Publications
Chalk zones in the foreshore between Worthing and Felpham, Sussex, by E. C. Martin, B.Sc., A.I.C., published 1932 in The Proceedings of the Geologists' Association London (no. 43 issue 3, article, pp.201-211) View Online
Abstract:This paper deals with a stretch of about 14 miles of the Sussex coast, betwe en East Worthing and Felpham. A modern shingle bank, backed in places by a low cliff of brickearth, extends along the whole length of this coast and slopes down to a foreshore varying in width, at low-water spring tides, from about 300 yards to nearly half a mile. The upper part of the foreshore consists generally of sand, but in the lower part beds of broken Chalk are seen at frequent intervals and, in places, extend almost up to the shingle bank.
Nearly a century ago Sir Woodbine Parish recorded that "in front of the village of Felpham, chalk is exposed for a considerable distance cropping out of the sands between high and low water mark, and at low water it may be traced for upwards of a mile in the direction of Middleton. It abounds in its characteristic fossils." (Some of these he recorded, but the list unfortunately was not published.) Parish also noted that "chalk marl has long been dug out of the beach near Middleton at low tides for manuring the neighbouring beds."
Later geologists appear to have given little attention to these foreshore exposures, and no attempt to zone them seems to ha ve been made. They are briefly referred to by Dixon, H. B. Woodward, and by Clement Reid, who wrote "it is difficult to say to what zones this Chalk belongs, or whether zones older than the Upper Chalk may not be exposed on the foreshore towards Worthing." Mr. R. M. Brydone, however, in one of his papers on the zone of Offaster pilula, suggested that this zone "is probably exposed on the coast in West Sussex in the foreshore near Bognar."
Nearly a century ago Sir Woodbine Parish recorded that "in front of the village of Felpham, chalk is exposed for a considerable distance cropping out of the sands between high and low water mark, and at low water it may be traced for upwards of a mile in the direction of Middleton. It abounds in its characteristic fossils." (Some of these he recorded, but the list unfortunately was not published.) Parish also noted that "chalk marl has long been dug out of the beach near Middleton at low tides for manuring the neighbouring beds."
Later geologists appear to have given little attention to these foreshore exposures, and no attempt to zone them seems to ha ve been made. They are briefly referred to by Dixon, H. B. Woodward, and by Clement Reid, who wrote "it is difficult to say to what zones this Chalk belongs, or whether zones older than the Upper Chalk may not be exposed on the foreshore towards Worthing." Mr. R. M. Brydone, however, in one of his papers on the zone of Offaster pilula, suggested that this zone "is probably exposed on the coast in West Sussex in the foreshore near Bognar."
A section in Woolwich and Reading Beds, and in the '15-foot' raised beach at Worthing, Sussex, by E. C. Martin, B.Sc., A.I.C., F.G.S., published 1937 in The Proceedings of the Geologists' Association London (no. 48 issue 1, article, pp.48-51) View Online
Abstract:The Woolwich and Reading Beds of the Worthing district are about 100 feet thick and occupy a narrow belt extending along the Chichester Syncline between the Littlehampton Chalk Inlier and the main Chalk outcrop of the South Downs. They form an easterly extension of the Eocene Beds of the Hampshire Basin, and reach the sea at South Lancing. Farther east, outliers occur at Portslade, Brighton, Newhaven and Seaford.
The Littlehampton and Portsdown Chalk Inliers and their relation to the raised beaches of West Sussex, by E. C. Martin, B.Sc., A.I.C., F.G.S., published 1938 in The Proceedings of the Geologists' Association London (no. 49 issue 2, article, pp.198-212) View Online
Abstract:The Coastal Plain of West Sussex is traversed from east to west by the Littlehampton and Portsdown Anticlines, each of which brings up a large inlier of Chalk. The Littlehampton Inlier extends approximately 17 miles in an east and west direction and is intersected by the coast between Worthing and Felpham. The Portsdown Inlier is nearly 20 miles long, and extends from south of Chichester to north-west of Fareham, in Hampshire.