Sandgate 

 Beds, 



LOWER GREENSAND. 37 1 



Mr. Topley, however, states that they are upon the same horizon as the Fuller's 

 Earth of Maidstone, and this has been traced continuously eastwards into the 

 typical Sandgate Beds of East Kent.^ 



The following account of a Fuller's Earth pit west of Nutfield 

 Church is by Mr. Whitaker : - — 



Folkestone Beds. Grey and ironshot sand 1 5 feet or more. 



I'Buffsandy clay, with bed of clayey greensand, about 15 ,, 



Soft sandstone 4 ,, 



Greenish sandy clay ^,, 



Sandstone 12 , , 



Fuller's Earth, the upper part discoloured to a 

 buff tint (by infiltration of water, and conse- 

 quent peroxidation of iron), the lower part 



blue 8 , , 



Soft sandstone (Hythe Beds?) 



The thickness of the Fuller's Earth is sometimes twelve feet. The beds have 

 been worked for a long period, the blue and yellow varieties being equally 

 valuable. An analysis showed the composition as follows : ^ — 



Silica SS'OO 



Alumina 10 "oo 



Peroxide of Iron 975 



Magnesia i"25 



Lime 0*50 



Potash trace 



Chloride of Sodium O'lo 



Water 24-00 



98-60 



The amount of magnesia, lime, and soda is sometimes larger. 



The soil on the Sandgate Beds is variable : in Kent it is loamy, and heavier 

 than other divisions of the Lower Greensand, while in Sussex the soil is light 

 and poor. 



Folkestone Beds. 



This term was proposed by Mr. Drew in 1861, because the beds 

 are well exposed at Folkestone, in the cliffs below and east of the 

 town, whence they descend beneath the Gault. Westwards they 

 extend towards Hythe. (See Fig. 60.) 



The Folkestone Beds consist of sand generally false-bedded and 

 'Carstone,' having an average thickness of 100 feet; and they were 

 termed the Ferruginous Sands by P. J. Martin in iSzg. At 

 Godalming the thickness is estimated at 160 feet; at Folkestone 

 70 to 90 feet; at Petersfield 100 feet; and at Eastbourne at about 

 70 feet. 



' Topley, Geol. Weald, p. 130; C. J. A. Meyer, G. Mag. 1866, p. 15; 

 P. Geol. Assoc, vi. 373. 

 ^ Geol. Weald, p. 132. See also Meyer, P. Geol. Assoc, v. 159. 

 Bristow, Glossary of Mineralogy, p. 145. 



