Evolution (Biology); Glacial epoch; Human beings -- Origin; Human evolution
In the diagram of the cliffs at page 167, the bent and contorted beds
Number 5, last alluded to, are represented as covered by undisturbed
beds of gravel and sand Number 6. These are usually destitute of organic
remains; but at some points marine shells of Recent species are said to
have been found in them. They afford evidence at many points of repeated
denudation and redeposition, and may be the monuments of a long series
of ages.
MUNDESLEY POST-GLACIAL FRESHWATER FORMATION.
In the range of cliffs above described at Mundesley, about 8 miles
south-east of Cromer, a fine example is seen of a freshwater formation,
newer than all those already mentioned, a deposit which has filled up a
depression hollowed out of all the older beds 3, 4, and 5 of the section
Figure 27.
[Illustration: Figure 33. Newer Freshwater Formation]
(FIGURE 33. SECTION OF THE NEWER FRESHWATER FORMATION I
N THE CLIFFS AT MUNDESLEY, EIGHT MILES SOUTH-EAST OF CROMER,
DRAWN UP BY THE REVEREND S.W. KING.
Height of cliff where lowest, 35 feet above high water.
OLDER SERIES.
1. Fundamental Chalk, below the beach line.
3. Forest bed, with elephant, rhinoceros, stag, etc., and with
tree roots and stumps, also below the beach line.
3 prime. Finely laminated sands and clays, with thin layer of
lignite, and shells of Cyclas and Valvata, and with Mytilus
in some beds.
4. Glacial boulder till.
5. Contorted drift.
6. Gravel overlying contorted drift.
N.B.--Number 2 of the section, Figure 27, is wanting here.
NEWER FRESHWATER BEDS.
A. Coarse river gravel, with shells of Anodon, Valvata, Cyclas,
Succinea, Limnaea, Paludina, etc., seeds of Ceratophyllum
demersum, Nuphar lutea, scales and bones of pike, perch,
salmon, etc., elytra of Donacia, Copris, Harpalus,
and other beetles.
C. Yellow sands.
D. Drift gravel.)
When I examined this line of coast in 1839, the section alluded to
was not so clearly laid open to view as it has been of late years, and
finding at that period not a few of the fossils in the lignite beds
Number 3 prime above the forest bed, identical in species with those
from the post-glacial deposits B C, I supposed the whole to have been of
contemporaneous origin, and so described them in my paper on the Norfolk
cliffs.*
(* "Philosophical Magazine" volume 16 1840 page 345.)
Mr. Gunn was the first to perceive this mistake, which he explained
to me on the spot when I revisited Mundesley in the autumn of 1859 in
company with Dr. Hooker and Mr. King. The last-named geologist has had
the kindness to draw up for me the annexed diagram (Figure 33) of the
various beds which he has recently studied in detail.*
(* Mr. Prestwich has given a correct account of this section
in a paper read to the British Association, Oxford, 1860.
See "The Geologist" volume 4 1861.)
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account