On the new Railway-cutting at Guildford. 379 



railway-cutting just north of Guildford station. The beds exposed 

 are Chalk and Eocene strata at the base, with overlying Pleistocene 

 or drift-beds. The Eocene beds appear at each end of the cutting, 

 the London Clay resting upon Woolwich and Reading beds as 

 described in 1850 by Prof. Prestwich ; and the interest of the sec- 

 tion is due in part to this exposure of the Woolwich and Beading 

 beds, which are rarely seen in this neighbourhood, and in part to 

 the thick mass of Pleistocene clays and gravels overlying the lower 

 Tertiary deposits. The latter appear to be only the remnants of 

 more extensive deposits in the gorge of the Wey, which were spread 

 over the area to the north before the river had cut down to its 

 present level. Some of them are in part of fluviatile origin and 

 composed of materials derived first from the Lower Greensand and 

 afterwards from the Chalk, ironstone predominating in the former 

 and flints in the latter. Resting unconformably upon these are 

 deposits consisting of irregularly bedded coarse loamy sands, beds of 

 large flints, with an admixture of fragments of chalk, and with 

 nests or large lumps of red clay. These are regarded as glacial 

 beds, and in the sands beyond the bridge at the London Road 

 remains of Mammalia (Elephas &c.) were found ; these sands are 

 exposed as far as Watford farm, where they terminate abruptly 

 against a steep bank of Woolwich and Reading beds. On digging 

 through them at this point the dark gravels with greensand iron- 

 stone were met with. 



The authors pointed out that the most interesting questions con- 

 nected with these high-level gravels and sands of the ancient Wey 

 are as follows : — 1. What was their relation to the topography of 

 the country in the past ? 2. What relation do they bear to the 

 outlines of the country at the present day ? 3. What is their age ? 



They showed that when the gravels and sands were deposited 

 the main drainage of the country was the same as it now is, though 

 the river was 60 feet above its present level. The sands with 

 mammalian bones were probably an accumulation in a re-entering 

 bend of the river, similar to one now existing a little further north. 

 The river appears at first to have been more rapid, when the lower 

 ironstone gravels were deposited, then slower, when the sands accu- 

 mulated. Some change of levels ensued, and a considerable por- 

 tion of the deposits was removed before the upper strata of loam 

 and flints were formed. It is probable that the gorge of the Wey 

 was no longer an outlet to the north whilst these beds were being- 

 deposited. In general the loam and flint beds are horizontal, 

 whilst in some localities they are displaced in a manner remarkably 

 like what is seen in the glacial deposits of Alpine valleys. They 

 contain land-shells in places. The land surface indicated by the 

 lower gravels and sands at Guildford is of older date than that 

 described by Mr. R. A. C. Grodwin-Austen in the country to the 

 southward, and especially in the valley of the Tillingbourne. 



The deposits near Guildford belonging to the two epochs were 

 noticed in some detail. Both are pre-giacial and have been formed 

 when the climate was temperate. The overlying glacial deposits 

 formed of chalk-detritus, flints, and loam are attributed to the 



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