476 
ME.  A.  J.  JTJXES-BEOWNE  ON  SOME  BECENT 
[Aug.  1893, 
Lower  Cretaceous  strata  extends  northward  for  a  much  greater 
distance  on  the  eastern  side  of  the  Wolds  than  was  previously 
supposed.  When  the  country  was  mapped  by  me  for  the  Geological 
Survey  no  information  could  he  obtained  respecting  the  nature  of 
the  platform  on  which  the  Drift  rested  between  Alford  and 
Willoughby  :  but  it  being  uniformly  reported  by  well-sinkers  that 
Chalk  underlay  the  Drift  at  all  the  villages  between  these  places  and 
the  coast,  it  was  naturally  inferred  that  a  platform  of  Chalk  extended 
westward  from  beneath  the  coast-line  up  to  the  base  of  the  range  of 
buried  cliffs  where  the  Chalk  rises  into  the  Wolds. 
It  was,  of  course,  seen  that  the  outcrops  of  the  Lower  Cretaceous 
sands  and  clays  curved  round  the  southern  end  of  the  Wolds  and 
must  run  northward  for  a  certain  distance ;  but  a  fault  being  foun 
at  Claxby  which  had  a  considerable  downthrow  to. the  north-east, 
and  cut  off  the  surface-outcrops  of  the  Carstone,  it  was  supposed 
that  this  fault  was  prolonged  south-eastward  beneath  the  Drift,  and 
that  a  Chalk-platform  extended  north-eastward  below  ^  illoughby 
and  Earlsthorpe.  The  recent  borings  at  Alford  and  \\  llloughby 
have,  however,  shown  this  to  be  a  mistake,  and  prove  that,  111  spite 
of  the  Claxby  fault,  the  outcrops  of  the  Lower  Cretaceous  strata 
extend  northward  at  least  as  far  as  Alford,  and  in  all  probability  tor 
some  distance  still  farther  to  the  N. W .  (See  Wap,  p.  474.) 
It  is  however,  certain  that  the  Chalk  does  eventually  come  m 
again  to  the  eastward  ;  this  is  proved  by  the  boring  at  Skegness  and 
by  the  unanimous  testimony  of  borings  at  Ingoldmells,  Addlethorpe, 
Chapel,  Hogsthorpe,  Cumber  worth,  Anderby,  and  Huttoft.  .More¬ 
over  two  different  well-sinkers  report  chalk  at  the  bottom  of  borings 
at  Bilsby,  only  1  mile  east  of  Alford,  at  depths  of  74  and  76  feet 
respectively,  and  strong  springs  are  found  in  chalk  below  the  Dn  t 
under  the  town  of  Alford,  east  of  the  Grammar  School,  a  fact  which 
suggests  that  the  Chalk  comes  on  in  .mass  below  Alford.  e  may 
therefore  conclude  that  the  area  which  is  underlain  bj  t  e  ower 
Cretaceous  strata  forms  a  long  tract,  the  direction  of  which  is 
roughly  parallel  to  that  of  the  Wolds,  as  indicated  m  the  Map  on 
1  Such  an  arrangement  suggests  the  existence  of  an  anticlinal 
flexure  bringing  up  the  lower  beds  between  two  flanking  sjnc  mes, 
and  the  dips  observable  in  the  chalk-pits  along  the  eastern  border 
of  the  Wolds  are  in  accordance  with  this  supposition.  Thus 
between  Welton  and  Claxby  there  are  dips  of  from  5-  to  15  b.W 
Near  Claxby  the  strata  are  much  broken  by  faults,  but  the  most 
frequent  dips  are  westerly  and  south-westerly.  In  a  quarry  15  mile 
S.W.  of  Alford,  there  is  a  dip  of  5°  to  W.S.W.,  at  Rigsby  one  of 
8°  to  S.W.,  and  at  Haugh  one  of  4°  to  S.W.  _  Along  the  mam 
outcrop  on  the  western  side  of  the  W olds  the  dip  is,  as  a  rule,  north¬ 
easterly,  consequently  the  structure  of  this  southern  end  of  the  W  olds 
seems  "to  be  that  of  a  broken  syncline  (see  Section,  p:  4,  o),  with 
steeper  inward  dips  on  the  eastern  than  on  the  western  si  e.  nc 
a  structure  ought  perhaps  to  have  suggested  to  me  the  possibility 
of  a  parallel  anticlinal  beneath  the  Drift  to  the  eastward ;  it  tur- 
