THE GEOLOGIST. 
To those readers who may not have 
studied the geology of Kent, I may state 
that our principal knowledge of the 
Lower Tertiary formations there are 
derived from those excellent papers on 
the Thanet sands, and the Woolwich 
series by Mr. Prestwich, in the Geolo- 
gical Society's J ournal ; and it will be 
remembered that these sands are the 
British representatives of the Lowest 
Tertiary or Lower Eocene deposits; 
These series are abundantly exhibited 
overlying the chalk in the railway-cut- 
tings between Woolwich and Canter- 
bury. The lowest more particularly in 
the cuttings between Canterbury and 
Beakesbourne, which I wiUnow describe. 
The London, Chatham, and Dover 
Railway, after crossing the valley of the 
Stour, passes to the south-east of Can- 
terbury, and the first cuttings are 
through chalk. It crosses the Dover 
road at about a quarter of a mile south- 
east of che town ; the depth of the cut- 
ting in the chalk being about twenty 
feet — that is to say, there is a depth of 
about fifteen feet of chalk, and over it 
a depth of five feet of brick-earth (post- 
Pliocene). Between the chalk and the 
brick-earth is a stratum of irregular 
flints, about six iiiches in depth, as 
shown in the accompanying diagram. 
In No. I, a represents the chalk; 
h the flint stratum; and c the drift. 
In No. 2 cutting, c represents the drift, 
and d a stratum of sand of ochreous 
colour, having a thin stratum of iron- 
stone, supposed by me to represent the 
Woolwich sands. In No 3 cutting, c 
represents the drift; d the Woolwich 
sands ; e the glauconite; / the grey 
plastic marl. These two last represent 
the Thanet sands of Prestwich; but 
seem to differ in their lithological cha- 
racter from those described by him. 
There is nothing particularly worthy of 
note in c and c?; but stratum e is 
composed of an indurate greenish 
sandstone, in its upper portions ap- 
proaching in colour to the ochreous 
sand at d, having chertstone inter- 
spersed. This sandstone is very hard 
in places ; but not in large blocks. 
It appears split into perpendicular and 
transverse sections, and abounds in 
r-ijl 
Chalk 
beyond this. 
