Kynance Cove lies two miles along the South-West Coast Path from the Lizard Point in Cornwall, and is renowned for the distinctive rocks that form its dramatic cliff scenery. Cornish geology typically consists of black, folded slates and pale grey, blocky granites.

Kynance Cove is an important site for geologists because of the exposures of the two types of ophiolitic serpentinite, together with granite and gneiss pods within the serpentine. The area has been designated as a Geological Conservation Review site.

Kynance Cove, part of the Lizard Complex: © Andy Wright The rocks at the Lizard are part of an ophiolite – a piece of oceanic crust that has been uplifted onto continental crust. When the rocks of the Lizard were formed around 400 million years ago, the area was completely submerged by water.

Much of the peninsula consists of the dark green and red rock, serpentinite, which forms cliffs as at Kynance Cove, and can be carved and polished to create ornaments. This ultramafic rock forms a very infertile soil which covers the flat and marshy heaths of the Goonhilly Downs.

Kynance Cove is one of the few places on the west coast of the Lizard where it is possible to descend the large cliffs. Here, the two main types of peridotite, the primary and recrystallized types are juxtaposed by a fault.