Thu, 29th Apr 2010 | Geoparkartist | 592 Views, 2 Nods.

Crystal molar and pockmarked chin

www.annakeleher.com Crystal molar and pockmarked chin is one of my Geopark blogs.

The white mountain spat a crystal molar which landed at the very edge of a large fresh water swamp.

The mountain and the swamp are gone, but the blackened tooth relic sits where it landed.You can see it to this day on the present shoreline between Brixham and Churston cove.

No one has ever told me that there's a crystal molar on the Geopark shoreline. I'm lucky to have discovered it myself from the seaward side. I can almost smell the cinders. When I get a copy of Mel's new English Riviera Geopark guide it'll be the first thing I look up. What is the geological explanation? It surely must be full of iron.

This blackened tooth is safe from predation by treasure seekers, not because it is heavy or jagged, but because it is protected by law.
On the Goodrington side of Broadsands mineral collectors and tourists have long picked the famous crystal cove (or cave) clean of its white calcite crystals, leaving its poor pockmarked chin to be smoothed by the tide. Sustainable tourism and the high level of protection accompanying Geopark status has arrived too late to save this extravagantly be-jewelled beauty. As I approached in my kayak the sun glinted off its surfaces as if..... as if..... it was still a thing of wonder. www.englishrivierageopark.org.uk/section_su b.cfm?section=13&sub=58

I really need the little Geopark book 'cos though I've poked about a bit in the coves between Goodrington and Broadsands I still haven't found the burrows of that giant worm. Did you see the BBC video of that, the giant prehistoric worm that lived here. news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/devon/7949054.s tm Its worth a look ...... and though I haven't yet found the burrows there are also some at Saltern Cove. Thats next to Goodrington Sands, Paignton.

There are really very nice rock formations in this stretch of coast. I can't get over the shiny surfaced mud coloured chunks that rear up at 45 degrees and are run through with heavy white veins. Then there are small pale whipped dunes, fiery desert sands and knobbly breccias. So many different rock types and formations laid down at different periods of Geologic time. I look forward to taking my Geopark guide down there with me and to identify some of the features I have seen and photographed, to better share them with you. At the moment my photo captions cannot be relied on at all. Sorry and Mel is on her hols so I can't check with her.

You can see some nice images I took of these Geopark rocks in "Geopark places" and "Geothings" but if you can it'd be good to go and see for yourself, have a look around, have a nice day out.

The best way to see the Geopark coastline is either on foot, preferably at low tide or by kayak in calm seas. But you can't beat a kayak trip, its really something to go out in the kayak and explore.

Sit on kayaks can be hired at Paignton harbour and Oddicombe beach (summer only). We bought ours at that place at the quay in Exeter (AS) and we are really happy with them. What adventures... !! the two of them fit into our van, so we'll be able to take them to the Copper coast Geopark in Ireland. Meantime we plan to get to know our own coast here and the ways of the tides and rivers. I have already learnt a lot....

Today I am celebrating the end of my Arts Council funded project and tomorrow I officially enter the unfunded zone. But funded or not I still have interviews to do, blogs to write and imagination to exercise. My job as an artist goes on. I am making a sled for my journey to the far distant present.....next and I have that pair of fine Geopark boots to make out of iris leave.

........But it is important to mark the occasion with you as witness. Its been a fun time and its been really nice to be appreciated by all of you..... So stay with it and look out for my future posts and podcasts and don't forget to tell your friends about my work and the English Riviera Geopark.