The cliffs at Hunstanton are striped because they are made up of three differently coloured layers of rock formed when prehistoric seas covered North Norfolk between 70 and 125 million years ago.
White chalk is a limestone and comes from the bed of a warm, clear tropical sea when Hunstanton had a climate like the Bahamas today. It is mostly made of the remains of billions of tiny plants and animals, actually prehistoric plankton.
The Red Chalk is limestone and was formed when the sea level rose and the red chalk was deposited on the top of the Carstone. Geologists think it was formed on a relatively high part of the seabed. The Red chalk is a rare rock and Hunstanton is one of the few places it is found.
Carstone is a sandstone and contains many small pebbles which rolled around on the ancient seafloor. It is brown because it contains a lot of iron oxide –literally rust.