Blue sky low tide beach view, from the south, of the Marsden Rock sea stack, as it appeared in 1975, Marsden Bay, South Shields, Tyne and Wear, UK

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Marsden Rock is a picture postcard sea stack at Marsden Bay, South Shields, Tyne and Wear. The 30 m high sea stack is formed from 250 million year old Upper Magnesian Limestone. The stack is about 91 metres from the cliff-face (left of shot) and is accessible by foot at low tide. Rock collapse formed the large arch in 1911. In 1996 continued marine erosional processes, assisted by freeze-thaw weathering during a cold winter, weakened the roof of the arch causing it to collapse, leaving two separate stacks. In 1997 the resulting smaller stack (right side of the arch), declared unsafe, was demolished in the interests of public safety. A view looking north to Marsden Rock as it appeared in the summer of 1975.

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Size: 3073px × 1946px
Location: Archive shot of Marsden Rock, from the south, Marsden Bay, South Shields, Tyne and Wear, UK
Photo credit: © robert harrison / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: 1975, arch, bay, beach, blue, day, erosion, erosional, formation, geological, geology, historical, history, limestone, magnesian, marine, marsden, processes, rock, sea, shields, sky, south, stack, sunny, tyne, uk, view, water, wear, white