The consolidation of a saturated porous medium submitted to a vertical load is a classical problem, and has been given a complete analytical solution within the framework of linear poroelasticity. For a layer constituted by several homogeneous strata, the problem can be dealt with by means of analytical as well as numerical methods, provided that the contrast between the properties of the strata remain moderate. In this paper, we consider a layer constituted by two strata and discuss the situation in which the contrast between the properties of the strata becomes very large and fluid conduction exhibits very different characteristic times in each stratum. The method used consists in introducing a double time scale, and gives an analytical solution, which makes it possible to discuss the influence of the ratio between strata thicknesses on the overall consolidation time of the layer.