Brickearth

Brickearths are periglacial loess, a wind-blown dust deposited under extremely cold, dry, peri- or postglacial conditions.

[1] In the Thames valley, in broad patches brickearth overlies fluvial terrace gravel; it has been reclassified on later maps as the "Langley Silt Complex".

Commercially useful deposits of about 2m to 4m thick are present in Kent, Hertfordshire and Hampshire, overlying chalk, Thanet Beds or London Clay.

[5] There are extensive brickearth deposits in Kent, particularly on the North Downs dip slope and on the Hoo peninsula, sections of the Medway and Stour valleys.

[6] In Chichester, the brickearth is a flint-rich brown silty clay up to five metres thick, which occurs on the coastal plain.