"The Isle of Wight is a happy hunting ground for Geologists. Curious relics of ages long past are frequently picked up, and the Island is a storehouse of geological treasures. The whole series of the Strata composing the Island are exhibited in its precipitous cliffs, and some of the phenomena which these cliffs present are curious and interesting spectacles. These strata, taken from top to bottom, are: Alluvium, upper freshwater formation, marine formation, lower freshwater formation, sand without shells, London clay, plastic clay, chalk with flints, chalk without flints, chalk-marl, green sandstone, blue marl, and ferruginous sandstone. Above the chalk the series of formations are known as the Isle of Wight chalk basin, stretching out to Winchester on the one hand, Brighton on another, Dorchester in the east, and Carisbrooke in the south. Except where the Solent cuts through the land, this basin is circumscribed by chalk hills.
Two marked sections of these strata are exhibited by the cliffs of the Culvers and Whitecliff Bay on the east, and by the cliffs of Alum Bay and the Needles on the west, Having said sufficient to assure Geologists that the Isle of Wight has charms for them which they will find it difficult to resist, we will not pursue the interesting subject further, as we should require a whole volume to ourselves in order to give anything like adequate attention to this absorbing theme. The lovers of the science have a fair field and many favours in this Garden Isle, and they are welcome to prosecute their interesting researches to their most complete satisfaction. We must proceed to other matters; and now, perhaps, one of our first duties should be to how our readers. "
The Minerva Isle of Wight Pictorial and Guide - circa 1900