The Y08HQ 8AT8BAMST: 



A Monthly Magazine of Natural History. 



Part 74. EEBBUAKY, 1886. Vol. 7. 



NOTES ON THE GEOLOGY OF SURREY. 



By GEO. E. EAST, Junr. 



FEW districts of equal size offer such varied Geological attractions as the 

 county of Surrey. Erom the old Wealden clays and sands in the 

 south we pass to the chalk ridge in the centre, on whose northern slope lie 

 various Tertiary strata ; to this alternation of rock masses of varying com- 

 position and hardness is due the charming scenery for which many parts of 

 Surrey are famous, and which those who understand the geological features 

 of the district are best fitted to appreciate, for they have a knowledge of the 

 cause as well as of the effect. The oldest rocks of Surrey lie in its south- 

 east corner, and as we pass northwards from this point we continually pass 

 over the edges of newer and newer strata. All the beds dip or incline to the 

 north, and rest one upon the other, and consequently the latest formed rocks 

 are those of Bagshot Heath in the north-west. The most natural order of 

 description seems to be to commence with the oldest deposit, and then to 

 take the others in ascending order, It is my intention in these few short 

 notes simply to mention the different formations as they occur, and in some 

 cases to give a list of the fossils found in them, and I trust they may be of 

 interest to some of my brother naturalists who are readers of the " Young 

 Naturalist." 



THE WEALDEN SERIES. — The lowest Wealden strata are the 

 Hastings Beds, and occupy very little of Surrey, just in the south-east corner. 

 We find them to be beds of sand and clay, lying between East Grinstead on 

 the south and Lingfield on the north, and reaching westward to Copthorn 

 Common not far from Burstow. 



THE WEALD CLAY.— This blue or brown shaly clay occupies a toler- 

 ably large area, it forms the tract of comparatively flat land, which extends 

 from the neighbourhood of Chiddingfold, on the west by Cranley, Ewhurst, 

 Charlwood, and Crowhurst eastward, and it attains its maximum thickness 



