Landforms of the South Coast. The bands of soft rock erode more quickly than those of the more resistant hard rock leaving a section of land jutting out into the sea, called a headland. The entrance to the cove is narrow where the waves have cut through weaknesses in the resistant limestone. The limestone cliffs forming the back wall of the cove are vulnerable to mass movement and sometimes experience small slides and slumps. Coastlines where the geology alternates between bands of hard and soft rock which are perpendicular to the shore are called discordant coastlines. Chesil Beach Fact file:

The headland juts out into the sea, so it is more vulnerable to high-energy waves. Lulworth Cove 10 facts about Lulworth Cove: Lulworth Cove is a landform created by coastal erosion on the Dorset Coast. Durdle Door Fact file: Sea wall Concrete sea walls are in place along most of Swanage beach. The area around Swanage is made up of bands of hard and soft rock. A map of the coastline showing the different layers of rock found at Lulworth and Durdle door cortesy of The Lulworth Estate.

This creates a cove which is a circular area of water with a relatively narrow entrance way from the sea. Lulworth Atudy has occurred on a concordant coastline. Chemical weathering and erosion are gradually wearing down these down.

The Portland limestone is resistant to erosion; then to the north there is Swanage Bay where the rock type is a softer greensand. The entrance to the cove is narrow where the waves have cut through weaknesses in the resistant levrl. Sediment has been deposited over time to form a spit.

An explanation of the formation of the cove can be found on the right. An arch at the end of the headland has collpased to form a stack called Old Goegraphy and a stump called Old Harry’s Wife. The arch is gradually being worn away by mechanical, chemical and biological weathering.

Durdle Door Fact file: Chesil Beach Fact file: The area is extremely important for its geology, with some of the finest folding strata in Europe” BBC, Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email. A coev coastline has the same type of rock along its length.

Fact file: Lulworth Cove – Landforms of the South Coast

This area of the Jurassic coastline provides a habitat for a diverse range of natural life, particularly butterflies. Work has been done on preserving the shape of the cove and developing a heritage visitors centre, which has overvisitors in Biological weathering caused by the vegetation on the top of the headland is also breaking up the rock. The spit has continued to join to the Isle of Portland. Each year more than The headland is made out of chalk, a hard rock.

Lulworth cove – Example case

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The limestone cliffs forming the back wall of the cove are vulnerable to mass movement and sometimes experience small slides and slumps. At the end of the last ice age, a river formed from glacial meltwater flowed overland to the sea. Lulworth Cove is situated on the south coast of England, on a concordant coastline. Sometimes the outer hard rock is punctured allowing the sea to erode the softer rocks behind. Towards the northern end of the bay the cliffs are covered in vegetation, stablising them and protecting them from erosion.

Discordant coastline occurs where bands of differing rock type run perpendicular to the coast. Erosion by waves opened up a crack in the headland, which then became a cave and eventually an arch.

The outer hard rock is Portland limestone.

At the back of the cove is a band of more resistant chalk, so erosion is slower here. As areas of the Dorset coast are being eroded, properities and infrastructure are at risk.

Hurricane Katrina Case Study. Geograpgy is called the Jurassic Coast as it has lots of fossils dating back to the Jurassic period.