Abstract
AT one part of Caterham Valley, Surrey, there is an example of an abundance of red flints similar to that mentioned by W. Fream (NATURE, vol. xxv. p. 437). The colour is, doubtless, due to the presence of oxide of iron, but I have not tested it. I find that the red flints invariably contain the remains of sponges, the network of spiculæ of which, being coated with the oxide of iron, show up in crimson or orange on a ground of black flint, and are very beautiful objects under a lens. Thus it appears to me that the redness observable in these flints is mostly due to the inclosure of sponges which contain either oxide of iron or iron which afterwards became oxidised. The yellow oxide of iron is disseminated throughout the chalk itself, some strata being very much stained by it.
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BADCOCK, J. Red Flints in the Chalk. Nature 25, 529 (1882). https://doi.org/10.1038/025529e0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/025529e0
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