MORTIMORE, R. N., WOOD, C. J. & GALLOIS, R. W. 2001. British Upper Cretaceous Stratigraphy. Geological Conservation Review Series, Volume 23. xx + 558 pp. Peterborough: Joint Nature Conservation Committee; purchasing address: NHBS, 2–3 Wills Road, Totnes, Devon TQ9 5XN, UK (www.nhbs.com). Price £53.00 (hard covers). ISBN 1 86107 488 3

Abstract

This weighty volume describes the 37 GCR sites which expose Upper Cretaceous rocks. The book contains a vast amount of information, including photos and figures reproduced from papers, but is marred by numerous errors and basic omissions of which a selection are mentioned here. The reader may be helped by a brief summary of what has happened to English Chalk stratigraphy in recent years, in particular the proliferation of lithostratigraphic schemes during the 1980s. Naturally, these regional schemes conflicted and competed, with a Lilliput–Brobdingnag conflict between schemes developed respectively in the North and South Downs. BGS got in on the act when they realised that there was a demand for maps of southern England showing …