The Dredgings of the Marine Biological Association (1895–1906), as a Contribution to the Knowledge of the Geology of the English Channel

Abstract

Investigation of the geologic problems connected with the English Channel is no new matter. Setting aside all speculations deriving from the study of its coast-line, the first serious examination of the bed of the Channel was made by R. A. C. Austen, and his results published in the Proceedings of the Geological Society, 13 June, 1849. Although, as he states, he had examined the sea-bed with dredge and sounding-lead he has little to say as to its lithology. But none the less his work is a notable contribution to our knowledge, and his conclusions bear well the test of subsequent discoveries. Following Austen, in 1871, Delesse published his Lithologie des Mers de France, in which considerable attention is given to the Channel; and the lithology of its coastal deposits, and to some extent of the sea-bed, is considered in detail. But, valuable as this work is, its chief interest lies in the information given as to the nature of the sea-bottom, the grade and extent of the varying deposits. Austen and Delesse alike, and in agreement, point out the large areas of the Channel bed which are occupied by stones, boulders, and pebbles of some size, and argue on much the same lines as to the conditions which have formerly existed there.

Suspended particulate matter fluxes through the Straits of Dover, English Channel: observations and modelling

“…Geological and geophysical surveys have been carried out over the region for more than a century [13,15,16,40]. These investigations show that the Channel can be divided into three geological provinces [5]: i) the western province, which is characterized by Lower Palaeozoic to Miocene strata, with unconformities beneath the Upper Cretaceous and Eocene deposits; ii) the central province represented by Jurassic to Eocene strata with a number of large east-west trending faults; and iii) the eastern province associated mainly with Tertiary deposits.…”

Geometry and tectonic evolution of megasequences in the Plymouth Bay Basin, English Channel

“…The variable distribution of these sediments is due to the differin~ subsidence histories of the host sedimentary basins. The first indication that sedimentary rocks lay on the metamorphic basement of northern France and southern England in the Western Approaches was made I from seafloor dredges described by Crawshay (1908) and Worth (1908). The presence of a deep, undeformed sedimentary basin was confirmed by seismic refraction experiments (Bullard & Gaskell 1941;Day et al 1956;Hersey & Whittard 1966).…”