West Angle Bay Photo

Inclined strata

West Angle Bay occupies the core of a syncline formed in rocks of Carboniferous age. Beds of limestone belonging to the Black Rock and Avon Groups dip quite steeply into the bay on its north and south sides. This is a relic of compression from the south during the Variscan orogeny, which created major folds aligned along an east-west axis and shaped the modern coastline after erosion. For all of its geological minutae, this is a simply wonderful bay and we were lucky to visit on a low spring tide.

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