Triassic

Triassic is one of three geological periods named in the book’s account of the Jurassic Coast, where exposed rock and mud reveal a record of the earth extending across 185 million years. The period helps establish the immense timescale behind the coast’s fossils and contrasts with the much shorter human histories encountered along the walk.

Geological Setting

The Jurassic Coast is described as a ninety-five-mile World Heritage Site running from Old Harry Rocks on the south coast to near Exmouth. Coastal erosion exposes rocks spanning the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. The book names Triassic as part of this sequence but gives no dates or detailed account of the period’s boundaries; its importance here is as one layer in a long geological record made visible along the coast.

Fossils and Deep Time

The surrounding stone and mud contain fossilized remains of plants and animals, ranging from tree ferns and insects to molluscs and mammals. Some fossils preserve even the remains of an animal’s last meal. These finds make the coast more than a scenic route: its rocks hold traces of life in motion, preserved across timescales vastly longer than a human life. The passage does not assign particular fossils to the Triassic, but places the period within the geological sequence that gives this landscape its depth.

Narrative Significance

The mention of Triassic briefly shifts the walk’s scale from the path beneath the travellers’ feet to the geological history recorded in the cliffs. The book presents those rocks as a material archive: erosion exposes successive stretches of deep time, while fossils preserve fragments of living worlds within them. Triassic therefore contributes to the passage’s central contrast between the brief, changing experience of a journey and the much longer histories held in the coast.