Note on an Examination of the Poxwell Anticline, Dorset

Abstract

The discovery of an active oil seepage in Corallian sandstones at Osmington Mills, near Weymouth, led in 1937 to an examination of the adjacent Poxwell or Moigns anticline by geologists of the D'Arcy Exploration Company, a subsidiary of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, Ltd. The investigations, carried out by Dr. C. T. Barber in the earliest stages, and subsequently by the junior author, consisted of surface mapping assisted by pits, trenches, auger holes, and shallow bore-holes, and culminated in the drilling of a test well in the crestal area of the anticline. This note summarizes the more important information obtained with regard to stratigraphy and tectonics.