The main geological results of exploration by the British Petroleum Company Limited since 1945 are outlined, and the general basis of operations described.
In the south of England new data emphasize the progressive development of the Wealden area as a Jurassic depositional basin, on a surface of mainly Devonian and Carboniferous rocks. In the East Midlands and West Yorkshire more information on the relation of Carboniferous basins is now available, and extensive occurrences of contemporary and intrusive basic igneous rocks are described.

Although Britain is a major gemstone trader, it currently produces little from indigenous sources. There are, however, records of a wide variety of gem material, particularly in Scotland. In addition to sapphire, ruby and possible diamond, the country has yielded topaz, beryl, and many varieties of semi-precious stones including cairngorm, amethyst, garnet, tourmaline, agate, zircon, ‘Blue John’ flourite and jet. There is also an unconfirmed report of Scottish emerald. Most of these gemstones were found by amateur geologists and gemmologists but recent discoveries, particularly of iamond indicator minerals in Scandinavia and Ireland, have raised commercial interest in the potential of Britain as a source of precious stones. <...>0

The report that follows presents a first statement of the results of a study sponsored by the European Economic Community and the Department of Trade and Industry as communicated to a meeting of the Institution of Mining and Metallurgy Midlands Section at which the President (Dr A. J. Robinson) and the Section Chairman (Professor N. A. Warner) were present. It was my privilege to attend and to make some concluding remarks; these form the basis of this preface. The Geological Survey, now in its 154th year, has as one of its principal objects the provision of geological maps based on surveying in maximum detail at a scale of 1:10 000. In areas where extractive or other engineering industry is important, the surveys have been revised more than once as new subsurface data became available.

Landforms and landscapes vary enormously across the Earth, from high mountains to endless plains. At a smaller scale, Nature often surprises us by creating shapes which look improbable. Many physical landscapes are so immensely beautiful that they have received the highest possible recognition—they hold the status of World Heritage properties. Apart from often being immensely scenic, landscapes tell stories which not uncommonly can be traced back in time for tens of million years and include unique events.

In England, in the sphere of Jurassic geology, we are wardens of a classic area, for our cliffs and quarries are the standards of comparison for the whole world. A German authority, Dr. Hans Salfeld, remarked after a brief study in 1914: ‘Research on the faunas and their succession shows that the English Upper Jurassic can be taken as the type of that of North-West Europe, in the most complete development anywhere yet known.’ He had studied only the Upper Jurassic, but the same could with equal truth be said of the Lower.

In den Jahren 1815 und 1816 legte William Smith den Grand zu der noch heute bestehenden Eintheilung der Juraformation , indem er ihre Glieder nach den versteinerten Resten scharf zu trennen suchte. So einfach die Paläontologie damals betrieben wurde, so wenig man auch in dieser Wissenschaft vorgeschritten war, so wusste doch Smith flir die Bezeichnung seiner Etagen gerade diejenigen fossilen Arten liervorzuheben und (oft ohne Namen) abzubilden, welche den paläontologischen C’haracter der Schichten am deutlichsten Wiedergaben. Schon der Titel einer seiner Arbeiten: „Strata identified by organized Fossils,“ zeigt, dass er seine Eintheilung auf diejenigen Grundsätze basirte. welche allein angewendet werden könnon, um das relative Alter der Formationen sicher zu bestimmen. <...>

Upon a general review of the Oolitic Lamellibranchiate Mollusks, it will be found that a very large proportion consists of shells whose hinges may be arranged under one or other of the following two groups, each of which has various generic modifications. The first consists of a lengthened hinge plate, having a parallel series of transverse or oblique teeth, as exemplified by Area, with its sub-genera Cucullaa, Nueula, Leda, Macrodon, Isoarca, Limopsis.

Testa subrhomboidea, fornicatd, concentrice lineata, umbonibus terminalibus incurvis, carina dorsali acuta, latere postico abrupto, lunula plana. (Goldfuss.)
Shell nearly rhomboidal or cordiform, elongated; unibones terminal, rather augulated and incurved; dorsal surface with an elevated acute angle; the lunule is very small and cordiform, its borders rounded; the anterior portion of the surface has concentric lines, which pass over the carina, and are soon lost upon the flattened posterior surface.