DR. HENRY WOODWARD ON EAST ANGLIAN GEOLOGY. 485 
General Geological Features. 
A glance at a geologically coloured map of the British Isles 
reveals to the observer the fact that the strata are so arranged in 
chronological sequence across the country from west to east, that 
if a straight line were drawn down the map from the Tees to the 
Solent, all the older sedimentary rocks would be found cropping 
up to the West of that line, and nearly all the younger ones to 
the East of it. 
Of these younger deposits the kingdom of East Anglia is chiefly 
built ; nevertheless, considerations of relative geological antiquity 
need not trouble us, seeing that even the youngest of these strata 
is so immeasurably older than the whole period of time over whicli 
human records extend, that we can afford to dismiss the question 
of years in geology, as trivial and out of place. 
What then are the deposits which make up our native counties? 
for, as a Norfolk man, I may claim a close interest in and attach- 
ment to everything appertaining to Fast Anglia and its environ- 
ments. 
The Great Chalk Formation. 
Although the solid geology of East Anglia is, superficially, very 
largely masked by deposits of Boulder-elay , yet the backbone of 
the district is the great Chalk Formation , extending from Flamboro’ 
Head in Yorkshire, through Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Cambridgeshire, 
Suffolk, Herts, Berks, Wilts, Hants, and Dorset, down to the Sea 
at Beer Head in Devon, and forming the bulk of the Isle of Wight 
and the counties of Kent and Sussex. 
The Chalk is a great marine deposit and attains a thickness of 
over 1,000 feet (atCarrow, Norwich 1,152 feet and 1,187 at Mouse- 
hold). It is like a white limestone, not thoroughly solidified — but 
mnte parts of the lower Chalk known as Hard Chalk are employed 
for Building-stone as at Beer in Devonshire, in Lincolnshire (Louth 
Abbey), and in West Norfolk. 
It is almost wholly composed of pure carbonate of lime. But 
throughout the greater part of the Chalk there occur nodules of 
black flint, and grey Hint, usually in bands, that coincide with the 
stratification or layers of deposit of the materials composing it. 
Where the Chalk is destitute of layers of flints, it is found to 
