils. In the cliffs below the Frome Clay can be examined and it crops out in the low cliffs at Burton Common and Cliff End ( House, 1993 ).

BRIDPORT SANDS:

Introduction - Stratigraphy

BRIDPORT SANDS:

The Cliff Exposure

For more on the Bridport Sands see the:
East Cliff, Bridport section of Bridport Sands

This high part of Burton Cliff shows Bridport Sands with cyclical carbonate-cemented horizons. The sandstone is blue-grey when unweathered but has a thing weathered surface layer of yellow. Here, fine-grained pyrite is oxidised to limonite or goethite. The sands contain belemnites and trace fossils and occasional moulds of ammonites. Aragonite shells have been dissolved away.

After a long phase of slow weathering the harder, calcite-cemented bands project and show honeycombe weathering. When, however, there is a cliff-fall as has happened here, then a flatter and smoother cliff face is produced. It requires a significant but unknown interval of time for the hard bands to project again.

The Inferior Oolite is present at the top of the cliff. There are many fallen blocks of this on the shore at Burton Cliff. The limestone is much more fossilferous than the sandstone but marine fossils can be found in both. In the far distance are the cliffs east of West Bay . These are also of Bridport Sands and further information on this formation is provided in the Bridport, West Bay website .

Here is the western end of Burton Cliff. Here there is no Inferior Oolite as the cliff top descends. The valley in the middle distance is Burton Freshwater where the River Bride reaches the beach. Beyond the river is a caravan park. East Cliff of West Bay , also of Bridport Sands is in the distance.

The Bridport Sands here dip at a very low angle, and are, in fact, almost horizontal. They are prone to occasional topples, perhaps along joints that are parallel to the cliff. Such falls, however, occur only at rare intervals. These used to be very rare but now they are common with several accumulations of debris at the foot of the cliff. After such a fall the particular part of the cliff does not show the projection of the hard beds. Only after an interval of many years does weathering and erosion by wind and rain wear back the softer material and leave the carbonate-cemented beds protruding. The debris here seems to be mainly Bridport Sands without much or any Inferior Oolite. Similar cliff falls occur from time to time at East Cliff, West Bay , although rock piles on the beach are usually smaller at that locality.

BRIDPORT SANDS:

Sedimentary Structures

Introduction

For a listing of the beds and thicknesses see the vertical succession section given below. A general description and specific aspects of interest in the Inferior Oolite will be discussed here.

This limestone is normally seen when material from the top of the cliffs has fallen, as shown here. The Inferior Oolite is not usually safely accessible in situ. This is not a problem, however, because large blocks of limestone fall and most of the units of the Inferior Oolite are recognisable. Some blocks are a little difficult to identify, though. If you encounter a large block, look for a conspicuous feature like the snuff boxes, and then decide which way up the block is. This fall has brought down Inferior Oolite blocks. At the top of the cliff there is Fuller's Earth visible above the limestone.

INFERIOR OOLITE:

Succession - Introduction

Middle Jurassic Zonal Listing

(Note: This is given mainly for reference for use with following diagrams, photographs and text. This particular version is based on House (1993) and from time to time might need updating. It is an ammonite zonal scheme, and some of the ammonites, like Kosmoceras jason and Parkinsonia parkinsoni are well-known to geologists in general; some uncommon forms are not familiar to other than specialists.)

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CALLOVIAN (top of MJ, with UJ Oxfordian above)

Quenstedtoceras lamberti
Peltoceras athleta
Erymnoceras coronatum
Kosmoceras jason
Sigaloceras calloviense
Macrocephalites macrocephalus

BATHONIAN

Clydoniceras discus
Oppelia aspidoides
Proceratites hodsoni
Morrisiceras morrisi
Tulites subcontractus
Proceratites progracilis
Asphinctites tenuiplicatus
Zigzagiceras zigzag

BAJOCIAN
[Note, for reference, that in old accounts (eg. Arkell, 1933) the Bajocian zones are from bottom to top: Strenoceras niortensis, Garantiana garantiana, Strigoceras truellei, Parkinsonia schloenbachi.]

Parkinsonia parkinsoni [Parkinsonia schloenbachi]
Strenoceras garantiana [Garantiana garantiana]
Strenoceras subfurcatum [Garantiana subfurcatum]
Stephanoceras humphriesianum
Emileia sauzei [Otoites sauzei]
Witchellia laeviuscula
Hyperlioceras discites

AALENIAN

Graphoceras concavum [Ludwigella concava]
Ludwigia murchisoni
Leioceras opalinum

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[base of Middle Jurassic. Zone of Dumortiera levesquei of the top Toarcian (Lower Jurassic) lies beneath.] [note: that in old accounts there was once a zone of Ancolioceras and a zone of Tmetoceras scissum below the Ludwigia murchisoni zone.]

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Some brief comments on the succession shown in the diagram above and in the cliffs are given below. They are based on the summary in Davies (1956) , Perkins (1977) and House (1993) and these in turn are modified from the early work of Buckman (1910) and Richardson (1928) . This is a condensed sequence and full of non-sequences or disconformities (Footnote - In plain language this means that the sequence is much thinner than normal - "condensed"; and there were many gaps in deposition - "non-sequences" , often with some erosion on the seafloor ). The thickness here of nearly 4 m. contrasts with the 110m in the Cotswolds. The reason that it is condensed here is that it is on a structural "high" almost on the east-west line of the Wytch Farm oilfield high. Offshore it is much thicker, 19.3m in Lyme Bay ( Penn, Dingwall and Knox, 1980 ). The sequence seen at Burton Bradstock should be recognised as abnormal, and not a typical Inferior Oolite succession. It is so condensed, that it is reminiscent of the Lower Jurassic, Junction Bed at Eypemouth. It is probably the result of an early phase of the Late Kimmerian movements (extensional - pre the development of the North Atlantic Ocean).

INFERIOR OOLITE:

Succession - Listed Sequence (top-down)

Fuller's Earth Clay (at the top)
The lower part of the Fuller's Earth Clay, 0.61m seen, with about 0.09m of ferruginous marl, the Scroff, at the base; both yielding Oppelia fusca and "Perisphinctes".

Upper Bajocian

The First Bed, including the Zigzag Bed
(note the quarrymen's method of numbering down)
Blue-centred nodular limestone. Ammonites - Zigzagiceras zigzag, Oppelia and Parkinsonia. Belemnopsis, bivalves and gastropods. 0.15m.

The Second Bed, including the Sponge Beds
Massive yellowish limestone with much brown earthy matter. Ammonites are often rotten. Stout Parkinsonia, Terebratula, Rhynchonella and sponges. This is divided as follows:
Massive limestone - 0.63m.
Sponge Beds - Marl with two limestone partings, crowded with sponges, Clypeus, brachiopods, bivalves - 0.36m
Rubbly limestone with similar fossils, including large Nautili - 0.40m.

The Third Bed
Limestone divided as follows:
Blue grey limestone, rubbly top, attached serpulids, the brachiopod -Sphaeroidothyris sphaeroidalis, the echinoid - Clypeus, and bivalves - 0.56m.
Astarte 'obliqua' Bed. Crumbly brown ironshot limestone crowded with fossils. - 0.10 m (including the impersistant conglomerate beneath)

Lower Bajocian

The Red Bed, sensu lato

- a little less than one metre and comprising the subdivisions listed below

Red Conglomerate. Conglomerate of ironshot rock, patchily present with poorly preserved ammonites. - Thin and of variable thickness. Remanie bed of the Stephanoceras humphresianum Zone. 0-0.14m.

Red Bed, sensu stricto. Hard massive grey limestone, the top irregular and stained red with iron (including at the base - limestone with brownish limonitic granules. - 0.18m.). Zones of Witchellia laeviuscula and Emileia sauzei (above). Early laeviuscula is represented by a diastem (non-sequence) ( House (1993)). - 0.8m (thickness in Burton Lane)

Snuff Box Bed. Limestone, bluish, limonitic ooids and large limonitic concretions, the snuff boxes, near the base. Hyperlioceras discites Zone. Ammonites - Stephanoceras, Witchellia, Sonninia. - 0.08m.

.

Aalenian

Yellow Conglomerate. Yellow marl with small pebbles and rolled fossils, reworked and eroded from earlier strata. - 0.04m.

Scissum Beds (or Bottom Bed). Grey sandy limestone with the ammonite Tmetoceras scissum. Effectively the top of the Bridport Sands - 0.30m.

Bridport Sands (part). - about 0.2m? (see Richardson, 1928 and House, 1993 re the Burton Lane section inland of the cliff)

Toarcian

Bridport Sands below (thick).

INFERIOR OOLITE:

More Details

This is a fallen block of the Snuff Box horizon of the Red Bed, perhaps the most well-known stratum of the Inferior Oolite here. This bluish, "ironshot oolite", only 8 cm thick, is easily recognised by the large, brown, limonitic concretions, known as "snuff boxes". The limonitic ooids, which it contains, are quite large and conspicuous.

The strata are largely oxidised at the surface and most iron is in the state of limonite. Offshore, to the south in Lyme Bay, the Inferior Oolite is thicker (19.3m) and here much berthierinte ("chamosite") is present in addition to limonite in the succession ( Penn, Dingwall and Knox, 1980 . It should not, therefore, be assumed that the snuff boxes and associated ferruginous strata were always in brown oxidised condition. The recent cliff fall has revealed that green iron minerals still survive, as shown in the photograph above. This green substance has not be investigated yet to determine whether it is the green iron-ore berthierine (as is more probable) or is the iron-bearing clay mineral - glauconite.

The snuff boxes seem to be formed of algal stromatolitic (microbial) laminations of unusual ferruginous type centred around bivalve shells and other nuclei ( Gatrall et al ., 1972 ; Radley, 1986 , Palmer and Wilson, 1990 ) They have been regarded as a type of oncolite (or oncolith). They occur within in the zone of Hyperlioceras discites of the basal Bajocian. Ammonite found in this bed include species of Stephanoceras, Witchellia and Sonninia. (Photograph by Gareth Lloyd, 27.7.96).

This fallen block of Inferior Oolite limestone is probably from the Sponge Bed. The Sponge Bed is a marl with two limestone partings, crowded with sponges, the echinoid Clypeus, brachiopods and bivalves etc. It is 0.36m in thickness. It is from the higher part of the Inferior Oolite, the Upper Bajocian. See the section on succession .

[end of 3.3 Inferior Oolite - Details]

INFERIOR OOLITE:

Ammonites

Ammonites are quite numerous in the condensed sequence of the Inferior Oolite at Burton Bradstock. They are not usually easy to find, though because of limited amounts of the limestone at beach level and because collectors have taken specimens. They are not as well-preserved as the ammonites of the Liassic clays, but have considerable stratigraphical significance. After a rock-fall from the cliff in April 2005 ammonites and fragments of ammonites were common in the debris. However, this rock debris has been searched by many collectors the fall and there is little that remains now.

Ammonites from the Lower and Middle Inferior Oolite. Modified from Arkell (1933) , Plate 33. The first number after the name and location information is the maximum diameter in millimetres (useful here to give the scale), the second the height of the last whorl, the third the thickness of the last whorl, the fourth the width of the umbilicus.

1. Shirbuirnia stephani Buckman, Sandford Lane, Near Sherborne, Dorset. Chorotype J.W.T. collection. 117. 51.31.18.

2. Hyperlioceras discites (Waagen) pars., H. discitiforme Buckman. Bradford Abbas, Dorset. Topotype. J.W.T. collection. 65. 50.20.13.

3. Ludwigella concava (Sowerby), Wyke, near Sherborne, Dorset. J.W.T. collection. 71. 52.21.15.

4. Tmetoceras scissum (Benecke), Burton Bradstock, Dorset. J.W.T. collection. 35. 33.28.45.

5. Brasilia bradfordensis Buckman, Barrofield, Beaminster, Dorset. J.W.T. collection. 123. 48.21.21.

6. Ludwigia murchisonae(Sowerby), Bradford Abbas, Dorset. From Buckman "Monograph Ammonites Inferior Oolite, plate 3, fig. 1. 114. 41.26.32.

Ammonites from the Middle and Upper Inferior Oolite. Modified from Arkell (1933) , Plate 34. The first number after the name and location information is the maximum diameter in millimetres (useful here to give the scale), the second the height of the last whorl, the third the thickness of the last whorl, the fourth the width of the umbilicus.

1. Parkinsonia schloenbachi Schlippe, Burton Bradstock, Dorset. G.A. Kellaway collection. 75. 34.33.44.

2. Garantiana garantiana (d'Orbigny), Near Sherborne, Dorset. J.W.T. (J.W. Tutcher) collection. 76. 38.34.36.

3. Strigoceras truellei(d'Orbigny), Burton Bradstock, Dorset. J.W.T. collection. 79. 56.36.7.

4. Strenoceras niortensis (d'Orbigny), Oborne, Dorset. J.W.T. collection. 40. 35.30.41.

5. Teloceras blagdeni (Sowerby), Near Sherborne, Dorset. J.W.T. collection. 41. 29.71.47.

6. Otoites sauzei (d'Orbigny), Dundry Hill, Somerset. J.W.T. collection. 36. 42.50.23.

[end of 3.4 Inferior Oolite - Ammonites]

3.5 INFERIOR OOLITE - Other Fossils

As noted above, west of the car park the Bridport Sands are exposed in vertical cliffs. However, the Bride Fault disturbs the Bridport Sands where the path climbs to the cliff top to the west. Visible here in the past, and associated with the fault, were white limestones which may indicate the presence of a contemporary fissue (neptunian dyke) of Bajocian date within the Bridport Sands ( Richardson, 1928-30 ). The Bride Fault belt downthrows 60m south and introduces the Middle Jurassic to the east. The grey calcareous mudstones of the Frome Clay or Upper Fullers Earth are seen in sloping and rather slumped cliffs. They are not in general very fossiliferous. These mudstones are not laminated and more resemble the Eocene Barton Clay (without the fossils) or the Jurassic Oxford Clay (again with less fossils) than they do the laminated Liassic or Kimmeridge Clays.

About 200m to the east of the car park the Boueti Bed, a thin calcareous and harder band, can be traced in eroded ground between the footpath and the cliff top and it yields the brachiopods Goniorhynchia boueti, Avonothyris, Digonella, with bivalves and other fossils. In the cliffs below the upper part of the Fuller's Earth Clay can be examined and it crops out in the low cliffs at Burton Common and Cliff End (SY 499883) (House, 1993).

The cliffs to the south-east towards the Abbotsbury Fault are much receded, landslipped and overgrown and are not particularly favourable for examination. However, fossiliferous outcrops of the Forest Marble were recorded by Sylvester-Bradley (1957).

Cliffs and Cliff Falls - Older Cliff Fall - 1996

These are older photograhs (about 1996) of the western end of Burton Cliff. The cliff is fairly low here. A rock fall can be seen.

The erosion of the cliffs is interesting here. In this upper part of the Bridport Sands, not far beneath the Inferior Oolite, there is a significant amount of carbonate available. As a result some of the harder bands are very well cemented and relatively resistant to marine erosion. This has caused the survival of a projecting platform near the top of the beach. This waas probably once protected by beach sand. Notice how the sandstone has been weathered along nearly vertical joints. At the western end of Burton Cliff, at the date of photograph, there have probably been few cliff falls but much erosion by rain, wind and spray so as to produce this unusually gullied cliff. (photograph by Gareth Lloyd on 27th July, 1996).

Cliffs and Cliff Falls - Continued

This fall of Bridport Sands and Inferior Oolite took place in the late afternoon of Saturday 9 April 2005. The weather had not been particular wet or unusual in any respect. It was not a rotational landslide. It seems to have been a collapse of rock due to undercutting of the Bridport Sands at beach level. This is the result of wave action causing abrasion by the beach shingle. Bioerosion is not significantly involved here.

The type of rock fall is rather like that seen on vertical or near-vertical Chalk cliffs. It resembles the Category 1a, Simple vertical collapse, of Chalk cliffs of Mortimore et al (2004). These simplest cliff failures are vertical collapses where there is usually one formation (but slightly more complex here with the Inferior Oolite above a high cliff of Bridport Sands). A predominant set of joints controls the type and scale of failure. Certainly there is joint control here, but it is a set parallel to the cliff and not the major open gulls which are at a steep angle to the cliff.

There are two complications. One is that there is undercutting at the base of the cliff. This sometimes occurs in the case of Chalk. The second is that there has "runout" on a significant scale. The rock debris has run-out to the sea, but has not reached the scale of a small sturzstrom run-outs [mountain rock falls with very long run-outs], as has happened at the Seven Sisters in Sussex ( Williams et al., 2004). Because of this run-out the rock fall approaches Category 1c, Large rock falls involving entire cliff (partial flow slides) of magnitude 5-7 Mortimore et al (2004). No detailed study has been made, but perhaps some-one will follow the matter further and refine the classification and type of rock fall here.

The occurrence of many Inferior Oolite limestone blocks near to the sea with Bridport Sands blocks closer to the cliff suggests that it fell with some seaward toppling mechanism but distingrated violently into individual blocks of about 2 metres or so. The fallen mass was presumably separated from the main cliff by a fissure; fresh modern, vertical, fissures as opposed to older joints are visible in the cliff in places and obviously indicate areas of potential collapse.

Some older worn blocks of Inferior Oolite are present near the toe of the debris pile. Thus this has been the site of a previous rock fall or rock falls.

From a point of view of safety, such falls are obviously sudden and unpredictable and take place only at intervals of several years. They are clearly sudden events that would be disastrous to any people who happened to be at the location at that time.

This is an older cliff fall as seen at 27 July 1996 soon after the collapse. There are many angular, joint-bounded blocks of Bridport Sands and much loose sandy debris. Presumably the blocks are from the more cemented horizons, and the poorly cemented sands between have provided the loose debris.

Progressive Loss of Chesil Beach Material at Burton Bradstock.

The beach at Burton Bradstock, near the western end (the exact end is debatable) of the Chesil Beach, is fine shingle. It mostly consists of Cretaceous flint and chert (from the Upper Greensand) with a variety of unusual pebbles, including quartzites from the Budleigh Salterton pebbles beds of the Triassic of Devon. The small pebbles are generally fairly well-rounded. Notice that although most of the material is well-sorted, there are some larger pebbles scattered on the surface.

When the beach was observed in April 2005 it seemed to have diminished in width. By March 2008, as shown by the comparative photographs above, there had been substantial loss of beach material at Burton Cliff. The fine shingle (granules) move from west to east by longshore drift as a result of prevailing southwesterly winds. Supply of beach sediment from the west is prevented by the harbour piers (now extended) at West Bay, Bridport. Shingle is moved and banked up by machines at Burton Freshwater to reduce the risk of flooding of the caravan site there. Sea level is rising at an increased rate and in general the low water mark is moving landward along the coast of central southern England (beach narrowing, beach steepening or coastal squeeze). Thus, for various reasons, there is no longer the abundance of fine shingle that there used to be in front of Burton Cliff.

In the longer term the beach at Burton Cliff will probably be lost and this will become a rocky coast with the sea breaking onto the Bridport Sands. Fortunately, fallen blocks of limestone from the Inferior Oolite may provide some natural rock armour (armourstone) that may retard the rate of cliff erosion. It may become a headland, resistant in contrast to the relatively rapid retreat of the Fullers Earth clay cliffs to the southeast (from Burton Hive Beach towards Cogden Beach). The soft cliffs will erode easily once the main part of the shingle beach is lost and the area becomes sediment-starved (cf. Naish Farm at Highcliffe, Christchurch Bay).

Sea Defences at Burton Freshwater

The low flood plain of the River Bride comes down to the sea at Burton Freshwater to the west of Burton Bradstock. Here there has been flooding in the past. If there were no defences here major sea-flooding could extend up the valley into the village of Burton Bradstock. Obviously the mouth of the river has to be left open. However, immediately, to the west of it shingle is banked up by a bulldozer to afford some protection the caravan park there and the flood plain in general. Unfortunately though the supply of fine shingle in the area is diminishing as the beaches here progressively become narrower. Rising sea-level is moving the low-water mark landward. Rising high water level, particularly when raised further by storm surges, is a potential threat to river floodplains which reach the coast.

I would like to thank Gareth Lloyd for the opportunity to scan and use photographs taken by him of the Burton Cliff section. I am obliged to David Sole for informing me about the 2005 cliff-fall. Thanks are due to the staff and students of London South Bank University who helped with field work at Burton Bradstock. I am very much obliged to Adrian Bicker for kindly providing storm and other photographs taken from Burton Cliff.

7.2 REFERENCES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY - Printed Publications

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Arkell , W.J. 1933. The Jurassic System in Great Britain. Clarendon Press, Oxford, 681pp.
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Barnard , T. and Hay, W.W. 1974. On Jurassic coccoliths: a tentative zonation of the Jurassic of S. England and N. France. Eclogae Geol. Helv., 67, 563-585.
.
Barrett , C. 1878. The Geology of Swyre, Puncknowle, Burton Bradstock, Loders, Shipton Gorge, Litton Cheney, Longbredy, Littlebredy and Abbotsbury, Dorset. Bridport.
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Barron , A.J.M., Sumbler, M.G. and Morigi, A.N. 1997. A revised lithostratigraphy for the Inferior Oolite Group (Middle Jurassic) of the Cotswolds, England. Proceedings of the Geologists' Association, London. 108: 269-285. Abstract: Geological surveying in part of the Cotswolds has provided a basis for a modem lithostratigraphical classification of the Inferior Oolite Group. The group is divided into three formations, named the Birdlip Limestone Formation, Aston Limestone Formation and Salperton Limestone Formation, in ascending order. These correspond essentially with the traditional units of Lower, Middle and Upper Inferior Oolite which were defined chronostratigraphically. Each of the three formations is subdivided into members which can be related to units well established in the existing literature. Formal definitions of all these units are given. (Not on Burton Bradstock, but relevant for comparison and key to literature).
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Bird, E.C.F. 1990 (for 1989). The beaches of Lyme Bay. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1989, published June 1990, 111, 91-97. By the late Eric Bird, then at Department of Geography, University of Melbourne, Australia. Abstract: The beaches of Lyme Bay consist largely of flint and chert shingle, with some sand, derived from eroding cliffs and sea floor sources. They include Chesil Beach, which shows lateral grading from small pebbles in the west to large pebbles in the east. Several other beaches on the north coast of Lyme Bay also show lateral grading, low beaches of poorly sorted sand and shingle to the west becoming higher and often wider, coarser and better sorted to the east. Lateral grading is attributed to an alternation of eastward beach drifting by strong south-westerly wave action with westward movement of finer material by gentler southeasterly wave action. Whereas Chesil Beach is a relict shingle formation, the other beaches are still receiving small quantities of sand and shingle. Cliff erosion and slumping are more rapid behind low beach sectors than where a high, wide accumulation of coarse shingle protects the shore. It is suggested that artificial beach nourishment should be used as a method of coastal protection on the shores of Lyme Bay. [end of abstract - Bird, 1990]
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Buckman , S.S. 1881. A descriptive catalogue of some of the species of ammonites from the Inferior Oolite of Dorset. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, London, 37, 588-608.

Buckman, S.S. 1883. The brachiopoda from the Inferior Oolite of Dorset and a portion of Somerset. Proceedings of Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Field Club, 4, 1-52.

Buckman, S.S. 1891. The ammonite zones of Dorset and Somerset. Geological Magazine, 28, 502-504.

Buckman, S.S. 1910a Certain Jurassic (Lias-Oolite) strata of South Dorset. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London, 66, 52-89..

Buckman, S.S. 1910b. Certain Jurassic (Inferior Oolite) species of ammonites and brachiopoda. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London, 66, 90-108, 109-110.

Buckman, S.S. 1913-1919. Yorkshire Type Ammonites, 2. London.

Buckman, S.S. 1922-3. Type Ammonites, 4. London

Buckman, S.S. and Secretary. 1908. Illustrations of type specimens of Inferior Oolite ammonites in the Sowerby Collection. Monographs of the Palaeontographical Society of London.
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Callomon , J.H. 1995a. 'Time from fossils: S.S. Buckman and Jurassic high resolution geochronology'. In Le Bas, M.J. (ed.) Milestones in Geology. Geological Society, London, Memoirs, 16, 127-150.

Callomon, J.H. 1995b. The Jurassic Geology of Dorset, Middle Jurassic. In. Taylor, P.D. (ed.), Field Geology of the British Jurassic. Geological Society, London, 60-85.

Callomon, J.H. and Chandler, R.B. 1990. A review of the ammonite horizons of the Aalenian-Lower Bajocian stages in the Middle Jurassic of Southern England. In: Cresta, S. and Pavia, G. (eds.), Atti del meeting sulla stratigrafia del baiociano. Memorie descrittive della carta geologica d'Italia. 40, 85-111.
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Cope , J.C.W. et al. A Correlation of Jurassic Rocks in the British Isles. 2. Middle and Upper Jurassic. Geological Society of London, Special Reports, 15, 3-21.
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Davies , G.M. 1956. The Dorset Coast: A Geological Guide. Adam and Charles Black, London, 2nd Edition with 14 photographs and 33 figures.
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Gatrall , M., Jenkyns, H.C. and Parsons, C.F. 1972. Limonitic concretions from the European Jurassic with particular reference to the "snuff boxes" of southern England. Sedimentology, 18, 79-103.
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Gauthier , H, Rioult, M. and Trevisan, M. 1995. Exceptional biostratigraphical record in the Oolithe-Feruugineuse-de-Bayeux, south of Caen (Calvados) - standard section for future reference as complement of the Bajocian historical stratotype. Comptes Rendus de l Academie des Sciences, Serie ii, Fascicule a -Sciences de la Terre et des Planetes, 321: (4) 317-323. Abstract: New stratigraphical data based on centimetre by centimetre collecting of ammonites at Feuguerollessur-Orne South of Caen, has led to detailed biozonation of the ''Oolithe ferrugineuse de Bayeux'' from the base of the Humphriesianum Zone up to the Parkinsoni one. The presence of relatively thick (3 m) deposits provides data giving far more detailed zonation (16 horizons are recognizable) than the ferruginous oolite in the Bayeux area, very condensed and locally reworked (Rioult, 1964; Pavia, 1994). Complemented by study of the inferior Bajocian and of the Aalenian/Bajocian boundary present in the same quarry, this section stands out as a standard for future reference complementary to the historical stratotype at Sainte-Honorine-des-Pertes near Bayeux (d'Orbigny, 1849-1852). (In French, not on Burton Bradstock, but relevant for comparison.).
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Hesselbo , S. 1992. Excursion A1. Tectonics and Sedimentation in the Lower/Middle Jurassic of the Wessex Basin. Pp 20-30. BSRG 1992, Southampton, Field Excursion Guides. Department of Oceanography, University of Southampton, 65 p.
.
House , M.R. 1993 (and earlier edition in 1989) - Geology of the Dorset Coast. Geologists Association Guide, No. 22. 2nd edition, 164 pages plus plates. ISBN 0 7073 0485 7. [This inexpensive, conveniently small, paper back guide should be carried in the field as a very useful source of information by all seriously studying the geology of the Lulworth area or other parts of Dorset. It is full of detailed information and is concise and accurate. It enables field leaders to obtain essential information quickly and without carrying much weight of publications ]
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Jones , L.E. and Sellwood, B.W. 1989. Paleogeographic significance of clay mineral distributions in the Inferior Oolite Group (Mid Jurassic) of southern England. Clay Minerals, 24 (1), 91-105.
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Lang , W.D. 1962. Aalenian, Bridport Sands. Proceedings of Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 83, p. 34.
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Melville , R.V. and Freshney, E.C. 1982. British Regional Geology: The Hampshire Basin and Adjoining Areas. British Geological Survey (formerly the Institute of Geological Sciences), London, Her Majesty's Stationery Office. 146 pp.
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Mortimore , R.N., Lawrence, J., Pope, D., Duperret, A. and Genter, A. 2004. Coastal cliff geohazard in weak rock: the UK Chalk cliffs of Sussex. Pp. 3-31 in: Mortimore R.N. and Duperret, A. 2004. Coastal Chalk Cliff Instability. Geological Society of London, Engineering Geology Special Publications, No. 20, 173 pp. ISBN 1-86239-150-5. [Not on Burton Bradstock but relevant to cliff falls there.]
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Natural History Museum , London. (originally as British Museum (Natural History) 1962 and various editions onward). British Mesozoic Fossils. 207pp.
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Palmer , T.J. and Wilson, M.A. 1990. Growth of ferruginous oncoliths in the Bajocian (Middle Jurassic) of Europe. Terra Nova, 2, 142-147.
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Parsons , C.F. 1970. A new temporary section in the Inferior Oolite of south Dorset. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 93, 117-118.

Parsons, C.F. 1974. The sauzei and 'so-called' 'sowerbyi' Zones of the Lower Bajocian. Newsletters in Stratigraphy, 3, 153-180.

Parsons, C.F. 1975. The stratigraphy of the Stony Head cutting. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 96, 8-13.

Parsons, C.F. 1980. Aalenian and Bajocian correlation chart. In: Cope, J.C.W. et al. A Correlation of Jurassic Rocks in the British Isles. 2. Middle and Upper Jurassic. Geological Society of London, Special Reports, 15, 3-21.

Parson, C.F. 1980. Ph.D. Thesis, - also other papers by Parsons - for bibliographic details see: Thomas, J. and Ensom, P. 1989. Bibliography and Index of Dorset Geology. Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society. 102 pages. [This includes details of 11 publications by Parson, many relevant to the succession at Burton Bradstock.]
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Penn , I.E., Dingwall, R.G. and Knox, O'B. 1980. The Inferior Oolite (Bajocian) sequence from a borehole in Lyme Bay, Dorset. Institute of Geological Sciences, Natural Environment Research Council, London, HMSO. ISBN 0 11 884098 3, 27 pp. Summary: A borehole drilled in Lyme Bay cored 19.30 m of ammonite-bearing Inferior Oolite limestone and proved all the Bajocian zones from Ludwigia murchisonae to Parkinsonia parkinsoni. Bajocian dinocyst, sporomorph, coccolithophorid, foraminiferal and ostracod assemblages are related to the ammonite zones and subzones for the first time. When the palaeontological and petrographical descriptions are combined with previously published data a reconstruction of the depositional environment and the delineation of the South-Dorset High as one of the several 'swells' controlling Bajocian sedimentation in southern England can be made. (Chamosite present).
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Perkins , J.W. 1977. Geology Explained in Dorset. David and Charles, Newton Abbot, 224 pp.
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Radley , J.D. 1986. Notes on a Bajocian stromatolitic limestone from Burton Bradstock, Dorset. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 107, 184-186.
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Richardson , L.R. 1915. Report of an excursion to Bridport, Beaminster and Crewkerne. Proceedings of the Geologists' Association, London, 26, 47-78.

Richardson, L. 1928-30. The Inferior Oolite and contiguous deposits of the Burton Bradstock - Broadwindsor district, Dorset. Proceedings of the Cotteswold Naturalists' Field Club, 23, 35-68; 149-185; 253-264, pl. 2-6, 19-25, 28.
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Sellwood , B.W. and Jenkyns, H.C. 1975. Basins and swells and the evolution of an epeiric sea (Pliensbachian - Bajocian of Great Britain). Journal of the Geological Society of London, 131, 373-388.
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Senior , J.R. 1968. Ammonite finds of stratigraphical importance in the Inferior Oolite of Dorset. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 89, p.45.

Senior, J.R., Parsons, C.F. and Torrens, H.S. 1970. New sections in the Inferior Oolite of south Dorset. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 91, 114-119.
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Sylvester-Bradley , P.C. 1957. The Forest Marble of Dorset. Proceedings of the Geologists Association , 1556, 26-28.
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Thomas , J. and Ensom, P. 1989. Bibliography and Index of Dorset Geology. Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society. 102 pages. See also the internet version - Bibliography and Index of Dorset Geology.
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Williams, R.B.G., Robinson, D.A., Dornbusch, U., Foote, Y.L.M., Moses, C.A. and Saddleton, P.R. 2004. A Sturzstrom-like cliff fall on the Chalk coast of Sussex, UK. Pp. 89-97 in: Mortimore R.N. and Duperret, A. 2004. Coastal Chalk Cliff Instability. Geological Society of London, Engineering Geology Special Publications, No. 20, 173 pp. ISBN 1-86239-150-5. [Not on Burton Bradstock but relevant to cliff falls there.]
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Wilson , V., Welch, F.B.A., Robbie, J.A. and Green, G.W. 1958. Geology of the Country around Bridport and Yeovil (Explanation of Sheets 327 and 312). With contributions on: The Purbeck Beds by F.W. Anderson, Palaeontology by R.V. Melville, and Groundwater by S. Buchan. London, Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 239 pp. Department of Scientific and Industrial Research. Memoirs of the Geological Survey of Great Britain.
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Woodward , H.B. 1887. Excursion to Bridport, Bothenhampton, Burton Bradstock, Bridport Harbour and Eype. Proceedings of the Geologists' Association, London, 9, 200-209.
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Wright , T. 1856. A descriptive catalogue of some of the species of ammonites from the Inferior Oolite of Dorset. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, London, 12, 309, 321.

" [end of 7.2 References and Bibliography - Printed Publications]