England and tlie " lied Chalk" of the Eastern Counties. 157 



basal varians-age are there overlain by a mass of Upper Gault 

 showing an inverted order of zones provided an interesting glacial 

 problem. This seemed to us of less importance, however, than the 

 discovery that these transported masses had been deposited upon 

 a floor formed by a basement-bed of transgressive Upper Gault, 

 which there rests immediately upon the local top of the Lower 

 Greensand.^ The chief interest attaching to this example of glacial 

 disturbance lay in the resulting disposition of particular beds in 

 anomalous zonal relationships. Other striking instances of the 

 glacial transportation of large masses of rock were known to occur 

 in the tract of country to the north-east of this locality. The 

 difference was chiefly one of degree, not of kind. We realized that 

 the detection here of an overlaj) of the Upper Gault might prove 

 to be a matter of greater moment, ])ossessing, perhaps, a far-reaching 

 stratigraphical significance. A study of the literature dealing with 

 this formation, coupled with the examination of the Gault at a few 

 localities in other counties where an ov.erlap takes place, con- 

 vinced us that a fuller investigation of the subject would prove 

 fruitful in results. 



It was evident that the occurrence of an Upper Gault transgression 

 accompanied by erosion, in localities where it was previously 

 unsuspected to occur, might explain much that was obscure con- 

 cerning the relationship of the Gault to the underlying rocks. We 

 therefore planned out a programme of work which included some 

 examination of the strata with which the Gaalt at various localities 

 was known or suspected by us to have non-sequential relations. 

 We also proposed to make a general study of the strata between the 

 Aptian beds (below the inammillatus-hed) and the base of the 

 vanV/?;s-Chalk in different parts of the country, in order to ascertain 

 with some degree of exactitude the chief evidences for movements 

 of depression. To carry out the study on these comprehensive 

 lines would have necessitated journeys to a large number of sections 

 exjJosed in many counties ; and since the whole investigation was 

 unconnected with our current official work for the Geological Survey, 

 we sought financial aid from the Royal Society. Our application 

 to that Society f6r a grant for the furtherance of this projected 

 research was unsuccessful. It therefore became necessary to curtail 

 the scheme of work. Nevertheless, the results of visits we have 

 made during the past twelve months to localities ranging from 

 Dorset to Yorkshire seem of such interest that we now offer this short 

 preliminary account of them in the belief that it may be of use to 

 many geologists in this country. We hope to continue the study 

 as opportunity occurs, and to furnish a more comprehensive account, 

 with some description of local details, at a later date. 



^ F. L. Kitchin & J. Pringle, "On an Inverted Mass of Upper Cretaceous 

 Strata nearLeighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire ; and on an Overlap of the Upper 

 Gault in that Neighbourhood": Geol. Mag., Vol. LVII, 1920, pp. 1-15, 

 52-62, 100-13. 



