Geology of the Cranborne Chase district (Dorset)

This account describes the geology depicted on 1:10 000 sheets ST90NE (Witchampton), ST91SE (Chettle), ST91NE (Sixpenny Handley), SU00NW (Horton), SU01SW (Wimborne St Giles) and SU01NW (Pentridge), which form part of the 1:50 000 scale Ringwood (314) Geological Sheet. The original geological survey on the one-inch scale was by H W Bristow and J Trimmer and published on Old Series Sheet 15 in 1856. The district was geologically surveyed on the 1:10 560 scale by F J Bennett 1896–1899, E E L Dixon 1899–1890 and C Reid in 1894 and 1899. The 1:63 360 scale Ringwood Sheet 314 was first published with drift in 1902 and reprinted in 1948. The sheet was reconstituted from the one-inch scale without geological revision and reprinted on to a 1:50 000 scale base in 1976 and reprinted in 1990. The 1:10 000 scale revision survey was carried out by C R Bristow in 1997 and 1998. Cretaceous macrofossils have been identified by M A Woods, Cretaceous micropalaeontology by I P Wilkinson and Palaeogene palynolog by J A Riding.