Abstract

The geological theory of the origin of nodular flint in chalk beds contains a number of suppositions but still fails to provide a fully self-consistent explanation of all the observed features of flint. This brief paper proposes an alternative suggestion whereby flint is formed directly from chalk by the Kervran Effect, i.e. by a biological transmutation of atoms of calcium to atoms of silicon and oxygen. A corollary of this hypothesis is that the flint cortex is the site of the former biological activity, which offers the possibility of checking the hypothesis by analysis of undisturbed flint nodules.