Durdle Door

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Durdle Door

Durdle Door (sometimes spelled Durdle Dor) is a natural limestone

Limestone

File:Limestone Formation In Waitomo.jpgLimestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the mineral calcite . The deposition of limestone strata is often a by-product and indicator of biological activity in the geology record....
arch

Natural arch

A natural arch or natural bridge is a natural formation where a Rock arch forms, with a natural passageway through underneath. Most natural arches form as a narrow ridge, walled by cliffs, become narrower from erosion, with a softer rock stratum under the cliff-forming stratum gradually eroding out until the rock shelters thus forme...
on the Jurassic Coast

Jurassic Coast

The Jurassic Coast is a World Heritage Site on the English Channel coast of southern England. The site stretches from Orcombe Point near Exmouth, Devon in East Devon to Old Harry Rocks near Swanage in East Dorset, a distance of ....
near Lulworth

West Lulworth

West Lulworth is a village in the Purbeck district of Dorset, England, situated on the English Channel coast beside Lulworth Cove. The village has a population of 766 , 9.3% of dwellings are second homes....
in Dorset

Dorset

Dorset , is a Counties of England in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester, Dorset, situated in the south of the county at ....
, England

England

Arch

An arch is a structure that Span a space while supporting weight . Arches appeared as early as the 2nd millennium BC in Mesopotamian brick architecture, but their systematic use started with the Ancient Rome who were the first to apply the technique to a wide range of structures....
has formed on a concordant coastline

Concordant coastline

A concordant coastline occurs where the bands of differing Rock types run parallel to the coast. The outer hard rock provides a protective barrier to erosion of the softer rocks further inland....
where bands of rock

Rock (geology)

In geology, rock is a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals and/or mineraloids.The Earth's outer solid layer, the lithosphere, is made of rock....
run parallel to the shoreline. Here the rock strata are nearly vertical, and the bands of rock are quite narrow. Originally a band of resistant Portland limestone

Portland stone

Portland stone is a limestone from the Tithonian stage of the Jurassic period Quarry on the Isle of Portland, Dorset. The quarries consist of beds of white-grey limestone separated by chert beds....
ran along the shore, the same band which can be seen two miles down the coast forming the narrow entrance to Lulworth Cove

Lulworth Cove

Lulworth Cove is a cove near the village of West Lulworth, on the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site in Dorset, southern England. The cove is one of the finest examples of such a landform in the world, and is a tourist location, with over 1 million visitors a year....
.

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Encyclopedia

Durdle Door (sometimes spelled Durdle Dor) is a natural limestone

Limestone

Natural arch

Jurassic Coast

West Lulworth

Dorset

Dorset , is a Counties of England in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester, Dorset, situated in the south of the county at ....
, England

England

Geology

The arch

Arch

Concordant coastline

Rock (geology)

Originally a band of resistant Portland limestone

Portland stone

Lulworth Cove

Erosion

For morphological image processing operations, see Erosion 'For use of in dermatopathology, see Erosion Erosion is the removal of solids in the natural environment....
, and behind this is a stronger and much thicker band of chalk

Chalk

Chalk is a soft, white, porous sedimentary rock, a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite. It forms under relatively deep marine conditions from the gradual accumulation of minute calcite plates shed from micro-organisms called coccolithophores....
, which forms the Purbeck Hills

Purbeck Hills

The Purbeck Hills and South Dorset Downs are a ridge of chalk downland in Dorset, England. The hills extend from the Dorset Downs west of Dorchester, Dorset, where the River Frome, Dorset begins to form a valley dividing them from the larger area of downland to the north....
. The limestone and chalk are much closer together here than at Swanage

Swanage

Swanage is a small coastal town in the south east of Dorset, England. It is situated at the eastern end of the Isle of Purbeck, approximately 10 kilometre south of Poole and 40 km east of Dorchester, Dorset....
, to the east, where the distance between them is over . There are at least three reasons for this. First, the beds are highly inclined here, and more gently angled at Swanage. Secondly, some of the beds have been cut out by faulting at Durdle Door; and thirdly, the area around Durdle Door appears to have been unusually shallow, so a much thinner sequence of sediments were deposited here. At Durdle Bay all except a short stretch of the limestone has been completely eroded away by the sea and the remainder forms a small headland where it has protected the clay behind. At the western end this band of limestone has been eroded through, creating the natural arch.

The isthmus which joins the limestone to the chalk is made of a band of Portland limestone

Portland stone

Portland stone is a limestone from the Tithonian stage of the Jurassic period Quarry on the Isle of Portland, Dorset. The quarries consist of beds of white-grey limestone separated by chert beds....
, which is less resistant than the Purbeck beds, a narrow and compressed band of Cretaceous clay

Clay

Clay is a naturally occurring material composed primarily of fine-grained minerals, which show plasticity through a variable range of water content, and which can be hardened when dried and/or fired....
s—Wealden Clay, sand

Sand

Sand is a naturally occurring granular material composed of finely divided rock and mineral particles.As the term is used by geologists, sand particles range in diameter from 0.0625 to 2 millimeters....
s and chert

Chert

Chert is a fine-grained silica-rich microcrystalline, cryptocrystalline or microfibrous sedimentary rock that may contain small fossils. It varies greatly in color , but most often manifests as gray, brown, grayish brown and light green to rusty red; its color is an expression of trace elements present in the rock, and both red and green ar...
beds—and then narrow bands of Greensand

Greensand

Greensand is an olive-green coloured sandstone Rock which is commonly found in narrow bands, particularly associated with bands of chalk and clay worldwide; it has been deposited in Marine environments at various times during Earth history, such as during the Jurassic and Cretaceous Geologic time scale....
and sandstone

Sandstone

Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-size mineral or rock Particle size . Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust ....
. In Man o' War bay, the small bay immediately east of Durdle Door the Portland stone has not been entirely eroded away, and at low tide the band of Portland stone is partially revealed.

In literature and popular culture

Several music videos have been filmed at Durdle Door, including parts of Tears for Fears

Tears for Fears

Tears for Fears are an England pop rock band formed in the early 1980s by Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith. Founded after the dissolution of their first band, the Mod -influenced Graduate , they were initially associated with the New Wave music synthesizer bands of the early 1980s, but later branched out into mainstream rock and pop which led to...
' Shout
Shout (Tears for Fears song)

"Shout" is a song by the United Kingdom band Tears for Fears. Written by Roland Orzabal and Ian Stanley and sung by Orzabal , it was the band's eighth single release and sixth UK Singles Chart hit, peaking at #4 in January 1985 in music....
, Cliff Richard

Cliff Richard

Sir Cliff Richard Order of the British Empire is an England singer-songwriter, actor and entrepreneur.With his backing group The Shadows, Richard dominated the British popular music scene in the late 1950s and early 1960s, before and during The Beatles' first year in the charts....
's 1990 Christmas number one Saviour's Day, Billy Ocean

Billy Ocean

Billy Ocean is a Grammy Award-winning United Kingdom-based popular music performer who had a string of rhythm and blues-tinged international pop music hit record in the 1970s and 1980s....
's Loverboy

Loverboy (Billy Ocean song)

"Loverboy" was Billy Ocean's second single from his 1984 album, Suddenly . It was record producer by Robert John "Mutt" Lange and reached a record chart high of number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, and number 15 on the UK Singles Chart in February 1985....
and Bruce Dickinson

Bruce Dickinson

Paul Bruce Dickinson is an English singer, airline Aviator, radio show host, DJ, historian, Presenter#Television presenters, diver, Fencing, record producer, novelist, and songwriter best known as the vocalist of the heavy metal band Iron Maiden....
's Tears of the Dragon.

The artwork inside the lyric booklet for Pink Floyd

Pink Floyd

Pink Floyd are an English Rock music band who initially earned recognition for their psychedelic rock and space rock music, and later, as they evolved, for their progressive rock music....
's The Division Bell
The Division Bell

The Division Bell is the final recording studio album by Pink Floyd, released in 1994 , and their second album without Roger Waters. It was recorded at a number of studios, including guitarist/Singing David Gilmour's houseboat studio called Astoria ....
includes a scene photographed at Durdle Door.

In Nanny McPhee
Nanny McPhee

Nanny McPhee is a 2005 in film children's film. It was adapted by Emma Thompson from Christianna Brand Nurse Matilda books. On the BBC One television show Friday Night with Jonathan Ross, Emma Thompson revealed that a film trilogy is planned....
, the children go for a picnic on the beach at Durdle Door.

Scenes from the film Wilde
Wilde

Wilde is a surname, and may refer to:...
(1997) starring Stephen Fry

Stephen Fry

Stephen John Fry is an England actor, comedian, author and television presenter. With Hugh Laurie, as the comedy double act Fry and Laurie, he co-wrote and co-starred in A Bit of Fry and Laurie, and the duo also played the title roles in Jeeves and Wooster....
were shot here.

A similar image is used in Rockstar Games "Grand Theft Auto 3"

Scenes from the film Far From The Madding Crowd
Far from the Madding Crowd (1967 film)

Far from the Madding Crowd is a 1967 in film feature film directed by John Schlesinger, adapted from the Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy....
(1967) were shot here.

Durdle Door

Geology

In literature and popular culture

See also

External links