184?6.] PRESTWICH AND MORRIS ON THE WEALDEN STRATA. 397 



May 6, 1846, 



Dr. Joseph Hooker, Sir Thomas Phillips, Arthur Grote, Esq., 

 James Foster, Esq., Francis Forster, Esq., and the Rev. T. W. Jen- 

 kyn, D.D., were elected Fellows of this Society. 



The following communications were read : — 



1. On the Wealden Strata exposed by the Tunbridge Wells 

 Railway. By J. Prestwich, Jun., Esq., F.G.S., and J. Mor- 

 ris, Esq., F.G.S. 



In Dr. Fitton's valuable memoir " On the Strata below the Chalk," 

 it is incidentally observed, that " the relations of the strata at Tun- 

 bridge Wells, and in the tract on the north of it towards the valley 

 of the Weald, are well-deserving of attentive examination." (Geol. 

 Trans., 2nd Ser., vol. iv. p. 171, note.) At that period no extensive 

 sections were visible by which the superposition of the beds in this 

 district could be accurately traced ; but the deep cuttings for the 

 Tunbridge Wells branch railway, traversing some of the longitudi- 

 nal ridges of the Wealden sandstones, have fortunately afforded 

 some information on the subject, a brief account of which is now 

 laid before the Society, as exhibiting some interesting sections of 

 the Upper Wealden series, as well as a remarkable flexure and fault 

 by which these beds have been affected. Our object in the present 

 communication is simply to record the details of structure and super- 

 position of the strata cut through ; and if their correct superposition 

 with reference to any given line can be established, they may then 

 be connected with other deposits whose position with regard to the 

 same base may have been already determined. 



The Dover railway traverses the Upper Wealden district from a 

 short distance beyond the Redhill station nearly to Ashford, the 

 branch line proceeding southward to Tunbridge Wells, deviating 

 from it nearly at a right angle about a quarter of a mile beyond 

 the Tunbridge station. 



It is well-known that the strata of the Wealden consist in their 

 lower part of thick-bedded light coloured sandstones with subordi- 

 nate beds of shales and clays, whilst in the upper part dark-coloured 

 shales and clays predominate, the peculiar freshwater remains of 

 this series occurring principally in the argillaceous beds. 



The accompanying diagrams and sections give a partial detail of 

 the superi)ositioii of the upper pait of the lower series, and of the 

 lower part of the upper series, but they do not show the complete 

 sequence to the base of the lower greensand ; and indeed a good 

 and detailed section of the thick beds of clay presumed to form the 

 uppermost stratum in this district is yet wanting. 



These upj)ermost beds occupy the valley between the gr(>ensand 

 escarpment five miles north of Tunbridge and the ba^e of the hill 

 immediately south of this town, at which point our section com- 



VOL. II. — I'Airr I. 2 o 



