22 William Whitaker—The Red Chalk of Norfolk. 
V.—Tue Rep CHatk or Norro.ir. 
By Wiit1am WuiraKer, B.A., F.G.S., 
of the Geological Survey of England. 
(Part of his Presidential Address to the Norwich Geological Society, 7 Nov. 1882.) 
j\ Y remarks will have to be limited to Norfolk; because per- 
sonally I know very little of the Red Chalk of Yorkshire, 
and nothing of that of Lincolnshire. Of course the subject would be 
better treated as a whole; but Norfolk geologists will forgive me 
for not waiting until that time (perhaps never to come) when I may 
know all the English Red Chalk. Perfection may be devoutly 
prayed for ; but to wait for it would be to do nothing. 
The plan I have adopted is to notice the various papers, etc., on 
the Norfolk Red Chalk in the order of the years in which they were 
published ; then to review the arguments brought forward in them ; 
and then to conclude: with a few remarks of my own, which are 
meant to be suggestive rather than dogmatic. 
[An account was then given of the various works on the subject, 
from 1816 to 1882. | 
The result of an examination of our Red Chalk literature probably 
astonishes you, from the variety of the opinions evolved; and 
indeed, to make a bull, the unanimity of geologists in getting 
different conclusions from like premises, is certainly surprising. 
However, on thinking over the matter, it seems to me that we ought 
to be thankful for not having had more theories as to the age of our 
Red Chalk. 
Let us examine the possibilities of the case, and firstly from the 
purely stratigraphical point of view. Speaking in general terms of 
Hunstanton Cliff we have the following regular succession :— White 
Chalk, Red Chalk, and Carstone (Neocomian). Now there is 
nothing like the ordinary Upper Greensand or Gault, the space 
usually filled by one or both of those formations being taken up by 
the four feet of Red Chalk. Again, there is nothing to show that the 
lowest beds of the Chalk are present (and I believe that they may — 
not be) or the highest beds of the Neocomian, though geologists seem 
to have quietly assumed both these occurrences, or at all events the 
former. We have, therefore, four formations to deal with: Chalk 
(part), Upper Greensand, Gault, and Neocomian (part). Speaking 
simply on stratigraphical grounds, the Red Chalk might therefore 
belong to any one of these four, or it might be a combination of any 
two of them (adding six alternatives), or a combination of any three 
(adding four alternatives), or it might represent all four. We have 
therefore fifteen views to choose from so far! Calling in, however, 
paleontology to our aid, we may get rid of the Neocomian, leaving 
us with either of the other three, a combination of any two of them 
(three alternatives), or a combination of all, giving us still seven 
views. Of these seven two have escaped as yet, no geologist, as far 
as I know, having advocated either a mixture of Chalk and Upper 
