Southern Region Chalk Group Lithostratigraphy: Sussex lithostratigraphy of Mortimore (1986a) - Beachy Head Sponge Beds

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The Beachy Head Sponge Beds, c. 3 m thick, are marked by the top surface of the uppermost Light Point Hardground at the base, and by the lower of the two Shoreham Marls at the top (Mortimore, 1986a). They comprise beds of red, iron-stained, relatively soft, flinty, spongiferous, nodular chalk (Mortimore, 1986a).

The fauna of the Beachy Head Sponge Beds is characterised by the inoceramid bivalve Cremnoceramus crassus (formerly C. schloenbachi), and the echinoid Micraster aff. turonensis (Mortimore, 1986a).

Macrofossil Biozonation: top M. cortestudinarium Zone

References

MORTIMORE, R N.1986a. Stratigraphy of the Upper Cretaceous White Chalk of Sussex. Proceedings of the Geologists' Association, Vol. 97(2), 97-139

See; Flint, Spongiferous Chalk, Nodular Chalk, Hardground