452 H. B. Woodicard — The Bure Valley and Westleton Beds. 



The phosphorus corresponds with about 1'8 per cent, of schrei- 

 bersite. The iron, when etched, exhibits Wiedmannstiittian figures, 

 and the presence of minute crystals of a phosphide could be 

 recognized on the surface of the section. 



{To be continued in our next Numler.) 



V. — Notes on the Bure Valley Beds and the Westleton Beds. 



By Horace B. "Woodwabd, F.G.S. ; 



of the Geological Survey of England.^ 



IN two papers, read in 1881, before the meeting of the British 

 Association at York, Prof. Prestwich has discussed the structure 

 and distribution of certain deposits which he has called " The 

 Mundesley and Westleton Beds." In his opinion they occupy an 

 horizon "between the Chillesford Beds and the Lower Boulder-clay." 



My work on the Geological Survey in Norfolk has, however, led 

 me to conclusions that differ in important particulars from those of 

 Prof. Prestwich, and chiefly in the correlation of beds in several 

 localities. As his papers have at present been published only in 

 brief abstract, it is not possible to criticize them with justice to the 

 author ; but as a year has now elapsed since the conclusions were 

 made known, I may be pardoned for submitting my own views for 

 discussion at the present time. 



All who have paid attention to the geological literature of Norfolk, 

 know that the nomenclature of the Pliocene and Post-Pliocene 

 deposits is in a most confused and deplorable condition, chiefly on 

 account of the many subdivisions made in the strata, and the 

 difficulty of correlating with certainty those made in one place with 

 those made in another. 



In papers read before the Norwich Geological Society in 1878,^ I 

 endeavoured to convince my hearers that in Norfolk, at any rate, the 

 introduction of the words " Chillesford Clay " had been the root of 

 nearly all the evil in the shape of confused or complicated classifica- 

 tion. Coming into Norfolk (in 1875) from a county where the 

 thickness of some of the rocks was reckoned by thousands of feet, 

 I may perhaps have contemplated with too little respect divisions 

 that dwindled into inches. No less than five subdivisions had been 

 made in the Pliocene Beds, where they reached about 30 feet in 

 thickness : and of these nearly all had two or three names. But 

 most distressing of all was the indiscriminate identification, by some 

 observers, of the famous Chillesford Clay, with any micaceous and 

 laminated clay-seam that was developed in the series of Pliocene 

 (Crag) beds between the Chalk and Glacial Drift. So false-bedded 

 is this series that no dependence can be placed on these identifica- 

 tions. Seams and "jambs" of laminated clay occur at all horizons 

 in the Norwich Crag Series. Such is conspicuously the case in the 

 Pliocene beds on the Norfolk coast, where Messrs. Wood and Harmer 

 have indeed failed to identify this Chillesford Clay, although it has 

 been detected there by Mr. Gunn and Mr. J. H. Blake. Even 

 > Communicated by permission of the Director-General of the Geological Survey 

 2 Proc. Norwich Geol. Soc. yoI. i. pp. 22, 49. 



