General Discussion

Does anybody have any good references on the history of the rock formations and constitution around the dawlish coast? I have researched a little before, but could not find enough material to do a section on it.

I have noticed that 'Costal', 'Rock', 'Protection', etc. are very commonly searched on this site so any help would be greatly appreciated.

I have just relocated to Dawlish (My wife and I grew up in Dawlish/Teignmouth) and I am a Geologist by profession (although I now do a different job). There is a book that is now out of print (I think published by David & Charles) called The Geology of the South Devon Coast which details the area around Dawlish and Teignmouth (I have a copy somewhere).

In summary the famous red sandstones around Dawlish are Permo-Triassic in age (c. 290 Million years) and were formed in wind blown semi-arid/desert conditions. There is evidence of dunes (originally over 40ft high) preserved in the cliffs at Coryton Cove. The red colour is derived from oxidised iron minerals (rusty) that coat the quartz sand grains. Within the fine red sandstones you can see occasional lensoid patches of pebbles (near the Coastguards Cafe is a good example) these are the remnants of probable seasonal streams that ran across the 'desert' at that time.

The fact that the Dawlish area was a desert at the time the sandstones were deposited explains the lack of any fossils. Although the Sea Wall, which is made from Devonian Limestone from Torquay (400 million years old), does contain many fossil corals.

If you look at the top of the cliffs near Red Rock you will notice a layer of sediments that look like loose sand and rounded pebbles just like on the beach. This layer is in fact just what it looks like, it is a raised beach of a much younger age (not sure but I think about Pleistocene in age, 1.8 million to 11,000 years old) and reflects a period of time when sea level was much higher.

Dawlish warren is relatively a much younger feature, and more what I would classify as gardening (Physical Geography) rather than Geology (real rocks!).

I could go on but I'm sure anyone reading this is probably bored by now...

There may be something coming up in the current BBC programme 'British Isles A Natural history' shown on Wednesday evenings. I know that Alan Titchmarsh was filming in Dawlish - he stayed at the Rise during his visit, and the film crew were drinking in the Swan. Presumably they were filming this programme, so might be worth watching to see what comes up.