A 96-mile stretch of southern English coastline exposing 185 million years of geological history.
Jurassic Coast
The Jurassic Coast is a World Heritage Site on the English Channel coast of southern England, stretching roughly 96 miles from Exmouth in East Devon to Studland Bay in Dorset. Inscribed on the World Heritage List in 2001, it was the first wholly natural World Heritage Site to be designated in the United Kingdom. The coastline exposes an almost continuous sequence of Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous rock formations, revealing 185 million years of Earth history across a landscape shaped by active coastal erosion.
At different points in deep time this region has been a desert, a shallow tropical sea, and a coastal marsh; the varied environments have left behind an exceptional fossil record, including ammonites, marine reptiles, insects, and early mammals, preserved in clearly layered sedimentary rocks. The geological character of the coast is reflected in dramatic landforms such as Durdle Door, Lulworth Cove, Chesil Beach, the Isle of Portland, and Old Harry Rocks, which together illustrate fundamental coastal geomorphology as well as paleontological heritage.
Beyond its scientific importance, the Jurassic Coast is closely linked to the early development of paleontology as a discipline, not least through the work of the fossil collector Mary Anning at Lyme Regis. It is also a living, eroding coastline where landslides, cliff falls, and weather events continue to reshape both the rocks and the communities along its edge, making it a globally significant site for both earth science research and public engagement with geology.
