DALEY, B. & BALSON, P. 1999. British Tertiary Stratigraphy. Geological Conservation Review Series Volume 15. xviii+388 pp. Peterborough: Joint Nature Conservation Committee. Price £60.00 (hard covers). ISBN 1 86107 469 7.

Abstract

This volume is the fifteenth in the mostly excellent Geological Conservation Review Series, of which 42 volumes are planned. The overall aim of the series is to ‘review the current state of knowledge of key Earth science sites in Great Britain and provide a firm basis on which site conservation can be founded for years to come’. This particular, long-awaited volume is essentially two books in one: ‘The Palaeogene’ (written by Brian Daley) and ‘The Neogene’ (by Peter Balson). After a broad Introduction to the Tertiary, the Palaeogene section begins with a brave stab at that almost impossible task: briefly summarizing all the work on the British Palaeogene and then correlating the deposits, before going on to the main job, the description of 34 sites. The sites are grouped into the eastern and western parts of the London Basin, the …