The record of this period consists of a series of strata, in which chalk beds make a conspicuous appearance, and which is therefore called the cretaceous system or formation. In England, a long stripe, extending from Yorkshire to Kent, presents the cretaceous beds upon the surface, generally lying conformably upon the oolite, and in many instances rising into bold escarpments towards the west. The celebrated cliffs of Dover are of this formation. It extends into Northern France, and thence north-westward into Germany, whence it is traced into Scandinavia and Russia. The same system exists in North America, and probably in other parts of the earth not yet geologically investigated. Being a marine deposit, it establishes that seas existed at the time of its formation on the tracts occupied by it, while some of its organic remains prove that, in the neighbourhood of those seas, there were tracts of dry land.

The cretaceous formation in England presents beds chiefly sandy in the lowest part, chiefly clayey in the middle, and chiefly of chalk in the upper part, the chalk beds being never absent, which some of the lower are in several places. In the vale of the Mississippi, again, the true chalk is wholly, or all but wholly absent. In the south of England, the lower beds are (reckoning from the lowest upwards), 1. Shankland or greensand, “a triple alternation of sands and sandstones with clay;” 2. Galt, “a stiff blue or black clay, abounding in shells, which frequently possess a pearly lustre;” 3. Hard chalk; 4. Chalk with flints; these two last being generally white, but in some districts red, and in others yellow.