Hastings Sands

Hastings Sands, the lower division of the Wealden beds, part of the Lower Cretaceous series. The beds consist chiefly of sand and sandstone with subordinate layers of clay, and vary in thickness from 500 to 1000 feet; and the group embraces, in descending order: (3) Tunbridge Wells Sand, (2) Wadhurst Clay, (1) Ashdown Sand. The strata differ very little from those of the overlying Weald Clay, except in being more arenaceous. The beds have been deposited in shallow fresh water. The sand often exhibits fine specimens of ripple-marks, and the clay which separates the sand-beds sometimes contains cracks that have been produced by the drying of the surface on exposure. The strata are highly fossiliferous. There are numerous saurian reptiles, including the huge iguanodon and the flying pterodactyle. The remains of several chelonians also occur. The fish belong chiefly to the ganoid or placoid orders, the most remarkable being the lepidotus, whose conical plate teeth and thick square enamelled scales are very frequent. The shells belong to genera which inhabit fresh water, such as Paludina, Cyclas, and Unio.