3/. The Survey Course - University College London

Fig. 4. Geological map, showing structural features, drainage and the location of
barrows on the downs and Folkestone Beds.
associated with the Lavant fluvial system and its feeders/tributaries; and mixed Head
deposits which are preserved in heads of some of the escarpment coombes, at the base
of the slope and out onto the Gault Fm.
The extant topography of the landscape around Heyshott, is largely the result of
subaerial weathering on the gently uplifting solid geology. Initial uplift and exposure
of the Chalk probably predated the major episodes of tectonism but it is the latter,
orogenetically driven, events that are associated with the formation of the major
anticlinal and synclinal structures of the region. Subsequent to these major tectonic
pulses, the anticlinorum was breached and the sub-Chalk Cretaceous geology of the
Weald exposed. During the Pleistocene Epoch, the final shaping of the downs took
place, with most landscape contouring occurring at the end of glacial periods when
snow and ice field melt carried vast amounts of material off the downs and over the
scarp and dip slopes (Figs. 5, 6). This process occurred as a result of blanket mass
movement deposition and also sediment discharge through valley systems, both
fluvial and dry (coombes).
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