Vol. 56.] ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. lxXXV 



Silurian occurs farther north, at Ware, and presumable Silurian or 

 still older rock far to the north-east, at Culford, Stutton, Weeley, 

 and perhaps Harwich. In most of these cases, moreover, there is 

 no sign of any newer rock until we reach the Gault. At Culford 

 only very little Lower Greensand occurs, at Meux's only a little 

 Jurassic. 



When we examine the position of the various older rocks as 

 regards their relation one to the other, and the height which 

 they reach, we find firstly that, as a rule, older and older formations 

 rise in succession northward, so as to come next beneath the 

 Secondary beds, and no boring so far has passed into more than 

 one of these older rocks. Secondly it is, as a rule, the oldest rocks 

 that reach the highest levels underground, at Culford and at Ware, 

 while the newest (Carboniferous) are at the lowest levels near 

 Dover, leaving out of question the doubtful beds. 



That this arrangement is universal, of course, one has no right 

 to expect : there must be folds and faults, giving rise to troughs or 

 basins, though as yet no proof of such has been brought forward. So 

 far as we have gone, therefore, a structure usual among old hill- 

 ranges has been found, the older beds rising to the higher levels. It 

 seems indeed that there is beneath us the eroded remains of such a 

 range, the sides of which were laved successively by Jurassic and by 

 Cretaceous seas ; but this old range apparently was not wholly sub- 

 merged until the time of the Gault. Nor is there yet any evidence of 

 a Gault shore : no conglomerate has yet been found at the base of 

 the Gault, no pebble of the older rocks in the Gault, that formation 

 showing in every boring its usual clayey character, which points to 

 tranquil deposition. 



Hampshire Basin. 



The important subject to which your attention has been drawn 

 is one that has arisen within my own time, and that in and around 

 one of the best known geological districts in the world, the London 

 Basin. Our knowledge of the underground structure of this large 

 tract has been vastly advanced. 



We are also considerably wiser with regard to the great Wealden 

 district to the south, including therein the outcrop of all formations 

 below the Chalk. But when we go farther southward and west- 

 ward to that other large tract known as the Hampshire Basin, in- 

 cluding the Chalk again (and extending over parts of other counties 



