On the Red Chalk

Abstract

The subject of this paper is the Red Chalk, a formation peculiar to the East Riding of Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, and a small portion of Norfolk. Years ago it attracted so little notice, that Professor Phillips, in his second edition of the “ Geology of the Yorkshire Coast,” 1835, disposed of it in three or four lines, and only mentioned its occurrence at Speeton. Since then the Rev. T. Wiltshire, F.G.S., has published a paper on the “ Red Chalk; ” and within the last few months, the Rev. J. F. Blake, F.G.S., has published, in the Proceedings of the Geologists’ Association, an exhaustive paper on the “ Chalk of Yorkshire.” After this latter excellent treatise, there is really little to be added ; and were it not for the fact that my engagement was made prior to the appearance of Mr. Blake’s paper, I should not have ventured to say anything on the subject. All that I can do now is to contribute mainly what little information I can from my own local knowledge; and however humble this may be, I venture to affirm that it is not altogether unimportant, because local observers have better facilities for studying their own immediate neighbourhoods than those whose time and occupation only allow them to pay flying visits. But first, it must strike every student of Geology what vast gaps there are in the cretaceous formations of Yorkshire, as compared with similar formations in the south of England. The lower cretaceous group, otherwise …