Ebbor Gorge lies on the southwest-facing slope of the Mendip Hills and consists of a steep-sided ravine cut into 350-million-year-old Carboniferous Limestone of the Dinantian. The gorge was cut into Clifton Down Limestone by meltwater in the Pleistocene Epoch.[1][2] The rocks of the area lie above a thrust fault formed during the Variscan orogeny.[3] Millstone Grit and Lower Coal Measures form an impermeable floor to this valley. An example of the rare mineral mendipite was found at the head of the gorge.[4] A stream issuing to the west of the site runs down the tributary valley of Hope Wood before joining the main gorge. The original watercourse which may have cut the gorge into the limestone became diverted underground and now emerges at Wookey Hole Caves to form the River Axe'

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