g6 A RECENT LANDSLIP ON JORDAN CLIFF. 



earth and rubble, which must have slipped down in the last few 

 days, as the sea has not yet affected them. 



When the support of this solid stratum is removed, all the 

 overlying beds vertically above it and for some feet inland must 

 come down with it, and would very soon be washed away, leaving 

 a nearly perpendicular cliff. The top of this cliff is the lowest 

 of a series of terraces rising in succession to the last formed one 

 near the summit of the hill. So much for the action of the sea. 

 This is the present state of about 200 yards of the cliff to the 

 west of the May landslip. 



It will be observed, as in the case of the May slip, that the 

 terraces formed by these landslips have almost always the outer 

 edge higher than the inner one, the cause of this tilting being 

 that the mass of land forming the slip breaks off and slides at 

 first vertically and then along a slope, as shown in the diagram, 

 by which means its upper surface is tilted and slopes down 

 towards the land. This is counterbalanced in slip No. 9 on the 

 diagram (which is not the May slip, but a corresponding one 

 further east), by the quantity of rubble which has afterwards in 

 this case, fallen from the cliff above and made the surface more 

 horizontal. It will be noticed that the rain stands in these tilted 

 terraces, sometimes forming small ponds. This slowly niters 

 down some crack, and may often be seen coming out in a tiny 

 stream in the face of the cliff below. It is clear that, other 

 circumstances being favourable, it will form a slippery subter- 

 ranean surface, down which the mass of ground immediately 

 over it will have a tendency to slide, especially after very heavy 

 rains. A good instance of this may be seen at a spot about 

 250 yards east of the Jordan, where there is a slight indentation 

 in the cliff caused by a recent slip of the rubbly beds. At a 

 short distance above the beach is a hole, out of which a small 

 stream trickles, making all the bank below it wet and sticky, 

 whilst the part above is dry. Before the bank slipped and 

 formed this indentation, this little stream must have had a lower 

 outlet and produced the slippery surface underneath the now 

 fallen piece, along which it slid down. This is an instance of 



