WEALD, OR OAK TREE CLAY. 6l 



VII. 



^1. 3. WEALD, OR OAK TREE CLAY; CONTAINING SUBORDINATE 

 BEDS OF LIMESTONE AND SANDSTONE. 



St/n.—Tetsworth Clay. —Order of Superpositioti of the Strata, ^c. by Pro- 

 fessor BucJcland. 



A tenacious clay, varying in colour from a yellowish brown to a dark 

 bluish grey, and containing beds of limestone and sandstone, succeeds the 

 iron sand deposit. It forms, as its name impHes, a soil pecuharly favour- 

 able to the growth of the oak, the tract of country in which it pre- 

 dominates producing the finest timber in the county. 



The weald clay appears on the surface, between the out-crops of the 

 iron sand of the forest ridge, and the green sand, and its boundaries, are 

 tolerably well defined by the basseting edges of those formations. Its 

 occurrence is also indicated by the badness of the roads, and the lux- 

 uriant forests of oak with which it is covered in many places. It is of 

 considerable extent and thickness. The wells sunk in it are deep, and the 

 water generally of bad quality. 



This deposit forms a vale from six to twelve miles in breadth, oc- 

 cupying the lowest part of the wealds of Kent and Sussex, and skirting 

 the base of the chain of sand hills situate on the boundary Hue of the two 

 counties. This vale commences near Pevensey, and runs parallel with 

 the northern escarpment of the Downs, to Petworth and Haslemere, its 

 inner margin extending to Horsham ; it then passes into Surrey, and 

 finally into Kent, where it obtains the same relative situation. 



This clay is destitute of organic remains, but is well characterized by 

 beds of argillaceous shelly hmestone, that occur in various parts of its 

 coiu'se in Surrey, Kent, and Sussex. 



