44 THE ORIGIN THERE OF THE "HEAD" AND LOESS 



rivers and the small size of the drainage areas, 

 it is impossible to ascribe the Loess to river 

 inundations ; nor, in the absence of any ground 

 higher than that of the plateaux, can it be ascribed to 

 rain-wash. Neither, as the islands were clearly 

 isolated at the time, can it be connected with any 

 Continental glacial flood. On the other hand, the 

 hypothesis of a Submergence perfectly meets all the 

 conditions. A beach was first formed round the 

 islands during the Quaternary period, and when the 

 land stood eight to twenty feet lower than at present. 

 The submergence then followed when the turbid 

 waters deposited on the weathered land surface, the 

 fine sediment constituting the Loess. 



As the land rose again divergent currents shot 

 down on all sides (Fig. 5), carrying before them the 



FIG. 5. Diagram-section across a Channel Island (Guernsey and Jersey). 

 Raised i_ oea3 Rubble 



Granitic and Slaty Rocks 

 The arrows show the direction of the effluent currents. 



more exposed portions of the Loess together with frag- 

 ments of the underlying and disintegrating rocks, and 

 precipitating this mass of local rubble over the cliffs on 

 to the old beach below. That the propelling force was 

 at times considerable, is shown by the distance seaward 

 to which this angular rubble at the islet of La Motte, 

 on the south coast of Jersey, has been carried from 

 the inland hills (Phil. Trans, for 1893, p. 917). 



