KIMMERIDGE BAY. .')()7 



Portland stone, the steep grassy slopes being com- 

 posed of the Portland sands, resting on the Kim- 

 meridge clays. Thus, then, the three divisions 

 of the Portland oolite, as exhibited in the Isle 

 of Purbeck, may be traced from Emmett's Hill, 

 which is about 250 feet high, by the pro- 

 minence called Encombe Point, through Kim- 

 meridge farm to beyond Gad Cliff, where they 

 sink beneath the sea at Worbarrow Knob, on 

 the eastern side of the headland of Purbeck 

 beds, that forms the southern point of Wor- 

 barrow Bay.* The Kimmeridge clay reappears 

 in Ringstead Bay, between seven and eight miles 

 beyond Gad Cliff, to the west of the chalk at 

 Whitenore ; thence to Weymouth, the lower beds 

 of clay become charged with sand and calcareous 

 earth, and pass insensibly into the limestone strata 

 of the Oxford oolite. 



Kimmeridge Coal. — The strata in the imme- 

 diate vicinity of the place from which the name of 

 the group is derived, are composed of bituminous 

 fissile shales and laminated clays, alternating with 

 thin courses of brown limestone. As some of the 

 layers are so largely charged with carbonaceous 

 and bituminous matter as to be used for fuel, 



* Principally from Dr. Fitton's Memoir and sections: my own observations 

 along this part of the coast have been very limited. 



