Posted: September 13th, 2017

Geology of the Isle of Purbeck

Geology of the Isle of Purbeck

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Essay:Geology of the Isle of Purbeck 2

The isle of purbeck is a peninsula and not an ideal island. This island is located at the Dorset

County in England where the English channel boarders it to the south and east. The islands have very

steep cliffs that falls into the sea and bordered by marshy lands of rivers fromes and the Poole harbor to

the northern side. However, the western boundary of the island is not well defined.

The geology of the Isle is multifaceted. It has an inharmonious coastline that is along the east side

and concordant coastline that is along the south. Furthermore, the northern part has Eocene clay (Barton

Beds), in addition to significant deposits of the Purbeck Ball Clay (Cochrane, 1969). However, where the

land is raised up to the sea, there is found several parallel strata made of Jurassic rocks, including the

Purbeck beds and Portland limestone. The Purbeck beds include Purbeck Marble, predominantly the hard

limestone that can be polished though mineralogicaly, though it is not marble (Hutchins, 1741).

A ridge made of Cretaceous chalk is found all along the peninsula developing into the Purbeck

Hills, that is part of the great southern England Chalk Formation, which includes Salisbury Plain, the Isle

of Wight the Dorset Downs (Cochrane, 1969). The cliffs at this point are some of the very most

spectacular scenery in England, and it is of great geological interest, specifically for the rock types that

are found and variety of landforms, remarkably the Lulworth Cove and the Durdle Door (Hutchins, 1741).

Moreover, the coast is but a part of the wide Jurassic Coast, which is a World Heritage Site due to the

unique geology found in this isle (Taylor, 1970).

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