Records of Woodhall Spa and Neighbourhood: Historical, Anecdotal, Physiographical, and Archaeological, with Other MatterWalter, J. Conway (James Conway)
History
Records of Woodhall Spa and Neighbourhood: Historical, Anecdotal, Physiographical, and Archaeological, with Other Matter
Walter, J. Conway (James Conway)
Woodhall Spa (England)
Kellaway’s rock, which lies just below, so called from a village in
Wiltshire, near Chippenham, is a mixture of yellowish and buff sands,
with brown and buff sandstone. The chief fossils are Gryphæa Dilatata,
and G. bilobata, Belemnites in abundance, and Avicula Braam-buriensis.
{95a}
The Cornbrash, which succeeds (so called also from a district in
Wiltshire, favourable to corn), is a light grey, fine-grained limestone,
often so hard as to need blasting. It abounds in fossils. Among them
are Avicula Echinata, Ostræa Sowerbyi, Clypeus Ptotii, Ammonites
Macrocephalus, A. Herveyi, Nucula Variabilis, Astarte Minima, Trigonia
(of four kinds), Modiola (of four kinds), Myacites (five kinds),
Cypricardia, Corbicella Bathonica, Pholadomya (two kinds), Cardium (three
kinds), Pecten (six kinds), and several more. {95b}
The great Oolite (so named from the Greek Oon, an egg, referring to the
number of small stones, like fish-ova, found in it) is divided into
Oolite clays and O. limestone. The clays are mottled green and bluish,
with bands of ironstone, and concretions of lime. They indicate a
shallow sea, as contrasted with the Oxford clay. Fossils are not
numerous, but Rhinconella Concinna, Gervillia Crassicosta, Modiola
Ungulata, Ostræa Gregaria, O. Sowerbvi, O. Subrugulosa, Perna Quardrata,
Trigonia Flecta, and Palate of Fish are found. {95c} These beds
correspond to the so-called Forest Marble of the South of England.
The Oolite limestone beds consist of white soft limestones, having at
intervals bands of marly clay. This formation burns well, and makes good
lime. Its chief fossils are Serpula, Rhynconella, Terebratula, and T.
Intermedia, Avicula Echinata, Corbicella, Lima Rigida, Lucina, Modiola
Imbricata, Myacites Calceiformis, Mytilus Furcatus, Ostræa Sowerbyi,
Pecten Vagans, Pteroperna plana, Trigonia, T. costata, T. flecta, T.
striata, T. undulata. {95d}
The Estuarine deposit, underlying the great Oolite limestone, is composed
of light blue, green, and purple clays, intersected by soft bands of
sandstone, and having at its base a band of nodular ironstone. It is not
very fossiliferous, but the following are found:—Rhynconella Concinna,
Modiola Imbricata, Ostræa Sowerbyi, Monodonta. {95e} The sandstone bands
contain plant-markings in considerable numbers. As its name implies,
this formation was produced as the bed of an estuary or tidal river.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account