Huge 100m crack opens up along Jurassic Coast in Dorset, UK

Strange Sounds
Sat, 16 Apr 2016 19:06 UTC

© ITV News

A huge crack running 100m (328ft) opened up on a section of Dorset's Jurassic Coast on April 13, 2016. It appeared between Bowleaze Cove and Redcliff Point at Preston, near Weymouth.

The massive crack splits the land in two on the famous Jurassic Coast in Dorset.

The resulting crevasse measures about 250 yards long, up to 3ft wide and 4ft deep on April 12, 2016.

Thousands of tonnes of earth have given way and will continue to slip away, changing the landscape of the renowned coastline.

It is unknown when the cliff will fall down on the beach, but walkers and tourists are now being warned to steer clear of the chasm.

This gigantic landslip was caused by heavy rainfall in the last few months.

© Dorset Echo/Alan Holiday

Fossil hunters and beachgoers are also being warned as the crack will mean extra clay and mud on the shore below the cliff.

As if an earthquake had struck.

The thing is that this geological process is all part of a progressive evolution of the coastline.

© BBC/Wyke Regis Coastguard

Coastguards said the crack started to appear at the end of March

If hundreds of thousands of tonnes of rock have moved there is an increased risk of rock falls and mud that will spill out onto the beach and create a danger.

© BBC

The drop in the cracked section is just over 1m (3ft)

Watch a video here.

The soil is very unstable right now so keep away.

Comment: A 400m section of the Dorset Jurassic Coast between Lyme Regis and Charmouth disappeared in 2008, in what was described as the biggest landslide in Britain in a century. See:

Huge landslide hits Dorset's Jurassic Coast