UPPER GREENSAND. 39 1 



Nore (or White Nose) Cliff the Upper Greensand has a thickness 

 of about 100 feet, and consists of green sandy beds and chert; 

 many fossils may be obtained here.^ 



Yellow sands and chert-beds are very conspicuous at Stone- 

 barrow Hill, east of Charmouth, and at Golden Cap (Gilten Cup), 

 to which from their colour they give the name. (See Fig. 40, p. 252.) 

 They crown the conspicuous hills of Pillesdon Pen and Lewesdon 

 (called by sailors the 'Cow and Calf,' and by some the 'Alps of 

 Dorset'), also Shipton Beacon, east of Bridport ; while northwards 

 they form the base of the Chalk Downs between Crewkerne and 

 Beaminster, at Cerne Abbas, etc. The following divisions of the 

 Greensand have been determined near Lyme Regis.:- — 



Feet. 



Hard calcareous sandstone with quartz grains 3 



Yellowish-brown sandstone, with chert seams in lower part 40 



Yellowish-brown sand (Fox-mould) 60 to So 



Greensand and sandstone containing indurated nodules called 



'Cow stones' 40 or 50 



The total thickness probably does not exceed 180 feet. 



In the cherty beds Pccten asper and P. qiiinqiiecostatus are 

 abundant, and in the sandy beds below Exogyi'a conica is frequently 

 met with at different horizons. The Cow stones, according to Mr. 

 De Ranee, contain Hoploparia lofigimafia. 



The beds are shown on the top of Black Ven (yellow sand 

 75 feet, overlaid by chert gravel), and westwards at various points 

 among the landslips towards Axmouth. (See Fig. 40, p. 252.) 



The general succession of the Greensand strata at and near 

 Beer Head, west of Seaton in Devonshire, has been worked out in 

 detail by Mr. C. J. A. Meyer as follows, the species (except those 

 in brackets) being taken to mark zones :^ — 



Feet. In. 

 12. Compact nodular bed, with green grains and quartz grains in 

 a chalky paste. Ammonites RotJiODiagensis, Scaphitcs tcqualis, 

 Holaster siibglobosus, Catopygus cari)iatits. [Chloritic Marl.] 2 O 

 II. Yellowish quartzose grit in a chalky paste. l\.liy)iLhondla 



dimidiata, Terebratida pectita, Exogyra cohtmba 3 O 



10. Rubbly, yellowish, quartzose grit, in a chalky paste. Siphonia, 



Natttihis hevigaius, Discoidea siibucidus 15 O 



9. Buff-coloured saccharine sandstone, with green grains and 



layers of quartzose grit. {RhynchoncUa Schlanbachii ) 20 o 



8. Buff-coloured sands. Exogyra digita/a, Orbitolina concava 10 o 



7. Shingle bed of sandstone pebbles (with Ostred) 2 o 



6. Light-coloured sand and sandstone. Exogyra digitata 2 6 



5. Light-coloured sand, with chert in nodules or layers. Exogyra 



cohimba, Pecten {yaiih-a) qiiadricostatus 20 O 



4. Yellowish marly sands with irregular concretions. E. cohimba, 

 Pecten quadricostatiis, P. orbicularis, {P. elongatus, Vermicn- 

 laria umbonatd) 20 o 



^ Damon, Geol. Weymouth, 18S4, p. 129. 



- De la Beche, Report Geol. Cornwall, etc, p. 237 ; T. G. S. (2), ii. I13 ; De 

 Ranee, G. Mag. 1874, p. 247. See also C. J. A. Meyer, G. Mag. 1866, Plate 2, 

 p. 18. 



3 Q. J. XXX. 393. See also Fitton, T. G. S. (2), iv. 234 ; De la Beche, Ibid. 

 ii. 115. 



