GEOLOGY OF BRITAIN 131 



Britain to Denmark, Holland, and Belgium, and 

 would present two platforms, 1 of which the more 

 southerly would stretch from what are now the Straits 

 of Dover northward to the northern edge of the 

 Dogger Bank, where a steep declivity, doubtless a pro- 

 longation of the Jurassic and Cretaceous escarpments 

 of Yorkshire, descends to the northern or lower plat- 

 form. This submarine escarpment is trenched towards 

 the west by a magnificent valley through which the 

 united waters of the Rhine and Thames would flow, 

 between the Dogger Bank and the Yorkshire cliffs. 

 Another gap further east would allow the combined 

 Elbe and Weser to escape into the northern plain. 

 Possibly all these rivers would unite on that plain, 

 but, in any case, they would fall into a noble fjord 

 which would then be revealed following the trend of 

 the southern coast line of Norway. Altogether an area 

 more than thrice that of Britain would be added to 

 Europe. By a total rise of 1 800 feet, Britain would 

 be united to the Faroe Islands and Iceland ; while the 

 Arctic and Atlantic Oceans would be separated. 



GEOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF BRITAIN. 



From its position on the oceanic border of a con- 

 tinent, Britain has been exposed to a great variety of 

 geological change. In such a position marine erosion 

 and deposit are most active. A slight upheaval or 

 depression, which would have no sensible effect in the 

 interior of a continent, makes all the difference between 

 land and water on the coast-line. Moreover, there 

 appears to be a tendency to special disturbance along 

 1 See postea p. i 54. 



