Cliffs
The famous striped pink and white cliffs are made up of different coloured layers of rock. They were laid down under the sea during the Cretaceous geological period, between 135 and 70 million years ago.
They are made up of two main layers:
Carrstone
This is the brown layer and consists of sandstone - sand cemented together by iron oxide (rust). In places where the cement is stronger, the rock is darker and less crumbly. There are no fossils in the carrstone apart from a little fossilised wood.
Chalk
The white and red chalk is made of limestone. Limestone forms in warm tropical climates, which suggests that Hunstanton's climate was once warmer than it is today! The colour of the red chalk is due to iron staining.
The chalk layer contains the following types of fossils:
- Coccoliths: tiny plants too small to see except with a microscope.
- Bivalves: similar to cockles and oysters.
- Belemnites: similar to cuttlefish.
- Ammonites: similar to nautilus.
- Brachiopods: similar to clams.
Collecting Fossils
Rocks may fall out of the cliffs at any time, and hammering the cliffs could cause a major rockfall. So only look for fossils away from the base of the cliffs. Use a proper geological hammer and protect your eyes, as an ordinary hammer could splinter, or rock splinters could damage your eyes.
Bird Life
The cliffs are colonised by fulmars which look like gulls but are in fact petrels.