The Geology of Portsdown Hill

Portsdown Hill is clearly a ridge, and made of chalk. But beyond - and below - that, what is it, and why?

This site attempts to explain, amongst others things,

• why there is a ridge and chalk,
• where the chalk came from,
• what it is made of,
• how it formed, and
• when.

The site describes the history of chalk and the flints, their formation, and the topography and structure of the Hill.

A section also describes the Cretaceous environment in which the chalk was first deposited over 50 million years ago.

Pages are also devoted to the uses that Man has made of the materials extracted from the Hill, from Neolithic times to today.

Please browse through the pages at will, or begin by placing Portsdown Hill within the geological framework of the British Isles.
I hope you enjoy your tour of this website, and that it may inspire you to visit the real, geographical (and geological) site too.