MR MILNE ON THE GEOLOGY OF ROXBURGHSHIRE. 493 



to be probable, from the structure of the shingle ridges described by DE LA 

 BECIIE, and from the impossibility that sand should be deposited in waters that 

 are very tumultuous. 



Perhaps I may here be permitted to refer, in support of the above views, to 

 the case of a gravel bank or ridge, never hitherto described, which is situated 

 on the coast of Northumberland, about four or five miles south-east of Belford. It 

 is about three miles from the shore, and it runs nearly parallel with the shore 

 for about four miles. It is composed chiefly of large rounded pebbles, of all de- 

 scriptions of rocks, derived chiefly from the neighbourhood, though there are 

 some, the origin of which I have not yet traced. Sand in stratified beds also 

 abounds, and in such quantities as to be worked. Its sides are steep, sometimes 

 exceeding 50 ; and in several places its top is from 40 to 50 feet above the ad- 

 joining grounds. This remarkable ridge is, at its base, about 120 feet above the 

 level of the sea, and affords, in my opinion, one out of many proofs, that this part 

 of our island has, at a very recent geological period, risen out of the sea. It ap- 

 pears to me, in short, to be one of those shingle banks, described by DE LA BECHK 

 as having been formed by submarine currents, and with which he says this island 

 would be found to be fringed, were it elevated above the ocean level. In con- 

 firmation of this opinion, I may add, that, at the north end of this ridge, viz. at 

 Waren Mill, there is a hill of greenstone, from which have apparently been de- 

 rived many of the rounded blocks and pebbles occurring in the ridge, and which 

 are most numerous towards the north end of it. It seems probable, that the 

 greenstone hill in question has been the means of forming an eddy on the south 

 side of it, in consequence of which a tail of gravel and sand was there deposited. 

 Accordingly, there is no appearance of either sand or gravel, in any form, on the 

 north side of Waren Hill. 



I may only farther observe, in regard to this Belford gravel ridge, that it is 

 utterly impossible to account for its formation by glaciers, as there is no great 

 valley, not even a mountain, or any considerable hill, within 20 miles of it ; and, 

 moreover, it is situated at a level far below that to which any glaciers are pre- 

 tended ever to have reached, in this country. 



I am not aware that the above view of the matter which I have ventured to 

 suggest, is backed by the opinion now entertained by any of our great geological 

 authorities, and therefore I offer it with distrust. I am glad, however, to find, 

 that this view was at one time, though it may not be now, entertained by Mr LYELL, 

 at least in regard to the production of the Swedish oosars, which I have shewn to be 

 identical in form and structure with the kaims of Scotland. Mr LYELL, since he 

 became a convert to the Glacial Theory, has most probably adopted M. CHARPEN- 

 TIER'S explanation of the formation of these oasars ; and, accordingly, he has re- 

 cently attempted to show, that the mounds and banks of gravel, clay, and sand in 

 Forfarshire, have been produced by glacial action. I may not therefore be able to 



VOL. XV. PART III. 6 R 



