The gentle folding and the ease of access to the cliff exposures make this an important collecting site for faunas of the upper Santonian and lower Campanian.

The chalk rubble and solifluction deposits are particularly notable for their fossil remains of many Devensian mammals, including Elephas primigenius, Tichorhinus antiquitatus and Equus caballus.

This exposure of Upper Chalk lies on the southern flank of the Weald anticline, an upward flexure of the crust and the major geological structure of south-eastern England.

These structures were probably formed by stretching of the crust parallel to the axis of the anticline during an episode of crustal compression in the mid Tertiary.

Along much of the cliffed coast between Brighton and Newhaven (and beyond to Eastbourne), frost involution structures can be seen in the upper meter of the chalk cliff.

Frost heaving broke up the sub-surface sedimentary layers of chalk turning small slabs into a more and more upright orientation towards the surface, to be covered by present day soil.