6 Rev. W.V.Vernon's Further Examination of the Deposit 



wards overflowed by more frequent tides, in consequence of 

 which the former vegetable products have failed, and the de- 

 posit of land- and fresh-water shells has ceased. 



At all events I think it appears that so far no violent and 

 overwhelming torrent has been concerned in the formation of 

 these beds. 



But above the black marl and about the level of high water 

 in the H umber, at this level the first marks begin to be ob- 

 served of a more powerful action. From this point to the sur- 

 face large stones are embedded in the deposit transported 

 from distant rocks, from the western hills of Yorkshire and 

 the mountains of Cumberland. These stones correspond so 

 entirely with those of all our great beds of diluvial gravel, that 

 if a heap of the former were laid by a heap of the latter, the 

 two heaps could not be distinguished from each other. They 

 may be supposed perhaps to have been washed out of those 

 beds ; but surely they have not been v*ashed out of them by 

 the Humber ; lor if so, why are they not rather deposited in 

 the lower parts of the marl, than at a point to which none but 

 the finer particles suspended by a flood could be supposed to 

 reach. The Humber does not now deposit such stones. 



This last remark is equally applicable to the bed of gravel 

 and sand which lies above the marl. There is no argillaceous 

 matter mixed with it or over it. It is otherwise in the lower 

 part of this deposit : there, as might be expected from the 

 inundations of so muddy a river, the flints are mingled and 

 covered with marl. So that whether we make a comparison 

 with the warp-land deposited by the Humber in the present 

 state of things, or with the deposit of marl formed in the an- 

 cient state of things, we find nothing in this sand and gravel 

 analogous either to those alluvial sediments, or to the usual 

 alluvium of similar rivers. 



I have been gieatly confirmed in the view which I have 

 taken of this subject, by inspecting a recent alluvial deposit 

 near the mouth of the Tees. Here one of those subterranean 

 forests which have been so often observed on our coast near 

 tlie confluence of the rivers with the sea, has been intersected 

 by a cut which is designed to connect two reaches of the Tees, 

 and to shorten the navigation from Newport to Stockton. The 

 following is a section of this deposit. 

 Feet. 



10. Blue clay, containing no stones, but stained with black 

 spots of animal or vegetable matter, and having the 

 same fetid odour as the black marl at Cliff". 

 6. Peat containing trees : a horse's head was found in it, 

 some teeth of sheep, and many hazel nuts. 



1 — 6 Com- 



