jSart ii\ 



SECONDARY OR MESOZOIC. 



Fig. 32. — View of the Dorset Coast, from near Halsewell Quarry 

 LOOKING towards Anvil Point, NEAR DuRLSTON Head. (Portland 

 Rocks.) 



OMPARED with the older rocks, the Secondary 

 strata in England and Wales form a distinct group. 

 The beds, although well consolidated, are yet, on 

 the whole, free from the striking signs of alteration 

 or metamorphism which are present in some of the 

 older rocks. The lines of stratification are marked and easily 

 recognizable, and the beds have suffered but little from the 

 effects of great disturbance which are often so conspicuous 

 in the deposits of earlier times. The rocks consist chiefly of 

 alternations of sands, clays, and limestones, with every inter- 

 mediate variety of these rocks. The term Mesozoic (signifying 

 middle life) was proposed by John Phillips.^ (See p. 31.) 



^ The name Floetz Class was applied by Werner to the Secondary strata, in the 

 early days of Geology. It is a German term expressive of the fact that the beds 

 most usually occur in flat horizontal layers. The term Supermedial Order was 

 used by Conybeare in 1822. The term Neozoic was employed by Edward Forbes, 

 to include the Secondary and Tertiary groups. 



