SURREY. (45.) Godstone.-The upper green-sand assumes a new character near Godstone; and a step-like projection at the foot of the chalk appears there more distinctly than in the country to the east. As the productions of the little district between Godstone and Reigate are valuable in commerce, and its structure has been a subject of some doubt, I have given a separate map of it, in Plate VII. fig. 2.* The section, Plate X. a., No. 2., on the line from the chalk through Godstone, shows the position of the firestone beds in the upper green-sand; with the site of a remarkable elevation of the strata at Tilburstow Hill, an account of which has been already published by Mr. Mantellt: and No. 3., the section through Merstham, includes the site of the Fuller's-earth pits of Nutfield. (46.) The firestone subordinate to the upper green-sand, in this part of the country, was, in 1827, extracted only between Godstone and the west of Reigate. The principal pits were situated on the west of the London road to the former place. The stone was obtained by an adit between five and six feet in height, and the succession of the beds affording it was thus: Section of one of the Firestone Pits near Godstone. 1. "Hard roof." This, like the firestone beneath, is a uniform fine-grained conglomerate or sandstone, effervescing strongly with acids, and easily cut into any desired form. Throughout the stone are dispersed numerous minute scales of mica, and dark particles, scarcely perceptible without a lens. It forms a roof to the mines, of such firmness as to support itself to a width of 17 feet, extending indefinitely inwards. 3. 2. "Green bed" of the workmen. (Firestone.) Stone of the same nature as the last, but harder and somewhat finer in grain, easily broken down into sand, effervescing. The beds 2. 3. and 4. though separated by seams of stratification, are of nearly uniform character. 4. 5. A bed of bluish grey siliceous concretions, called "flints" by the workmen, pass- 6. ... * In the small maps of this Plate the inequalities of the surface are not expressed but the colours can easily be transferred to the Ordnance map. + "Fossils of Tilgate," &c., p. 22. The more uniform and softer rock of these pits is used, principally, for lining fire-places 7. Bottom of the quarry. Stone unfit for working, from its containing much flinty matter. All these strata dip at a very small angle to about 20° west of south. The rock is traversed (47.) The gault hereabouts occupies a tract which bears the name of "Black- and furnaces, but is employed also for buildings under water. Great care is necessary, in build- * This is the spelling of the Ordnance map: the word in the country is pronounced "Tilbuster." Inclined Strata, near the bottom of the Lower Green-sand, Tilburstow Hill. Soil and loam (marked a a in the cut). Feet. In. about 1. Soft nearly uniform sand; when dry of a bright buff colour ... This has the appearance of having slid or subsided upon the next bed below. 2. Fuller's-earth; very like that in the upper part of the pits at Nutfield, hereafter This and the beds 4. 5. and 6. end abruptly above, as represented in the 4. A course composed of almost continuous bands of brownish grey chert, from 3 to 6 inches thick, alternating with, and passing into, soft sandrock. This chert is like that on the northern surface of the hill, where it is much used for repairing the roads. By exposure it becomes divisible into slaty portions, approaching to a rhomboidal figure.... 5. Soft sandrock (“Hassock”), including green particles: the hue is various where exposed. In some places tinged with oxide of iron { 6 0 "} 6. Sand; green while it is moist, but when dry and exposed nearly white, containing layers which consist of stem-like or vermicular portions of white, translucent, quartzose sand, surrounded by sand of a green colour. This contrast of colour becomes indistinct in dry specimens, but is very conspicuous when they are moistened. The white vermicular portions have a border of darker green than the rest they are generally about 4th of an inch in diameter, somewhat curved, and in some cases have short lateral branches with round extremities. This remarkable structure is very characteristic of several parts of the lower green-sand, and is probably connected with the former presence of organized bodies .. 7. Coarse yellowish sandrock 8. Here ferruginous matter is more abundant, and the sand is concreted irregularly into nodular masses nearly continuous. 7 and 8 together are about 15 feet thick. 9. Ferruginous bands, like 8: a conglomerate of quartz grains, cemented by oxide. of iron, with adhering sand, which in some places is white, and looks like mortar, but does not effervesce 10. Sand, with dark particles, and irregular tortuous seams of a ferruginous compound, like the carstone of Norfolk, consisting of fine rounded grains of quartz, cemented by hard, dark reddish brown, oxide of iron. This passes at the bottom into a less ferruginous sand, which is apparently continued down to the Weald clay. 9 and 10 together are about 15 feet thick. 0 6 to 1 0 3 6 6 66 about 3 6 varying from 4 0 to 6 0 15 0 15 0 Total thickness....about 60 feet. (49.) Merstham.-The aspect of the amphitheatre formed by the outcrop of the chalk and upper green-sand around this village is very characteristic: a prominent ridge of the latter stratum, passing from Blackditches to the south of Gatton, in a nearly circular curve, above which the chalk downs rise, with a similar curvature (see Plates VII. fig. 2., and X. a. No. 3.). Merstham occupies nearly the middle of the line which has been worked upon for firestone; the extreme points to which the quarries have extended of late years being near Godstone on the east, and Buckland Green on the west. The village stands on the confines of the upper green-sand and the gault*, a little to the south of an opening or gorge in the chalk, through which runs one of the principal roads from London to Brighton. The beds dip at a very small angle, towards the north; and those which include the firestone are visible to a thickness of about thirty feet, projecting like a step beyond the foot of the chalk escarpment. The works had been discontinued for some time before I visited the place; but the following list of the strata was given to me by the person who had superintended them †. 3. "Burry chalk :" the "Craie Tufau" of the French. This will not burn to lime, but goes to dust in the kilns..... [Upper Green-sand.] 4. "Quarry stone;" (Firestone) subdivided thus: a. "Roof," (sand 2 feet, soft stone 2 feet)? Total, about This stratum is of great firmness and stability: the roof supporting itself perfectly in the drifts worked into the hill, which are 30 feet wide. b. "Firestone;" including "flints" (chert), about 2 feet from the top: about 5 4 07 6 about 25 0 5. "Marl." Gault: the apparent thickness of which, in this part of the country, agrees with that on the coast. .... All the beds become thinner towards the outcrop. about 150 0 * A well at the Feathers-Inn is 150 feet in depth, with a boring of 60 feet at the bottom (in the whole 210 feet), all in "clay" and "marl." The boring, 24 inches in diameter, after going down to 60 feet, brought up such a quantity of water, that the well-sinker was drawn up in great haste, and the water rose to within 40 or 50 feet of the surface. Much sand, which had come up through the bore, was afterwards found in the bottom of the well. † A more full account of the Firestone pits here, has been published by Mr. Webster, Geol. Trans., First Series, vol. v. p. 355. (50.) The rise of the Lower green-sand is here very well defined; and the soil over the upper ferruginous beds of the formation is called "hazelmould," in distinction from the "black-land" upon the gault. Immediately on the south of the ridge formed by this first member of the sands, a slight valley or depression, with a moist and more fertile surface, is occupied by cohesive sand of a dark greenish hue and softer texture, which corresponds to the middle group of Folkstone, above described, (16.) and (24.). The retentive quality of this latter stratum, which gives a somewhat marshy character to the tract in which it occurs, and the approach of its hue and texture to those of clay, have deceived even experienced geologists, and given rise to some mistakes respecting the lower strata of this neighbourhood. The section No. 3, I believe, expresses their true order and relations. (51.) Fuller's-earth has been dug in this part of Surrey, beyond the memory of the oldest inhabitant. At present the extraction is confined to the neighbourhood of Nutfield. The beds come up near the top of the lowest member of the green-sand, and occupy a line on the north side of a ridge, which extends from the east of Nutfield nearly to Redstone Hill, on the west of Copyhold Farm. About two miles west of Nutfield, nearly upon the ridge, was a pit, by which the earth was extracted from a stratum. six to seven feet thick; and at Colmonger's Farm another, of which the section was thus: Fuller's-Earth Pit, near Nutfield. 1. Greenish sand, occupying irregular cavities on the top of the clay, 2... 2. Very tough clay (impure Fuller's-earth) with the aspect of steatite. [See No. 2. of the Section at Tilburstow Hill, p. 139.]. 3. Sandrock, abounding in green particles; about .... 4. A range of sandy nodules, of firmer consistence than 3. 5. Thin courses of bad Fuller's-earth...... 6. Continuous sandstone, forming the roof of the "earth-pits," and sustaining itself without support to a width of 11 yards... 7. Ochreous clay. 8. Fuller's-earth, of an uniform bluish colour*. In this stratum, about 3 or 4 feet from the top, detached nodules are found, (from six inches to nine in diameter,) of sulphate of barytes, crystallized in 16 0 oblique four-sided prisms, truncated at the edges and bevelled at the extremities, semi-transparent, and of a wine-yellow colour.... 9. White sand. The thickness of sand beneath,-between this stratum and the Weald clay, I did not ascertain. The dip of the strata above detailed is about one in fifteen: (the angle, therefore, between 5° and 4°,) towards a point about 40° west of north. * This was sold at the pits (September 1828) at 5s. per ton. The yellowish earth of another |