Folded Strata - Boscastle, Cornwall
Posted by: SMacB
N 50° 41.536 W 004° 41.915
30U E 380028 N 5616980
Layered strata contorted by earth movements at Boscastle
Waymark Code: WMN1VF
Location: South West England, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 12/09/2014
Views: 4
"The coast between Boscastle and Widemouth is characterised by high slumped cliffs leading to areas of thickly vegetated, sloping lower undercliffs. The underlying rock, a type of shale which is easily fractured, is known to geologists as the Crackington formation and the layered strata contorted by earth movements can best be seen at Crackington Haven and Millook. The rocks date to the Namurian stage roughly 326 to 313 Ma (million years ago) and were folded during the Variscan orogeny a period of mountain building caused by the collision of two continents."
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"The coastal cliffs and outcrops in this site provide accessible exposures of contorted Carboniferous slates, siltstones and sandstones of the Crackington Formation. The complex structures found here were the subject of a classic study more than thirty years ago which led to much further study of the geological structure of this region. A particularly well-known feature of this site is the superb exposure of refolded folds found on Penally Point which also appears as an illustration in many textbooks. The accessibility of this site and the good, three-dimensional nature of the exposures make it ideal for detailed examination and measurement of major and minor structures including folds, faults, fractures, cleavage and veins. The outcrops have played an important part in establishing the complex structural history of South West England and have helped to resolve a number of related controversies. Together with sites at Millook and Bude, this locality enables structures in the ‘Culm’ and South West England to be examined, compared and correlated."
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