SANDOWN BAY. 135 



the west, the sands and clays, of the greensand 

 reappear, and form the cliffs from Sandown to 

 Shanklin, where they are covered by the gait, 

 firestone, chalk-marl, and flinty chalk ; the latter 

 attaining an elevation of nearly 800 feet. Sandown 

 Bay comprises, therefore, a double series of the 

 strata of the cretaceous system, thrown into an 

 anticlinal position by the elevation of the wealden, 

 which constitutes the axis of this line of coast.* 



Along the middle of the bay opposite the Fort 

 the subsoil, except after very heavy tides, is con- 

 cealed by a thick bed of shingle.-j- 



Red Cliff. — On proceeding eastward a low 

 bank appears, and the coast gradually rises to the 

 lofty hills of Red Cliff. The strata first acces- 

 sible to observation are the ferruginous sands and 

 mottled clays belonging to the wealden formation, 

 which become more developed as we advance 

 towards the chalk strata that terminate in the 



* The anticlinal axis and order of superposition of the strata at Sandown 

 Bay, and the correspondence of these deposits with the wealden and cre- 

 taceous systems of Sussex and Surrey, were ascertained more than twenty- 

 four years since by Mr. Lyell, and communicated to me in a letter dated Bartley 

 Lodge, July, 1822, accompanied by a section from Culver Cliff to Shanklin 

 Down, and a suite of specimens comprising examples of all the principal 

 deposits ; this collection is now in the British Museum. 



+ In the section, for the sake of perspicuity, the wealden strata in the 

 middle of the bay are represented more lofty than they actually appear ; for 

 in general the sea-beach extends over the whole surface. But after sweeping 

 spring tides in the early months of the year, the clay and sands are exposed 

 as here represented. 



