1.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
2.
St Alban's Head
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St Albans Head is a headland located 5 kilometres southwest of Swanage, on the coast of Dorset, England. It is the most southerly part of the Purbeck peninsula, and it is part of the Jurassic Coast, a World Heritage Site. The Norman St. Aldhelms Chapel, dedicated to St Aldhelm, on the bluff of the headland is a monument to the development of radar during World War II, by the Telecommunications Research Establishment at nearby RAF Worth Matravers. There is also a station, now maintained by the National Coastwatch Institution. St Albans Head has been quarried and there is a defunct sea-cliff quarry underneath the coastguard station. St Aldhelms Quarry just inland is still in active use, St Albans Head is designated a Special Area of Conservation under the European Unions Habitats Directive. List of places on the Jurassic Coast grid reference SY9675
3.
World Heritage Site
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A World Heritage Site is a landmark which has been officially recognized by the United Nations, specifically by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Sites are selected on the basis of having cultural, historical, scientific or some form of significance. UNESCO regards these sites as being important to the interests of humanity. The programme catalogues, names, and conserves sites of outstanding cultural or natural importance to the common culture, under certain conditions, listed sites can obtain funds from the World Heritage Fund. The program was founded with the Convention Concerning the Protection of the Worlds Cultural and Natural Heritage, since then,192 state parties have ratified the convention, making it one of the most adhered to international instruments. As of July 2016,1052 sites are listed,814 cultural,203 natural, in 1959, the governments of Egypt and Sudan requested UNESCO to assist their countries to protect and rescue the endangered monuments and sites. In 1960, the Director-General of UNESCO launched an appeal to the Member States for an International Campaign to Save the Monuments of Nubia, the campaign, which ended in 1980, was considered a success. The project cost $80 million, about $40 million of which was collected from 50 countries, the projects success led to other safeguarding campaigns, saving Venice and its lagoon in Italy, the ruins of Mohenjo-daro in Pakistan, and the Borobodur Temple Compounds in Indonesia. UNESCO then initiated, with the International Council on Monuments and Sites, the United States initiated the idea of cultural conservation with nature conservation. The International Union for Conservation of Nature developed similar proposals in 1968, the Convention came into force on 17 December 1975. As of June 2016, it has been ratified by 192 states, including 188 UN member states plus the Cook Islands, the Holy See, Niue, a country must first list its significant cultural and natural sites, the result is called the Tentative List. A country may not nominate sites that have not been first included on the Tentative List, next, it can place sites selected from that list into a Nomination File. The Nomination File is evaluated by the International Council on Monuments and Sites and these bodies then make their recommendations to the World Heritage Committee. There are ten selection criteria – a site must meet at least one of them to be included on the list, up to 2004, there were six criteria for cultural heritage and four criteria for natural heritage. In 2005, this was modified so there is now only one set of ten criteria. Nominated sites must be of outstanding value and meet at least one of the ten criteria. Thus, the Geneva Convention treaty promulgates, Article 53, PROTECTION OF CULTURAL OBJECTS AND OF PLACES OF WORSHIP. There are 1,052 World Heritage Sites located in 165 States Party, of these,814 are cultural,203 are natural and 35 are mixed properties
4.
English Channel
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The English Channel, also called simply the Channel, is the body of water that separates southern England from northern France, and links the southern part of the North Sea to the Atlantic Ocean. It is about 560 km long and varies in width from 240 km at its widest to 33.3 km in the Strait of Dover and it is the smallest of the shallow seas around the continental shelf of Europe, covering an area of some 75,000 km2. The International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the English Channel as follows, a line joining Isle Vierge to Lands End. The southwestern limit of the North Sea, the IHO defines the southwestern limit of the North Sea as a line joining the Walde Lighthouse and Leathercoat Point. The Walde Lighthouse is 6 km east of Calais, and Leathercoat Point is at the end of St Margarets Bay. The Strait of Dover, at the Channels eastern end, is its narrowest point and it is relatively shallow, with an average depth of about 120 m at its widest part, reducing to a depth of about 45 m between Dover and Calais. Eastwards from there the adjoining North Sea reduces to about 26 m in the Broad Fourteens where it lies over the watershed of the land bridge between East Anglia and the Low Countries. It reaches a depth of 180 m in the submerged valley of Hurds Deep,48 km west-northwest of Guernsey. The eastern region along the French coast between Cherbourg and the mouth of the Seine river at Le Havre is frequently referred to as the Bay of the Seine. There are several islands in the Channel, the most notable being the Isle of Wight off the English coast. The coastline, particularly on the French shore, is indented, several small islands close to the coastline, including Chausey. The Cotentin Peninsula in France juts out into the Channel, whilst on the English side there is a parallel channel known as the Solent between the Isle of Wight and the mainland. The Celtic Sea is to the west of the Channel, the time difference of about six hours between high water at the eastern and western limits of the Channel is indicative of the tidal range being amplified further by resonance. It was never defined as a border and the names were more or less descriptive. It was not considered as the property of a nation, strangely, before the development of the modern nations, British scholars very often referred to it as Gaulish and the French one as British or English. The name English Channel has been used since the early 18th century. In modern Dutch, however, it is known as Het Kanaal, later, it has also been known as the British Channel or the British Sea having been called the Oceanus Britannicus by the 2nd-century geographer Ptolemy. The same name is used on an Italian map of about 1450, the Anglo-Saxon texts often call it Sūð-sǣ as opposed to Norð-sǣ
5.
Exmouth
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Exmouth /ˈɛksməθ/ is a port town, civil parish and seaside resort in East Devon, England, sited on the east bank of the mouth of the River Exe. In 2011, it had a population of 34,432 making Exmouth the 5th most populous settlement in Devon, byzantine coins dating back to c. 498–518, with the mark of Anastasius I, were retrieved on the beach in 1970, more recent human occupation of Exmouth Point can be traced back to the 11th century, when it was known as Lydwicnaesse, the point of the Bretons. The town appears on the century Peutinger Map one of only 15 British towns, the two ecclesiastical parishes, Littleham and Withycombe Raleigh, that make up the town of Exmouth today can be traced to pre-Saxon times. The name of the town derives from its location at the mouth of the River Exe estuary, in 1240 an area known as Pratteshuthe was sold to the mayor and citizens of Exeter. This was the site of the ferry dock and over time the name evolved first into Pratteshide. The original site is marked by an area outside the Glenorchy United Reformed Church close to the Magnolia Shopping Centre. The roads in and out of the area were in a poor state, a more permanent dock was built in 1825, replacing a series of apparently seasonal docks first noted on maps from 1576 as The Docke. New docks designed by Eugenius Birch were opened in 1868, the area adjacent to the docks once housed a thriving community of some 125 chalets built on the shoreline. These have been replaced by a marina complex known as Exmouth Quay. Human habitation was restricted by the exposed position on the estuary – civilisation took a hold in a greater. The town began to develop in the 13th century, morin Uppehille owned the land, granting part of it to John the Miller who in turn built a windmill, and earned his living on the exposed point, aided by the prevailing south-west winds. The windmill, the dock and a small settlement of farms began to develop into Exmouth. Sir Walter Raleigh sailed on many of his voyages from Exmouth Harbour, the town established itself during the 18th century and is regarded as the oldest holiday resort in Devon. Visitors prevented from visiting Europe by the turmoil in France were attracted by the views. Exmouth was renowned as a destination for the wealthy to recover their health, notable visitors in this time included Lady Byron and her daughter Ada Lovelace. Exmouth was also the residence of Lady Nelson, the wife of Lord Nelson. She is buried in Littleham Churchyard, high class tourism remained steady for a number of years
6.
East Devon
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East Devon is a local government district in Devon, England. Its council is based in Sidmouth, and the largest town is Exmouth, East Devon is covered by two Parliamentary constituencies, East Devon and Tiverton and Honiton. Both were retained in the 2010 general election by the Conservative Party, in the 2001 census it was found that a third of East Devons population were over 60. The average for England was 24%, East Devon also had a higher number of people living in Medical and Care Establishments at 1. 6% compared to the England average of 0. 9%. A large amount of East Devon is made up of two Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, East Devon AONB and the Blackdown Hills. AONBs have the level of protection as National parks of England and Wales which restricts new developments. A small stretch of the M5 passes through the district, the head office of Flybe is in the Jack Walker House on the grounds of Exeter Airport. Grade I listed buildings in East Devon Grade II* listed buildings in East Devon List of Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Devon East Devon Otter Valley Weather
7.
Studland
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Studland is a village and civil parish on the Isle of Purbeck in the English county of Dorset. It is famous for its beaches and nature reserve, the parish includes Brownsea Island within the harbour. Studland is sited in the lee of Ballard Down, close to the east-facing Studland Bay, the beaches are named South Beach, Middle Beach and Knoll Beach, with another at Shell Bay to the north. Although a coastal village, the houses in Studland are mostly sited a few hundred metres inland and he noted that Studland had no pretence to a quay, but rather turns its face from the sea to bury it among its myrtles and fuchsia bushes. He lamented the arrival of tourists and the construction of villas in the village however, since Treves time the village has expanded with more buildings filling in gaps along its streets, much of the construction taking place in the early and mid 20th century, plus some more recently. Few ancient buildings remain in the village today, with the exception of the parish church. Close to the church is a modern Celtic cross, which was erected in 1976, Studland Bay is protected from the prevailing southwesterly winds and storms by Ballard Down and Handfast Point, the chalk headland that separates Studland from Swanage Bay to the south. The beaches at Studland Bay are amongst the most popular in the country, the South East Dorset Conurbation lies on the other side of Poole Harbour, resulting in the beaches being relatively accessible to a large population. North of the centre the beach and dunes are owned and managed by the National Trust. A short northern stretch of beach is reserved as a naturist beach, in January 2004 the BBC television series The National Trust investigated the conflicts between different groups of people who use the beach and heath at Studland. The final stage of the South West Coast Path follows Studland Bay and ends at South Haven Point, behind the sand dunes there is a large area of heathland, named Studland Heath to the north of the village and Godlingston Heath to the west. This area is owned and managed by the National Trust. Within Studland Heath is a freshwater lake called Little Sea, which was cut off from the sea by the development of the dunes. Studland and Godlingston Heath NNR has been a nature reserve since 1946, and the site is on English Natures list of Spotlight Reserves. The site is also a protected Site of Special Scientific Interest, Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, part of the Purbeck Heritage Coast, standing on a mound on Godlingston Heath is the 17 ft high Agglestone Rock, estimated to weigh 400 tons. In truth, it is more likely part of a band of rocks that run across the whole of Godlingston Heath. The sandy earth was eroded around the rock and left it standing proud. Aggle was taken into the old Dorset dialect as meaning to wobble, in September 1970 the rock fell to one side, resulting in it losing its distinctive inverted-cone anvil appearance
8.
Dorset
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Dorset /ˈdɔːrsᵻt/ is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the county, which is governed by Dorset County Council. Covering an area of 2,653 square kilometres, Dorset borders Devon to the west, Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north-east, the county town is Dorchester which is in the south. After the reorganisation of government in 1974 the countys border was extended eastward to incorporate the Hampshire towns of Bournemouth. Around half of the lives in the South East Dorset conurbation. The county has a history of human settlement stretching back to the Neolithic era. The Romans conquered Dorsets indigenous Celtic tribe, and during the early Middle Ages, the first recorded Viking raid on the British Isles occurred in Dorset during the eighth century, and the Black Death entered England at Melcombe Regis in 1348. During the Second World War, Dorset was heavily involved in the preparations for the invasion of Normandy, the former was the sailing venue in the 2012 Summer Olympics, and both have clubs or hire venues for sailing, Cornish pilot gig rowing, sea kayaking and powerboating. Dorset has a varied landscape featuring broad elevated chalk downs, steep limestone ridges, over half the county is designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Three-quarters of its coastline is part of the Jurassic Coast Natural World Heritage Site due to its geological and it features notable landforms such as Lulworth Cove, the Isle of Portland, Chesil Beach and Durdle Door. Agriculture was traditionally the major industry of Dorset but is now in decline, there are no motorways in Dorset but a network of A roads cross the county and two railway main lines connect to London. Dorset has ports at Poole, Weymouth and Portland, and an international airport, the county has a variety of museums, theatres and festivals, and is host to one of Europes largest outdoor shows. It is the birthplace of Thomas Hardy, who used the county as the setting of his novels. Dorset derives its name from the county town of Dorchester, the Romans established the settlement in the 1st century and named it Durnovaria which was a Latinised version of a Common Brittonic word possibly meaning place with fist-sized pebbles. It is first mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle in AD845 and in the 10th century the countys archaic name, the first human visitors to Dorset were Mesolithic hunters, from around 8000 BC. The first permanent Neolithic settlers appeared around 3000 BC and were responsible for the creation of the Dorset Cursus, from 2800 BC onwards Bronze Age farmers cleared Dorsets woodlands for agricultural use and Dorsets high chalk hills provided a location for numerous round barrows. During the Iron Age, the British tribe known as the Durotriges established a series of forts across the county—most notably Maiden Castle which is one of the largest in Europe. The Romans arrived in Dorset during their conquest of Britain in AD43, Maiden Castle was captured by a Roman legion under the command of Vespasian, and the Roman settlement of Durnovaria was established nearby
9.
Erosion
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In earth science, erosion is the action of surface processes that remove soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earths crust, then transport it away to another location. Eroded sediment or solutes may be transported just a few millimetres, the rates at which such processes act control how fast a surface is eroded. Feedbacks are also possible between rates of erosion and the amount of eroded material that is carried by, for example. Processes of erosion that produce sediment or solutes from a place contrast with those of deposition, while erosion is a natural process, human activities have increased by 10-40 times the rate at which erosion is occurring globally. At well-known agriculture sites such as the Appalachian Mountains, intensive farming practices have caused erosion up to 100x the speed of the rate of erosion in the region. Excessive erosion causes both on-site and off-site problems, on-site impacts include decreases in agricultural productivity and ecological collapse, both because of loss of the nutrient-rich upper soil layers. In some cases, the end result is desertification. Off-site effects include sedimentation of waterways and eutrophication of bodies, as well as sediment-related damage to roads. Intensive agriculture, deforestation, roads, anthropogenic climate change and urban sprawl are amongst the most significant human activities in regard to their effect on stimulating erosion, however, there are many prevention and remediation practices that can curtail or limit erosion of vulnerable soils. Rainfall, and the surface runoff which may result from rainfall, produces four types of soil erosion, splash erosion, sheet erosion, rill erosion. Splash erosion is generally seen as the first and least severe stage in the erosion process. In splash erosion, the impact of a falling raindrop creates a crater in the soil. The distance these soil particles travel can be as much as 0.6 m vertically and 1.5 m horizontally on level ground. If the soil is saturated, or if the rate is greater than the rate at which water can infiltrate into the soil. If the runoff has sufficient flow energy, it will transport loosened soil particles down the slope, sheet erosion is the transport of loosened soil particles by overland flow. Rill erosion refers to the development of small, ephemeral concentrated flow paths which function as both sediment source and sediment delivery systems for erosion on hillslopes, generally, where water erosion rates on disturbed upland areas are greatest, rills are active. Flow depths in rills are typically of the order of a few centimetres or less and this means that rills exhibit hydraulic physics very different from water flowing through the deeper, wider channels of streams and rivers. Gully erosion occurs when water accumulates and rapidly flows in narrow channels during or immediately after heavy rains or melting snow
10.
Triassic
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The Triassic is a geologic period and system which spans 50.9 million years from the end of the Permian Period 252.17 million years ago, to the beginning of the Jurassic Period 201.3 Mya. The Triassic is the first period of the Mesozoic Era, both the start and end of the period are marked by major extinction events. Therapsids and archosaurs were the terrestrial vertebrates during this time. A specialized subgroup of archosaurs, called dinosaurs, first appeared in the Late Triassic, the vast supercontinent of Pangaea existed until the mid-Triassic, after which it began to gradually rift into two separate landmasses, Laurasia to the north and Gondwana to the south. The global climate during the Triassic was mostly hot and dry, however, the climate shifted and became more humid as Pangaea began to drift apart. The end of the period was marked by yet another mass extinction, the Triassic-Jurassic extinction event. The Triassic is usually separated into Early, Middle, and Late Triassic Epochs, from the east, along the equator, the Tethys sea penetrated Pangaea, causing the Paleo-Tethys Ocean to be closed. Later in the mid-Triassic a similar sea penetrated along the equator from the west, the remaining shores were surrounded by the world-ocean known as Panthalassa. All the deep-ocean sediments laid down during the Triassic have disappeared through subduction of oceanic plates, thus, the supercontinent Pangaea was rifting during the Triassic—especially late in that period—but had not yet separated. In North America, for example, marine deposits are limited to a few exposures in the west, thus Triassic stratigraphy is mostly based on organisms that lived in lagoons and hypersaline environments, such as Estheria crustaceans. At the beginning of the Mesozoic Era, Africa was joined with Earths other continents in Pangaea, Africa shared the supercontinents relatively uniform fauna which was dominated by theropods, prosauropods and primitive ornithischians by the close of the Triassic period. Late Triassic fossils are found throughout Africa, but are common in the south than north. The time boundary separating the Permian and Triassic marks the advent of an event with global impact. At Paleorrota geopark, located in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, in these formations, one of the earliest dinosaurs, Staurikosaurus, as well as the mammal ancestors Brasilitherium and Brasilodon have been discovered. The Triassic continental interior climate was hot and dry, so that typical deposits are red bed sandstones and evaporites. Pangaeas large size limited the effect of the global ocean, its continental climate was highly seasonal, with very hot summers. The strong contrast between the Pangea supercontinent and the global ocean triggered intense cross-equatorial monsoons, the best studied of such episodes of humid climate, and probably the most intense and widespread, was the Carnian Pluvial Event. On land, the vascular plants included the lycophytes, the dominant cycadophytes, ginkgophyta, ferns, horsetails
11.
Jurassic
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The Jurassic is a geologic period and system that spans 56.3 million years from the end of the Triassic Period 201.3 million years ago to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period 145 Mya. The Jurassic constitutes the middle period of the Mesozoic Era, also known as the Age of Reptiles, the start of the period is marked by the major Triassic–Jurassic extinction event. The Jurassic is named after the Jura Mountains within the European Alps, by the beginning of the Jurassic, the supercontinent Pangaea had begun rifting into two landmasses, Laurasia to the north and Gondwana to the south. This created more coastlines and shifted the continental climate from dry to humid, on land, the fauna transitioned from the Triassic fauna, dominated by both dinosauromorph and crocodylomorph archosaurs, to one dominated by dinosaurs alone. The first birds also appeared during the Jurassic, having evolved from a branch of theropod dinosaurs, other major events include the appearance of the earliest lizards, and the evolution of therian mammals, including primitive placentals. Crocodilians made the transition from a terrestrial to a mode of life. The oceans were inhabited by marine reptiles such as ichthyosaurs and plesiosaurs, the chronostratigraphic term Jurassic is directly linked to the Jura Mountains. The name Jura is derived from the Celtic root jor, which was Latinised into juria, the Jurassic period is divided into the Early Jurassic, Middle, and Late Jurassic epochs. The Jurassic System, in stratigraphy, is divided into the Lower Jurassic, Middle, the separation of the term Jurassic into three sections goes back to Leopold von Buch. The Jurassic North Atlantic Ocean was relatively narrow, while the South Atlantic did not open until the following Cretaceous period, the Tethys Sea closed, and the Neotethys basin appeared. Climates were warm, with no evidence of glaciation, as in the Triassic, there was apparently no land over either pole, and no extensive ice caps existed. In contrast, the North American Jurassic record is the poorest of the Mesozoic, the Jurassic was a time of calcite sea geochemistry in which low-magnesium calcite was the primary inorganic marine precipitate of calcium carbonate. Carbonate hardgrounds were thus very common, along with calcitic ooids, calcitic cements, the first of several massive batholiths were emplaced in the northern American cordillera beginning in the mid-Jurassic, marking the Nevadan orogeny. Important Jurassic exposures are found in Russia, India, South America, Japan, Australasia. As the Jurassic proceeded, larger and more groups of dinosaurs like sauropods and ornithopods proliferated in Africa. Middle Jurassic strata are well represented nor well studied in Africa. Late Jurassic strata are also poorly represented apart from the spectacular Tendaguru fauna in Tanzania, the Late Jurassic life of Tendaguru is very similar to that found in western North Americas Morrison Formation. During the Jurassic period, the primary living in the sea were fish
12.
Cretaceous
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The Cretaceous is a geologic period and system that spans 79 million years from the end of the Jurassic Period 145 million years ago to the beginning of the Paleogene Period 66 Mya. It is the last period of the Mesozoic Era, the Cretaceous Period is usually abbreviated K, for its German translation Kreide. The Cretaceous was a period with a warm climate, resulting in high eustatic sea levels that created numerous shallow inland seas. These oceans and seas were populated with now-extinct marine reptiles, ammonites and rudists, during this time, new groups of mammals and birds, as well as flowering plants, appeared. The Cretaceous ended with a mass extinction, the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, in which many groups, including non-avian dinosaurs, pterosaurs. The end of the Cretaceous is defined by the abrupt Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary, the name Cretaceous was derived from Latin creta, meaning chalk. The Cretaceous is divided into Early and Late Cretaceous epochs, or Lower and Upper Cretaceous series, in older literature the Cretaceous is sometimes divided into three series, Neocomian, Gallic and Senonian. A subdivision in eleven stages, all originating from European stratigraphy, is now used worldwide, in many parts of the world, alternative local subdivisions are still in use. As with other geologic periods, the rock beds of the Cretaceous are well identified. No great extinction or burst of diversity separates the Cretaceous from the Jurassic and this layer has been dated at 66.043 Ma. A140 Ma age for the Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary instead of the usually accepted 145 Ma was proposed in 2014 based on a study of Vaca Muerta Formation in Neuquén Basin. Víctor Ramos, one of the authors of the study proposing the 140 Ma boundary age sees the study as a first step toward formally changing the age in the International Union of Geological Sciences, due to the high sea level there was extensive space for such sedimentation. Because of the young age and great thickness of the system. Chalk is a type characteristic for the Cretaceous. It consists of coccoliths, microscopically small calcite skeletons of coccolithophores, the group is found in England, northern France, the low countries, northern Germany, Denmark and in the subsurface of the southern part of the North Sea. Chalk is not easily consolidated and the Chalk Group still consists of sediments in many places. The group also has other limestones and arenites, among the fossils it contains are sea urchins, belemnites, ammonites and sea reptiles such as Mosasaurus. In southern Europe, the Cretaceous is usually a marine system consisting of competent limestone beds or incompetent marls
13.
Fossil
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Fossils are the preserved remains or traces of animals, plants, and other organisms from the remote past. The totality of fossils, both discovered and undiscovered, and their placement in fossiliferous rock formations and sedimentary layers is known as the fossil record. The study of fossils across geological time, how they were formed, such a preserved specimen is called a fossil if it is older than some minimum age, most often the arbitrary date of 10,000 years. The observation that fossils were associated with certain rock strata led early geologists to recognize a geological timescale in the 19th century. The development of dating techniques in the early 20th century allowed geologists to determine the numerical or absolute age of the various strata. Like extant organisms, fossils vary in size from microscopic, even single bacterial cells one micrometer in diameter, to gigantic, such as dinosaurs, Fossils may also consist of the marks left behind by the organism while it was alive, such as animal tracks or feces. These types of fossil are called trace fossils, as opposed to body fossils, finally, past life leaves some markers that cannot be seen but can be detected in the form of biochemical signals, these are known as chemofossils or biosignatures. The process of fossilization varies according to type and external conditions. Permineralization is a process of fossilization that occurs when an organism is buried, the empty spaces within an organism become filled with mineral-rich groundwater. Minerals precipitate from the groundwater, occupying the empty spaces and this process can occur in very small spaces, such as within the cell wall of a plant cell. Small scale permineralization can produce very detailed fossils, for permineralization to occur, the organism must become covered by sediment soon after death or soon after the initial decay process. The degree to which the remains are decayed when covered determines the later details of the fossil, some fossils consist only of skeletal remains or teeth, other fossils contain traces of skin, feathers or even soft tissues. This is a form of diagenesis, in some cases the original remains of the organism completely dissolve or are otherwise destroyed. The remaining organism-shaped hole in the rock is called an external mold, if this hole is later filled with other minerals, it is a cast. An endocast or internal mold is formed when sediments or minerals fill the cavity of an organism. This is a form of cast and mold formation. If the chemistry is right, the organism can act as a nucleus for the precipitation of minerals such as siderite, if this happens rapidly before significant decay to the organic tissue, very fine three-dimensional morphological detail can be preserved. Nodules from the Carboniferous Mazon Creek fossil beds of Illinois, USA, are among the best documented examples of such mineralization, replacement occurs when the shell, bone or other tissue is replaced with another mineral
14.
Natural arch
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A natural arch, natural bridge or, less commonly, a rock arch is a natural rock formation where an arch has formed with an opening underneath. Natural arches commonly form where inland cliffs, coastal cliffs, fins or stacks are subject to erosion from the sea, most natural arches are formed from narrow fins and sea stacks composed of sandstone or limestone with steep, often vertical, cliff faces. The formations become narrower due to erosion over time scales. The softer rock stratum erodes away creating rock shelters, or alcoves, on sides of the formation beneath the relatively harder stratum, or caprock. The alcoves erode further into the formation eventually meeting underneath the harder caprock layer, the choice between bridge and arch is somewhat arbitrary. The Natural Arch and Bridge Society identifies a bridge as a subtype of arch that is primarily water-formed, by contrast, the Dictionary of Geological Terms defines a natural bridge as a natural arch that spans a valley of erosion. The largest natural arch, by a significant margin, is the Xianren Bridge in China, on coasts two different types of arches can form depending on the geology. On discordant coastlines rock types run at 90° to the coast, wave refraction concentrates the wave energy on the headland, and an arch forms when caves break through the headland. Two examples of type of arch are London Arch—previously known as London Bridge—in Victoria, Australia. When these arches eventually collapse, they form stacks and stumps, on concordant coastlines rock types run parallel to the coastline, with weak rock such as shale protected by stronger rock such as limestone. The wave action along concordant coastlines breaks through the strong rock, good examples of this type of arch are the Durdle Door and Stair Hole near Lulworth Cove on Dorsets Jurassic Coast in south England. When Stair Hole eventually collapses it will form a cove, weather-eroded arches begin their formation as deep cracks which penetrate into a sandstone layer. Erosion occurring within the cracks wears away exposed rock layers and enlarges the surface cracks isolating narrow sandstone walls which are called fins, alternating frosts and thawing cause crumbling and flaking of the porous sandstone and eventually cut through some of the fins. The resulting holes become enlarged to arch proportions by rockfalls and weathering, the arches eventually collapse leaving only buttresses that in time will erode. Many weather-eroded arches are found in Arches National Park, Canyonlands National Park, some natural bridges may look like arches, but they form in the path of streams that wear away and penetrate the rock. Pothole arches form by chemical weathering as water collects in natural depressions, Natural Bridges National Monument in Utah protects the area surrounding three large natural bridges all of which were formed by streams running through canyons. The largest of which is named Sipapu Bridge with a span of 225 feet, Natural bridges can form from natural limestone caves, where paired sinkholes collapse and a ridge of stone is left standing in between, with the cave passageway connecting from sinkhole to sinkhole. Like all rock formations, natural bridges are subject to continued erosion, one example of this was the double-arched Victorian coastal rock formation, London Bridge, which lost an arch after storms increased erosion
15.
Cove
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A cove is a small type of bay or coastal inlet. Coves usually have narrow, restricted entrances, are circular or oval. Small, narrow, sheltered bays, inlets, creeks, or recesses in a coast are often considered coves, colloquially, the term can be used to describe a sheltered bay. Geomorphology describes coves as precipitously-walled and rounded cirque-like openings as in a valley extending into or down a mountainside, coves are formed by differential erosion, which occurs when softer rocks are worn away faster than the harder rocks surrounding them. These rocks further erode to form a bay with a narrow entrance. A notable example is Lulworth Cove on the Jurassic Coast in Dorset, to its west, a second cove, Stair Hole, is forming. Clark, John O. E. Stiegler, Stella, the Facts on File, Dictionary of Earth Science. New York, Market House Books Ltd
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Isle of Portland
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The Isle of Portland is a limestone tied island,6 kilometres long by 2.7 kilometres wide, in the English Channel. Portland is 8 kilometres south of the resort of Weymouth, forming the southernmost point of the county of Dorset, a barrier beach called the Chesil Beach joins it to the mainland. The A354 road passes down the Portland end of the beach, Portland and Weymouth together form the borough of Weymouth and Portland. The population of Portland is 12,400, Portland is a central part of the Jurassic Coast, a World Heritage Site on the Dorset and east Devon coast, important for its geology and landforms. Portland stone, famous for its use in British and world architecture, including St Pauls Cathedral, Portland Harbour, in between Portland and Weymouth, is one of the largest man-made harbours in the world. The harbour was made by the building of stone breakwaters between 1848 and 1905, the harbour is now a civilian port and popular recreation area, and was used for the 2012 Olympic Games. The name Portland is used for one of the British Sea Areas, the Romans occupied Portland, reputedly calling it Vindelis. The Vikings first raid on England occurred in Portland in 787 AD, three lost Viking ships from Hordaland landed at Portland Bill. The kings reeve tried to collect taxes from them, but they killed him, in 1539 King Henry VIII ordered the construction of Portland Castle for defence against attacks by the French, the castle cost £4,964. It is one of the best preserved castles from this period, well-known buildings in the capital, including St Pauls Cathedral and the eastern front of Buckingham Palace feature the stone. Portland cement has nothing to do with Portland, it was so named due to its colour to Portland stone when mixed with lime. There have been railways in Portland since the early 19th century, the Merchants Railway was the earliest—it opened in 1826 and ran from the quarries at the north of Tophill to a pier at Castletown, from where the Portland stone was shipped around the country. The line closed to passengers in 1952, and the goods train ran in April 1965. The Royal National Institution for the Preservation of Life from Shipwreck stationed a lifeboat at Portland in 1826, coastal flooding has affected Portlands residents and transport for centuries—the only way off the island by land is along the causeway in the lee of Chesil Beach. At times of extreme floods this road link is cut by floods, the low-lying village of Chiswell used to flood on average every 5 years. Chesil Beach occasionally faces severe storms and massive waves, which have a fetch across the Atlantic Ocean, in the 1980s it was agreed that a scheme to protect against a one-in-five-year storm would be practicable, it would reduce flood depth and duration in more severe storms. At the start of the First World War, HMS Hood was sunk in the passage between the southern breakwaters to protect the harbour from torpedo and submarine attack. Portland Harbour was formed by the construction of breakwaters, but before that the anchorage had hosted ships of the Royal Navy for more than 500 years
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Landslide
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A landslide, also known as a landslip, is a form of mass wasting that includes a wide range of ground movements, such as rockfalls, deep failure of slopes, and shallow debris flows. Landslides can occur underwater, called a submarine landslide, coastal, although the action of gravity is the primary driving force for a landslide to occur, there are other contributing factors affecting the original slope stability. Typically, pre-conditional factors build up specific sub-surface conditions that make the prone to failure. Landslides occur when the changes from a stable to an unstable condition. A change in the stability of a slope can be caused by a number of factors, slope material that becomes saturated with water may develop into a debris flow or mud flow. The resulting slurry of rock and mud may pick up trees, houses and cars, debris flow is often mistaken for flash flood, but they are entirely different processes. Muddy-debris flows in alpine areas cause severe damage to structures and infrastructure, muddy-debris flows can start as a result of slope-related factors and shallow landslides can dam stream beds, resulting in temporary water blockage. As the impoundments fail, an effect may be created, with a remarkable growth in the volume of the flowing mass. The solid–liquid mixture can reach densities of up to 2,000 kg/m3, for a small basin in the Italian Alps affected by a debris flow, estimated a peak discharge of 750 m3/s for a section located in the middle stretch of the main channel. At the same section, the maximum foreseeable water discharge, was 19 m3/s. Earthflows are downslope, viscous flows of saturated, fine-grained materials, typically, they can move at speeds from 0.17 to 20 km/h. Though these are a lot like mudflows, overall they are slow moving and are covered with solid material carried along by flow from within. They are different from fluid flows which are more rapid, clay, fine sand and silt, and fine-grained, pyroclastic material are all susceptible to earthflows. The velocity of the earthflow is all dependent on how much content is in the flow itself, if there is more water content in the flow. This thereby creates a bulging lobe which advances with a slow, as these lobes spread out, drainage of the mass increases and the margins dry out, thereby lowering the overall velocity of the flow. This process causes the flow to thicken, the bulbous variety of earthflows are not that spectacular, but they are much more common than their rapid counterparts. They develop a sag at their heads and are derived from the slumping at the source. Earthflows occur much more during periods of precipitation, which saturates the ground
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Lulworth Cove
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Lulworth Cove is a cove near the village of West Lulworth, on the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site in Dorset, southern England. The cove is one of the worlds finest examples of such a landform and it is close to the rock arch of Durdle Door and other Jurassic Coast sites. Lulworth Cove featured on the TV programme Seven Natural Wonders as one of the wonders of southern England, the cove has formed as a result of bands of rock of alternating resistance running parallel to the shore. On the seaward side the clays and sands have been eroded away, a narrow band of Portland limestone rocks forms the shoreline. Behind this is a band of slightly less resistant Purbeck limestone. Behind this are 300–350 metres of much less resistant clays and greensands, forming the back of the cove is a 250-metre-wide band of chalk, which is considerably more resistant than the clays and sands, but less resistant than the limestones. The entrance to the cove is a gap in the limestone bands, formed by wave action. The wide part of the cove is where the weak clays, at the back of the cove, the sea has been unable to erode the chalk as fast because chalk does not dissolve in the sea acids. The unique shape of the cove is a result of wave diffraction, the narrow entrance to the cove causes waves to bend into an arced shape, as is visible in the photograph below. Stair Hole, less than half a mile away, is an infant cove which suggests what Lulworth Cove would have looked like a few hundred years ago. The sea has made a gap in the Portland and Purbeck limestone here, the sea has made its way through to the Wealdon clays and begun eroding them. The clay shows obvious signs of slumping, and is eroding very rapidly, stair Hole shows one of the best examples of limestone folding in the world, caused by movements in the Earths crust millions of years ago. Folding can also be seen at nearby Durdle Door and at Lulworth cove itself, Lulworth acts as a gateway to this part of the Jurassic Coast. As well as the cove, across Hambury Tout is Durdle Door, to the east there is a fossilised forest. Lulworth is also close to Kimmeridge, famous for its rocky shore, oil-bearing sands beneath the sea bed form the largest British oil field outside the North Sea area, and contain the highest quality oil in Europe. Geologists and geographers have been interested in the area since the beginning of the 19th century, since then the area has drawn Geology students from all over the world. Purbeck suffers from trampling because of its visitors and erosion from the sea. Management has been put in place to stop the coastline from being ruined, such as wooden steps and these will keep people to a certain path and steps will reinforce the ground
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Lyme Regis
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Lyme Regis /ˌlaɪmˈriːdʒɪs/ is a coastal town in West Dorset, England, situated 25 miles west of Dorchester and 25 miles east of Exeter. The town lies in Lyme Bay, on the English Channel coast at the Dorset–Devon border and it is nicknamed The Pearl of Dorset. The town is noted for the found in the cliffs and beaches. The town was home to Admiral Sir George Somers, its one-time mayor and he founded the English colonial settlement of the Somers Isles, better known as Bermuda. Lyme Regis is twinned with St. Georges, Bermuda, in July 2015 Lyme Regis was also tripled with Jamestown, Virginia to form the Historic Atlantic Triangle between Lyme, St Georges and Jamestown. In the 2011 Census the towns parish and the ward had a population of 3,671. In Saxon times, the abbots of Sherborne Abbey had salt-boiling rights on land adjacent to the River Lym, Lyme is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086. In the 13th century, it developed as one of the major British ports, a Royal Charter was granted by King Edward I in 1284 when Regis was added to the towns name. The charter was confirmed by Queen Elizabeth I in 1591, John Leland visited the town in the 16th century and described it as a praty market town set in the rootes of an high rokky hille down to the hard shore. There cummith a shalow broke from the hilles about a three miles by north, and cummith fleting on great stones through a bridge in the botom. In 1644, during the English Civil War, Parliamentarians withstood a siege of the town by Royalist forces under Prince Maurice. The Duke of Monmouth landed at Lyme Regis at start of the Monmouth Rebellion in 1685, on New Years Day,1915, the H. M. S. Formidable was torpedoed, the first major U-boat loss of World War I, a local lifeboat delivered bodies to the Pilot Boat Inn on Bridge Street. Lassie, the dog of the Inns owner, licked the face of Seaman Cowan, believed dead, the namesake of the cross-breed became a legend of books, radio, film and television. In 1965, the railway station was closed, in the Beeching Axe. The station was dismantled and rebuilt at Alresford, on the Mid Hants Watercress Railway in Hampshire, the route to Lyme Regis was notable for being operated by aged Victorian locomotives. One of these Adams Radial Tank engines is now preserved on the Bluebell Railway in Sussex, West Country Class steam locomotive No.34009 was named Lyme Regis after the town. In 2005, as part of the bicentenary of Admiral Nelsons victory at the Battle of Trafalgar, the actor playing the part of Trafalgar messenger Lieutenant Lapenotiere was welcomed at Lyme Regis
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Ammonoidea
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Ammonoids are an extinct group of marine mollusc animals in the subclass Ammonoidea of the class Cephalopoda. These molluscs are more related to living coleoids than they are to shelled nautiloids such as the living Nautilus species. The earliest ammonites appear during the Devonian, and the last species died out during the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, Ammonites are excellent index fossils, and it is often possible to link the rock layer in which a particular species or genus is found to specific geologic time periods. Their fossil shells usually take the form of planispirals, although there were some helically spiraled and nonspiraled forms, the name ammonite, from which the scientific term is derived, was inspired by the spiral shape of their fossilized shells, which somewhat resemble tightly coiled rams horns. Pliny the Elder called fossils of these animals ammonis cornua because the Egyptian god Ammon was typically depicted wearing rams horns, often the name of an ammonite genus ends in -ceras, which is Greek for horn. The topology of the septa, especially around the rim, results in the various suture patterns found, three major types of suture patterns are found in the Ammonoidea, Goniatitic - numerous undivided lobes and saddles, typically 8 lobes around the conch. This pattern is characteristic of the Paleozoic ammonoids, ceratitic - lobes have subdivided tips, giving them a saw-toothed appearance, and rounded undivided saddles. This suture pattern is characteristic of Triassic ammonoids and appears again in the Cretaceous pseudoceratites, ammonitic - lobes and saddles are much subdivided, subdivisions are usually rounded instead of saw-toothed. Ammonoids of this type are the most important species from a point of view. This suture type is characteristic of Jurassic and Cretaceous ammonoids, the siphuncle in most ammonoids by far is a narrow tubular structure that runs along the outer rim, known as the venter, connecting the chambers of the phragmocone to the body or living chamber. This distinguishes them from living nautiloides and typical Nautilida, the word siphuncle comes from the New Latin siphunculus, meaning little siphon. Originating from within the bactritoid nautiloids, the ammonoid cephalopods first appeared in the Devonian, while nearly all nautiloids show gently curving sutures, the ammonoid suture line is variably folded, forming saddles and lobes. In subsequent taxonomies, these are regarded as orders within the subclass Ammonoidea. Because ammonites and their relatives are extinct, little is known about their way of life. Their soft body parts are rarely preserved in any detail. Nonetheless, much has been worked out by examining ammonoid shells, synchrotron analysis of an aptychophoran ammonite revealed remains of isopod and mollusc larvae in its buccal cavity, indicating at least this kind of ammonite fed on plankton. They may have avoided predation by squirting ink, much like modern cephalopods, the soft body of the creature occupied the largest segments of the shell at the end of the coil. The smaller earlier segments were walled off and the animal could maintain its buoyancy by filling them with gas, thus, the smaller sections of the coil would have floated above the larger sections
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Mary Anning
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Her findings contributed to important changes in scientific thinking about prehistoric life and the history of the Earth. She nearly died in 1833 during a landslide that killed her dog and her observations played a key role in the discovery that coprolites, known as bezoar stones at the time, were fossilised faeces. She also discovered that belemnite fossils contained fossilised ink sacs like those of modern cephalopods, Anning did not fully participate in the scientific community of 19th-century Britain, who were mostly Anglican gentlemen. She struggled financially for much of her life and her family was poor, and her father, a cabinetmaker, died when she was eleven. She became well known in circles in Britain, Europe, and America. Nonetheless, as a woman, she was not eligible to join the Geological Society of London, indeed, she wrote in a letter, The world has used me so unkindly, I fear it has made me suspicious of everyone. After her death in 1847, her life story attracted increasing interest. An uncredited author in All the Year Round, edited by Charles Dickens, wrote of her in 1865 that he carpenters daughter has won a name for herself, and has deserved to win it. Her fame rose again in the early 20th century and her story was the inspiration for the 1908 tongue-twister She sells seashells on the seashore by Terry Sullivan. In 2010, one hundred and sixty-three years after her death, Anning was born in Lyme Regis in Dorset, England. Her father, Richard Anning, was a cabinetmaker who supplemented his income by mining the coastal cliff-side fossil beds near the town and he married Mary Moore, known as Molly, on 8 August 1793 in Blandford Forum. The couple moved to Lyme and lived in a built on the towns bridge. They attended the Dissenter chapel on Coombe Street, whose worshippers initially called themselves independents, Richard and Molly had ten children. The first child, Mary, was born in 1794 and she was followed by another girl, who died almost at once, Joseph in 1796, and another son in 1798, who died in infancy. In December that year, the oldest child, then four years old, died after her clothes caught fire, possibly while adding wood shavings to the fire. The incident was reported in the Bath Chronicle on 27 December 1798, A child, four years of age of Mr. R. Anning, in a room where there were some shavings. The girls clothes caught fire and she was so dreadfully burnt as to cause her death, when another daughter was born just five months later, she was named Mary after her dead sister. More children were born after her, but none of them survived more than a couple of years, only Mary and Joseph survived to adulthood
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Paleontology
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Paleontology or palaeontology is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene Epoch. It includes the study of fossils to determine organisms evolution and interactions with each other, paleontological observations have been documented as far back as the 5th century BC. The science became established in the 18th century as a result of Georges Cuviers work on comparative anatomy, and developed rapidly in the 19th century. The term itself originates from Greek παλαιός, palaios, i. e. old, ancient, ὄν, on, i. e. being, creature and λόγος, logos, i. e. speech, thought, study. Paleontology lies on the border between biology and geology, but differs from archaeology in that it excludes the study of modern humans. It now uses techniques drawn from a range of sciences, including biochemistry, mathematics. The final quarter of the 20th century saw the development of molecular phylogenetics, molecular phylogenetics has also been used to estimate the dates when species diverged, but there is controversy about the reliability of the molecular clock on which such estimates depend. The simplest definition is the study of ancient life, paleontology is one of the historical sciences, along with archaeology, geology, astronomy, cosmology, philology and history itself. This means that it aims to describe phenomena of the past, hence it has three main elements, description of the phenomena, developing a general theory about the causes of various types of change, and applying those theories to specific facts. Sometimes the smoking gun is discovered by an accident during other research. Paleontology lies on the boundary between biology and geology since paleontology focuses on the record of past life but its source of evidence is fossils. In addition paleontology often uses techniques derived from other sciences, including biology, osteology, ecology, chemistry, techniques developed in engineering have been used to analyse how ancient organisms might have worked, for example how fast Tyrannosaurus could move and how powerful its bite was. As knowledge has increased, paleontology has developed specialised subdivisions, vertebrate paleontology concentrates on fossils of vertebrates, from the earliest fish to the immediate ancestors of modern mammals. Invertebrate paleontology deals with fossils of such as molluscs, arthropods. Paleobotany focuses on the study of plants, but traditionally includes the study of fossil algae. Palynology, the study of pollen and spores produced by plants and protists. Micropaleontology deals with all microscopic fossil organisms, regardless of the group to which they belong, one example is the development of oxygenic photosynthesis by bacteria, which hugely increased the productivity and diversity of ecosystems. This also caused the oxygenation of the atmosphere, together, these were a prerequisite for the evolution of the most complex eukaryotic cells, from which all multicellular organisms are built
