Evening Light in Porth Nanven
by Terri Waters
Title
Evening Light in Porth Nanven
Artist
Terri Waters
Medium
Photograph
Description
The setting sun beyond The Brisons illuminates the dinosaur eggs on Porth Nanven Beach in the Far West of Cornwall near St Just.
Porth Nanven, meaning “port of the rocky valley” and also known as Pornanven, and colloquially as Cot Valley Beach, consists of a sandy beach covered with large rounded boulders. These ovoid boulders have earned Porth Nanven the nickname “Dinosaur Egg Beach”, and are the work of the sea grinding the rocks to a smooth shape over the years. The cliff behind the beach also contains ovoid boulders, however these boulders were rounded by the sea and deposited around 120,000 years ago. This “raised beach”, or “marine terrace”, was formed by a drop in sea levels caused by melting of the ice sheets. Previously the sea would have been much higher, at the level where the raised beach is visible today. During very high spring tides the sea level can sometimes reach the raised beach and wash down some of the boulders.
Uploaded
September 28th, 2018
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