Dorset Coastline

• Dorset is located in the south of England, it has many erosional and depositional coastlines
• Swanage Bay

  • area around Swanage is made up of bands of hard and soft rock
  • soft rock = clay and sands
  • hard rock = chalk and limestone
  • clay erodes quicker than limestone and chalk - forming headlands and bays
• Old Harry Rocks

  • located on headland between Swanage and Studland Bay
  • made out of chalk - end of headland has eroded to become a stack called Old Harry and a stump called Old Harry's wife
• Chesil Beach

  • example of a tombolo formed by longshore drift
  • sediment has been deposited over time to form spit which has continued to join to the Isle of Portland
  • behind the spirt is The Fleet (lagoon)
• Durdle Door

  • arch formed on a concordant coastline after band of limestone was mostly eroded
  • wave action opened up a crack in the side of the headland, which developed into an arch
• Lulworth Cove

  • small bay formed after a gap was eroded in a band of limestone - behind limestone is a band of clay which has been eroded to form a bay