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.T H 



THE LANDSLIP, LYME REGIS. 185 



account for the comparatively quiet settling 

 down of the more compact upper strata.* 

 Similar subsidences are not uncommon else- 

 where along the coast, where the greensand 

 is washed out at points where the water 

 escapes. In 1825 part of the road between 



? Charmouth and Lyme Regis sank thus from 

 8 to 20 feet. Similar settlements not far 

 from the same spot are quite recent, and 



j others are threatening. 



But the above explanation does not 



| adequately account for all the facts. It 



assumes that the changes took place on the 

 top of the beds of clay, and Mr. Jukes- 

 Browne finds that a diagram drawn to scale 

 proves that this was not the case, for the 

 depth of the chasm would then have been 

 much less than it is. His diagram, there- 

 fore, indicates that these beds of clay 

 partook in the general disturbance. The 

 cliff must have parted from top to bottom 

 nearly down to sea-level, and what is termed 

 ths "launch way" must have been prepared 

 not only in the sand but also in the underly- 

 ing clay. No doubt this would be due to 

 the enormous pressure of the superincum- 

 bent mass. 



The last feature that requires explanation 

 is the elevation of the beach and of a ridge 

 in the sea. Mr. Roberts describes the 



* The fields that slipped and sank had been sown 

 with wheat in the autumn of 1839, and the movements 

 that took place, though so extensive, were so gentle 

 that the surface soil was little disturbed, and in August, 

 1840, a crop of wheat was reaped in most extraordinary 

 situations, even on the tops of pinnacles, which were 

 accessible only with the aid of ropes and ladders. 



