Gault

Gault is a rock formation of stiff blue clay deposited in a calm, fairly deep water marine environment during the Lower Cretaceous Period (Upper and Middle Albian). It is well exposed in the coastal cliffs at Copt Point in Folkestone, Kent, England, where it overlays the Lower Greensand formation, and is found in exposure on the south side of the North Downs and the north side of the South Downs. It is also to be found beneath the scarp of the Berkshire Downs, in the Vale of White Horse, in Oxfordshire, England, and on the Isle of Wight where it is known as Blue Slipper. Gault underlies the chalk beneath the London Basin, generally overlying eroded rocks of Jurassic and Devonian age; lower gault is present only below the outer parts of the basin and is absent under central London.

The clay has been used in several locations for making bricks, notably near Dunton Green and Wye in Kent.

Gault often contains numerous phosphatic nodules, some thought to be coprolites, and may also contain sand as well as small grains of the mineral glauconite. Crystals of the mineral selenite are fairly common in places, as are nodules of pyrite.

Gault (disambiguation)

Gault is a clay formation around the south-east of England.

Gault may also refer to:

See also

Gault (surname)

Notable people with the surname Gault are: