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The Geology of Cornwall
Cornwall can really be imagined as a finger of 400 million year old Devonian
slates along with Carboniferous sandstones and shales pointing across the
Atlantic Ocean towards the USA, with a backbone
of granite. The granite batholith forms
moors at Bodmin Moor in the east
and reappears in the granite outcrops near Roche
in Mid Cornwall and in West Cornwall at the Carnmenellis
Granite (dated at between 293 and 275 million
years ago). The latter now largely covered by human habitation, south of
Camborne-Redruth and in the far west at the
striking and rugged landscape of the Penwith
Granite. It is
also present, but less apparent, due to its
highly weathered or kaolinised state in
the St. Austell Area where it
appears as 'china clay'. Some excellent guidebooks
are the heavyweight
Geology of Cornwall by Selwood, Bristow and Durrance, Earth Story: The Shaping of Our World
Two very significant areas for both the amateur and keen geologist must surely be the tilted rock strata of the north cornish cliffs between Millook Haven and Woolacombe in Devon - see Earth movements and folding on a grand scale... The other has to be the metamorphic thrust zone of the Lizard Peninsula. An area of varied geology and landscape has essentially been formed by the collision of two tectonic plates. Examine a Map of the Lizard Peninsula or learn more about the complex Geology of the area. Other areas to explore are:
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and the 'cheap as chips' 
