1869.] 



WILTSHIRE HUNSTANTON EED CHALK. 



185 



2. On the Ued Chalk of Hunstanton. By the Rev. T. Wiltshire, 



M.A., FX.S., F.G.S. 



Not far from the apex of the angle which the Wash, opening out 

 into the German Ocean, forms on the western coast of Norfolk, is 



situated a cliff of about a mile in ^ . . rr.^^^^^^^^ m.-^ 

 1 >i J rr. /^A i? i- • V • "u^- Section of Hunstanton L lilt. 

 length and 50 or 60 feet m height, ♦' ^ ^ 



on which, at its greatest elevation, 

 is erected the Hunstanton Light- 

 house. This headland, which gra- 

 dually rises from the low ground 

 on the north, and finally sinks 

 towards the south through the 

 effect of local denudation, is re- 

 markable, even when viewed from 

 a distance, from the circumstance 

 that its face is marked by three 

 parallel coloured bands, slightly 

 inclined, and cropping out in suc- 

 cession on the surface soil, of 

 which bands the uppermost is 

 white, the next bright red, and 

 the lowest yellow, each division 

 being sharply defined, mthout any 

 intermingling of tints at the lines 

 of contact. A close inspection 

 shows that the highest stratum,, 

 the white, consists of a hard cal- 

 careous substance, compact in tex- 

 ture, and much shattered and 

 fissured, originally deposited in 

 such a manner that its materials 

 were arranged in definite layers, 

 two of which {a, 6), those forming 

 the base, are represented in the 

 annexed section drawn to scale. 

 The first of these (a), in thickness 

 about 2 feet 6 inches, is noticeable 

 for the presence of an enormous 

 quantity of fragments of Inocerami 

 dispersed throughout its whole ex- 

 tent, and which under the influ- 

 ence of weathering impart to this 

 portion of the cliff a jagged and 

 rough appearance. Its character- 

 istic fossils are spines of Cidaris 

 vesiculosa, Holaster planus, Ver- 

 micularia umbonata, Terehratulina 



* A thickness of upwards of 30 feet is here omitted for convenience. 



