West, Ian M. 2012. Purbeck Type Section - Durlston Bay; a Geological Bibliography: Geology of the Wessex Coast. http://www.southampton.ac.uk/~imw/durlbib.htm. Version: 11th October 2012.

Durlston Bay, UK, Field Guide - Bibliography and References

Ian West, Romsey, Hampshire
and:
Faculty of Natural and Environmental Sciences,
Southampton University,

Webpage hosted by courtesy of iSolutions, Southampton University
Aerial photographs by courtesy of The Channel Coastal Observatory , National Oceanography Centre, Southampton.

|Home and List of Webpages |Bibliography of the Purbeck Formation | Purbeck Bibliography - Alphabetical | Purbeck Dinosaur Bibliography | | Purbeck Palaeoenvironments | | St. Aldhelm's Head, Isle of Purbeck |St. Winspit and Seacombe, Isle of Purbeck. | Dancing Ledge and adjacent cliffs, Isle of Purbeck | Anvil Point to Blackers Hole, Isle of Purbeck | Durlston Head, Isle of Purbeck |St. Aldhelm's Hd to Anvil Point - Geological Bibliography |Durlston Bay - Peveril Point, Upper Purbeck Formation |Durlston Bay, Middle Purbeck Durlston Bay - Lower Purbeck |Durlston Bay - Central Zigzag Part & Coast Erosion |Durlston Head - Lower Purbeck Formation & Portland Stone

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. Durlston Bay - northern part Mr Beckles .

This is: Bibliography and References. It is part of a series of webpages on Durlston Bay.

Go to Purbeck Formation Bibliography?

Durlston Bay, - Upper Purbeck Formation
Durlston Bay - Middle Purbeck (Cretaceous)
Durlston Bay, Swanage, Middle Purbeck
Durlston Bay - Central Zigzag Part & Coast Erosion
Durlston Head - Lower Purbeck Formation & Portland Stone
Durlston Bay - Bibliography




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References and Bibliography
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General
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Allen , P. and Keith, M.L. 1965. Carbon isotope ratios and palaeosalinities of Purbeck-Wealden carbonates. Nature, 208, 1278-1280.

Allen, P. and Wimbledon, W.A. 1991. Correlation of NW European Purbeck-Wealden (nonmarine Lower Cretaceous) as seen from the English type-areas. Cretaceous Research, 12, 511-526. [Notes: Correlation within and between the onshore basins is reviewed and revised. English Wealden and Purbeck stratotypes in separate subbasins, overlap in time and not fully correlated. Transgression-regression phases do not necessarily reflect eustatic changes of sea-level." Independent tests of synchoneity needed. Cinder may be diachronous (Wimbledon and Hunt, 1983). J-K boundary at Berriasella jacobi zone ? At Durlston the Cypris Freestone palynomorphs and overlying ostracods equate with the Pseudosubplanites grandis subzone (above the jacobi zone). Thus the Cretaceous base corresponds to Purbeck base. If Berriasian base, however, drawn at Subthurmannia subalpina subzone then the J-K boundary will be at or a little below the quasi marine Cinder Bed. Pb spans Berriasian but how far it extends up into the Valanginian is unknown. Bundle of horizons - Classopolis decline, Cypridea posticalis, quasi marine Cinder Bed is followed by early Cretaceous rise of kaolinite. Hiatus oily boulder sandstone of Wealden. Dating - Purbeck base at 141 My. Some magnetostratigraphy - reversals CM 18 - CM in Pb.]
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Anderson , E.J. 2001a. The cyclic structure of the Purbeck Group, Lower Cretaceous, Dorset, England. Abstracts, Geological Society of America, N.E. Section Meeting, Burlington, Vermont, March, p. 67.

Anderson, E.J. 2001b. Assymmetrical facies patterns in orbitally forced 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th order sequences: The Purbeckian of Dorset. Abstracts, SEPM Multidisciplinary Approach to Cyclostratigraphy, Workshop, Sorrento, May, pp. 12-13.

Anderson, E.J. 2001c. Integration of bed descriptions, molluscan depth zones and faunicycles with an orbitally forced four-tiered hierarchy of lithic allocycles: In the Lower Cretaceous, Purbeckian of Dorset, England. Abstracts, 21st IAS-Meeting, Davos, September, p. 71.

Anderson, E.J. and Goodwin, P.W. 1990. The significance of metre-scale allocycles in the quest for the fundamental stratigraphic unit. Journal of the Geological Society, London, 147, 507-518. [This theory may be the basis of some later studies of Purbeck "cycles" by Anderson, listed here. The present writer considers, however, that the interplay of Late Kimmerian movement, the variation from basin to shelf, the occurrence of subaerially exposed intervals of unknown length, the rarity of truely marine beds, the progressive palaeoclimatic changes and particularly the lack of appropriate absolute dates makes this theory unsuitable for interpretation of the highly variable and lagoonal, Dorset Purbecks. The discussion on limitations on Walther's Law is probably of relevance, though.]

Anderson, E.J., Perry, L.L. and Stynchula, J.A. 2001. Lateral continuity and discontinuity of 100 ka eccentricity sequences within an orbitally forced cyclic hierarchy: The Purbeck Group, Lower Cretaceous, Dorset, England. Abstracts of the Geological Society of America, Annual Meeting, Boston, p. 323.
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Anderson, F.W. 1932. Phasal deposition in the Middle Purbeck Beds of Dorset. Report of the British Association for the Advancement of Science for 1931, 379-380. [Early report of cyclicity in the Purbecks as shown by ostracod faunas. The start of F.W. Anderson's work.]

Anderson, F.W. 1973. The Jurassic-Cretaceous transition: The non-marine ostracod faunas. In: R.Casey and P.F. Rawson (Eds.) The Boreal Lower Cretaceous. Seel House Press, Liverpool, Special Issue of the Geological Journal, 5, 101-110.

Anderson, F.W. l985. Ostracod faunas in the Purbeck and Wealden of England. Journal of Micropaleontology, 4, pp.l-68. Abstract: The occurrence and abundance of ostracods found in 98 subdivisions (Faunicycles) of late Jurassic to early Cretaceous age in the English Purbeck and Wealden are summarised. Most of the taxa found are illustrated from holotype or other material and details of their ranges and abundance given in relation to each faunicycle. The characters of the ostracod assemblages and zones are decribed. Three new species (Cypriea brendae, C. hispida and Eoparacypris edmundsi) ; also two new subspecies (Cypridea setina pelota and C. tuberculata dorsiclavata) are described and figured. A lectotype for Palaeocytheridea pellucida is selected and figured.
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Annette, B.M. 1960. Limestone Climbs on the Dorset Coast. Southampton University Mountaineering Club. 36 pp. Also later 2nd and 3rd editions. Deals with Portland Stone rock climbs west of Durlston Bay (superseded by Crewe and later climbing guides).
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Anonymous . (undated, 1990s?) Swanage. Climbing Guide. 305 pp. One of a series of southwest England and south Wales rock climbing guidebooks. See Crewe, 1977 (It is possible that the copy I have is only second volume and that full author details are in the first. It just has the title - Swanage. Any further information on this would be appreciated).
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W.J. Arkell The late Dr William Joscelyn Arkell of Oxford University, famous expert on and author of many publications on the Jurassic System. From a painting commissioned by Shell Oil Co. for an International Symposium on the Jurassic System. The photograph was kindly provided by the late Professor Michael House who was once a research student of Dr Arkell.

Arkell, W.J. 1933. The Jurassic System in Great Britain. Clarendon Press, Oxford, 344p.



Arkell, W.J. 1934. Whitsun Field Meeting, 1934, The Isle of Purbeck . Proceedings of the Geologists' Association, 45, 412-419. Report by the Director, W.J. Arkell, M.A., D.Sc., F.G.S.

"On Friday evening, May 18th, about 40 members and guests assembled at the headquarters in Swanage, Craigside Hotel, where the Director gave a short lantern lecture on the geology of the Isle of Purbeck. The routes to be taken on the four days of the field meeting were explained, and slides were shown illustrating the principal geological features to be visited.

Saturday, May 19th. Swanage to Studland.

The party made the trip to Studland by motor-boat, a special boat having been engaged from the Gondolier fleet of Poole. By coasting along the chalk cliffs from Ballard Paint to the Foreland a fine view was obtained of the Purbeck Thrust Fault, lit by the morning sun. The caves and pinnacles carved out of the chalk by the sea, and the stratification marked by the rows of flint nodules, showed to perfection.
On landing at Studland, the way was first led along the beach northwards and up the new road to the top of the knoll by the Knoll House Hotel. From this view-point the Director gave a short resume of Captain Diver's interesting researches on the origin of Littlesea and the sand dunes spread out below. The first sharp rise ascended by the party was the old sea-cliff of the Eocene beds, which was traceable northwards all along the west shore of Littlesea. The broad belt of sandhills to the east of this consists of blown sand and is a recent accretion, far the most part grown up since the beginning of the Seventeenth Century. There are three main rows or ridges of sand. The first, or inner, ridge is covered entirely by heather and ling and looks from a little distance like the Eocene heath beyond Littlesea; the third or outer ridge is of fresh appearance, tufted only with marram grass. A hogs-back of sand on the beach, already colonised by marram grass, seems to be the embryo of a fourth dune ridge. The Director pleaded far the logical naming of the ridges in the order of their formation, the oldest being called the first, instead of in inverse order as had been done by Captain Diver. He also referred to the richness of these heaths in all forms of natural history products - entomological, botanical and zoological -and to the desirability of preventing, by farming a strong public opinion, their exploitation and permanent defacement for the enrichment of the speculative builder when the present ownership comes to an end.

The Agglestone Rock was next visited, and its origin by weathering of the Bagshot Beds was discussed. The path through the heaths gave an opportunity to see something of the calcifuge flora-heather, heaths, gorse, sundew, etc. - typical of the Bagshot Beds and forming such a marked contrast with the floras of the Mesozoic rocks to be visited on the succeeding days.

The walk back to Studland brought the party to the Banks Arms Hotel at 1 o'clock, where some had their lunch, which they had brought with them, while others preferred it on the beach below. After lunch the brightly variegated Bagshot Sands in the cliff at Redend Point were examined, and the origin of the long vertical pipes with ironstone linings formed a subject for speculation. The Director gave a short account of the Lower Tertiary strata of this end of the Hampshire Basin, referring especially to the westerly overlaps in the sequence, the passage of the Bagshots into gravel, and to the Poole and Wareham pottery industry. The junction of the Reading Beds and the Chalk were next examined in the southern corner of the bay, and the nature of the unconformity was discussed. From here the party ascended the cliff through the rather dense undergrowth and walked round the cliff-top to Swanage Bay.
At Punfield Gap the Director gave an account of the" Punfield Beds" controversy and pointed out the exact positions of the Perna Bed, Judd's so called" marine band," and other features of interest. Members then examined the section, from the Wealden Shales to the Chalk, with the help of copies of the description culled from the various chapters of Strahan's memoir, which had been duplicated and handed out in the morning with diagrams of the cliffs and a geological map of Purbeck. The section was studied at some length, and members returned along the beach to Swanage at their leisure, in time for a late tea. The total distance walked was 6 miles.

Sunday, May 20th. Durlston Bay and Tilly Whim Caves.

In the morning some members made an unofficial excursion in private cars to Lulworth and the fossil forest. In the afternoon the whole party walked to Peveril Point and thence round Durlston Bay as far as the faults, to examine in detail the type section of the Purbeck Beds. Many fossils were collected from the Purbeck Marble, Corbula Beds, Cinder Bed, and Mammal Bed - the last yielding some very well preserved minute freshwater gastropods. Special attention was drawn to the zonal value in these strata of the ostracods, and to the work of Forbes, Rupert Jones, Koert, Maillard, Merrett and others in correlating them with the equivalent beds in Wiltshire and Oxfordshire, the Weald, Germany and the Jura Mountains. The Director also laid stress on the evidence of an important marine incursion all over the South of England during the Middle Purbeck, as shown by the Cinder Bed, and the presence of Hemicidaris, Trigonia, Perna, Mytilus, Pecten, Protocardia, etc., and many marine fish, in the Cinder and Feather Beds and the Purbeck Building Stones. In spite of Salfeld's correlation of the German Serpulite with the Cherty Series of the Portland Stone, which also abounds in Serpulae, the Director held strongly that the view of all the earlier geologists was right; namely, that the Serpulite was the equivalent of the Middle Purbeck Beds and the Munder Marls of the Lower Purbeck Beds. All the evidence of the Ostracods and other fauna, as well as the detailed lithology of the whole Purbeck series, is in agreement with this view; and the Serpula of the Serpulite is S. coacervata Blumb.., which occurs in the Cinder Bed, while that in the Portland Stone is S. gordialis Schloth., which is not known in the Serpulite (See Arkell, 1933, pp. 550-1).

Two interesting palceontological finds were mentioned by the Director; the discovery by Professor Hawkins of a colony of the rare Hemicidaris purbeckensis, comprising 38 tests and fragments of tests, in the Cinder Bed at this point (Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc., 1925, vo1. lxxxi, p. cxxviii) and the finding by himself last summer, in a thin band of mudstone a few feet below the Feather Bed, of numerous specimens of Archaeoniscus brodiei. This Isopod occurs in myriads in a similar bed in the Middle Purbeck of the Vale of Wardour, but it had not been previously located on the same horizon in Purbeck. The party, although numerous, were unsuccessful in finding Hemicidaris, Trigonia, Archaeoniscus or mammals. The Purbeck Beds, although highly fossiliferous, require much patient search to yield results.

Climbing up the zig-zag path below Middle Durlston, the party walked to Durlston Castle for tea, and afterwards on to Tilly Whim Caves. At the end of the descent of the tunnel a short account was given of the succession of the Portland Stone displayed, special reference being made to the oyster bed and to the quarrying industry here and in Purbeck generally. In Grabau's "Text-book of Geology" (1920, pp. 812-3) are two photographs of Tilly Whim headed" Elevated sea-caves cut by waves in horizontal Jurassic strata." But we owe to Thomas Webster, who first explored this coast geologically on behalf of Sir H. Englefield ("Picturesque Beauties of the Isle of Wight," 1816, plate 33) an accurate engraving of the" caves" as they appeared in 1811, with the quarrymen still at work. Quarrying, in fact, has alone been responsible for the cutting of these and the many similar galleries and ledges between Durlston and St. Albans Heads.

Some of the party inspected Anvil Point lighthouse, and all found their way home on foot in their own time.

Monday, May 21st. Winspit, St. Alban's Head and Chapman's Pool.

Leaving the motor-coaches at Worth Matravers, members descended the valley to Winspit, where they studied the whole succession of the Portland Stone down to below the middle of the Cherty Series. The Freestone Series was studied in the abandoned quarries and the Cherty Series in the cliff-path and sea-ledges below, where a serpulite composed of S. gordialis is well exposed. At the end of the coastguards' path to St. Alban's Head, another quarry in the upper part of the Freestone Series was visited on the point of the headland. Here the Under Freestone has become thin and cherty and is not worked, and the floor of the quarry is formed by the Chert Vein, the stone wrought being the Pon or Pond Freestone. This quarry provides a particularly fine section of the Shrimp Bed and Purbeck Caps.

On emerging from the quarry a visit was paid to the Norman chapel before beginning the descent of Pier Bottom to Chapman's Pool, where lunch was taken on the grass slope above the Pool. From this vantage point the Director gave an account of the stratigraphy of the Portland Sand and Upper Kimeridge Clay of the surrounding cliffs; and drew attention to the reexcavated valleys here and at Winspit, mentioned in a recent paper by Mr. Burton (1932).

The afternoon was quickly passed on the shore of Chapman's Pool and under Hounstout, collecting ammonites (chiefly Pavlovia rotunda and allied forms) from the Rotunda Nodules and Crushed Ammonoid Shales. The party then walked up Coomb Bottom and by way of Renscombe Farm to Worth. Tea was spread ready in the garden of the Post Office stores.

After tea the motor-coaches were taken to Corfe, where some members alighted to see the castle, while the main body turned south to visit the remarkable tufa deposit near Blashenwell. The quarry still showed a good section about 5 ft. deep, and numerous land gastropods and artificially flaked flint chips were soon found, together with plant impressions, and some charcoal and limpets, left by the Neolithic men who worked the flints. A lively discussion arose as to the mode of origin of the deposit (see Reid, 1896).

On the way the motor-coaches were stopped at Kingston to visit the Eldon memorial church, built entirely of Portland Stone and Purbeck Marble quarried on the estate. Opened in 1880, it is the last example of an extensive use of the Viviparus marble, and is most effective.

The total walking distance during the day was 7 miles."
[end of extract. The report continues with Tuesday May 22nd - Purbeck Hills, Worbarrow and Kimeridge. finally - "Tea was taken in the Castle Tea Rooms at Corfe, on a lawn overlooking the castle, and Swanage was reached in time for members to catch the 5.27 train to Waterloo. The total distance walked during the day was 3 and a half miles." A reference list is given.]



Arkell, W.J. 1941. The gastropods of the Purbeck Beds. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, London, 97, 79-128.

Arkell, W.J. 1947. reprinted 1953. The Geology of the Country around Weymouth, Swanage, Corfe and Lulworth. Memoir of the Geological Survey, 386 pp.
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Austen , J. H. 1852. A Guide to the Geology of the Isle of Purbeck and the South-West Coast of Hampshire. Blandford. W. Ship, Printer and Publisher. 20 pp. By the Rev. John H. Austen, M.A. ["The following sketch of the Geology of the S.E. of Dorset has been compiled from notes taken at various periods during three years' residence in the Isle of Purbeck, but which were unavoidably brought to a hasty conclusion, a circumstance which the writer trusts will be a sufficient excuse for any inaccuracies which it may contain. He however anticipates that it will prove to be a sufficient guide to the stranger in this interesting district. Ensbury House, July, 1852. " The most important part with regard to the Purbeck Formation is the log on pages 9 -14 with 129 beds at Durlston Bay listed. The record of fossils and old bed names is useful. Fisher's 1856 log is a modification of this.]

Austen, J.H. 1857. Sections in Durlston Bay based on work of Mr Lester and Mr Fisher. Purbeck Society 1856-7, 116-119.
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Benfield , E. 1948. Purbeck Shop; A Stoneworker's Story of Stone. With an Introduction by Professor A.E. Richardson, A.R.A., F.R.I.B.A. Cambridge University Press. 172pp. Example extract on Durlston Bay ( p.9 ) : " A little farther on the lannen-vein sweeps to the cliff top, but as the cliff is growing higher the seam is in sight longer before it crops out into nothing. The lannen-vein has always been a favourite stone to dig, and as there is much more of it than the marble there many shafts where it has been dug; but it crops out near the foot of the hill, and therefore, as will be seen, was never as plentiful as the deeper seams. For there are other seams running to the cliff top in the same way, underlying the marble all through the hill and reappearing in Worbarrow Tout. The blue rag follows under the lannen-vein, and is succeeded by the freestone beds, which in their turn give way to the downs vein, and then the caps, and then the new-vein, all of them workable seams, with one other seam beneath them which no has ever dug because it is full of flints. " [An interesting book with some old photographs]

Benfield, E. 1990. Purbeck Shop. A Stoneworker's Story of Stone. Introduction by Brian Bugler. Ensign. [by Eric Benfield].
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Bird , E. 1995. Geology and Scenery of Dorset. Ex Libris Press. Bradford on Avon. 207 pp. ISBN 0 948578 72 6.
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Brannon , P. 1860. The Illustrated and Picturesque Guide to Swanage & the Isle of Purbeck, with a Clear Digest of the Geology and a Minute Description of the Coast from Bournemouth Bay to White Nore. R. Sydenham, Longman & Co., London. 2nd Edition. 106 pp.
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Braye , J. 1890. Swanage (Isle of Purbeck): Its History, Resources as an Invigorating Health Resort, Botany and Geology. 2nd Edition. William Henry Everett and Son, Salisbury Square, Fleet Street, London, 119 pp. (John Bray). Price One Shilling. [Notes: Introduction by L. Forbes Winslow, Physician to the North London Hospital for Consumption. Extract - " Swanage is happily placed with regard to good stone and marble, the Purbeck stone having been used for ages in paving the streets of London, and by the Government in military works at Portsmouth, Dover, and elsewhere. Certainly this should be sufficient guarantee of its durability and suitability for building a substantial town for the future generations. The minor question of cost should not not be an insurmountable obstacle. - If a gentleman wants a coat he goes to Savile Row or Bond Street - a working man finds his way to Hounditch. -- Much is said in the present day about sanitary buildings, but little of the foolish vagaries of those inflated gentlemen the architects, who have managed to spoil many of our pleasure places by putting up shoddy buildings of lath and plaster, and ticketing them with fantastic names such as "Bungalow". -- Such buildings are well suited to stand a few years in the tropics; but utterly worthless for a decent watering place, and the builders who errect them should be prosecuted for tempting frivolous and thoughtless pleasure-seekers to risk their lives in them." (and more in this style!). ---- Geology chapter by Horace B. Woodward, F.G.S. pp 63-82. Extract: "The Purbeck Beds mark changing conditions; freshwater limestones, botryoidal and tufaceous in character, like beds of travertine, are succeeded in places by evidences of land vegetation in the now silicified remains of Cycads and Conifers. The beds indicate that after the freshwater and terrestrial conditions, which may have been marked by a lake or a series of lagoons, a sudden irruption of the sea in Middle Purbeck times allowed the incursion of marine forms like the Pecten, Avicula, and Hemicidaris. These were succeeded by a gradual change from brackish to freshwater conditions in Upper Purbeck times, when the Unio, Physa, Valvata, Paludina, and Planorbis flourished. " (a good geological account, but note that, with modern knowledge, we now know that not all the points made in the extract are correct).]
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Brodie , P.B. 1845. A History of the Fossil Insects in the Secondary Rocks of England, Accompanied by a Particular Account of the Strata in Which they Occur, and of the Circumstances Connected with their Preservation. John Van Voorst, Paternoster Row, London. 130 pp. & Plates. This is more concerned with Purbeck insects and isopods ( Archaeoniscus brodiei ) from the Vale of Wardour, Wiltshire and does not contain details of the Durlston section. See the papers of Jarzembowski for Purbeck fossil insects from Dorset.
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Bristow , H.W. 1856. Comparative Vertical Sections of the Purbeck Strata. Geological Survey of Great Britain, Nos. 1,2 and 3 by H.W. Bristow. No. 4 by the Reverend. Osmond Fisher and H.W. Bristow. Reference maps no. 16 and 17. Engraved by J.W. Lowry. No. 1 is the Durlston section by Bristow.

Bristow, H.W. 1884. Section of the Purbeck Strata of Durlston Bay, Dorset. pp. 201-209 in: Damon, R. 1884. Geology of Weymouth, Portland and the Coast of Dorsetshire (2nd ed). Weymouth. [with a list of fossils from Durlston Bay, particularly mammals - 28 species of 15 genera.]

Bristow, H.W. and Fisher, O. 1857. Vertical Section, Sheet 22, Geological Survey of Great Britain.


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British Geological Survey (BGS). (Compiler Wood, M.A.) 2011. Geology of South Dorset and South-East Devon and its World Heritage Coast.

The cover of the 2011 South Dorset Memoir of the British Geological Survey

An example page from the British Geological Survey, South Dorset Memoir, 2011

Special Memoir for 1:50,000 geological sheets 328 Dorchester, 342 West Fleet and Weymouth and 342/343 Swanage and parts of sheets 326/340 Sidmouth, 327 Bridport, 329 Bournemouth and 330 Newton Abbott. Compile by M.A. Woods. By Barton, C.M., Woods, M.A., Bristow, C.R., Newell, A.J., Westhead, R.K., Evans, D.J., Kirby G.A., and Warrington, G. Contributors: Biostratigraphy - J.B. Riding; Stratigraphy - E.C. Freshney; Economic Geology - D.E. Highley and G.K. Lott; Engineering Geology - A. Forster and A. Gibson. British Geological Survey, Keyworth, Nottingham, 2011. 161 pp. This is the new version of the Geological Survey Memoir for the Dorset Coast etc. and replaces Arkell (1947) and the earlier memoir by Strahan (1898). It covers a wider area than these old memoirs, though, and includes all of "Jurassic Coast", UNESCO World Heritage Coast. It is a key reference work. Available from BGS Online Bookshop at 24 pounds stirling (in Jan. 2012).


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Casey , R. 1963. The dawn of the Cretaceous Period in Britain. Bulletin of the South-East Union of Scientific Societies, Bulletin No. 117, 1-15. Preprint of Presidential Address to the Geological Section. Tunbridge Wells, 11th April 1963. "Some regimes were born in violence and others flowed in on a silent tide. So it is in geology. Not every page of Earth's history is numbered by crustal upheavals, volcanic outbursts and similar revolutions: all too often it is hard to tell where one chapter ends and the other begins..." [This has been a key paper in linking the Cinder Bed with the basal Cretaceous transgression of the Boreal Realm. This interesting correlation with the Boreal Jurassic/Cretaceous boundary has been largely overshadowed by later work. New evidence has made it possible to relate the Purbeck lagoonal succession to the marine Jurassic/Cretaceous boundary as defined in southern France. This is not of the same age as the Russian Jurassic/Cretaceous boundary. A local bioproduct of placing the Jurassic/Cretaceous boundary in the middle of the Purbeck sequence in southern England has been to create a terminological problem. Because chronostratigraphy and lithostratigraphy were not correctly separated, this paper split the Purbeck into two mixed chronostratigraphic and lithostratigraphic subdivisions - the "Lulworth Beds" below the Cinder Bed and the "Durlston Beds" for the Cinder Bed and overlying strata upto the Hasting Beds (lower part of the Wealden). The "Lulworth Beds" were to be grouped with the Portland, and the "Durlston Beds2 as part of the Wealden, although this did not happen. Unfortunately, the base of the Cinder Bed was taken as a chronostratigraphic boundary, the J-K Boundary, but the Portland/Lulworth Beds boundary was placed lithostratigraphically and the Durlston Beds/Hastings Beds boundary was also placed on lithostratigraphic criteria. This unsatisfactory nomenclature later became used by others authors to create the so-called "Lulworth Formation" and "Durlston Formation". However, they are only names and probably some people find them convenient. The present author does not see any use for them and considers that they should be abandonned, with a return to the "Purbeck Formation". Nevertheless, this is only one aspect of Casey's paper and there is much in it of value. It provides useful information on correlation within Britain, and on various details of strata tied in with the Cinder Bed. Casey's 1963 paper is not easily found but contains much interesting material.]
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Cifelli , R.L. Early mammalian radiations. Journal of Paleontology, 75 (6), 1214-1226, Nov. 2001. [A major review which includes some discussion of Purbeck mammals, such as the Multituberculates. It is important in providing an extensive, up-to-date reference list on mammals including those in strata of approximately Purbeck age in various countries.]
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Clarke , J. 1998. Untitled [Cliff fall in Durlston Bay]. Newsletter of the Dorset Branch of the Geologists' Association, April 1998, p. 1. [" Those of you who came with me to Durlston Bay last October may remember that I stressed the safety/danger aspects. Well - remember Bed DB 220, the Broken Shell Limestone? It looked like this ... (photograph of projecting limestone bed in the cliff)... now it looks like this ... (photograph of collapsed rock)." The location is just south of Peveril Point where the Broken Shell Limestone rises in the cliff above the Shales with Beef.]
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Clements, R.G. l973. A Study of Certain Non-Marine Gastropods from the Purbeck Beds of England. Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis, University of Hull, 49l pp.

Clements, R.G. 1969. Annotated cumulative section of the Purbeck beds between Peveril Point and the Zig-zag path, Durlston Bay. In: H.S. Torrens (Ed.) International Field Symposium on the British Jurassic, Excursion No. 1, Guide for Dorset and South Somerset. University of Keele, pp. 44-71. 71p. total.

Clements, R.G. 1993. Type-section of the Purbeck Limestone Group, Durlston Bay, Swanage, Dorset. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 114 for 1992, 181-206. [Classic section log.]


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Cope, J.C.W. 2012. Geology of the Dorset Coast. Geologists' Association Guide, No. 22. 232pp., with many colour photographs and diagrams. New edition by John C.W. Cope. (See also the earlier editions by House, M.R. 1989 and 1993.)


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Coram, R. 1988. Prehistoric Dorset: The Story of Its Fossils. Published by British Fossils, 1988. 31pp. [Popular-style booklet.]

Coram, R.A. and Jarzembowski, E.A. (in press). Diversity and ecology of fossil insects in the Dorset Purbeck. In: Symposium, Life and Environments in Purbeck Times, Dorchester, Dorset, 19th-22nd March, 1999.

Coram, R. Jarzembowski, E.A. and Ross, A.J. 1995. New records of Purbeck fossil insects. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, for 1994, 116, 146-150.
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Crewe, R.J. 1977. Dorset. Climbing Guide. Published by R.J. Crewe. 235 pp. ISBN 0904405044. This mostly deals with rock climbs on the Portland Stone, west of Durlston Bay to St. Aldhelm's Head. The numerous named climbs are on Portland Stone and much detail of rock faces is given.
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Damon, Robert,

Robert Damon, 1814-1899, was a well-known Dorset geologist and collector of and dealer in fossils. He was born in Weymouth, with origins in a Flemish family. He ran a fossil shop at Augusta Place, the Esplanade, Weymouth. This shop is now a fish and chip shop (information kindly provided by his great, great grandaughter - Carole Burridge - nee Carole Damon, who lives in Bridport). Robert Damon was a Member of the Imperial Natural History Society of Moscow, and visited Russia in 1883, bringing back samples. His books are extremely interesting, with many diverse footnotes and sidelines. Robert Damon made a private collection of 400 Dorset fossils to illustrate his books. The Victoria Museum, Australia has ichthyosaurs from Damon, and many other museums contain fossils of his.

Damon , R. 1860. Handbook to the Geology of Weymouth and the Isle of Portland; with Notes on the Natural History of the Coast and Neighbourhood. By Robert Damon. Accompanied by a map of the district, geological sections, plates of fossils, coast views, and numerous other illustrations. London, Edward Stanton, 6 Charing Cross, 1860. This edition is available online in Google Book Search. The second edition, listed below is mostly the same but with some additions.

Damon , R. 1884. Geology of Weymouth, Portland, and Coast of Dorsetshire, from Swanage to Bridport-on-the-Sea: with Natural History and Archaeological Notes. New and Enlarged Edition (2nd Ed.), Weymouth, R.F. Damon, London, Edward Stanford. 250p. With a colour geological map of part of the Dorset coast, and including a log of the Purbeck strata of Durlston Bay, Swanage, by H. W. Bristow and Prof. E. Forbes (although note that it contains a small error). (A copy of Damon's second edition is in the possession of Ian West)
Preface to Second Edition
Since the issue of the First Edition increased attention has been given to the Geology of the coast of Dorsetshire, especially in the contributions of Messrs. Blake and Hudleston, and Professor Prestwich, which in part have been embodied in the present volume.
Elementary and explanatory notes are given for the use of those young in the study of the science.
A description of the geological formations of Swanage and Bridport, the two extremes of the district under consideration, is for more convenient reference placed towards the end.
The Geological Survey of this district was almost entirely made by Mr. Henry W. Bristow, Senior Director of the Geological Survey of Great Britain. To him I am greatly indepted for a final revision of the work. Mr. W. Topley, of the Survey, has also kindly given much assistance, as have also Messrs. G. Sharman and E. T. Newton with the lists of fossils. Mr. Etheridge has favoured me with the Bridport portion of his unpublished sections of the Oolitic rocks of England.
The works I have consulted are necessarily very numerous, and to their respective authors I acknowledge my great obligations.
To the above and other friends, who have kindly responded to my enquiries for information, my sincere thanks are rendered.
R. Damon
Weymouth, October 1884.
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Davies , G.M. 1956. The Dorset Coast: A Geological Guide. Adam and Charles Black. London. 2nd edition, 128 pages. .
Defoe , D. (Daniel Defoe) 1724. A Tour Through the Whole Island of Britain. Reprinted as Defoe, D., Furbank, P.N., Coulson, A.J. and Owens, W.R. 1991, same title. List: $50.00, Amazon Price: $50.00. Availability: This title usually ships within 2-3 days. Abridged. Hardcover, 417 pages. Published by Yale Univ Press. Publication date: June 1991. Dimensions (in inches): 1.35 x 10.97 x 8.83. ISBN: 0300049803.

Defoe, D. (Daniel Defoe) 1724. A Tour Through the Whole Island of Britain. Reprinted as A Tour Through the Whole Island of Great Britain (Penguin Classics) by Daniel Defoe, Pat Rogers (Editor)List: $13.95, Amazon Price: $11.16, You Save: $2.79 (20%) Reprint Edition. Paperback, 730 pages. Published by Penguin USA (Paper). Publication date: September 1978. ISBN: 0140430660
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de Loriol , P. 1866. Mon. pal. et geol. de l"etage portlandien des environs de Boulogne-sur-Mer. Mem. Soc. Phys. et Hist. nat. Geneve, vol 19, 1866, p. 122, plate 11, figs 13-15.
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Dutton , G. 1980. Patterns of Australia. Macmillan Company of Australia Pty Ltd, in association with Mobil Oil Australia. 176pp. Photographs by Harri Peccinotti. [Referred to only because of an illustration of the analogous Coorong Lagoon in relation to the Intermarine Member. There is no reference to Durlston Bay.]
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Edmonds , R. 2008. Exceptional fossils from the Intermarine Member, Purbeck Limestone Group, early Cretaceous, Durlston Bay, Swanage, Dorset: implications for our attitudes to collecting. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 129, 2008, 217-219. [Crocodile skull discovered etc.]
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El-Shahat , A. and West, I.M. 1983. Early and late lithification of aragonite bivalve beds in the Purbeck Formation (Upper Jurassic - Lower Cretaceous of Southern England). Sedimentary Geology, 35: 15-41. Abstract: Beds of euryhaline bivalves alternating with shales constitute much of the middle Purbeck Formation. They originated on "tidal" flats at the western margin of an extensive brackish lagoon. When these shell beds are thin and enclosed in shale they are often still preserved as aragonite and associated with "beef", fibrous calcite formed during compaction. In most cases, however, the shell debris has been converted by diagenesis into calcitic biosparrudite limestones. A compacted type has been lithified at a late stage, after deep burial. In this, pyrite is abundant and most of the shell aragonite has been replaced neomorphically by ferroan pseudopleochroic calcite. A contrasting uncompacted type of biosparrudite is characterised by bivalve fragments with micrite envelopes. Shells and former pores are occupied by non-ferroan sparry calcite cement, and there is little pyrite. These limestones frequently contain dinosaur footprints and originated in "supratidal" environments where they were cemented early, mainly in meteoric water. Once uplifted they were unaffected by compaction. This uncompacted type indicates phases of mild uplift or halts in subsidence. These shell-bed lithologies, and also intermediate types described here, will probably be recognised in other lagoonal areas. [This has mostly come from work on the Middle Purbecks of Durlston Bay, but applies to the shelly limestones of the Purbeck Formation and other similar strata, at other localities. It is largely based on the El-Shahat thesis of 1977 and uses Clements' bed numbers. With photographs and diagrams.]

El-Shahat, A. 1977. Petrography and Geochemistry of a Limestone-Shale Sequence with Early and Late Lithification: the Middle Purbeck of Dorset, England. Ph.D. Thesis, University of Southampton, 358 pp. [A good thesis, mostly on Durlston Bay but with some data on Worbarrow Tout and the quarries of the Swanage area. Much bed-by-bed data on trace elements, clay mineralogy, petrography (colour photomicrographs) etc. Clement's bed numbers used for detailed stratigraphy.]
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Ensom , P.C. 1988. Excavations at Sunnydown Farm, Langton Matravers, Dorset: Amphibian discovered in the Purbeck Limestone Formation. Proceedings of Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, vol. 109, 148-150.

Ensom, P.C. 1994a. An unusual tool-mark in the Purbeck Limestone Formation, Durlston Bay, Dorset. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 115, 185.

Ensom, P.C. 1994b. A new vertebrate trackway from the Intermarine Member, Purbeck Limestone Formation, Dorset. Proceedings of Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 115, 183-184.

Ensom, P.C. 1997. Reptile eggshell from the Purbeck Limestone Group of Dorset, southern England. Proceedings of Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, for 1996, vol. 118, pp. 79-83.

Ensom, P.C. 2002. Vertebrate trace fossils in the Purbeck Limestone Group of Southern England. Pp. 203-220 in: Milner, A.R. and Batten, D.J. (Editors) 2002. Life and environments in Purbeck times. Special Papers in Palaeontology, No. 68, Palaeontological Association, London, 268pp. Abstract: The Purbeck Limestone Group (late Jurassic-early Cretaceous) contains a rich vertebrate trace fossil fauna. Research on this fauna has been almost entirely concerned with dinosaur tracks. By contrast, the feeding traces and coprolites, which are occasionally abundant, have received little attention. The implications of some recent papers, including those where ichnotaxa are assigned, are considered along with the stratigraphic and geographic distribution of reptilian tracks. A plan of the principal footprint horizon at Townsend Road, Swanage, is presented and the more unusual aspects of the site illustrated. An appendix gives a comprehensive listing of published and manuscript accounts dealing with footprints from these strata. Some of the neglected feeding traces and coprolites are described and illustrated for the first time.

Ensom, P. 2009. Conchostracans in the Intermarine Member, Durlston Formation, Purbeck Limestone Group, of Dorset, southern England. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, vol. 130, pp. 234-236.
Abstract: The discovery in 2008 of conchostracans Liograpta subquadrata (J. de C. Sowerby) in the Intermarine Member, extends the known range of these extant arthropods from the Lulworth Formation into the Durlston Formation of the Purbeck Limestone Group of Dorset, southern England.

Ensom, P.C., Clements, R.G., Feist-Burkhardt, S., Milner, A.R., Chitolie, J., Jeffrey, P.A. and Jones, C. 2009. The age and identity of an ichthyosaur reputedly from the Purbeck Limestone Group, Lower Cretaceous, Dorset, southern England. Cretaceous Research, vol. 30, Issue 3, June 2009, pp. 699-709.
Abstract:
Ichthyosaurs are widespread in Mesozoic marine sequences. The marginal marine to terrestrial strata of the Cretaceous Purbeck Limestone Group of Dorset are an unlikely source for the remains of such animals. A specimen in the collections of the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, acquired in the nineteenth century, is recorded as collected from these strata. Despite the suggestion that this specimen might represent a relict taxon of a much earlier lineage in the evolution of ichthyosaurs [Delair, J.B., 1969. The first record of the occurrence of ichthyosaurs in the Purbeck. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History & Archaeological Society 90, 128–132], its age and source have not been questioned. A comprehensive investigation of the matrix, including a palynological study, confirms a Purbeck Limestone Group origin for the specimen. Reassessment of the preserved postcranial skeleton provides evidence that the specimen, though strictly indeterminate, is consistent with attribution to a juvenile of an ophthalmosaurid such as Brachypterygius. The 'notched' phalanx previously considered to be 'primitive' is an artefact of damage to the specimen, either as the slab broke away from the cliff or shore, or during collection and subsequent preparation.

Ensom, P.C., Evans, S.E., Francis, J.E., Kielan-Jaworowska, Z. and Milner, A.R. 1994. The fauna and flora of the Sunnydown Farm Footprint site and associated sites: Purbeck Limestone Formation, Dorset. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, vol. 115, 181-182.

Ensom, P.C., Evans, S.E. and Milner, A.R. 1991. Amphibian and reptiles from the Purbeck Limestone Formation (Upper Jurassic) of Dorset. Fifth Symposium on Mesozoic Terrestrial Ecosystems and Biota. Extended abstracts - edited by Zofia Kielan-Jarorowska, Natascha Heintz and Hans Arne Nakrem. Contributions from the Paleontological Museum, University of Oslo, No. 364, 1991.

Ensom, P., Kenrick, P., Edmonds, R., Cripps, J. and Hayes, P. 2009. A fossil tree trunk in the Intermarine Member, Durlston Formation, Purbeck Limestone Group of Dorset, southern England. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, vol. 130, 2009, 183-187.
A new and unusual pipe-like feature, that we interpret as a partially exposed fossil tree trunk, has been exposed in the cliffs of Durlston Bay, Swanage. To the best of our knowledge fossil trees have not been recorded from the Durlston Formation of the Purbeck Limestone Group of Dorset.

Ensom, P. and Turnbull, M. 2011. Geology of the Jurassic Coast; The Isle of Purbeck; Weymouth to Studland.. By Paul Ensom and Malcolm Turnbull. Jurassic Coast Trust. Coastal Publishing, Wareham. 128pp. Price £9. 95p. This is a very well-illustrated guide with many good colour photographs that are labelled in terms of stratal units. The text is in easily-readable, non-specialist language. There is a glossary for non-geologists. Some further reading is given in a list at the back.

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Falconer , H. 1857. Description of two species of the fossil mammalian genus Plagiaulax from Purbeck. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, London, 13, 261-282.

Falconer, H. 1862. On the disputed affinity of the mammalian genus Plagiaulax . Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, 18, 348-369.
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Fisher , O. 1856. On the Purbeck strata of Dorsetshire. Transactions of the Cambridge Philosophic Society, 9, 555-581. [See Section of Purbeck Strata, Durlstone Bay.]


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Folk, R.L. 1962. Spectral subdivision of limestone types. In: Classification of Carbonate Rocks (Ed. by W.E. Ham), pp. 62-84. Memoirs of American Association Petroleum Geologists, 1. [Not on the Purbecks. Relevant for classification of Purbeck limestones.]
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(For Jane Francis' papers on the trees and dirt beds of the Purbeck, mostly on Lulworth and Portland, go to: Francis section of Purbeck Bibliography.)
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Feist, M., Lake, R.D. and Wood, C.J. 1995. Charophyte biostratigraphy of the Purbeck and Wealden of southern England. Palaeontology, 38, Part 2, 407-442. Abstract: The distribution of charophyte assemblages in the Purbeck and Wealden sequence of southern England has been established from borehole samples from the Weald and from outcrop material collected in Dorset, Wiltshire and the Isle of Wight. Of the twenty-one taxa represented, three are new: Globator rectispirale, Clypeator britannicus and Sphaerochara andersonii; three new combinations are proposed: Globator praecursor, Globator protoincrassatus and Atopochara triquetra. The Chinese Valanginian species Flabellochara xiangyunensis is recognised for the first time in Europe. In the context of the phylogeny of the Family Clavatoraceae, G. rectispirale represents the Jurassic ancestor of the Globatorlineage and a separate origin is suggested for both Flabellochara and Clypeator. The correlation established with the Tethyan realm locate the Jurassic Cretaceous boundary within the Lulworth Formation of the Purbeck Group; in this context, the whole 'Purbeck' sequence of Swindon (Wiltshire) is attributed to the Upper Tithonian. The distribution of the Clavatoraceae indirectly confirms the contemporaneity of the Boreal Galbanites kerberus and Titanites anguiformis with the Tethyan 'Durangites' ammonite zones. For the Wealden Supergroup, the charophyte data affirm the Hauterivian-Barremian boundary near the upper division of the Weald Clay and the Upper Barremian is identified at the base of the Vectis Formation of the Isle of Wight.
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Friedman, G.M. 1968. Geology and geochemistry of reefs, carbonate sediments, and waters, Gulf of Aqaba (Elat), Red Sea. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology, 38, 895-919. [Not on the Purbecks, but relevant]


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Fyfe, W.S. and Bischoff, J.L. 1965. The calcite-aragonite problem. In: Pray, L.C. and Murray, R.C. (Editors). Dolomitization and Limestone Diagenesis: a Symposium. Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists, Special Publication, 13, 3-13. [Not on the Purbecks, but relevant to Purbeck aragonite- calcite diagenesis. See El-Shahat and West.]
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Garden, I.R. 1987. The Provenance of Upper Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous Coarse-Grained Detritus in Southern Britain and Normandy. Unpublished Ph.D Thesis, Southampton University, 486p. [Kimmeridge and Portland detritus in the Purbeck Formation.]

Garden, I.R. 1991. Changes in the provenance of pebbly detritus in southern Britain and northern France associated with basin rifting. In Morton, A.C. et al. (eds.), Developments in Sedimentary Provenance Studies. Morton, A.C., Todd, S.P. and Haughton, P.D.W., Geological Society Special Publication, No. 57, pp. 273-289.
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Hard, W.M. 1910. Old Swanage or Purbeck Past and Present: A Collection of Articles, Topographical, Historical, Antiquarian, Biographical and Anecdotal. New and Revised Edition with Three Supplementary Chapters. Twenty-eight full page illustrations, including reproductions of rare prints. Dorchester, "Dorset County Chronicle" Printing Works. 264pp. Original price 3 shilling and 6 pence. By William Masters Hardy, author of "Smuggling Days in Purbeck" etc. [A good publication on the history of Swanage and adjacent area, including accounts of quarrying of Portland and Purbeck Stone, within the Isle of Purbeck. Not strictly geological.]
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Hawkins, H.L. 1925. On Echinoidea from the Portland Stone and the Purbeck Beds. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, London, 81, cxxxviii. [Note on finding of thirty-eight tests of Hemicidaris purbeckensis in Durlston Bay.]
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Heap, W., 1957. The Mammal Bed of Durlston Bay. The Dorset Year Book, 1957-8, pp. 83-85. Heap found Beccles Mammal Pit and Willett's Mammal Pit at the cliff top. He found four mammal jawbones in the cliff exposure at the beach south of the Zigzag Path.
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Hinchcliffe , J.C. 1978. Death stalks the secret coast. Triton , Vol. 23, no. 2, Feb. 78, p. 56-57. By the diver - John C. Hinchcliffe. Triton Magazine was published by Ecton Publications, 55 High Street, Teddington, TW11 8HA. [about the offshore methane gas seep at Durlston Head] "On the seabed directly beneath Durlston Castle, above whose cliffs is poised the giant stone globe of the world, a further curious phenomenon is found. Here the seabed is bubbling. in 10 metres of water, long columns of bubbles ascend. Some sources are continuous, some spasmodic. I recently collected a sample of this gas and it proved to be an inflammable natural gas. An even more curious phenomenon here is the large numbers of huge bass and pollock which tend to swim about near these bubbles. Do they mistake the hydrocarbon gas for oxygen?

Mike Markey drew my attention to this article. He reported (7th Dec. 1990) that the gas seep was still bubbling at that time. He had also found a similar gas seep on the Lulworth Banks (near the axis of the anticline).

[See also Judd, A.G. 2004. Natural seabed gas seeps as sources of atmospheric methane. Environmental Geology, vol. 46, No. 8, November, 2004. "Gas bubbles lose methane to the water as they rise, so deep water seeps are unlikely to contribute to the atmosphere. However, bubbles break the surface above some shallow water seeps."]
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Horne, D.J. 1995. A revised ostracod biostratigraphy for the Purbeck-Wealden of England. Cretaceous Research, 16, 639-663, Academic Press Ltd. Abstract: The extensive work of the late F.W.Anderson on Purbeck-Wealden ostracods is critically reviewed. He used ostracods as the basis of four different kinds of stratigraphical subdivision in the English Purbeck-Wealden sequence: zones (based on the ranges of Cypridea species), faunicycles (based on alternations of assemblages dominated by Cypridea with assemblages dominated by other genera), 'beds' and 'assemblages' (both groupings of faunicycles). It is concluded that although Anderson's own correlations using these schemes might be regarded as reliable, all of them were so poorly defined as to preclude their use by future workers. Furthermore, erroneous zonation schemes have been propagated by other authors who mistook Anderson's assemblages for zones. In spite of criticisms of his applications and interpretations of ostracods, Anderson's data remain the best available for the Purbeck-Wealden of the Weald and Wessex sub-basins. As a solution to some of these problems, a new ostracod biozonation scheme is proposed, comprising three zones (Theriosynoecum forbesi Zone, approximately equal to the Purbeck; Theriosynoecum alleni Zone, approximately equal to the Hastings Beds Group; Theriosynoecum fittoni Zone, approximately equal to the Weald Clay Group), subdivided into eight subzones on the basis of the ranges of Cypridea species. [end of abstract]
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House, M.E. 1969. The Dorset Coast from Poole to the Chesil Beach. 2nd Edition, Geologists' Association Guides, 22, 32pp.

House, M.E. 1993 (and earlier edition in 1989). Geology of the Dorset Coast. Geologists Association Guide No. 22. 2nd edition, 164 pages plus plates. ISBN 0 7073 0485 7.
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Jarzembowski, E.A. 1993. A provisional checklist of fossil insects from the Purbeck Beds of Dorset. Proceedings of Dorset Natural History Archaeological Society, 114 for 1992. 175-179. . Many are undescribed: about 250 different kinds of beetles are present. 120 species are described; most coleoptera (beetles); many cockroaches, bugs; also lacewings, true flies, dragonflies, grasshoppers and crickets, stick insects, wasps and caddisflies.

Jarzembowski, E.A. 1995. Early Cretaceous insect faunas and palaeoenvironment. Cretaceous Research, 16, 681-694. [Notes: Warmer conditions are indicated by many species of Blattoidea. Lepidoptera were beginning at this time.]

Jarzembowski, E.A. 1996. Towards a revision of Purbeck insects: Protogryllus, Panorpidum, Pleciomyia and Prohousea Nom. Nov. Proceedings of Dorset Natural History Archaeological Society, for 1995, vol 117, 155-157.

Jarzembowski, E.A. and Coram, R. 1997. New fossil insect records from the Purbeck of Dorset and the Wealden of the Weald. Proceedings of Dorset Natural History and Achaeological Society, for 1996, vol.118, 119-124. Authors' Abstract: This paper updates the checklist (Jarzembowski, 1993) and subsequent articles (Clifford et al. 1994; Coram et al. 1995) in previous Proceedings. Recent discoveries are reviewed and Purbeck fossil insects collected by the Revd O. Fisher last century and deposited in the Sedgwick Museum, Cambridge, have been re-examined. Some groups are traced through the non-marine Lower Cretaceous of southern England. (End of Authors' abstract). Bugs, flies etc from the Middle Purbeck of Durlston Bay and dragonfly larvae from the Lower Purbeck of Durlston Bay and Freshwater Bay, Portland.
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Kielan-Jaworowska, Z. and Ensom, P.C. 1992. Multituberculate mammals from the Upper Jurassic Purbeck Limestone Formation of southern England. Palaeontology, 35, 95-126.
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Jenyon , M.K. 1985. Fault-associated salt flow and mass movement. Journal of the Geological Society, London, 142, 547-553. Key paper showing structure like that at Durlston Head but not discussing the Purbecks.

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Kingsley , C. 1857. Geological Discoveries at Swanage. Illustrated London News, Dec. 26th 1857, pp. 637-638.
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Lee , E.M. 1992. Urban landslides, impacts and management. Pages 80 - 93 in: Allison, R.J. (Ed. ) 1992. The Coastal Landforms of West Dorset. Geologists' Association Guide No. 47. 134 pp. This extract from Lee (p. 8) summarises some accident records: " At Swanage a schoolboy was seriously injured by a rockfall in 1975, a year later another was killed by a falling rock."
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Legg , R. 1989. Purbeck Island: the industrial, social and natural history of a corner of England. (2nd Revised Edition 1989, first published 1972). Dorset Publishing Company at the Wincanton Press. 230 pp. With interesting details of stone quarrying and old illustrations.
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Legg, R. Guide to Purbeck Coast and Shipwreck.
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Lewer , D. - Curiosities of Swanage; or, Old London by the sea.

Lewer, D. - Hardy in Swanage : 1875 and "The hand of Ethelberta" by Thomas Hardy.

Lewer, D. 1986. The Story of Swanage: A History from Early Times. A Harewood Publications Visitors' Guide. 33 pp. Harewood Publications, 8 Harewood Place, Bournemouth, BH7 6NU. £2.-25p. in 1999. ISBN 0 906596 03 3. (Available in Swanage bookshops). See particularly pages 14-15 - "Quarrying the stone".

Lewer, D. and Smale, D. 1994. Swanage Past. Phillimore and Co. Ltd, Chichester, West Sussex. 178 pp. ISBN 0 85033 949 9. [This is a fascinating book with many old pictures of Swanage and its inhabitants. Recommended for anyone interested in the history of the area or the previous appearance of the coast. ]
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Lukashevich , E.D., Coram, R.A. and Jarzembowski, E.A. 2001. New true flies (Insecta : Diptera) from the Lower Cretaceous of southern England. Cretaceous Research, 22, 451-460. Abstract: The fossil record of Eoptychopteridae, Ptychopteridae and Dixidae (Insecta; Diptera) is discussed. One new genus and eight new species are described from the English non-marine Lower Cretaceous (Purbeck and Wealden groups): Eoptychoptera longifurcata sp. nov., Eoptychoptera britannica sp. nov., Eoptychopterina demissa sp, nov., Eoptychopterina dimidiata sp. nov., Eoptychopterina camura sp. nov. (Eoptychopteridae), Brodilka mitchelli gen. nov., sp. nov., Zhiganka woolgari sp. nov. (Ptychopteridae) and Eucorethrina westwoodi sp. nov. (Dixidae). Bittacomorphella miocenica (Cockerell, 1910) is transferred to Ptychoptera.
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Marshall , J.D. 1982. Isotopic composition of displacive fibrous calcite veins: reversal in pore-water trends during burial diagenesis. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology, 52, No. 2, 0615-0630. Abstract: Stable isotope and petrographic analyses of diagenetic calcite ("cone-in-cone" and "beef") veins from British Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous shales have been used to determine the environment of precipitation of fibrous calcites. Successive growth took place by antitaxial displacive addition at the vein margins, away from primary sedimentary laminations or early diagenetic conconcretions. Carbon and oxygen isotopic ratios (del 13 C plus or minus 0 and del 18 O -4 to -11%) indicate a relatively late diagenetic origin for the veins after tens or probably hundreds of metres of burial, and after cessation of bacterial activity and considerable modification of the oxygen isotopic composition of the pore water. Vein growth was discontinuous and took place in waters of changing isotopic and trace-element composition. Changes are not unidirectional and unlikely to result from the simple evolution of a single connate pore water; reversals in isotopic trends indicate that precipitation took place during periods of renewned (lateral?) groundwater flow, tapping different sources of bicarbonate-bearing solution.
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Milner , A.R. and Batten, D.J. (Editors) 2002. Life and environments in Purbeck times. Special Papers in Palaeontology, No. 68, Palaeontological Association, London, 268pp. Report from a symposium on the Purbeck Formation at the Dorset County Museum, Dorchester, Dorset, March 19-22, 1999. Contains 16 papers and with a preface. Dedicated to the memory of the late Professor Michael House. Price £66. Published December 2002. With 22 plates, 7 tables and 77 text-figures.

Milner, A.C. 2002. Theropod dinosaurs of the Purbeck Limestone Group, southern England. Pp. 191-201 in: Milner, A.R. and Batten, D.J. (Editors) 2002. Life and environments in Purbeck times. Special Papers in Palaeontology, No. 68, Palaeontological Association, London, 268pp. Abstract: A small, probably juvenile theropod dinosaur, Nuthetes destructor Owen, 1854 from the Berriasian Middle Purbeck Beds, Isle of Purbeck, regarded hitherto as a megalosaur, is redescribed as a dromaeosaur on the basis of distinctive tooth and tooth denticle characters. This represents the first dromaeosaur record from Britain and fills a gap in the stratigraphical occurrence of the family in Europe between the Kimmeridgian in Portugal and the Barremian in Spain. The Purbeck fauna also includes evidence of a large maniraptoran, perhaps a dromaeosaur, although it is not at present possible to determine whether it represents the same taxon as Nuthetes. At least one other theropod taxon is present in the Purbeck Limestone on the basis of isolated teeth which closely resemble those of allosauroids. [By Angela C. Milner, The Natural History Museum, London.]
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Melville , R.V. and Freshney, E.C. 1982. British Regional Geology: The Hampshire Basin and Adjoining Areas. British Geological Survey (formerly the Institute of Geological Sciences), London, Her Majesty's Stationery Office. 146 pp.
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Muller , W.H., Schmid, S.M. and Briegel, U. 1981. Deformation experiments on anhydrite rocks of different grain sizes: rheology and microfabrics. Tectonophysics, 78, 527-544. [Not specifically on the Purbecks but relevant to the Durlston Head, calcitised anhydrite. -
Muller, Schmidt and Briegel (1981) noted that anhydrite begins to deform and flow under geological reasonable strain rates at between 150 and 180° C. These temperatures are normally only reached at depths of 4 - 6 km. Reference in Bell, 1989. The Purbecks are not referred to but this paper is important regarding the anomaly of deformed anhydrite at Durlston Head. Vitrinite reflectance does not suggested such high temperatures.]
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Nunn , J.F. 1990. A new tridactyl footprint impression in Durlston Bay, Swanage. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History Archaeological Society, 111, 133-134.

Nunn, J.F. 1991. Unpublished Geological Map of Durlston Bay.

Nunn, J.F. 1992. A geological map of the Purbeck Beds in the northern part of Durlston Bay. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 113, 145-148.
[**** A key paper for the geology of Durlston Bay. Recommended for use with Clements' Log]
Example extract from the Introduction and Methods:
Durlston Bay provides the type section of the Purbeck Beds which span the uppermost beds of the Jurassic and the lowest beds of the Cretaceous (AlIen and Wimbledon, 1991). There are many descriptions and measurements of the sequence, starting with Webster (1826) and continuing through Austen (1852) and Bristow (1857). The most complete and accessible vertical section is that of Clements (in Torrens (1969) and the most comprehensive bed-by-bed description is by Clements (1973), with a later vertical section of the middle Purbeck Formation by EI-Shahat and West (1983). Interest in this outstanding coastal section shows no signs of diminishing, and Durlston Bay attracts many geological visitors from all over the world. It is unfortunate that, apart from certain prominent marker horizons, it can be difficult for the stranger to relate some of the bed descriptions to the ground. Neither the 1 :2,500 Ordnance Survey, nor the 1 :50,000 Geological Survey (sheet 343) provides the necessary detail to identify beds from the topography. Strahan prepared a geological survey at a scale of approximately 1:10,000 in 1888 and a second edition was released in1902. However, this provides no more detail than Sheet 343. Perhaps most useful of all is the cliff profile of Strahan (1898,92), subsequently modified by Arkell (1947,136) and House (1989,119). However, at a scale of 1:10,000, it is only possible to indicate the approximate position of a few marker horizons. The present objective has been to prepare maps and cliff profiles of the northern part of Durlston Bay at a scale of 1: 1,000 (here reproduced at 1 :2,500) with full integration of the topography and geology (Figures 1 and 2). The intention has been to make it possible for any visitor to the Bay,equipped with the vertical section, to proceed directly to within a few metres of any particular bed. Also it should now be possible to locate field observations to a ten figure map reference (one metre squares).
Methods: The maps, which were prepared with the permission of the Controller of Her Majesty's Stationery Office, were based primarily on the Trig. Point incorporated in the Coastguard Station (04002 78617), and the bench mark at Craig-y-Don (03441 78201). Five secondary points were then established on the cliff top by triangulation using the above fixed points, together with the Wellington clock tower, the stone pier and Downlands. Heights were determined with a bubble sextant and the secondary points are shown on the maps as spot heights on the cliff top. Secondary triangulation was then used to fix a large number of points at beach level. These positions were then confirmed by stretching a tape measure along the cliff base for almost the full length of the bay. Errors were less than 2 m. In 1987, before the coastal protection works were constructed, the coast was photographed from a small boat at a distance of 150 - 400 m from the shore (depending on the height of the cliff) at low water springs in a flat calm. A 135 mm telephoto lens was used and interlocking sets of 5 - 6 photographs were taken... [continues with excellent maps and cliff section diagrams for Durlston Bay]

Nunn, J.F. 1993. Unpublished. Lannen Vein, Devils Bed etc. An excavation at low tide just north of the Slipway Fault, Durlston Bay. Graphic log dated 28/9 August 1992 updated 28th June 1993. Details of beef, micrite, biosparite and tenaceous black shale.

Nunn, J.F. 1994. Unpublished notes on the Lower Purbeck Formation, Durlston Bay, 22.12.94. 3 pages. Trenches excavated . Clements' beds 10 to 39..
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Ogg , J.G., Hasenyager, R.W., Wimbledon, W.A., Channel, J.E.T. and Bralower, T.J. 1991. Magnetostratigraphy of the Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary interval - Tethyan and English faunal realms. Cretaceous Research, 12, 455-482. Abstract: Geomagnetic reversals and magnetic polarity chrons provide an important chronostratigraphic tool for global correlation. An integrated Tithonian-Berriasian biostratigraphic and magnetic polarity time scale for the Tethyan faunal realm for the Tithonian and Berriasian stage is compiled from 17 independent biomagnetostratigraphic sections. This time scale incorporates zones and first/last appearance datums form ammonites, calpionellids, calcareous nannofossils and dinoflagellates. The database provides an estimate of the range of observed appearance datums or zonal boundaries relative to polarity chrons; such apparent "diachoniety" probably results from a combination of preservation of species and paleontological methodology, rather than migration. The lithologic transition from "Rosso Ammonitico" red marly limestone to "Maiolica" white limestone occurs at different times during the Tithonian among the various sections, ranging from polarity zone M22n (mid-Early Tithonian) in some Spanish "slope" and Italian basinal-facies sections, ranging from polarity zone M19n (mid-Late Tithonian) in the central Atlantic and some plateau-facies Italian sections. This widespread lithological change is, therefore, probably a result of shifting local patterns of fertility overprinted on the main regional trend. Magnetostratigraphy from the Purbeck Limestone Formation in the English Boreal faunal realm was obtained from the "classic" section at Durlston Bay in Dorset. The Dorset section displays predominantly normal polarity with a minimum of three reversed-polarity zones, but distortion of the magnetic polarity record by variable rates of sedimentation in this marginal clastic environment coupled with lack of independent correlation methods currently precludes a unique correlation to the Tithonian-Berriasian magnetic polarity time scale. The Tithonian-Berriasian magnetic polarity time scale may eventually provide a global chronostratigraphic definition of the Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary. End of Abstract....[Notes re Purbeck of Dorset: Durlston Bay section. Predominantly normal polarity with three reversed polarity zones but distortion of pattern by variable sedimentation rates coupled with lack of independent methods precludes unique correlation to Tithonian-Berriasian magnetic polarity time scale. M 18r to M 15 r. Keywords: ammonites, Atlantic, Bay, Berriasian, Boreal, calpionellids, chron, correlation, Cretaceous, dinoflagellates, Durlston, geomagnetic, geomagnetism, magnetic, magnetostratigraphy, M-sequence, nannofossils, palaeomagnetism, paleomagnetism, polarity, reversal, Purbeck, stratigraphy, Tithonian, zone]
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Oppe , E.F. 1954. Through to Swanage. [A holiday guide pamphlet with geology.]
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Owen , R. 1853-89. Fossil Reptilia of the Wealden and Purbeck Formations. Monograph of the Palaeontographical Society, London.

Owen, R. 1854. On some fossil reptilian and mammalian remains from the Purbecks. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, London, 10, 420-433.

Owen, R. 1855. Notice of some new reptilian fossils from the Purbeck Beds near Swanage. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, London, 11, 123.

Owen, R. 1861. Palaeontology or A Systematic Summary of Extinct Animals and Their Geological Relations. 2nd Edition, Adam and Charles Black, Edinburgh, 463pp.

Owen, R. 1871. Fossil Mammalia of the Mesozoic formations. Monograph of the Palaeontographical Society, 33, 1-115.

Owen, R. 1874-89. Reptilia of the Mesozoic formations. Monograph of the Palaeontographical Society, London.

Owen, R. 1879. On the association of dwarf crocodiles (Nannosuchus and Theriosuchus pusillus e.g.) with the diminutive mammals of the Purbeck shales. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, London, 35, 148-155.

Owen, R. 1884. History of British Fossil Reptiles. Cassel. London. .

Owen, R. 1894. The Life of Richard Owen.


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Patterson , C. 1966. British Wealden Sharks. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History), 11, 281-350.
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Poole and Christchurch Bays, Shoreline Management Plan - SMP - Key Publications

See these important documents on the plans for the coastal management or shoreline management of the area. Summarised contents of a version are given below and look for the section of interest. However, this SMP is not the final version, and there will be an update. If you do not find it directly from the links here, search by Google etc for the latest version, using the keywords - "Poole Christchurch SMP".

Poole and Christchurch Bays Coastal Management Group. 2010. (SMP - Shoreline Management Plan)
Poole and Christchurch Bays Coastal Management Plan (or SMP - Shoreline Management Plan). Draft SMP2. Draft version of the SMP, later to be replaced by final version (see this when it is available. SMP2 is due to be published in April 2010.). Available online as PDFs at Poole and Christchurch Bays Coastal Management Plan.

Contents: Draft SMP2
Section 1, Introduction
Section 2, Environmental Assessment
Section 3, Basis for Development of the Plan
Section 4, Appraisal of Options and Rationale for Preferred Plan:
Section 4.1, Introduction.
Section 4.2, Policy Development Zone 1 Central and Eastern Sections of Christchurch Bay (Hurst Spit to Friars Cliff).
Section 4.3, Policy Development Zone 2 Christchurch Harbour and Central Poole Bay (Friars Cliff to Flag Head Chine).
Section 4.4, Policy Development Zone 3 Poole Harbour and Associated Coastline (Flag Head Chine to Handfast Point, including Poole Harbour).
Section 4.5, Policy Development Zone 4 Swanage (Handfast Point to Durlston Head).
Section 5, Summary of Preferred Plan and Implications
Section 6, Policy Summary, including Policy Summary Map.
Appendices (all documents open in a new window)
Appendix A, SMP Development.
Appendix B, Stakeholder Engagement.
Appendix C, Baseline Process Understanding, including Coastal Process Report and Flood and Erosion Mapping. Accessible from a separate page including No Active Intervention (NAI) and With Present Management (WPM) assessments, and summaries of the data used in assessments.
Appendix D, Natural and Built Environment Baseline (Thematic Review).
Appendix E, Issues and Objective Evaluation.
Appendix F, Strategic Environmental Assessment.
Appendix G, Scenario Testing.
Appendix H, Economic Appraisal.
Appendix I, Estuary Assessment.
Appendix J, Habitat Regulation Assessment - Appropriate Assessment.
Appendix K, The Metadatabase, GIS and Bibliographic Database is provided to the operating authorities on CD. It will be included in the final SMP.
Appendix L, Water Framework Directive (WFD)
Appendix M, Review of Coastal Processes and Associated Risks at Hengistbury Head.

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Popov , Y. A., Coram, R. and Jarzembowski, E.A. 1999 (for 1998). Fossil heteropteran bugs from the Purbeck Limestone Group of Dorset. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 120, 73-76. Summary: Our current knowledge of the first fossil heteropteran bugs of the basal Cretaceous Purbeck Limestone Group is summarised and several taxa figured for the first time. The fauna is compared with others of similar age worldwide. End of Summary. - Notes: These are mostly aquatic or semi-aquatic bugs with piercing and sucking mouth-parts. Giant water bugs of the extant predatory family Belostomatidae are known from the Middle Purbecks of Durlston Bay. Aquatic bugs do not occur in some parts of the Soft Cockle Member because of unfavourable hypersaline conditions, and here fragments of terrestrial forms predominate.
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Pushman , D. 1987. Precious Stone of Dorset. Dorset Publishing Company, Sherborne, Dorset. 128 pp. ISBN 0 902129 937. Extract from Forword by Gareth Thomas. " Some books are hard to pin down. They seem to defy easy classification, and I imagine librarians throughout the country struggling to fit them into their Dew, or whatever other, system. -- This is such a book. It is about a part of Dorset, certainly - its people and its out of the way places; and equally certainly it tells us quite a bit about the business of stone, quarried in Purbeck and on Portland, then shaped and transported to all corners of the country. -- But it is much more than this. For the vision which compelled David Pushman to begin writing is that famous monument of Portland Stone in Whitehall, London - the Cenotaph. -- Where, where are the monuments to the industrial dead?" - Extract from text " The cenotaph is in its way a revelation - the world of the invisible - the great empty tomb of mankind."

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Raymond , L.R. 1960. The Pre-Permian floor beneath Billingham, County Durham, and structures in overlying Permian Sediments. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, London, 116, 297-315. [Very relevant to structures in anydrite at Durlston Head.]

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Riboulleau , A., Schnyder, J., Riquier, L., Lefebvre, V., Baudin, F., and Deconinck, J-F., 2007. Environmental change during the Early Cretaceous in the Purbeck-type Durlston Bay section (Dorset, Southern England): a biomarker approach, Organic Geochemistry, Elsevier, vol. 38/10, pp. 1804-1823. . Available online as a PDF file - Go to (search): Organic Geochemistry, 2007, vol. 38/10, pp. 1804–1823. [Re; organic geochemistry of the following Purbeck Group beds (see Clements) of the Durlston Bay section, Dorset: DB39, DB48, DB92, DB93, DB102, DB111, from below the Cinder Bed; with samples DB119, DB130, DB182 from above the Cinder Bed. See their Fig. 2 for relationship to the Durlston Bay log.]
By Armelle Riboulea, Johann Schnyder, Laurent Riquer, Vincent Lefebvre, Francois Baudin, Jean-Francois Deconinck.
Abstract The Purbeck-type section (Durlston Bay, Dorset, UK) exhibits littoral lagoonal to lacustrine facies. It shows a gradual climatic/environmental change from semi-arid conditions associated with evaporites at the Jurassic-Cretaceous transition, to a more humid climate at the end of the Berriasian. Though generally organic-poor (total organic carbon, TOC, less than 1.3%), the Durlston Bay section shows an organic rich episode (TOC up to 8.5%) located at the transition from evaporitic to more humid facies. A biomarker study was performed in order to determine the origin of the organic matter (OM) in the section and if changes in organic sources accompanied the general environmental change. The distribution of alkanes, hopanes and steranes indicates that the origin of the OM is mainly algal/bacterial and only changed moderately with the climatic evolution. The saline and anoxic bottom water conditions indicated for most of the samples point to the recurrence of salinity stratification within the basin. A high contribution of odd numbered C23-C31 n-alkanes from algaenan-containing freshwater algae, in particular Botryococcus, is noted for all the samples, despite the low abundance of these organisms in the corresponding palynofacies. This prominence probably results from the high resistance to degradation and the selective preservation of Botryococcus-related lipids. The subtle balance of aridity and freshwater inputs favoured both an abundance of Botryococcus and the development of anoxia, leading to the enhanced preservation of OM during the intermediate climatic episode, while the conditions were less favourable during the semi-arid and more humid episodes.

Article Outline
1. Introduction
2. Material and methods
3. Results
3.1. n-Alkanes and acyclic isoprenoids
3.2. Cyclic and branched alkanes
3.3. Cyclic isoprenoids
3.4. Other compounds
4. Interpretation of biomarker distributions
4.1. Thermal maturity
4.2. Origin of OM
4.3. Palaeoenvironment
4.4. Depositional model
5. Conclusions
Acknowledgements
References

[extract - conclusions]
5. Conclusions
Analysis of the biomarkers in the apolar fraction of the extracts of nine samples from the Purbeck type section at Durlston Bay (Late Jurassic-Lower Cretaceous, Dorset, UK) was performed. The organic matter (OM) is relatively immature, as revealed by the distribution of alkanes, hopanes and steranes. Its origin is mainly autochthonous, with variable contributions from dinoflagellates, bacteria and freshwater algae, in particular Botryococcus. The contribution of n-alkanes from freshwater algae is high in all the samples, even the most degraded ones, which is attributed to the resistant nature of the lipids produced by these algae. While the sedimentary facies of the Durlston Bay section shows a clear environmental change from evaporitic at the base of the section to more humid conditions at the top, no clear change in primary producers is apparent from the biomarker content. From the distribution of hopanes and presence of gammacerane, hypersaline to saline waters characterise most of the samples, indicating that salinity stratification was amajor process in OM deposition. The gammacerane and homohopane indices show, however, a generally decreasing trend from the base to the top of the section, consistent with the increasing humidity. As proposed by Bohacs et al. (2000) for lacustrine settings, it appears that the best conditions for OM preservation in the estuarine/lagoonal Durlston Bay setting occurred during a period of subtle balance of evaporation and freshwater input. The study has also demonstrated that palynofacies and biomarker analyses are complementary and should be more often associated in palaeoenvironmental studies.

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Robinson, C.E. 1882. A Royal Warren or Picturesque Rambles in the Isle of Purbeck. By C.E. Robinson, M.A., Barrister-at-Law, Author of the "Cruise of the Widgeon;" "The Golden Hind, Thessale, and Other Poems," etc. The etchings by Alfred Dawson. London, The Typographic Etching Company, 23 Farringdon Street, EC. 1882.

Etching of Corfe Castle by Alfred Dawson in Robinson (1882)

The Preface:

"A Royal Warren"-The words by themselves may perhaps fail to convey the meaning, which renders a seemingly whimsical title really descriptive of the work now before the reader. It should therefore be explained at the outset that the "Isle of Purbeck" -no island in point of fact, but an isolated promontory - was originally, like the New Forest, a wild hunting-ground of our Norman, and probably even Saxon kings. Disafforested so far back as the reign of Henry III, it became thenceforward merely a "Warren of Conies" [a Rabbit Warren]; but the spirit of the antiquated forest laws remained, to hamper the cultivation and improvement of this beautiful district, long purposely secluded from the outer world. To the former operation of these laws the quaint, half-mediaeval character of the island, even at the present day, is in great part due.
The first requisite of a forest, or warren, is that it should be always kept in a wild, half-peopled, untilled state; and in such a condition for ages were successive kings able to keep the Isle of Purbeck, much assisted by the barriers of heath, hill, and water, which divide it from the rest of Dorsetshire, and by the influence they could wield from the royal castle of Corfe. Hence the old-world aspect of the villages, mansions, and churches, scattered over a country of great natural beauty, which has yet suffered little at the hands of the railway "navvy," the "jerry" builder, or the modern agriculturist. Grand sights in Purbeck may be few, the massive ruins of Corfe Castle and the magnificent coast scenery notwithstanding; but, on the other hand, it is a perfect storehouse of picturesque subjects on a smaller scale. This has been recognised by distinguished artists long before now. Turner visited and worked in the island; the late E. W. Cooke, R.A., left several drawings of Purbeck views behind him; and Mr. Seymour Haden has etched many charming subjects there. It is the lead of such pioneers as these that the Author has endeavoured with his pen and the Artist with his pencil to follow, in the course of the rambles described in this volume. The fruit of their joint labour is neither a county history, a diary of travel, nor a guide-book (though it shares the nature of all three), but a series of pen-and-pencil sketches of the picturesque element in Purbeck, and any special value it may possess is owing to the fact that most of the materials for the letterpress, as well as the plates and cuts, were gathered at one and the same time, in the heart of the country depicted, and thus may be said thoroughly to illustrate one another.
Although the first place has throughout been given to the picturesque, many pages have been reserved for whatever is of greatest interest in the historical, topographical, or antiquarian lore relating to the locality; and here the author must acknowledge his indebtedness to the Purbeck section of that well-known book, Hutchins's History of Dorset (Ed. 1861), which was almost entirely rewritten by Mr. Thomas Bond, M.A., J.P., of Tyneham House (a member of one of the oldest and most respected families in the district), and constitutes a model in its department of research. References to it are frequently made in this volume, as also to the monographs by the same author, entitled respectively, "The Ancient Manor Houses" and" The Ancient Families of Purbeck." Recourse has also been had to that interesting work of the Right Hon. George Bankes, M.P., The Story of Corfe Castle (published by John Murray, 1853); and to several other books not peculiarly of local interest. To Mr. A. M. Luckham are owed some notes referring to Studland.
Nor has natural history been entirely disregarded. The author has been enabled, by the kindness of Mr. R. H. Soden Smith, of the South Kensington Museum; to add an interesting note on the land-molluscs of Purbeck; and is indebted to Mr. Henry Willett for a communication of the results of his recent exploration in Durleston Bay, Swanage, and rediscovery of remains of the rare fossil mammal, Triconodon mordax.
This information may all be regarded as supplementary to that contained in the county-history, Hutchins's Dorset, and the author himself has been able to bring forward fresh matter in the descriptions of scenery, generally, throughout the book; and particularly in the accounts of Swanage and Studland, of the wrecks of the Wild Wave and other vessels, of the stone quarries, and Tilly Whim, and of antiquities found at Swanage and elsewhere.
The work will, therefore, it is hoped, be considered of local interest; while, in describing the picturesque features of such a thoroughgoing bit of old England as Purbeck still remains, the author trusts also to gain the ear and suffrage of the general public.
It is proper to mention that the ten large plates, and smaller etchings or cuts, from the hand of Mr. A. Dawson (son of the well-known landscape painter, the late Mr. Henry Dawson of Nottingham) are all new, and all original (except the map, and two geological sections, and the cut of the guardship at South-haven, which is from a sketch by the Author).
Some of the large views are copper-plate artists' etchings of the old type, executed by the well-known process of drawing with a needle on copper, through a blackened varnish, or "ground," and then obtaining incised lines by applying acids, in solution, to the uncovered parts of the copper. The others are produced by a method in some respects novel, to which the name "photograving" may conveniently be applied. An ordinary photographic negative is taken from the artist's drawing, which is then impressed by the action of light on the gelatinous substance, portions of which being subsequently dissolved away, the remainder present a delicate relief mould. From this mould an electrotype in copper is taken, which forms the face of the finished plate. The effect aimed at is that of copper mezzotint. These plates, as well as the etchings, are printed tn a roller press. The small cuts are practically etchings, until they leave the artists' hands, for they are so far executed in the same manner, but through a white prepared ground on brass plates. Here, however, the resemblance is at an end, since no acid is used, but all the parts of the drawing which are intended to be white in the impression, are raised by adding wax, and the whole is then electrotyped in copper, so that the lines, instead of being incised, are in relief. After the electrotype has been backed with lead and mounted on a block of wood, these blocks can be printed exactly as ordinary woodcuts, along with the letter-types of the book-printer. This process, invented by Mr. A. Dawson, is the subject of a patent, and is known as "Typograph£c Etching." It is as well adapted for fine picturesque work as for reproducing mechanical drawings, for which purpose it has been greatly used; and being, as compared with wood cutting, inexpensive, yet equally lasting, has no doubt an important future.
C. E. R.
16 Old Square, Lincoln's Inn, 9th January 1882.

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Quest , M. 1985. Petrographic and Geochemical Studies of the Portland and Purbeck Beds of Dorset. Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis, Department of Geological Sciences, Faculty of Science and Engineering, University of Birmingham, England, 347pp. By Martin Quest. Supervised by Professor Tony Hallam; thesis examined by Ian West. Synopsis: The Portland and Purbeck Beds (Upper Jurassic - Lower Cretaceous) exposed along the south Dorset coast are examined using a variety of geochemical and petrographic tools in an attempt to elicit diagenetic and palaeosalinity information. Boron in the less than 2 micron illite/total clay correlates well with inferred salinity in the Purbeck and there are important conclusions to be drawn regarding element re-cycling. In the Portland Limestone Formation there is no correlation with salinity, the very low boron concentrations possibly reflecting syn-depositional illite degradation. In the Portland Sand Formation and top-most Kimmeridge the concentration of boron (greater than 250 ppm.) is too high for the inferred marine salinities and probably reflects a mineralogical boron input in the form of glauconite. Petrographic, stable isotope and minor/trace element analysis of the Portland Limestone Formation confirms a very simple diagenetic history compatible with early lithification in the shallow sub-surface meteoric zone. A positive correlation between del 18 O and Sr/Na suggests increased diagenetic stabilisation of carbonates on the swell and eastern basin compared to those in the western basin. An apparent isotope and elemental cyclicity on the Isle of Portland may correspond to variations in eustatic sea level. Isotopic analysis of the Purbeck type-section at Durlston Bay has failed to differentiate between early and late-cemented carbonates. This is probably the result of late (ferroan) cements in the former imparting heavy del 13 C signature. Stable isotope and petrographic work on Middle Purbeck beef has identified a burial diagenetic origin. Petrographic, stable isotope, trace element and XRD work on the dolomites of the Portland Sand Formation rejects a penecontemporaneous origin and suggests that they were formed by the dolomitization of a stabilised (lithified?) low Mg calcite mud. Mg was supplied via evaporatively modified solutions, dolomite formation taking place in a partially isolated diagenetic system. The timing of dolomitization is unclear although there is some evidence that it occurred during a period of low eustatic sea level prior to deposition of the Portland Limestone Formation. In the extreme east of the region, basal Purbeck calcitised evaporites exhibit extreme del 13 C depletion (del 13 C - 25 %) suggesting an origin via bacterial sulphate reduction. Calculations using minor/trace element data indicates that calcitisation occurred within a partially closed environment. The absence of very light carbon values further west may reflect less severe reduction reactions or inorganic calcitisation in an aerobic zone associated with a structural high. End of abstract. [This is a very interesting thesis containing good work which has not been published and is therefore not well-known. The isotopic and other geochemical work in general supports previous petrographic studies. Note the two types of calcitisation in the Broken Beds and top Soft Cap which accord with petrographic evidence. There is much calcitised anhydrite in the east and calcitised gypsum in the west. The bacterial reduction theory brings up the interesting topic of hydrocarbons having once been present in the Broken Beds in certain areas, and this is quite likely. The Portland dolomitisation theory differs from that of Townson (1975) who regarded it as penecontemporaneous.]

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Radley , J.D. 1993. An occurrence of Ammobaculites (Foraminiferida, Lituolacea) in the Purbeck Formation (late Jurassic-early Cretaceous) of Dorset, south-west England. J. micropalaeontol, 12, 119-120. Authors abstract: An influx of Ammobaculites cf. obliquus Loeblich and Tappan is documented from the late Jurassic-early Cretaceous Purbeck Formation of Dorset, south-west England. The foraminifera are interpreted as inhabitants of a dysaerobic, muddy, brackish lagoonal environment. Known in the Hauterivian, Valangianian. Also occurs in the Barremian Vectis Formation. Modern forms occur in brackish lagoons of 12.5 to 15 parts per thousand salinity although they tolerate salinity fluctuations. Sometimes inhabit poorly oxygenated mud. A section of the Wimbledon Durlston log is given but is inferior to the Clements' log. Foraminifera in Clements bed DB 168.
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Robinson , E. 1998. The stones cry out. Dorset Geologist's Association Newsletter. April 1998. p. 2-3. With Replies from: Environmental Services, County Hall, Purbeck Stone (Carol Foster, Senior Planning Officer, Minerals and Development Control); and from Kingston Lacey and Corfe Castle Estates, Re. Quarrying (J.C. Homer, Esq., Property Manager - Purbeck Estates). These contributions follow from the leading article in the February edition of the DGAG Newsletter - The demise of a tradition.

Robinson, C.E. 1882. A Royal Warren; or Picturesque Rambles in the Isle of Purbeck. Etching Co., London.
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Ross , A.J. and Vannier, J. 2002. Crustacea (excluding Ostracoda) and Chelicerata of the Purbeck Limestone Group, southern England: a review. Pp. 71-82 in: Milner, A.R. and Batten, D.J. (Editors) 2002. Life and environments in Purbeck times. Special Papers in Palaeontology, No. 68, Palaeontological Association, London, 268pp. Report from a symposium on the Purbeck Formation at the Dorset County Museum, Dorchester, Dorset, March 19-22, 1999. By Andrew Ross, The Natural History Museum, London and Jean Vannier, Universite Claude Bernard Lyon 1, Villeurbanne, France. Abstract: Three orders of Crustacea, apart from the Ostracoda, are represented in the Purbeck Limestone Group of southern England: the Isopoda, Conchostraca and Decapoda. Two species of isopod have been recorded: Archaeoniscus brodiei Milne Edwards and a single specimen of Cyclosphaeroma woodwardi Van Straelen. However, examination of the specimen of C. woodwardi has shown that it is from the Portland Group and not from the Purbeck Limestone Group. Archaeoniscus brodiei is abundant at one horizon just above the Cinder Bed in the Vale of Wardour, Wiltshire, which Brodie called the Isopod Limestone. Four species of conchostracans have been recorded: Liograpta subquadrata (J. de C. Sowerby); L. jurassica Novozhilov; Brachygraptus wardourensis Novozhilov; and Pseudograpta andrewsii (Jones). The order Decapoda is represented by two unidentified species belonging to the families Erymidae and Coleiidae. One chelicerate specimen is known, belonging to the subclass Xiphosuria. Associated ostracods indicate that it came from the base of the Purbeck Limestone Group or the Portland Group. It is identified as Mesolimulus sp. and constitutes the second xiphosuran record for the Mesozoic of the UK.
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Salter , D.L. and West, I.M., 1965. Calciostrontianite in the basal Purbeck Beds of Durlston Head, Dorset. Mineralogical Magazine, 35, 146-150.
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Sladen , P.S. 1983. Trends in Early Cretaceous Clay Mineralogy in N.W. Europe. Zitteliana, 10, 349-357.

Sladen, P.S. 1984. Source-area environments of late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous sediments in southeast England. Proceedings of the Geologists' Association, London, 95, 149-163.
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Sorby , H.C. 1860. On the origin of " cone-in-cone ". British Association for the Advancement of Science, Report of the 29th Meeting, 1859. Transactions of Sections, Geology, p. 124.
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Stevenson , W. 1812. General View of the Agriculture of Dorset.
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Strahan , A. 1898. The Geology of the Isle of Purbeck and Weymouth. Memoirs of the Geological Survey. Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London. 278 pages with a map and colour cliff sections.
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Thomas , J. and Ensom, P. 1989. Bibliography and Index of Dorset Geology. Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society. 102 pp. Useful guide to Dorset geological literature including journal articles, newspaper reports and obscure publications. This is now on the Internet. See: Bibliography and Index of Dorset Geology, by Jo Thomas and Paul Ensom, Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1989. First published in 1989 by The Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, Dorchester, Dorset DT1 1XA. Adapted for the World Wide Web in 2002 by John Palmer. © DNHAS, J. Thomas and P. C. Ensom, 1989 and 2002.
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Underhill , J.R. 2002. Evidence for structural controls on the deposition of the late Jurassic- early Cretaceous Purbeck Limestone Group, Dorset, southern England. Pp. 21-40 in: Milner, A.R. and Batten, D.J. (Editors) 2002. Life and environments in Purbeck times. Special Papers in Palaeontology, No. 68, Palaeontological Association, London, 268pp. Abstract: Integration of field studies with subsurface data demonstrate that deposition of the late Jurassic - early Cretaceous Purbeck Limestone Group occurred under semi-arid conditions during an important phase of syntectonic extensional activity in the Wessex Basin. Use of structural restorations and neotectonic analogue studies support the introduction of a new model to account for the regional and local along-strike variability in deposition of the Purbeck Limestone Group. It is proposed that the segmented nature of the episodically-active, basin-bounding Purbeck Fault explains observed thickness and sedimentological variations, including lateral facies changes and clast reworking. In addition to affording a tectonic framework in which to understand the rich palaeontological assemblages, the new depositional model also provides a mechanism for explaining the rapid death and unusual preservation of conifer forests through rapid submergence following co-seismic activity on the normal fault system. [By John R. Underhill, Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Edinburgh.]
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Webster , T. 1816. in: Englefield, Sir H.C. 1816. A Description of the Principal Picturesque Beauties, etc., of the Isle of Wight. With additional observations on the strata of the Island, and their continuation in the adjacent parts of Dorsetshire, by T. Webster. Payne and Foss, London.

Webster, T. 1826. Observations on the Purbeck and Portland Beds. Transactions of the Geological Society, London, Second Series, Vol. 2, 37-44 plus plates. This includes a log of the Purbeck building stones of Durlston Bay and a small graphic log of the Purbeck succession of the Isle of Portland.
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West , I.M. 1960. On the occurrence of celestine on the Caps and Broken Beds at Durlston Head, Dorset. Proceedings of the Geologists' Association, 71, 391-401. By Ian M. West. Abstract: An occurrence of celestine in the Lower Purbeck Beds at Durlston Head is described and shown to be of syngenetic origin. Deposition probably took place near the margin of a basin of evaporite deposits into which strontium solutions were introduced. At a later date the celestine has been involved both in the brecciation that formed the Broken Beds and in complex local faulting. [This record of strontium minerals was the first definate evidence of former evaporites in the Broken Beds. It supported the hypothesis of Hollingworth (1938) that gypsum or anhydrite were once present at this horizon. The precise origin of the celestite, however, was not well-understood at that time, and it was later shown to be a replacement of evaporites (connected with groundwater flow up the fault-plane) and not syngenetic. See West (1973; 1975). The cliff section (fig. 2) is of a downbulge into former evaporites, and is a relatively complex part of the Durlston Bay cliffs that is not easily interpreted at first sight. Two celestite horizons are present, but the palaeosols of the Lulworth area are not properly developed here because this locality is in the "basinal" facies of the Purbecks. Since this paper was written celestite has been found in the Purbecks in the Soft Cockle Member of Durlston Bay and the Isle of Portland, in the Caps and Broken Beds at Worbarrow Tout and at Stair Hole. Calciostrontianite also occurs at Durlston Head (Salter and West, 1965).]

West, I.M. 1964a. Evaporite diagenesis in the Lower Purbeck Beds of Dorset. Proceedings of Yorkshire Geological Society, 34, 315-330. [Petrographic evidence of vanished evaporites in the Caps and Broken Beds - pseudomorphs, celestite, lutecite etc. Diagenetic history established.] Abstract: Five stages have been determined in the diagenetic history of the calcium sulphate beds of Lower Purbeck age in Dorset, particularly by reference to abundant pseudomorphs and other relict textures and structures preserved in late-formed gypsum and in secondary silica and calcite. The weight of the overburden is thought to have controlled the changes. Occurrences are described of minerals, including celestite, calciostrontianite, lutecite and quartz remaining after the removal in solution of gypsum. A description is also given of secondary limestones which occur particularly in the Caps and Broken Beds. They are shown to be almost entirely replacements of original sulphate deposits.

West, I.M. 1964b. Deformation of the incompetent beds in the Purbeck Anticline. Geological Magazine. 101, p.373. [Origin of the Lulworth Crumples in the Upper Purbecks - short note.]

West, I.M. 1969. Contribution in International Field Symposium on the British Jurassic; Guide for Dorset and South Somerset. Ed. H.S. Torrens, A60-61.

West, I.M. 1965. Macrocell structure and enterolithic veins in British Purbeck gypsum and anhydrite. Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society, 35, 47-58. Abstract: A nodular structure, here termed "macrocell structure" [nodular or chicken-wire structure] , is commonly associated with enterolithic veins in the British Purbeck gypsum and anhydrite. The veins and macrocell structure preceded the brecciation that gave rise to the Broken Beds and were present in early secondary anhydrite. Both structures probably originated when primary gypsum was undergoing compaction before the lithification of the associated marl, and have not resulted from hydration of anhydrite. A sequence of diagenesis for Purbeck calcium sulphate with macrocell structure is established, comparable to that previously elaborated [West, 1964a] for the calcium sulphate with [the microscopic] net-texture. Similar features are present in other calcium sulphate deposits.

West, I.M. 1973. Vanished evaporites - significance of strontium minerals. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology, 43, 278-279. [On indicators of former evaporites such celestite and associated lutecite, the oblique-extinguishing variety of chalcedony; also length-slow chalcedony - quartzine etc.] Extracts: 'In a recent paper, Folk and Pittman (1971) have clearly indicated the importance of lutecite and quartzine varieties of chalcedony as evidence for the former presence of evaporites. Although lutecite has been successfully employed by the present writer for the detection of former gypsum deposits removed by dissolution (West, 1964; West, Brandon and Smith, 1968), confirmatory evidence is usually necessary. Fortunately, those processes which cause the removal of evaporites in solution frequently also result in their partial replacement by other minerals. Groundwater with bicarbonate ions may partly convert calcium sulphate deposits to calcium carbonate before dissolution of any remaining gypsum. Examples of such calcitised evaporites have been described by West (1964), Shearman and Fuller (1969) and other authors. In a dolomitic succession the calcitic nature of such replacements may be conspicuous. Pseudomorphs, relics of anhydrite in euhedral quartz crystals, and traces of net-texture (West, 1964) or nodular structure (West, 1965) may be present in any replacements or residues of dissolved evaporites. A positive indication of the former presence of calcium sulphate is the occurrence of celestite. This mineral is rarely found in sedimentary deposits other than evaporites, replaced evaporites or insoluble residues of evaporites. The related mineral barite is not so restricted. Associations of celestite with present or former evaporites have been described by Lacroix (1897), Zaritsky (1961), West (1964), West, Brandon and Smith (1968) and many other authors. Celestite is, in most cases, formed by the replacement of gypsum or anydrite; it is much less soluble than those minerals. It is usually formed by the selective removal of strontium ions from groundwater by reaction with deposits of calcium sulphate. Water containing a large proportion of calcium ions and a small proportion of strontium ions most commonly exists where limestone deposits occur in proximity. Celestite beds of appreciable thickness may be thus formed, particularly at the upper and lower boundaries of gypsum or anhydrite deposits. Such diagenetic formation of celestite is most favoured where there is appreciable flow of groundwater. Continuing diagenesis in a bicarbonate-rich environment may convert celestite to calciostrontianite (Salter and West, 1965). Smaller scale occurrences of celestite may be produced by a similar mechanism where gypsum veins have penetrated into limestone... Thus, there are many criteria for indicating the former presence of evaporites and it is wise to employ at least two. The occurrence of strontium minerals together with length-slow chalcedony [and/or lutecite] provides reliable evidence for the former presence of evaporites.'

West, I.M. 1974. Evaporite diagenesis in the Lower Purbeck Beds of Dorset. Reprinted in Kirkland and Evans (Ed.): Marine Evaporites, Origin, Diagenesis and Geochemistry. Benchmark Papers in Geology. [See West, 1964] Abstract: Five stages have been determined in the diagenetic history of the calcium sulphate beds of Lower Purbeck age in Dorset, particularly by reference to abundant pseudomorphs and other relict textures and structures preserved in late-formed gypsum and in secondary silica and calcite. The weight of the overburden is thought to have controlled the changes. Occurrences are described of minerals, including celestite, calciostrontianite, lutecite and quartz remaining after the removal in solution of gypsum. A description is also given of secondary limestones which occur particularly in the Caps and Broken Beds. They are shown to be almost entirely replacements of original sulphate deposits.

West, I.M. 1975. Evaporites and associated sediments of the basal Purbeck Formation (Upper Jurassic) of Dorset. Proceedings of the Geologists' Association, London, 86, 205-225. Abstract: Four facies of limestones, each with particular contents of calcitised evaporites and of skeletal debris were recognised. They are compared with sediments of modern evaporite-depositing environments. The lowermost limestones, stromatolitic and pelletoid with foraminifera, probably originated in intertidal to shallow subtidal, moderately hypersaline, water. Overlying pelletoid limestones with algal-mats and some gypsum are products of high-intertidal flats. The main evaporite beds were originally gypsum, probably formed in supratidal to intertidal, very hypersaline, palaeoenvironments. The gypsum was converted to anhydrite and later brecciated in part, forming the Broken Beds. Extensive calcitisation produced porous unfossiliferous limestones. Ostracodal limestones above probably originated in shallow, only moderately hypersaline water. All the basal Purbeck strata were formed in and around a large shallow gulf with extensive tidal flats and with water of varying but predominantly high salinities. At times of uplift, thin soils developed on the former margins of the gulf. Forests were able to exist there because, although the area was within the semi-arid zone, it was probably very near to the boundary of the warm-temperate zone. End of Abstract. [Additional notes on topics discussed: Palaeosalinity origins of the basal Purbeck facies and lateral correlation. Mostly hypersaline to varying extents, including the stromatolite horizons. Fossil trees 'pickled' in a salt lake. Details of the basal Purbeck strata at all the main localities, studied petrographically. Depositional environments of the dirt beds and marls. Palaeoenvironmental significance of sedimentary cyles. Thickness variations of the facies. Relationship of the Broken Beds to the evaporitic facies. Local uplift. Penecontemporaneous fault movement. The Mupe Bay oil sand. Durlston Head sequence.]

West, I.M. 1979. Sedimentary Environments and Diagenesis of Purbeck Strata (Upper Jurassic - Lower Cretaceous) of Dorset, U.K. Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis, Southampton University, 181 p. Abstract: Twelve papers, notes and a contribution to a book, all either published or accepted for publication, constitute this thesis. All parts of the classic, shallow-water, schizohaline Purbeck Formation of the type area are discussed but emphasis is on Lower Purbeck evaporites. Diagenesis of these involved much conversion of initial small lenticular crystals of gypsum to anhydrite with net-texture. The anhydrite was extensively replaced by calcite and celestite in the Broken Beds, a tectonic evaporite breccia at the base of the Purbecks. Evaporites were almost completely lost in solution from this breccia leaving characteristic relics of "vanished evaporites". Elsewhere, in the more argillaceous parts of the formation the sulphate remains, mainly as porphyrotopic secondary gypsum. Nodules and enterolithic veins are abundant in both the calcium sulphate and in the replacements. The similarity to those in Holocene sabkhas of the Trucial Coast (Shearman, 1966) suggested an origin on supratidal sabkhas, but there is a lack of desert sediments and instead the evaporites are interbedded with forest soils. Analogous Carboniferous evaporites show evidence of sabkha origins but no sign of desert conditions [West, Brandon and Smith, 1968. A tidal flat evaporitic facies in the Visean of Ireland. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology, 38, 1079-1093.]. New evidence has come from sabkhas in Northern Egypt where gypsum nodules develop in partly vegetated environment, dry but not excessively so, and supports other evidence for a semi-arid origin for the Lower Purbeck evaporites [West, Ali and Hilmy. 1979. Primary gypsum nodules in a modern sabkha on the Mediterranean coast of Egypt. Geology, 7, 354-358.]. The relatively dry climate was temporary and facies of higher parts of the Purbecks seem to result from sub-humid conditions. Throughout the formation lagoonal, 'intertidal' and supratidal deposits can be recognised but in the Middle and Upper Purbecks the lagoonal sediments have abundant brackish shelly faunas and, there, 'tidal-flat' deposits consist of shell-sand with dinosaur footprints but usually without evaporites. Progressively the proportion of land-derived clastics such as kaolinite and quartz sand increases as the continental Wealden is approached and final Purbeck sediments contain debris eroded from the underlying Portland Stone Formation, then uplifted at the western margin of the basin.

West, I.M., 1979b. Review of evaporite diagenesis in the Purbeck Formation of southern England. Symposium - Sedimentation Jurassique W. Europeen. A.S.F. Publication Speciale, No.1, Mars 1979. pp. 407-416.

West, I.M. 1988 Notes on some Purbeck sediments associated with the dinosaur footprints at Sunnydown Farm, near Langton Matravers, Dorset. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 109, 153-154.

West, I. M. 1992. Contribution on Purbeck Formation in: Cope, .J C.W., Ingham, J. K. and Rawson, P.F. (editor). 1992. Atlas of Palaeogeography and Lithofacies. Geological Society of London.


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Willett , E.W. 1881. Notes on a mammalian jaw from the Purbeck Beds at Swanage, Dorset. By Edgar W. Willett, B.A. With an Introduction by Henry Willet, Esq. F.G.S. (read May 25, 1881), Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, London, 37, 376-380. [He found mammal remains in the Upper Dirt Bed or Fern Bed in a pit on the cliff top - Willett's Mammal Pit. ]
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Wimbledon , W.A. 1987. Rhythmic sedimentation in the Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 108 for 1986, 127-133. Most of this paper is on the Portland Group but an Appendix refers to Purbeck nomenclature. Abstract: A number of shallowing and deepening phases is described in the late Kimmeridgian - Berriasian interval. Eleven deepening / transgressive events are noted in the most complete Dorset section. A preferred lithostratigraphy for these beds is compared to previous lithostratigraphy, and "event correlations" are critically examined.
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Woodward , H.B. 1890. The Geology of Swanage. pp. 63-82 in: Braye, J. 1890. Swanage (Isle of Purbeck): Its History, Resources as an Invigorating Health Resort, Botany and Geology. 2nd Edition. William Henry Everett and Son, Salisbury Square, Fleet Street, London, 119 pp. (John Bray). Price One Shilling.

Woodward, H.B. 1907b. Stanford's Geological Atlas of Great Britain and Ireland; with Plates of Characteristic Fossils. Preceded by descriptions of the geological structure of Great Britain and Ireland and their counties; and of the features observable along the principal lines of railway. Edward Stanford, London. Pp 189 & Plates. (This is a reference from which images are derived rather than a publication of much direct relevance to Durlston Bay).

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Please see also the Bibliography of the Purbeck Formation

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Durlston Bay - Part 1: Introduction, Fossils and Upper Purbecks
Durlston Bay - Part 2: Middle Purbecks and Building Stones
Durlston Bay - Part 3: Lower Purbecks & Miscellaneous
Durlston Bay - Part 4: Bibliography and References [this]
Purbeck Formation Bibliography - general
Purbeck Formation Bibliography - Topics, alphabetically

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Copyright © 2012 Ian West, Catherine West, Tonya West and Joanna Bentley. All rights reserved. This is a purely academic website and images and text may not be copied for publication or for use on other webpages or for any commercial activity. A reasonable number of images and some text may be used for non-commercial academic purposes, including field trip handouts, lectures, student projects, dissertations etc, providing source is acknowledged.

Disclaimer: Geological fieldwork involves some level of risk, which can be reduced by knowledge, experience and appropriate safety precautions. Persons undertaking field work should assess the risk, as far as possible, in accordance with weather, conditions on the day and the type of persons involved. In providing field guides on the Internet no person is advised here to undertake geological field work in any way that might involve them in unreasonable risk from cliffs, ledges, rocks, sea or other causes. Not all places need be visited and the descriptions and photographs here can be used as an alternative to visiting. Individuals and leaders should take appropriate safety precautions, and in bad conditions be prepared to cancel part or all of the field trip if necessary. Permission should be sought for entry into private land and no damage should take place. Attention should be paid to weather warnings, local warnings and danger signs. No liability for death, injury, damage to, or loss of property in connection with a field trip is accepted by providing these websites of geological information. Discussion of geological and geomorphological features, coast erosion, coastal retreat, storm surges etc are given here for academic and educational purposes only. They are not intended for assessment of risk to property or to life. No liability is accepted if this website is used beyond its academic purposes in attempting to determine measures of risk to life or property.

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Dr Ian West, author of these webpages

Webpage - written and produced by:


Ian West, M.Sc. Ph.D. F.G.S.

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at his private address, Romsey, Hampshire, kindly supported by Southampton University,and web-hosted by courtesy of iSolutions of Southampton University. The website does not necessarily represent the views of Southampton University. The website is written privately from home in Romsey, unfunded and with no staff other than the author, but generously and freely published by Southampton University. Field trips shown in photographs do not necessarily have any connection with Southampton University and may have been private or have been run by various organisations.


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