The geology of the western approaches of the English Channel. I. Chalky rocks from the upper reaches of the continental slope

Abstract

Dredged samples of Tertiary chalks are described from five stations distributed over a distance of about 200 miles along the continental slope. The Foraminifera and nannoplankton indicate a range in age from Middle Eocene to Upper Miocene. The conclusions are reached that (i), the continental slope appears not to have received and retained much clastic sediment of recent geological time, (ii), the facies of the chalks is quite different from that recorded in western Europe, (iii), the chalks crop out at least in the upper reaches of the slope and form terraces, (iv), a structural explanation, probably faulting, is required to account for the conflicting topographical and stratigraphical levels of some samples and (v), there is no support for the existence before Pleistocene times of the continental shelf of the Western Approaches in physiographical form similar to that known today.