PROCEEDINGS 



OF THE 



YORKSHIRE PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY, 

 1849 TO 1852. 



On the Direction of Drifting of the Sandstone Beds of 

 the Oolitic Bocks of the Yorkshire Coast.* — Bg 

 Henry Clifton Sorby, Esq., E. G. S. Bead June, 

 1850. 



The author first said that the only point in which he claimed 

 originality, was that relating to the direction of drifting of these 

 rocks ; and before he entered on that part of the subject, he 

 would glance at their connexion with the other rocks which 

 occur on the coast. Beginning with the lias and inferior oolite, 

 we have a series of fine grained deposits, containing many 

 marine remains, and nothing to indicate that land was very 

 near ; which nevertheless could not have been very far removed, 

 or else probably we should not have found in them crocodilian 

 reptiles. Above these we have a mass of sandstones and shales, 

 which do not contain marine remains, but on the contrary, 

 shells of fresh water origin, and many plants in such a state of 

 preservation as to shew that they cannot have been drifted far. 

 Then we have the so called grey limestone, which is however 

 very sandy, representing the great oolite of the south, with 

 many marine remains, and over it deposits of sandstone and 

 shale, similar to those below. Over these we have again a 



♦ The conclusion obtained ty Mr. Sorby as to the northward source of the 

 drifted materials in the Oolite series of Y^orkshiro, is in accordance with the views 

 published on this subject by Prof. Phillips, from more general considerations. 



P 



