POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
THE GEOLOGY OF LONDON. 
By HORACE B. WOODWARD, E.G.S., of the Geological Stjevey 
of Exglahd and Wales. 
LTHOUGH the Geology of London may at first thought 
appear a somewhat barren subject, yet, when we come to 
consider all its aspects, we find it in reality a very fruitful and 
interesting study. If we were to take the “ Town Geology,” 
as Canon Kingsley has so charmingly described it, we might 
examine the different building stones and road-materials, 
inquiring whence they came and how they were formed, so as 
to learn those portions of the ancient history of the earth of 
which they are the records. We do not, however, propose to do 
this on the present occasion, but to treat the subject in its 
purely natural aspect ; we shall look deep into the earth, and 
endeavour to show what changes the particular area, now 
embraced by London and its suburbs, has undergone during 
comparatively recent geological times. 
We cannot draw our readers to romantic cliff-scenery, nor to 
many quarries teeming with fossils, but we can study phe- 
nomena which reveal many astonishing changes in the area, 
from conditions of deep-sea to those favourable to the forma- 
tion of sand-banks and pebble-ridges ; and from a climate 
almost tropical to one of intense cold, when glacial deposits 
were formed. 
First of all, we must examine into the different kinds of 
66 rocks ” or strata found in and around London. These will be 
recognised as chalk, and varieties of clay, sand, and gravel, 
which we all know to occur in particular places. (See PI. CV.) 
VOL. XIII. — NO. L. B 
[PLATE CV.] 
