

Mr. R. Taylor on Cromer Cliffs. 85 



feet thick ; but I have not detected therein any traces of crag 

 fossils, although they abound in the clay, in an extensive gap 

 of which these horizontal beds are deposited. 



At A commences the most extensive contortion hitherto 

 displayed in the diluvial formations of this district. It con- 

 sists of concentric bands of gravel, sand, and brown mud; the 

 external mud vein contains minute fragments of crag shells. 

 There are few visitors to Cromer, probably, but are struck 

 with this singular feature in its cliffs. The foot of this con- 

 tortion rests upon a bed, 15 feet thick, of yellow sand without 

 shells, overlying the waving laminated and peaty clay bed be- 

 fore described ; and the entire section exposed was found on 

 admeasurement to be 90 feet. 



The general composition of the cliffs, for many miles to the 

 west and south of the portion here represented, is chiefly an 

 accumulation of the consolidated diluvial mud ; varying in 

 thickness from 20 to 250 feet; occasionally divided by vertical 

 gaps, which have been subsequently filled with chalk, marie, or 

 sand, but chiefly the latter. Some instances occur, where the 

 beds of mud and other diluvial deposits assume a vertical po- 

 sition. These, and the gaps alluded to, often cut through the 

 mud cliffs from the summit to the base, at the particular part 

 where the accumulation is the greatest and the elevation is the 

 loftiest. The most remarkable examples of this occur at 

 Paston Hill, at Beck Hythe, at Cromer, Runton, Beeston, and 

 Sherringham. 



Extensive slips of enormous masses of the diluvial clay are 

 constantly occurring; and avalanches of mud are continually 

 in operation, particularly between Cromer and Mundesley. 

 They are occasioned rather by the numerous land springs and 

 by interruptions to the natural drainage, than by the under- 

 mining action of the waves ; and the accumulating mass forms 

 an inaccessible and impassable border of soft boggy mud, 

 often several hundred yards in width, and 100 or 150 feet in 

 thickness, destitute of vegetation, and presenting a gloomy and 

 desolate aspect for some miles. 



The annexed drawing is chiefly copied from a section con- 

 structed on a large scale, by the writer of this article, of the 

 entire line of cliffs on the Norfolk coast ; from the point where 

 the diluvial beds rise from beneath the Marum sand hills, 

 north of Winterton, to where the high land recedes from the 

 shore near Cley at Weyburn Hope. 



Yours &c. 

 Norwich, Dec. 1.5, 1S23. RlCHARD Taylor. 



XVI. On 



