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
Oceanic crust frozen in the basalt. A symmetrical pattern of positive and negative magnetic lines emanates from the mid-ocean ridge. New rock is formed by magma at the mid-ocean ridges, and the ocean floor spreads out from this point. When the magma cools to form rock, its magnetic polarity is aligned with the then-current positions of the magnetic poles of the Earth. New magma then forces the older cooled magma away from the ridge. This process results in parallel sections of oceanic crust of alternating magnetic polarity. Oceanic crust Oceanic crust is the uppermost layer of the oceanic portion of a tectonic