Mr. R. C Taylor on the GeoLogi/ uf East Norfolk. 289 



clay or sandy bed in wliich they originally grew, and their 

 stems, branches and leaves, lie around them, flattened by the 

 pressure of from 30 to 300 feet of diluvial deposits. It is not 

 possible to say how far inland this subterranean forest extends; 

 but that it is not a mere external belt is obvious from the con- 

 stant exposure and removal of new portions, at the base of the 

 cliffs. 



Doubtless this must be the southern extremit}' of that sub- 

 marine forest, which has long engaged the notice of geologists, 

 on the north-west part of Norfolk, whence it is traced across 

 the Wash, and the fens of Cambridgeshire to Peterborough, 

 and all along the Lincolnshire coast, as far as the Humber. 

 There is no important variation in the general level of this 

 woody tract. As relates to the Norfolk portion, it appears 

 so closely in connection with the crag formation, as almost to 

 form a part of it : the shells of the one being occasionally 

 mixed with the vegetable matter of the other ; and are further 

 accompanied by bones of stags, elephants and oxen. 



An obvious similarity exists between the deposits on the Nor- 

 folk coast, and those in the district between the Humber and 

 Bridlington bay. The same diluvial accumulations ; the same 

 description of large bones of animals, of shelly fragments; 

 of crumbly slipping cliffs ; of subterranean forests at their 

 base ; — the same traces of plastic clay above the chalk, and 

 rolled ma:ises of primitive rocks mixed with the alluvium, at- 

 test the contemporaneous origin of the Holderness district 

 with that more immediately under consideration. Dr. Alder- 

 son, in describing the geological characters of that district *, 

 many years ago, was of opinion that the diluvial hills were 

 heaped upon the submarine forest. Nothing has arisen to 

 discourage that idea; but it derives confirmation from the 

 parallel case which is presented by the cliffs of Norfolk. 



On the first view of this extensive subterranean or subma- 

 rine forest, one is inclined to inquire whether it be not con- 

 temporaneous with the freshwater formations observed else- 

 where above the chalk ? Hitherto no freshwater shells have 

 been observed imbedded in this deposit on the Norfolk coast ; 

 but they have been seen at Harwich, and in the clay cliffs of 

 Essex ; and fluviatile shells abound in the forest peat of the 

 fens of Lincolnshire. 



Limiting our observation at present to these sites of an- 

 cient woods and beds of peat on tlie east coast of this county, 

 we peiceive that they are so variable in position, so undula- 

 tory, so often concealed by diluvium, so changeable in their 



• Nicholson's Pliilosophical Journal, 4to vol. iii. 

 New Sates. Vol. 1. No. !•. April 1827. 2 P ap- 



