Dorset a number of small rivers run into the sea along the Dorset coastline; most notable of these are the Char, Brit, Bride and Wey. Most of Dorset's coastline is part of the Jurassic Coast, a World Heritage Site, which stretches for between Studland and Exmouth in Devon. This coast documents the entire Mesozoic era, from Triassic to Cretaceous and is noted for its geological landforms. The Dorset section has yielded important fossils, including Jurassic trees and the first complete Ichthyosaur, discovered near Lyme Regis in 1811 by Mary Anning. The county features some notable coastal landforms, including examples of a
Coastline of the United Kingdom has a fractal dimension of 1.13, and that of South Africa is 1.02. As a result of this shape and the number of islands, the coastline of the UK is longer than that of similar sized countries. For example, the coastline of Italy is around 9,226 km in length, France 7,330 km and Spain 7,268 km. Greece, which has a large number of islands similar to the UK, has a coastline of around 15,147 km. This means the UK has a relatively high coast/area ratio. Nowhere in the UK is more than from the coast. It is estimated that around