8 TOPOGRAPHY OF BLAKENEY POINT. 



develops will shelter the preceding hook from wave buffeting and 

 tidal scour. 



When the whole construction of the Spit is considered in 

 relation to contemporary events, it becomes evident that growth 

 has taken place from East to West by the superposition of a 

 series of segments each of which has acquired, sooner or later, 

 a landward hook. Though information is still required for the 

 formulation of the precise conditions determining direct advance 

 and deflection of the apex, respectively, there is no reason to 

 doubt the periodic recurrence of these phases. 



The relations in space of these successive segments are 

 given diagrammatically in Fig. 2, where every fifth segment is 

 labelled with a number the most easterly of the Marams 

 series being No. 1. Each segment possesses a proximal and a 

 distal portion ; the former, in alignment with the proximal 

 parts of other segments, remains mobile ; the latter, as a hook, 

 becomes stabilised. In some instances there is evidence that 

 complete segments or portions of segments have either become 

 masked by overlying sand or have been actually eroded away ; 

 in these cases they are represented in the diagram by dotted 

 lines. 



To recapitulate the history of the Blakeney s*pit : There was 

 an earlier phase during which it grew unbranched, and a later 

 phase during which repeated hooks or lateral banks were 

 formed. These two phases are represented by the straight run 

 from Weybourne to the beginning of the Marams (five miles), 

 and by the highly complex distal part stretching from the 

 beginning of the Marams to the tip of the Headland, respectively. 

 That the production of laterals should be characteristic of the 

 later phase of growth is just what might be expected and needs 

 no discussion here 4 ; that these laterals should occur in clusters 

 separated by non-lateral-bearing intervals depends probably on 

 an aggregate of factors which includes the supply of materials, 

 the incidence of storms, and perhaps the rate at which the 

 estuary behind silted up. Of one phenomenon w r e have direct 



4 Cf. F. W. Oliver, "The Shingle Beach as a Plant Habitat," New Phytol., 1912, p. 81. 



