Mr. R. C. Taylor on the Geology of East NotfolL 287 



per surface of the chalk was reached at 64 feet *, and on the 

 north-west coast, beginning at Hunstanton cliff, the inferior 

 strata rise to the surface. The top of the chalk being sunk 

 as much below the sea at Harwich as the bottom is elevated 

 above the sea, on the north-western escarpment, and its entire 

 thickness being estimated at about 400 feet, the slope will be 

 somewhere as above suggested. This will be best understood 

 by consulting the Section No. I. 



It has before been remai-ked, that the principal drainage of 

 Norfolk, comprised within that portion which is covered by 

 diluvial clay and loamf , conforms to the slope of the chalk, and 

 passes its collected waters to the sea at Yarmouth. In like 

 manner the drainage water of nearly four-fifths of Suffolk, in- 

 cluding the great clay district, conducted by several channels 

 towards the south-east corner of that county, there enters the 

 ocean. 



Imagine the general plane of the chalk, as it sinks to the 

 south-east, once divested of its diluvial covering. The line at 

 which this plane would be intersected by the ancient ocean, 

 defines an irregular area, which is precisely that occupied by 

 the crag formation. 



It is unnecessary to enlarge, in detail, upon the geological 

 minutiae of this district, but it is essential to our subject to 

 consider its principal characters. 



All admit that the chalk, more than any other formation, 

 exhibits the powerful effects of immense currents, sweeping 

 over its surface: that valleys have been hollowed out, and 

 eminences formed, and a large portion of this island covered 

 with its debris. From the variety of strata, some even of fresh- 

 water origin, which occupy certain positions above the chalk, 

 it is evident, that at distant intervals, considerable geological 

 changes, more or less extensive, were effected. The im- 

 bedded vegetables, the zoophiles, the shellfish, and the animals 

 change with each deposit ; the old series become extinct, and 

 new ones in their turn become documents attesting geological 

 epochs ; — the unerring records of successive aeras : — medals 

 stamped, not with specific, but with relative dates. 



The stratum of marine productions, under the local name 

 of crag, has its assignable and comparative date ; its inhabi- 

 tants were the last that occupied the waters and the ancient 

 shores, prior to the catastrophe which affected this part of our 

 globe, and to the reforming from its wreck that surface on 



• Borings were continued in the chalk at this place, 293 feet more. 



f I adopt the term diluvial, now in general use, to indicate the water- 

 worn debris resulting from the deiwge ; as distinguished from the alluvial 

 deposits which proceed from causes yet in operation. 



which 



