28 



clays, and sands which, have been abstracted from the beds 

 ranging down from the Forest Marble to the Lower Lias, is 

 very great. 



As regards the part the Sea has acted in bringing about the 

 present configuration of this district, I would remark, that there 

 is no proof that any portion of its area was raised above the 

 surface of the ancient Liassic and Oolitic oceans, dui-ing the 

 deposition of these strata, though such may have been the case ; 

 but there are many indications that the depth of the waters 

 varied greatly from time to time, — the organism preserved in 

 these deposits prove this ; and one remarkable stratum deserves 

 notice, as indicating the shallowness of the waters at one period. 

 Over the greater part of this area the bed immediately under- 

 lying the Ragstones is found, — as Dr. Lycett describes it, — ■ 

 '^literally covered and grooved with impressions and remains 

 '^of animal life, valves of oysters clustering and adherent, a 

 "labyrinth of grooves and tracks of Annellida and MoUusca, 

 " crossing each other in all directions." * And again, at a little 

 higher horizon, in the Eagstenes, a vast oyster bed, (of Qnjphoea 

 BucJcmani,) extending from Leckhampton to Eodborough, points 

 to a like conclusion. It is not unlikely that the marine currents, 

 in such a shallow sea, may have wrought upon the surface of 

 the sedimentary deposits forming its bed, and so have j)roduced 

 channels ; but if such occurred in the directions of the present 

 valleys, all traces of such marine action have long since been 

 removed. 



There is little doubt that the general tendency of the action 

 of the sea, on a coast line, is to plane off all strata that rise 

 above its waves, but the more or less rapid elevation of the land, 

 the varying dip of the emerging strata, the direction of the 

 marine currents and other causes, combine to prevent this result. 

 As regards the Cotteswold range — supposing the rate of elevation 

 to have proceeded uniformly, — if the power of the waves was 

 just sufficient to remove Clay beds as rapidly as they were raised 

 above its surface, directly Rock beds presented themselves and, 



* The Cotteswold Hills. By John Ltcett, Esq., 1857, pp. 62, 63. 



