The Yorkshire coast provides magnificent exposures of Jurassic and Cretaceous rocks that were deposited in the Cleveland Basin and on the adjacent northern part of the East Midlands Shelf. Much of the lower-lying ground is covered by a thick sequence of Quaternary deposits, well-exposed along the Holderness coast. Thus the coastal area has attracted the attention of geologists for a long period of time and the appearance of this fourth edition of our guide celebrates 200 years of research. As geological concepts and techniques have evolved, successive generations of geoscientists have returned to the classic exposures here, so that significant advances have been made since the appearance of the last edition of this guide in 2000.
This new edition of the Guide to the Yorkshire Coast has been expanded to include the important Holderness sections as well as adding a new Lower Jurassic itinerary, Runswick Bay. It thus embraces almost all of the Yorkshire North Sea coastline, together with some adjacent inland exposures. A new chapter with interpretation of several seismic sections is included to illustrate aspects of the tectonic history of the area.