Coverack Beach, Cornwall

Coverack Beach

Coverack Beach is located on the Lizard peninsula in Cornwall, just nine miles from the town of Helston. The sand and pebble beach at Coverack is one of the few places in the world where it is possible to see a fossil ‘Moho’ – the boundary between the Earth’s upper mantle of serpentine and its lower crust of gabbro. Both were once molten rock, and as they cooled they fossilised into the large lumps of rock you can see embedded in the beach. Walking across the beach from crust to mantle, it is possible to identify serpentine, peridotite, troctolite, basalt, and gabbro rocks.

Download the PDF below for further details and a map.

https://www.geographysouthwest.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/PTV-Coverack-Beach.pdf

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About the Author

Paul Berry

Paul is a former Head of Geography and Assistant Vice-Principal. Paul took early retirement after 35 years as a Geography Teacher, and has written GCSE exam revision books for Collins, Hodder, and BBC Bitesize. He currently works as a Field Studies Tutor in Iceland for education travel company Rayburn Tours.

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