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Some recent observations on the Brighton cliff-formation, by Edward Alfred Martin, published January 1909 in Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society (vol. 65, issue 1-4, article, pp.206-207)   View Online

The Author records in his paper certain features presented by the face of the cliffs between successive falls at Black Rock, Brighton, during the past eighteen years. As the cliffs have worn back, the base-platform of Chalk grows in height, and the layer of sand which Prestwich found above the Chalk grew thinner and thinner until finally it completely disappeared. At the same time, the raised beach has grown in thickness from 1½ to 12 feet. In 1890 there were 6 feet of sand, with a foot and a half of beach above it. There was practically no protection at this date in the shape of groynes. In 1892 the sand had decreased to between 3 and 4 feet, but the beach remained as in 1890. Many falls of cliff took place between 1892 and 1895, and at the latter date the beach had increased to between 4 and 5 feet. The eastern limit of the beds had become more clearly defined, the trough in the Chalk in which they had been defined taking an upward direction about 300 yards east of the Abergavenny Inn. Many blocks of red sandstone had become dislodged, and were lying on the modern beach. In 1897, 10 feet of chalk formed the lower portion of the cliff, with 8 feet of raised beach above it in places, but there was a mere trace of sand left. The rubble-drift above was seen to be distinctly stratified. Many masses of red sandstone had fallen out of the cliff, the largest measuring 5 feet in its greatest dimension. In 1899, the raised beach had reached a thickness of 10 feet. Great masses of moved and reconstructed chalk were observed on the eastern boundary embedded in the beach. Two rounded lumps of granite were extracted from the beach. In 1903, the beach was but a little over 8 feet thick in the exposed parts, but the platform of Chalk was 14 feet thick. The upper portions of the beach, which were the least consolidated, had fallen away in such a manner as to leave cave-like gaps beneath the rubble. The number of red sandstone blocks which lay on the modern beach was remarkable, forty such blocks being counted in a space of 50 yards square. In 1906, the raised beach had increased from 15 to 20 feet : farther west, however, the thickness was not so great. In 1908, there were 17 feet of Chalk, 12 feet of beach. It is noteworthy that, as the degradation of the cliff proceeds, the material is rapidly carried away by the sea. No talus remains for any length of time, and if the material is to be prevented from disappearing into deep water, some such contrivance as chain-cable groynes seems to be demanded, fixed somewhere between low and high tide-marLs. The only organic remains observed in the cliffs were some fragments of shells, found at the top of the raised beach.

On the sculptures of the Chalk Downs in Kent, Surrey, and Sussex, by George Clinch, published January 1909 in Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society (vol. 65, issue 1-4, article, pp.208-209)   View Online

The Author classifies the various forms of sculpture of the Chalk Downs under three heads, namely, (1) dry valleys of simple form, (2) dry valleys of complex form, and (3) wet valleys. He draws attention to the relatively small catchment-areas of the dry valleys, and to the large number of tributary valleys found in some districts, two points which he considers have not hitherto received entirely satisfactory explanation.

On the geology of the neighbourhood of Seaford (Sussex), by James Vincent Elsden, published January 1909 in Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society (vol. 65, issue 1-4, article, pp.442-461)   View Online

The following paper deals with that part of the South Downs which adjoins the coast between Beachy Head and Newhaven. Its primary object was to investigate the variations of the dip and strike of the Chalk strata in that area, with the view of discovering the interpretation of the sudden westerly dip of the Chalk at Seaford Head. Incidentally, the geological features of the surrounding country and their relation to the surface-contours are discussed, and reasons are given for the view that the true eastern extremity of the structural area known as the Hampshire Basin lies within this district. With regard to previous literature on this part of Sussex, the whole question is summed up by Mr. Jukes-Browne in the following statement, published in 1904:-
'At Newhaven the beds are nearly horizontal, so there must be a quick recovery from the steep inclination which they show in Seafurd Head. Whether they are re-curved or faulted we have no means of knowing.'

A contribution to our knowledge of Wealden floras, with especial reference to a collection of plants from Sussex, by Albert Charles Seward, published January 1913 in Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society (vol. 69, issue 1-4, article, pp.85-116)   View Online

In November of last year (1911) Mr. Charles Dawson, F.S.A., F.G.S., submitted to me for examination a small collection of plants obtained by him, with the able assistance of Father Teilhard do Chardin and Father Felix Pelletier, from the Wealden Beds of Sussex, for the most part from the neighbourhood of Fairlight. Several of the specimens, although specifically identical with previously recorded types, are better preserved or larger than any hitherto found, and furnish new facts of importance. The collection includes also several new species. In accordance with Mr. Dawson's wish, the specimens have been handed to Dr. Smith Woodward as a gift to the Geological Department of the British Museum (Natural History). With the exception of the example of Sagenopteris mantelli shown in Pl. XI, fig. 3, which is from the Ashdown Sands, the fossils in the Dawson Collection were obtained from the Fairlight Clay.
In the descriptive section of this paper are included a few specimens from the Rufford Collection (collected at Ecclesbourne, near Hastings), acquired by the Museum subsequent to the publication of the Catalogue of Wealden Plants.

On the Discovery of a Palæolithic Human Skull and Mandible in a Flint-bearing Gravel overlying the Wealden (Hastings Beds) at Piltdown, Fletching (Sussex), by Charles Dawson and Arthur Smith Woodward, published January 1913 in Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society (vol. 69, issue 1-4, article, pp.117-123)   View Online

Several years ago I was walking along farm-road close to Piltdown Common, Fletching (Sussex), when I noticed that the road had been mended with some peculiar brown flints not usual in the district. On enquiry I was astonished to learn that they were dug from a gravel-bed on the farm, and shortly afterwards I visited the place, where two labourers were at work digging the gravel for small repairs to the roads. As this excavation was situated about 4 miles north of the limit where the occurrence of flints overlying the Wealden strata is recorded. I was much interested, and made a close examination of the bed. I asked the workmen if they had found bones or other fossils there. As they did not appear to have noticed anything of the sort, I urged them to preserved anything that they might find. Upon one of my subsequent visits to the pit, one of the men handed to me a small portion of an unusually thick human parietal bone. I immediately made a search, but could find nothing more, nor had the men noticed anything else. The bed is full of tabular pieces of ironstone closely resembling this piece of skull in colour and thickness; and, though I made many subsequent searches, I could not hear of any further find nor discover anything - in fact, the bed seemed to be quite unfossiliferous.

Description of the Human Skull and Mandible and the Associated Mammalian Remains., by Charles Dawson and Arthur Smith Woodward, published January 1913 in Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society (vol. 69, issue 1-4, article, pp.124-144)   View Online

The Human Skull and Mandible.
The human remains comprise the greater part of a brain-case and one remus of the mandible, with lower molars 1 and 2. All the bones are normal, with no traces of disease, and they have not been distored during mineralization.
Of the brain-case there are four pieces (reconstructed from nine fragments) sufficiently well preserved to exhibit the shape and natural relations of the frontal, parietal, occipital, and temporal bones, and to justify the reconstruction of some other elements by inference. These bones are particularly noteworthy for their thickness, and for the depth of the branching grooves which are impressed on their cerebral face by the meningeal vessels. The thickening is due to the great development of the finely cancellated diploe, the outer and inner tables of the bone being everywhere comparatively thin. The thickest point is at the internal occipital protuberance, where the measurement is 20 millimetres. A thickness of 11 or 12 mm. is attained at the postero-lateral angle of the left perietal and at the horizontal ridges of the occipital; while a thickness of 10 mm. is observable along the greater part of the fractures of the parietals and frontals. Compared with the corresponding portion on the opposite side, the postero-lateral region of the right parietal is rather thin, its thickness at the lambdoid suture being 8 to 9 mm.

Preliminary Report on the Cranial Cast [of the Piltdown Skull], by Grafton Elliot Smith, published January 1913 in Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society (vol. 69, issue 1-4, article, pp.145-151)   View Online

The observations recorded in these notes were made upon the cranial cast which was submitted to me for examination by Dr. Smith Woodward, under whose direction the remains of the cranium were fitted together and the cast obtained from it.
The accompanying sketch (fig. 11) represents the left norma lateralis, and will explain better than a description the extent of missing cranial wall. The greater part of the right parietal bone and a considerable part of the occipital were found, and it was possible to fit them into position. Thus the form and proportions of the whole brain can be estimated.
The sharply-cut meningeal grooves upon the bones have produced upon the cast the whole pattern of the middle meningeal veins and arteries with great distinctness. The diagram shows the arrangement upon the left side: upon the right it conforms to Giuffrida-Ruggeri's Typus 1.
Unfortunately, there are only very slight indications of the arrangement of the furrows upon the surface of the cerebral hemisphere. Nevertheless many of them can be detected, if not by sight, by passing the finger over the surface and locating the depressions by touch. These features are represented (with considerable exaggerations so far as depth of shading is concerned) in the diagram (fig. 11) on the preceding page.
At first sight, the brain presents a considerable resemblance to the well-known Palæolithic brain-casts, and especially to those obtained from the Gibraltar and La Quina remains, which are supposed to be women's.

Supplementary Note on the Discovery of a Palæolithic Human Skull and Mandible at Piltdown (Sussex), by Charles Dawson and Arthur Smith Woodward, published January 1914 in Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society (vol. 70, issue 1-4, article, pp.82-93)   View Online

Since reading our paper on December 18th, 1912, we have continued our researches in the Piltdown gravel.
The whole bed is divided into four well-defined strata. The topmost consists of surface-soil, containing pieces of iron-stained subangular flint derived from some ancient gravel, similar to those beneath. This surface-soil also contains a mixture of pottery and implements of various ages.
Beneath is the second bed of undisturbed gravel, varying from a few inches to 3 feet in thickness. It is from the centre of this bed that the triangular Palæolithic implement mentioned and figured in our former paper was obtained. It contains rolled and subangular flints similar to those found in the strata above and below, and is mostly pale yellow in colour with occasional darker patches.
The third bed, though not always present, is well marked, where it does occur, by reason of its dark ferruginous appearance, and chiefly consists of pieces of ironstone and rolled and subangular flints deeply patinated and iron-stained. As in most other beds of this description, the ferruginous colour of the gravel and of the fossils within it often varies in intensity, from a dull pale-brown to a lustrous blue-black, within the space of a few inches, the latter colour being due to the presence of ferrous sulphide of iron. All fossils found by us (with the exception of the remains of deer) were discovered or have been traced to this third dark bed.

Appendix. On the Exact Determination of the Median Plane of the Piltdown Skull, by G. Elliot Smith, published January 1914 in Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society (vol. 70, issue 1-4, article, pp.93-99)   View Online

At the meeting of the Geological Society which was held on December 18th, 1912, I gave my first impressions of the cranial cast which Dr. Smith Woodward had sent me three days before the meeting.
On the present occasion it is not my intention to say anything further in reference to the brain of Eoanthropus (because I am preparing a full report upon it for presentation to the Royal Society); but, as there has been considerable criticism of the restoration of the brain-case, I should like to take this opportunity of expressing my opinion that none of the criticism has affected the accuracy of the preliminary note upon the cranial cast which I communicated to this Society in December 1912.
As the correct restoration of the cranium was the necessary preliminary to any detailed study of the form of the brain, Dr. Smith Woodward kindly permitted me to examine the fragments of the skull, and make an independent investigation with the view of determining what positions they originally occupied in the skull. This examination revealed a multitude of structural features which indicate precisely the true position and orientation of each of the fragments; and there is now no doubt that the reconstruction of the skull which Dr. Smith Woodward exhibited to the Geological Society in December 1912 was a much closer approximation to the truth than any of the various models so far exhibited in public by his critics.

On a bone implement from Piltdown (Sussex), by Charles Dawson and A. Smith Woodward, published January 1915 in Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society (vol. 71, issue 1-4, article, pp.144-149)   View Online

During the past season we have spent much time in examining the Piltdown gravel, working round the margin of the area previously explored in detail. In proportion to the amount of material removed, however, discoveries were few. Rolled fragments of teeth of Rhinoceros and Mastodon, as highly mineralized as before, were again found in place in the dark gravel; and they seem to belong to the Pliocene species Rh. etruscus and M. arvernensis, already provisionally recorded. No human remains were met with; but a large piece of bone evidently worked by man compensates for much disappointment, and proves to be so singular that it is worthy of special description.
This bone implement was found about a foot below the surface, in dark vegetable soil, beneath the hedge which bounds the gravel-pit, and within 3 or 4 feet of the spoil-heap whence we obtained the right parietal bone of the human skull. On being washed away, the soil left not the slightest stain on the specimen, which was covered with firmly-adherent pale-yellow sandy clay, closely similar to that of the flint-bearing layer at the bottom of the gravel. The bone, therefore, cannot have lain buried in the soil for any long period, and was almost certainly thrown there by the workmen with the other useless débris when they were digging gravel from the adjacent hole. It is much mineralized with oxide of iron, at least on the surface

Fourth Note on the Piltdown Gravel, with Evidence of a Second Skull of Eoanthropus dawsoni, by Arthur Smith Woodward, published January 1917 in Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society (vol. 73, issue 1-4, article, pp.1-11)   View Online

The Piltdown gravel has already been well described by the late Mr. Charles Dawson, who pointed out its variable character and concluded that its two lower layers at least could not be very different in age. Further extensive excavations last summer round the margin of the area previously explored, tended to confirm this impression, and to show that the whole deposit is a shingle-bank which may have accumulated within a comparatively short space of time. The lenticular patches of the dark-brown ferruginous gravel proved to be even more variable than before, and they were seen to pass both into the sandy clay below and into the less clayey deposit above. Large flints and waterworn pieces of Wealden sandstone were still observed scattered irregularly through the finer material. The characteristic 'subangular flints' were also found at intervals in the basal sandy clay. More interesting, however, was the discovery in this layer of numerous large elongated flints and pieces of Wealden sandstone, with their long axis more or less nearly vertical. The evidence of flood-action thus became complete.

Appendix. On the Form of the Frontal Pole of an Endocranial Cast of Eoanthropus dawsoni, by G. Elliot Smith, published January 1917 in Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society (vol. 73, issue 1-4, article, pp.7-10)   View Online

Although the fragment of the right side of the frontal bone reveals the form of only a small area (little more than 5 cm. long x 3 cm. broad) of the endocranial surface, which is devoid of obtrusive features, it is of interest and importance because it sheds some light upon a part of the endocranial cast of which nothing was known before. Moreover, it is a part of the cast, the frontal pole, the form of which is of peculiar significance in the study of the features of early Man.

Description of a New Plesiosaur from the Weald Clay of Berwick (Sussex), by Charles William Andrews, B.A., D.Sc., F.R.S., F.G.S., published February 1922 in Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society (vol. 78, article, pp.285-)   View Online

The Plesiosaurian remains which form the subject of the present paper were contained in a large septarian nodule from the Upper Weald Clay of Berwick (Sussex). This nodule was found in the excavations made by the Cuckmere Brick Company; it was broken into many fragments which were, so far as possible, collected by Mr. S. Tooth, M.Inst.C.E., and by him presented to the British Museum (Natural History). The pieces, many of which clearly contained portions of bones, were reunited, and the gaps resulting from the loss of fragments filled in with plaster of Paris, so that the original form of the nodule was restored. The extremely hard matrix was then slowly and with great skill chiselled away by Mr. L. Parsons, who found that it enclosed a mass of bones for the greater part thrown together in the utmost confusion, with the result that their removal was a matter of extreme difficulty. Despite these drawbacks, however, he succeeded in getting out the hinder part of the skull and a nearly complete shoulder-girdle, all the elements of which seem to be quite undistorted by pressure, a most unusual circumstance. The humeri were also found, but the rest of the paddles, which probably projected beyond the limits of the concretion, was lost. Numerous cervical and dorsal vertebræ, ribs, and ventral ribs were found; but of the pelvis and hinder limb nothing remained, and only one or two imperfect caudal vertebræ were preserved.

The ?One Hundred Foot' raised beach between Arundel and Chichester, Sussex, by Joseph Fowler, published January 1932 in Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society (vol. 88, issue 1-4, article, pp.84-99)   View Online

Prestwich, as long ago as 1859, described the raised beach between Arundel and Chichester under the title of 'The Westward extension of the old Raised Beach of Brighton'. Clement Reid, referring to the same deposits, writes, 'The work of the survey having thoroughly corroborated Prof. Prestwich?s view that these deposits all belong to one period, [the italics are my own] there will be no occasion here to discuss the question' (Reid, 1892, p. 346). As a result of the general acceptance of this view of the continuity between the Brighton and Chichester deposits, it has been inferred that the underlying solid formations were not elevated horizontally, but with a considerable eastward lag; for the beach at the Brighton end is only some 15 feet above sea-level, while that at the Chichester end is 115 feet higher, though the distance between the two places is less than 30 miles. I do not know, however, of any indication of such differential movement, and it is far more likely that there are two distinct raised beaches here in Sussex, the one at about 15 feet, and the other at about 100 feet above existing sea-level.

The base of the Gault in Sussex, by John Francis Kirkaldy, published January 1935 in Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society (vol. 91, issue 1-4, article, pp.519-537)   View Online

Recent detailed stratigraphical work on the Mesozoic rocks has shown very clearly the importance of careful study of the age and lithology of beds which indicate the presence of transgressions, or of pauses in the deposition of sediment. Arkell, in his well-known monograph (1933), has shown the extreme importance of this in unravelling the history of the Jurassic period, but unfortunately our knowledge of similar phenomena in Cretaceous times is not nearly so complete or to be found in so accessible a form.
The presence of a marked break in deposition and, in some areas, of widespread transgression at the base of the Gault clays is well known, but the details of the exact age and lithology of the basal beds of the Gault have only been worked out in the belt of country lying at the foot of the main Chalk escarpment of England (Kitchin and Pringle, 1920, 1922). In the Weald, the facts are less completely known, whilst those available are only to be found after search through a score of separate publications. It is in an attempt to fill in a part of this gap in our knowledge that the present study of the base of the Gault between Petersfield and Eastbourne is offered.

The overstep of the sandgate Beds in the Eastern Weald, by John Francis Kirkaldy, published January 1937 in Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society (vol. 93, issue 1-4, article, pp.94-126)   View Online

Comparatively little work has been done on the Lower Greensand of the eastern Weald for the last fifty years, whilst the current maps of H.M. Geological Survey are based on the original survey made under Topley prior to 1875. The general succession and fauna of the beds are fairly well known in East Kent, but in East Sussex, where the beds are thin, great difficulty has been found in the past in subdividing them and correlating them with the lithological subdivisions recognizable in other parts of the Weald.
Detailed mapping of the outcrop has, however, shown that in the extreme east of Sussex the Sandgate Beds overstep the Hythe Beds to rest on the Weald Clay. A similar overstep is traceable in the Boulonnais and in the boreholes of the East Kent coalfield.

Wealden petrology: The Top Ashdown pebble bed and the Top Ashdown sandstone, by Percival Allen, published February 1948 in Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society (vol. 104, issue 1-4, article, pp.257-321)   View Online

The Top Ashdown Pebble Bed occurs immediately below the Wadhurst Clay, averages three to four inches in thickness and is well exposed over an area of about 700 square miles in Sussex, Kent and Surrey. It is thus well suited to areal petrological study, being free from the invalidating influences of vertical variation. The "Top Ashdown Sandstone" is an arbitrary horizon situated four inches beneath the pebble bed, and designed primarily as a check. The Wealden strata of the Weald contain thin, yet widespread, horizons similar to the Top Pebble Bed. Detailed petrological studies of them have been undertaken. Where possible, all information, petrological and other, is expressed quantitatively. In no case is the assumption made that sampling information necessarily represents geological reality. Sampling data are linked with the unknowable truth, which they estimate, only through probability statements based on objective statistical analysis. Throughout the paper, the chances that the author may be talking nonsense are given for most alleged facts and conclusions.

Wealden petrology: The Top Ashdown pebble bed and the Top Ashdown sandstone, by Percival Allen, published January 1949 in Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society (vol. 105, issue 1-4, article, pp.535-537)   View Online

After the publication of the above paper, the author was asked if he would demonstrate, over a selected route, the field evidence for his fundamental conclusion that the Top Ashdown Pebble Bed is a single Weald-wide stratigraphic unit, and not a series of lenticular pebble-beds at varying horizons. On this conclusion, of course, the validity of his whole argument depends.
He very kindly agreed to do so, and a route embracing Cowden, Penshurst, Wadhurst, Rotherfield, Burwash, Dallington, Battle, Crowhurst, Westfield, Brede, Robertsbridge and Hurst Green (traceable by reference to fig. 2, p. 268 of the paper) was chosen.
Numerous sections- at least one in each of these localities -were examined, all at the junction of the Wadhurst Clay and Ashdown Sand as shown on the one-inch scale Old Series Geological Survey maps. Without exception, Dr. Allen was able to demonstrate the presence of a well-developed pebble bed, varying in thickness from an inch to nine inches and in most instances associated with the swamp soil-bed, containing many rhizomes and stalks of Equisetites lyelli, as described in his paper.
Dr. Allen's evidence is clear, for all to see; and his correlation of the various sections?in making which much other field evidence was taken into count, and by virtue of which he concludes the Top Pebble Bed to be everywhere one and the same?is, in the writer's view, fully justified.

Stratigraphy and structure of the Purbeck inliers of Sussex (England), by Frank Howitt, published January 1964 in Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society (vol. 120, no. 1-4, article, pp.77-113)   View Online

The Purbeck Beds exposed in Sussex are redescribed together with new sections exposed in gypsum mines workings and boreholes. Comparisons are made with Purbeck Beds elsewhere in southern England in boreholes and at outcrop.
A new map of the Purbeck inliers is presented and the structure is discussed. Conditions of sedimentation are illustrated by isopachyte maps.