Bagshot Formation

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Bagshot Formation
Stratigraphic range: Ypresian
Type
London Clay Formation
Thicknessup to 45 metres (150 ft)
Lithology
PrimarySand
OtherClay, Silt, Gravel
Location
RegionEurope
Country UK
ExtentLondon Basin
Type section
Named forBagshot
LocationHeathland, near Bagshot

In

Bagshot Heath in Surrey. They are also well developed in Hampshire, Berkshire and the Isle of Wight
. The following divisions are generally accepted:

The lower division consists of pale-yellow, current-bedded sand and

London clay, occur at Hampstead, Highgate and Harrow. In Surrey, considerable tracts of London clay are covered by heath-bearing Lower Bagshot Beds, as at Weybridge, Aldershot, Woking etc. The Ramsdell clay, N.W. of Basingstoke, belongs to this formation. In the Isle of Wight, the lower division is well exposed at Alum Bay (200 m.) and White Cliff Bay (140 ft.). Here it consists of unfossiliferous sands (white, yellow, brown, crimson and every intermediate shade) and clays with layers of lignite and ferruginous sandstone. Similar beds are visible at Bournemouth and in the neighborhood of Poole, Wareham, Corfe Castle and Studland.[1]

The leaf-bearing clays of Alum Bay and Bournemouth are well known and have yielded a large and interesting series of plant remains, including

Bracklesham Beds are sometimes classed with the overlying Barton clay as Middle Bagshot. In the London basin the Barton Beds are unknown. In Surrey and Berkshire, the Bracklesham Beds are from 20 to 50 ft. thick; in Alum Bay they are 100 ft., with beds of lignite in the lower portion; and about here they are sharply marked off from the Barton clay by a bed of conglomerate formed of flint pebbles. The Upper Bagshot Beds, Barton sand and Barton clay, are from 140 to 200 ft. thick in the Isle of Wight. The Agglestone (or Haggerstone) rock and Puckstone rock, near Studland in Dorset are formed of large indurated masses of the Lower Bagshot beds that have resisted the weather; Creechbarrow near Corfe is another striking feature due to the same beds. Many of the sarsen stones or greywethers of S.E. England have been derived from Bagshot strata.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b  One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domainChisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Bagshot Beds". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 3 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 207.