![\"Durdle-Door\"](\"http:\/\/chineland.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Durdle-Door.jpg\")
<\/a>Durdle Door<\/p><\/div>\n
The Jurassic Coast consists of\u00a0Triassic (200-250 million years old),\u00a0Jurassic (200 \u2013 145 million years old)\u00a0and\u00a0Cretaceous (145-60 million years old)\u00a0cliffs, spanning the\u00a0Mesozoic\u00a0Era and documents 185 million years of\u00a0the Earth\u2019s geological history.<\/p>\n
The area includes excellent examples of landforms, including the\u00a0natural arch\u00a0at\u00a0Durdle Door, the cove\u00a0and\u00a0limestone folding\u00a0at\u00a0Lulworth Cove\u00a0and an island, the\u00a0Isle of Portland.\u00a0Chesil Beach\u00a0is a fine example of both a tombolo\u00a0(a deposition landform in which an island is attached to the mainland by a narrow piece of land such as a spit or bar) and a\u00a0storm beach\u00a0(a beach affected by particularly fierce waves). The site has stretches of both concordant\u00a0and\u00a0discordant\u00a0coastlines. Due to the quality of the varied geology, the site is the subject of international\u00a0field studies. This area was home to\u00a0Mary Anning, a\u00a0palaeontologist\u00a0who studied the fossils of the coastline around Lyme Regis and discovered the first complete\u00a0Ichthyosaur fossil at the Spittles. The highest point on the JurassicCoast, and on the entire south coast of Britain, is\u00a0Golden Cap\u00a0at 191 metres (627\u00a0ft).<\/p>\n
<\/a>Old Harry Rocks<\/p><\/div>\n
During\u00a0World War II\u00a0several sections of the JurassicCoast became property of the\u00a0Ministry of War. One of the Royal Navy’s largest bases was at\u00a0PortlandHarbour, though it has since closed. A major army base at Bovington\u00a0remains in use today, and large areas of land, including the coast between\u00a0Lulworth Cove\u00a0and Kimmeridge, including\u00a0the ghost village of Tyneham, are still only partially accessible. Areas of the coast near Exmouth, The Fleet at Weymouth and the beaches at Studland\u00a0have also been used for training for war, but have since been returned to civilian use. Sea stacks, such as Old Harry’s Rocks at Handfast Point, are an occasional feature of the coast.<\/p>\n
Parts of the coast, especially around Portland, can be dangerous, and shipwrecks have been a feature of the coast. In January 2007 the coast experienced its most environmentally damaging wreck when the\u00a0MSC\u00a0<\/span>Napoli<\/i>, a 2,400 capacity container ship, was beached at Branscombe near Sidmouth, losing oil and cargo. Landslips\u00a0and rockfalls are a continuing feature of the evolution of this coast. On May 6 2008, a 400-metre (1,312\u00a0ft) section of the coast was dramatically re-shaped after a landslip that was described as the worst in 100 years.
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