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The white cliffs of Dover, immortalized in popular song and verse (by Blur and others), are cliffs facing the Strait of Dover near the major port town of Dover, England, in the county of Kent. The cliff face, which reaches up to 350 feet high, owes its striking façade to its composition of chalk (pure white lime) accentuated by streaks of black flint.

The cliffs trace their origins to the Cretaceous Period, approximately 136 million years ago, when the area was submerged under deep tropical waters. Subjected to the great pressures of the sea, the emptied skeletons of coral, sponges and other small sea creatures turned to sediment and began to accumulate on the ocean floor. By approximately 70 million years ago, this process had formed a mass of silica-specked chalk linking the island to the continent. Over time, owing to the exceptional softness of chalk, tidal forces eroded this land mass away to form the English Channel.

The cliff face continues to erodeErosion is the displacement of solids ( soil, mud, rock, and so forth) by the agents of wind, water, ice, or movement in response to gravity. Although the processes may be simultaneous, erosion is to be distinguished from weathering, which is the decompos at an average rate of one centimeter per year, although occasionally—most recently in 2001—large chunks of the edge, up to several meters at once, will fall into the channel with little warning. Visitors are therefore urged to remain at least five meters back from the edge.

Behind the cliff face are miles of hidden tunnels that were built during the Dark AgesThe Dark Ages is a concept invented in the early 14th Century by the poet Petrarch who used it to describe the preceding 900 years in Europe, beginning with the fall of the western Roman Empire in 410 through to the renewal embodied in the Renaissance. and later played a role in the defense of Britain during the Napoleonic WarsThe Napoleonic Wars lasted from 1804 until 1815. They were a continuation of the conflicts sparked by the French Revolution and covered the duration of the First French Empire. The First and Second Coalitions For a more detailed account see the French Rev.

Many different kinds of birds nest on the cliff face, including colonies of kittiwakeRissa tridactyla Rissa brevirostris The Kittiwakes ( genus Rissa are two closely related seabird species in the gull family Laridae. The more common and widespread species, Rissa tridactyla is known in North America as Black-legged Kittiwake but in Europe and peregrine falcon.