The Eastern Coast of Dorset

Abstract

The Eastern coast of Dorset, running from Portland to Bournemouth, has some remarkable coastal features, including major mass movements behind Weymouth Beach, at Osmington Mills and White Nothe. Further east, there are two sets of landforms that illustrate the evolution of coastal scenery through time. The first location is centred on Lulworth Cove, where fluvial and coastal erosion have produced a series of different bay forms developed in Jurassic and Cretaceous rocks, including Durdle Door and Scratchy Bottom. The second location is the South Haven (Studland) Peninsula, where coastal dune evolution over more than four centuries has been established. Both the dunes at Studland and the salt marshes in Poole Harbour display the role of vegetation in coastal evolution.