Petrographic datasets from sedimentary rocks are very useful for reconstructing their palaeoenvironmental settings especially when field and fossil datasets are unobtainable or inadequate. This study presents the first detailed and comprehensive petrographic study of the four formations constituting the non–marine Lower Cretaceous of the Weald Sub-basin of south-east England and employed petrographic descriptions to reconstruct their palaeoenvironmental settings. >120 samples were subjected to petrographic (QEMSCAN®, SEM, and thin section) analyses, which revealed that the framework composition of sediments is largely quartz-dominated (quartz arenites and subarkose) and has minor amounts of feldspar and lithics. The nature of the quartz arenites suggests that the Wealden successions were likely sourced from a stable interior craton/passive platform within a continental block and possibly from recycled flat-lying platforms such as low-lying granitic and gneissic bedrocks. The nature, maturity and the compositions of the sandstones suggest palaeoclimatic conditions were probably mildly hot and moist at the massifs and these perhaps favoured intense chemical weathering. The significant quantity of micas suggests that the Wealden sediments largely experienced very insignificant degrees of turbulence and agitation en-route depositional sites, thus yielding unwinnowed sediments. The presence of micaceous minerals, poor winnowing effect, and the general absence of diagenetic glauconite validate non-marine depositional environments. The palaeoenvironmental changes that occurred in the Lower Cretaceous in the Weald Sub-basin reflect (at least in part) palaeogeographic changes in NW Europe.

来自沉积岩的岩石学数据集对于重建其古环境设置非常有用，尤其是在田野和化石数据集无法获得或不足时。这项研究是对英格兰东南部Weald盆地的非海洋下白垩统的四个地层进行的首次详细而全面的岩石学研究，并利用岩石学描述来重建其古环境。对> 120个样品进行了岩相分析（QEMSCAN®，SEM和薄截面），结果表明，沉积物的骨架成分主要是石英为主的（石英辉石和亚克力石），并且有少量的长石和石屑。石英土的性质表明，Wealden演替很可能来自大陆块内稳定的内部克拉通/被动平台，也可能来自低平的花岗岩和片麻岩基岩等可回收的平坦平台。砂岩的性质，成熟度和成分表明，古气候条件在地块处可能是温和湿润的，这些可能有利于强烈的化学风化。大量的云母表明，Wealden沉积物在很大程度上经历了非常微不足道的湍流和搅动，途中产生了沉积物，从而产生了未发现的沉积物。云母矿物的存在，风选效果差以及成岩性青绿岩的普遍缺乏证实了非海洋沉积环境。