'^ 



the Weald. 341 



except where here and there, near the Chalk escarpments, 

 they are strewn with flints, the relics of the subaerial 

 waste of the Chalk, or where they are covered by fresh- 

 ivater sands, gravels, and loams of the ancient rivers 

 of the country. 



I believe, therefore, that the form of the ground in 

 the Wealden area, which was once attributed to marine 

 action, has been mainly brought about by atmospheric 

 causes, and the operation of rain and running waters. 

 One great effect of the action of the sea, combined 

 with atmospheric waste, when prolonged over great 

 periods of time, is to produce extensive plains of 

 marine denudation like the line b b, fig. 97, p. 497 ; 

 for this combined result is to plane off, as it were, the 

 asperities of the land, and reduce it to an average 

 tidal level. 



Suppose the curvature of the various formations 

 across the Wealden area to be restored by dotted lines, 

 as in figure, No. 73, which is very nearly on a true 

 scale. Let the upper part of the curve be planed 

 across, as shown in fig. 73, and let the newly-planed 

 surface, slightly inclined from the interior, be repre- 

 sented by the line p p. Against this line, the various 

 masses of the Hastings Sand h h, Weald Clay w, the 

 Lower Greensand s, the Gault g, and the Chalk and 

 Upper Grreensand c, would crop up. Then I believe 

 that, by aid of rain and running water, large parts 

 of these strata would be cut away by degrees, so as to 

 produce in time the present configuration of the ground. 

 If it were not so, we might expect that the rivers of the 

 Wealden area should all flow out at its eastern end, 

 through long east and west hollows, previously scooped 

 out by the assumed wasting power of the sea, where 

 the ground is now low, and looks out upon the sea y 



