A Gig Rowers' guide to the Geology of the Coast around West Bay

Not satisfied by potentially boring people with Geological facts whilst rowing I thought I might as well try to do the same whilst you are also at home! My original intention was to describe the rocks that we see as we row along our beautiful part of the coast. Something like a Geological "Eye Spy" guide to the cliffs.

However, when thinking about this I found that I first wanted to "set the scene" a bit by describing in more general terms what was happening in our part of the world when the rocks that we see today were being formed. I also quickly became conscious that there are lots of terms used to describe rocks and I wanted to provide some details of what these terms mean. Finally I wanted to try and convey the enormous periods of time that are involved in crafting the (mainly static) rocks that we see now.

Of course, all of this means that the items in Section A below might not be that interesting to everyone! If you find that this is the case then please just skip Section A (I won't cry that much if you do) and move straight on to Section B where I describe the rocks that we see as we row East or West out of the harbour. Of course if the opposite is the case and you would like more of this type of stuff then please book yourself onto a boat that I am coxing and do the very dangerous thing of asking me a Geological question!

I have highlighted in Bold text the key geologial terms and also some of the key places and events involved in this story.

John Caswell - November 2021