Mr. Webster on the Strata lying over the Chalk. 163 



Such are the leading features of these remarkable strata. 



It is the object of the present paper to describe a similar series of - 

 formations ; from which it will appear that the circumstances which 

 gave rise to the alternation of marine and freshwater strata were 

 subject at distant places to the same general laws, and were therefore 

 extensive in operation : conclusions in themselves not uninteresting, 

 and tending to throw some light on the later revolutions which our 

 planet has undergone. 



Sir Henry Englefield was the first who observed a range of chalk 

 hills running from east to west across the middle of the Isle of Wight, 

 and inclined at an angle of from 60° to 80". An account of these 

 strata appeared in the Transactions of the Linnean Society, 1802j* 

 but circumstances having prevented him from prosecuting these 

 geological researches in person, at his request in the summer of 1811 

 I examined the connexion of the vertical strata of the Isle of Wight 

 with those on each side which are horizontal, and also the con- 

 tinuation of this range to the west on the opposite shore of Dorset- 

 shire. 



The general result of this enquiry will be best understood from 

 the following section across the Isle of Wight from north to south ; 

 see plate 9, fig. 1. 



The inclined strata A, B, C, D, E, compose a range of hills that 

 divides the island into two parts, extending from the Needles at the 

 west end of the island to the Culver cliff at the east : at which places 

 may be seen vertical sections at right angles to the direction of the 

 range. 



* A detailed description of the Isle of Wight is now preparing for the press by Sir 

 Henry Englefield, who has permitted me to communicate to the Society many of tli« 

 observations which I made at his request with the view of completing his work. 



X 2 



