Discord on Dorset coast!

We have been learning recently about concordant and discordant coasts. Here are a couple of images taken last summer of the discordant stretch of coastline in Dorset which we looked at in class. It would help your understanding of this if you get yourself a map. Click here for the OS Get-a-Map service and put Swanage into the search box. You will then be able to navigate along the stretch of coastline north and south.

Remember that on a discordant coastline, the geology is 'arranged' at right angles to the coast...

The view looks north east from Durlson Head across Durlston Bay to Peveril Point and then across Swanage Bay to the chalk cliffs of the Foreland which end at Old Harry Rocks. The sequence of bays and headlands is mainly due to the fact that relatively harder rocks like limestone and chalk resist erosion to form the headlands while the softer rocks such as clays and sands succumb to erosion and form bays.

Here, another shot from the same spot but with the zoom lens foreshortens the view.....

Bournemouth in the distance forms the backdrop to the chalk Foreland (with Old Harry clearly visible) and limestone Peveril Point in the foreground. Between the two lies Swanage Bay....