GULLIVER. — SHORELINE TOPOGRAPHY. 165 



and offshore deposits, characteristic of an area uplifted after mature de- 

 velopment, which was the condition assumed in the discussion of the 

 ideal area, are not here found. The gently sloping terraces have but 

 scanty covering of" waterworn pebbles.* 



(5) Dissected Oldland. — Upon either hand, as one stood at such a 

 raised beach in the ideal area under consideration just after it had been 

 elevated, strongly contrasting regions would present themselves. Below, 

 the faintly seaward-sloping plain ; while above would be seen the dis- 

 sected oldland. No general criteria for all regions can be given, for the 

 aspect which a given country at this time will present depends entirely 

 upon what stage of development was arrested by its change of position 

 with respect to baselevel. Young, mature, composite, or forms of almost 

 any other possible stage, may be found. The question for the observer 

 to ask is, Where in its path of life did this country stand ? 



Variations from Ideal Scheme. — Many variations from this ideal scheme 

 will at once sufrgest themselves. The land may have been depressed but 

 a short time before the uniform uplift occurred, and then the bottom 

 would not have been smoothed over. The coast may have been so steep 

 that all the waste from the cliff cutting was dumped immediately offshore 

 from the rock bench, and only a narrow terrace was formed in continua- 

 tion of the bench. This is practically the case in San Clemente and in 

 the raised beaches of Scandinavia, already referred to (pages 159, 160), 

 where no broad coastal plain, simple new shoreline, nor smooth bottom 

 is found. 



Variations in structure will cause great differences in the coastal and 

 shore forms. A mountain region with its structure transverse to the 

 shoreline, as is the case in Brittany, will show, after an uplift following 

 adolescent dissection, a much more irregular elevated shoreline than in 

 the ideal case of homogeneous structure considered above. A region of 

 longitudinal mountain structure, like the Austrian coast (page 1G8), 

 would show its characteristic features of development in its elevated 

 shoreline. 



Time since the last considerable movement is however the most im- 

 portant factor to be considered in regard to variations from the ideal 

 scheme. If the previous cycle had advanced only to youth, the coastal 

 and shore forms, seen after the uplift in the elevated shoreline, would have 

 the characteristic forms of youthful development. In this case it would 

 be easy to tell whether the second cycle previous to the present was one 



* Loc. cit., p. 132. 



