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Sponges and the Chalk Rock

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 May 2009

R. E. H. Reid
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, The Queen's University of Belfast.

Abstract

Chalk Rock lithology suggests shallow-water conditions, but the fauna has been said (Woods, 1897; Jukes-Brown, 1904) to imply a depth between about 100–500 fm. A study of the sponges which are numerous in the Oxfordshire–Hertfordshire area shows that these form a fauna of the sort which is typical of the Chalk as a whole, with Hexactinellida predominant as was pointed out by Woods; this is a fauna of deep-water type by both modern and Cretaceous standards. The depth which these sponges imply need, however, not be much more than 100 fm., and their presence need have no direct bearing on the depth at which erosional features were formed.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1962

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References

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