The Bargate Beds of Surrey and their Microscopic Contents

That division of the Lower Greensand known as the Bargate Beds is of especial interest on account of the varied character of its organic and inorganic constituents, many of which are derived from older rocks. In 1856 R. A. C. Godwin-Austen wrote in reference to these beds: “Whatever may have been the original range of the Oolitic group over the area now covered by the Wealden and Cretaceous formations of the S.E. of England, there is evidence that it has been reduced by the abrading action of the Lower Greensand sea along its coastline. The shingle-beds of the Lower Greensand of Surrey and Kent contain, in addition to the materials already alluded to, a considerable number of extraneous fossils, such as the bones and teeth of Oolitic Saurians, Ammonites Lamberti and A. crenatus of the Oxford Clay, in great abundance, together with Terebratula fimbria and Rhynchonella oolitica .” The correlation of these Bargate Beds, with others of Lower Greensand age in the area east of that where the first-mentioned occur, cannot be regarded as settled. The Bargate Beds have been placed by the Geological Survey at the top of the by the series, whilst Mr. C. J. A. Meÿer regards them as forming the basement beds of the uppermost or Folkestone series. It is not my intention here to discuss at any length their stratigraphical relations; but a summary of the evidence gathered after some detailed work in the Guildford and Dorking districts may be of some use in correlating the