Fareham and Portsmouth district - Sheet Explanation for sheets E316 and E331
Price £9.00(no VAT)
Sheet Explanations provide a brief description and interpretation of the geology of the relevant BGS 1:50 000 scale map sheet area. More detailed geological information for the same area is available via the Sheet Descriptions.
Sheet Explanations are printed A5 booklets and are available either singly, or as a pack together with the relevant 1:50 000 scale map, where this map is available.
The primary chalk scarp of the South Downs and the Portsdown anticline dominate the landscape of the Fareham and Portsmouth district. Travelling northward from the low, flat-lying coastal plain with its extensive natural harbours, the prominent chalk feature of Ports Down is encountered. From the crest of that feature, there is a wide northward vista over the Bere Forest Syncline and onwards towards the main chalk scarp, which is dominated by the communication mast at Butser Hill. Looking from Butser Hill towards the north and north-east, the characteristic ridge and vale country at the western end of the Weald can be appreciated.
The coastal plain is underlain by a thin Quaternary sequence masking Palaeogene strata, and the Bere Forest is characterised by sandy heath and heavy clay pastureland directly overlying Palaeogene sediments. Long, gentle dip slopes of the Upper Chalk form much of the open downland in the north of the district, whereas the face of the primary scarp and the ridge and vale country in the extreme north-east are formed by the Middle and Lower Chalk and alternating sands and clays of the Lower Cretaceous, respectively.
Author Hopson, P.M.
ISBN 0852722358X
Reprographic DP
Sheet(s) Covered E316
Sheet(s) Partially Covered E331
Year Published 2001
