Wave refraction and shoreline on the Dorset Coast

It’s been kind of quiet around here lately. Maybe because it is mid-summer in the Northern Hemisphere and all of my fellow geopathologists are at the beach?

Speaking of beaches, I was scoping out the Dorset coast of England looking for a famous fossil forest locality when I spotted this beautiful example of coastal geomorphology processes. Some sort of break in the resistant coastline has allowed waves to excavate this lovely inlet called Lulworth Cove, which now sports a textbook example of wave refraction and the dispersal of wave energy that allows a beach to develop. Oh and that fossil forest? It’s the Jurassic Purbeck Fossil Forest and it’s in the center of the frame.

Where are we? N 50.62 W 2.24