Barton Beds

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Barton Beds is the name given to a series of fourteen softish grey and brown clays, with layers of sand, of Upper Eocene age, which are found in the Hampshire Tertiary basin, where they are particularly well exposed in the cliffs of Barton, Hordwell, and in the Isle of Wight. The area was covered with an inland sea, and the temperature was higher than at the present day.

Above the highly fossiliferous Barton Clay, which is said to contain about 600 species, there is a sandy series with few fossils; these are the Headon Hill or Barton Sands. Either of these names is preferable to the term "Upper Bagshot Beds", which has been applied to these sands. The Barton Beds are absent from the London Basin, and the Upper Bagshot Sands of that area are probably of a lower horizon than the Barton Sands. The term "Bartonien" (English "Bartonian") was introduced by Mayer-Eymar in 1857 for the continental equivalents of the series. Fusus longaevus, Volutilithes luctatrix, Ostrea gigantea, and Pectunculus (Glycimeris) deleta are characteristic fossils; fishes (Lamna, Arius, etc.) and a crocodile (Diplocynodon) are also found in the Barton Clay. The sands are very pure and are used in glass making.