528 



RECENT. 



of ' Made Earth' is found under all parts of the metropolis. (See sequel, under 

 Soils.) A section near the Blackfriars Road was as follows : ' — 



Made Earth 7 feet. 



Bluish clay, with freshwater Shells and veget- 

 able matter 6 ,, 



Earthy Peat 5 ,, 



A section at the West India Docks exposed the following beds : ^ — 



Ft. in. 



Made Earth, about 12 O 



Brown and blue clay, with peat, stems of trees, 



and shells 8 o 



Sand and gravel 13 6 



Pebbles and rolled clay, with broken shells, etc. 



At Tilbury Docks the Alluvium was proved to have a thickness of 57 feet 

 6 inches, and it consists of alternating beds of mud, clay and peat, with gravel at 

 the bottom. A human skeleton was found at a depth of 32 feet, and this at the 

 time was erroneously considered to be of Palaeolithic age.'* 



Interesting sections of the recent Alluvial deposits near Walthamstow have been 

 recorded by Dr. H. Woodward, who obtained remains of Beaver, etc., and 

 noticed the probable influence of this animal in modifying the courses of streams, 

 and in the formation of Alluvial flats.* 



Mr. S. V. Wood, jun., has remarked that for a few miles on the east of London 

 we find a bed of peat, containing the stems of trees, and resting on the Thames 

 gravel or upon the Upper Brickearth. (See p. 517.) When this formation was 

 opened up in forming the sewer through the Plumstead Marshes, stools of trees 

 (yew, oak and pine) were exposed at the base of the peat, rooted into the gravel at 

 a depth of some 20 feet below the surface of the marsh. This peat is overlaid by 

 the marsh-clay lormed by the river-mud before the stream was embanked.^ 



In the lower part of the Thames valley, at Sheppey, Shoeburyness, Foulness, 

 and at the mouths of the Crouch, Blackwater, and Colne, there are considerable 

 tracts of Alluvium. A neck of it separates Thanet from the mainland. Submerged 

 Forests have been noticed on the Essex coast. •> 



A submerged peat-bed at Bawdsey, in Suffolk, has been described by Dr. J. E. 

 Taylor,' who has also drawn attention to peat-beds in the Alluvium of the Orwell 

 valley. The remains of Mammoth found in these recent deposits were no doubt 

 derived. 



Beds of Freshwater marl have been noticed at Soham Mere, also between Little- 

 port and Downham, and at Apethorp, near Stamford.* 



A small tract of Alluvium extends from near Hunstanton to near Weybourn 

 on the coast of Norfolk. Remains of a Submerged Forest have been noticed at 

 Holme Scalp and Brancaster, and at the former locality a polished celt (Neolithic) 

 was found embedded in the trunk of a tree ; '' further east, near Wells, the Alluvial 

 flats are in places flooded by the sea, and are known as Salt Marshes. (See p. 516.) 



At Yarmouth the Alluvial or Estuarine deposits (penetrated in a well-boring) 



^ C. Evans, P. Geol. Assoc, i. 265 ; A. Bott, Ibid. 327 ; J. A. Coombs, Ibid. 

 iii. 33 (Battersea, etc.) ; W. H. Hudleston and F. G. H. Price, Ibid. iii. 43 (New 

 Law Courts) ; Whitaker, Surface-Geology of London, 1867, in Report of Medical 

 Officer of Privy Council for 1866. 



2 W. T. Blanford, Q. J. x. 434. 



^ See T. V. Holmes, P. Geol. Assoc, viii. 392. 



* G. Mag. 1S69, p. 385, Trans. Essex Field Club, 1886. 



^ Geol. Mag. 1866, p. 62 ; see also P. Geol. Assoc, iii. 266. 



6 W. H. Dalton, G. Mag. 1876, p. 491. 



' Geol. Mag. 1882, p. 573 ; Whitaker, Geol. Ipswich, p. 97. 



^ W. J. Hamilton, Q. J. vi. 451 ; P. Geol. Assoc, vi. 213. 



^ Gunn, Geol. Norfolk, 1883, p. 22. 



