Along the south coast of Wales the geological formations trend generally west to east, and the coastline intersects outcrops of rock formations that are often steeply dippÂÂing. The Pre-Cambrian and Lower Palaeozoic rocks of St. David’s Peninsula are succeeded southward in St. Bride’s Bay by Devonian (Old Red Sandstone) and Carboniferous formations, including Carboniferous Limestone, Millstone Grit and Coal Measures. These extend W–E across south Pembrokeshire, Carmarthen Bay and the Gower Peninsula to Swansea Bay and Porthcawl. There are broad plateaux ending in even-crested cliffs, except where incised valleys open to the coast. In Glamorgan the Carboniferous rocks subside beneath Trias and Lias formations. Keuper Marl forms a coastal fringe north–east from Cardiff, but is largely concealed by Pleistocene glacial drift and Holocene alluvium in the Wentlooge and Caldicot Levels.
Mean spring tide ranges increase W–E along the coast. On Skomer Island the range is 5.9 m and at Milford...
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(2010). South Wales. In: Bird, E.C.F. (eds) Encyclopedia of the World's Coastal Landforms. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-8639-7_64
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