LOWER CHALK—HAMPSHIRE. 
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CHAPTER V. ' '• 
THE LOWER CHALK IN HAMPSHIRE. 
General Description. 
The outcrop of the Lower Chalk, when it enters Hampshire a 
little west of Farnham, begins to widen out; the clip of the beds 
lessens in amount, and changes in direction from a northerly one 
to north-westerly and finally a westerly one. In consequence of 
these changes the tract occupied by the Lower Chalk passes south¬ 
wards by Froyle, Alton, Farringdon, Newton-Valence, Froxfield, 
and East Meon. East Meon is situated on the southern anticlinal 
axis of the Wealden area, an axis which is prolonged westward 
through Winchester, and to the south of this anticline the beds, 
of course, dip southward. Consequently at East Meon the strike of 
the Lower Chalk changes its direction again and runs eastward 
below Ramsdean Down to Buriton, and thence into Sussex. 
So far as we can judge, from the position of the Belemnite Marl 
on Stoner Hill north-west of Petersfield, with reference to the base 
line of the Chalk drawn by Mr. Hawkins, the total thickness of 
the Lower Chalk in Hants is about 200 feet. A boring made for 
the Local Board at Ashdell, Alton, in 1882, and published by Mr. 
Whitaker is given as follows : — 
Ft. 
Depth. 
Well dug in chalk - 
140 
140 
Lower chalk and grey chalk - 
68 
208 
Chalk-Marl - - probably 
50 
258 
Chloritic Marl.- ,, 
10 
268 
Malm rock .. 
80 
348 
Gault - - 
150 
498 
Gault C partly hard Lower Greensand) - 
42 
540 
As the railway cutting close by is in Melbourn Rock, the thick¬ 
ness ascribed to the Lower Chalk (258 feet) seems great. Possibly 
the Chalk ends at 208 feet, and the beds below down to 348 feet 
belong to the Malmstone. 
The only person, prior to 1875, who paid any attention to the 
Lower Chalk in Hampshire was the late Mr. W. Curtis, of Alton, 
who collected many fossils from the quarries in the neighbourhood 
of Alton between 1850 and 1860. These fossils are preserved in 
the Museum at Alton. It is stated in the Geological Survey 
Memoir on Sheet 12 (old series, 1862), that Mr. Curtis had found 
the “ Chalk-Marl ” susceptible of division into three parts: by 
Chalk-Marl it is probable that the writer meant the whole of what 
