A History Of Life

"Kimmeridge is an excellent and exciting coastal cliff locality for the geologist. Here is the type section for the Kimmeridge Clay Formation, of Upper Jurassic age, the source rock for oil in the North Sea. It reveals much about Jurassic sea environments, about ichthyosaurs, plesiosaurs and other vertebrates". Dr. Ian West is a smiling person and a Jurassic enthusiast with the words and the skills to capture rock and fossil lovers around the world. His website has wonderful pictures on the geology of the South Central English coast (Dorset, Hampshire) with details on the type area of the Kimmeridge Clays. What is more, the site is continuously expanding.

His descriptions are extremely accurate, full of instructions of what-to-see and how-to-get-there, giving a fair amount of technical, stratigraphic and geologic data, without burdening the unprofessional, plus some general bibliography. Much iconography is devoted to the landscape and the sea, a hint to understand why the islanders have had a vocation for travelling and exploring the world, and to the parallel patterns designed by Jurassic strata, what has triggered their interest in geology and earth history. Pictures are high-quality. After all, we thank him for showing this beauty to the world.

Some links don't work, though, and the buttons overcrowd a bit this iper-ipertext. And then one wishes not to see his name written so many times and his smiling face peeping around every corner. One last beg for future updates: the fossils, we want to see the fossils!