Explore Blackhall Rocks: Permian Magnesian Limestone reveals Durham’s ancient past (255-250 million years ago). Quaternary age Denes shaped by ice ages.

Blackhall Beach: Discover stromatolites, ancient reef structures, formed by microbial activity in warm, shallow waters during the Permian period.

Blackhall shows rocks from Permian (290-250 mya) and Quaternary (30,000-19,500 years ago) periods, including ice age sediments.

Explore Blackhall’s Permian limestone formations: Ford, Roker, Seaham. Faulting complicates stratigraphy. Unique features in cliffs.

Blackhall’s Permian reef: Boulder conglomerate (high wave energy) and crinkly beds (calm lagoon) reveal ancient environmental changes.

Blackhall Rocks: Ford Formation to Crinkly Beds. Reef rampart, high-energy Boulder conglomerate, quiet lagoonal sediments, stromatolites in Roker Formation.

Examining Blackhall’s Crinkly Beds: Ancient Cyanobacteria and Ripple Formation

The Gin Cave

North of Gin Cave, Zechstein Cycle 1’s impressive boulder conglomerate formed by intense wave reworking at the reef’s edge.

North from Blackhall Rocks, beach morphs due to historic coal waste. Rock waste platform reflects colliery dumping, aerial flights shaped coast.

Blackhall beach reveals natural and artificial features: pebbly foreshore from waves, upper beach with coal waste dumping remnants.

Durham’s infamous black features resulted from rock waste dumping, which unintentionally created habitats and slowed coastal erosion temporarily.

Castle Eden Dene, geomorphology, artificial beach platform, Carboniferous rock waste, erosion, coastal processes.

Changing Beach Landscape: From Rock Waste to Beach Rollover

Journey through Durham Denes and Castle Eden Dene, learning about ice age origins and coastal regeneration. Flora, fauna, unique landscapes.