Notes on the Strata exposed in laying out the Oxford Sewage-farm, at Sandford-on-Thames

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Abstract
The strata under consideration consist of the upper and middle members of the Oxford Oolites, together with the Kimmeridge Clay; and though little novelty can be expected in a paper on such well-studied and readily accessible deposits, it is hoped that at least one or two important facts may be put on record. The area treated of is only about 1½ mile in length from east to west, and one mile from north to south. It is situated about 4 miles S.E. of Oxford, on the south side of the Thame and Aylesbury branch of the Great Western Railway, and east of the turnpike road from Oxford to Dorchester & Henley. Though small, it presents some interesting variations in the strata. Previous to the laying-out of the 350 acres selected for sewage-irrigation, a number of trial-holes were dug to ascertain the nature of the subsoils and substrata, and subsequently a complete system of land-drainage was carried out, necessitating the digging of trenches from 3 to 8 feet deep and not more than 66 feet apart all over the land. There was therefore ample opportunity for obtaining accurate information on the superficial development of the various strata. At Headington a generalized section of the beds appears to be somewhat as follows :— In the neighbourhood of Sandford and Littlemore, the Coral Rag and part of the Coralline Oolite are replaced by marls which are in places full of small oysters and Serpulœ , with a few other fossils, but show no trace*

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