^XVIIL O/i M« Anticlinal Line of the London and Hampshire 



mii\mvivmBmmiy By P. J. Martin, Esq^^ ^iG\.&. x irui:j i,, 



m b^^rr f'.f.ah Ho ^^<>*< [Continued from p. 134.] *^- <'^ ^^-itrfJ/oniB :tr 



THE concluding words of the foregoing Memoir* on the, ^^^h 

 ern part of this line might serve for an introduction to what 

 follows. But as many of my readers may not have seen Dr. 

 Buckland^s dissertation, before mentioned, and many more not 

 know anything of my former publications on this subject, I 

 will quote, in addition, the following passage from the latter, as 

 t^e key to further discussip^^ aj][^^j|s.the,gj:j9j]^p^i1jipft jiQ>^ 



WM' elucidation. _ ,,,,;^^ ^ \^:'''''^^,,ll,..^,,,^,/.^^u fhr^r [)nK ^u^'i, 

 '^The strata which compose these basins, then, previously in 

 ?^^_ horizontal position, suffered disruption; and in the act of 

 basining (whether by the elevation of the sides, or the subsi- 

 dence of the central parts, is not now material) all their parts 

 were deeply and extensively fissured, in an order correspondent 

 with that act, producing, with the help of diluvian action, a 

 system of longitudinal and transverse valleys answering to the 

 double inclination (the dip and lateral bearings, or strike) of 

 their fractured masses, and a consequent removal of the broken 

 materials, brought within the range of the denuding force. The 

 effect of raising from the horizontal position, or in any other 

 way stretching a ponderous and frangible body, is to produce a 

 division of its parts, in such order and direction as its varying 

 strength and tenacity dictate ; the fractured parts taking their 

 places according to their magnitude or gravity, or the disposition 

 of those which support them. This irregular fracture, alternate 

 elevation and subsidence, and settling of parts thus disturbed, 

 are well cxemphfied in the familiar operation of the heaving of 

 the spade in digging. If the earth be tenacious and the action 

 steady, it tears with such a divergence of the principal rents as 

 will be here described, and tlie more friable parts are seen drop- 

 ping in, in such a way, and in such proportion as the moving power 

 dictates and their structure allows. If another illustration were 

 necessary, it might be found in what we observe in the elevation 

 and cracking of the flour which covers the fermenting nucleus in 

 a baker's trought/' '' ''/■ "^ f 



The evidence in support of this proposition, — the eleVatidii 'df 

 the great anticlinal of the London and Hampshire basins, arid 

 concomitant abrasion, on and around that line of disturbance^ * 

 — may be classed under four heads. '^^ 



..^ >.uv '^^^'^ 



* It is to be remembered that that paper was read to the Geologicd\ 



Society in 1840; what follows is of present date. ^ i a\ 



t Geol. Mem. of Western Sussex, p. 59. '""^ .arlid^l 



