A major fault known as the Abbotsbury fault runs from the coast below Abbotsbury Castle eastward along the base of the South Dorset Ridgeway and acts as a major geological boundary in the landscape. The Abbotsbury fault is associated with the Weymouth anticline (the major geological fold controlling the rock exposure in the Weymouth area).
The Abbostsbury fault causes a sharp transition between the Jurassic geology (174-157 million years ago), which shows a time period of general sea level fall, and the Cretaceous geology (105-100 million years old) of clays and sandstones, which were laid down in a tropical sea environment.
Due to the barrier beach of Chesil acting as a natural sea defence, the cliffs behind it are sheltered from the extreme erosion elsewhere on the Jurassic Coast. This lack of erosion prevents much fossil interest here as the rocks and fossils within them are retained in the cliffs. Yet marine fossils from the Fuller’s Earth, Forest Marble, Corallian and Oxford Clay do present themselves occasionally.
Must see areas include:
- Abbotsbury Castle (Iron Age hillfort)
- Abbotsbury Subtropical Gardens
- Abbotsbury swannery
- Burton Bradstock
- Chesil Beach and the Fleet Lagoon
- Cogden Beach
- St Catherine’s Chapel
- West Bexington
to add an item to your Itinerary basket.
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