The Lizard atmosphere and extreme southerly location being uniquely suitable. This became the Goonhilly satellite earth station, now owned by Goonhilly Earth Station Ltd. Some important developments in television satellite transmission were made at Goonhilly station. A wind farm exists near to the Goonhilly station site. Known as the Lizard complex, the peninsula's geology is the best preserved example of an exposed ophiolite in the United Kingdom. An ophiolite is a suite of geological formations which represent a slice through a section of ocean crust (including the upper level of the mantle) thrust onto the continental crust. The Lizard formations comprise three
Sial Sial In geology, the term 'sial' refers to the composition of the upper layer of the Earth's crust, namely rocks rich in silicates and aluminium minerals. It is sometimes equated with the continental crust because it is absent in the wide oceanic basins, but "sial" is a geochemical term rather than a plate tectonic term. As these elements are less dense than the majority of the earth's elements, they tend to be concentrated in the upper layer of the crust. Geologists often refer to the rocks in this layer as felsic, because they contain high levels of feldspar, an aluminium