CHAPTER II. 



SOUTn-WESTERN RAILWAY — STRATA OP THE LONDON BASIN — ARTE- 

 SIAN WELLS RAILWAY SECTIONS — SOUTHAMPTON STATION FROM 



SOUTHAMPTON TO THE ISLE OF WIGHT — GEOLOGICAL STRUCTURE 

 OF THE ISLAND — RIVERS AND STREAMS — FROM COWES TO RYDE. 



South-western Railway. — The railway from 

 London to Southampton and Gosport lies so far 

 to the west of the Wealden denudation of the 

 south-east of England, which is traversed by the 

 Brighton line (see p. 72), that all the deposits 

 below the Upper-chalk are concealed from view, 

 and inconsiderable cuttings through tertiary 

 strata, and chalk, are alone exposed. 



The metropolitan station at Vauxhall, on the 

 southern bank of the Thames, is situated on the 

 alluvial silt and loam, which are spread over areas 

 formerly covered by the waters of the river, and 

 now constitute the subsoil of the meadows and 

 lowlands that skirt its banks ; these beds contain 

 shells of recent species of fluviatile mollusca. On 

 penetrating the soil, gravel, loam, and sand are 

 met with, in which are found bones and teeth of 

 several kinds of large mammalia belonging to 

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