HORNSEA. 65 



Hornsea mere is one of the few sheets of water now remaining in Hol- 

 derness, of the many which once existed there. When, if ever in 

 future ages, the wasting action of the sea shall have extended inland 

 so far as to reach and empty this lake, its bed, partly uncovered at low- 

 water, will resemble the bottoms of Owthorne and Sandley meres. 



The clay cliffs near Hornsea contain chalk and flint, with Belemnites 

 mucronatus, and Listeri ; ammonites and other fossils from the lias of 

 Whitby ; magnesian limestone from near Sunderland ; coal, sandstone, 

 and mountain limestone, from the west of Yorkshire ; old red conglo- 

 merate, greywacke, sienite with magnetic iron ore, quartz, septariate 

 ironstone, &c. Teeth of the antediluvian elephant likewise occur on the 

 shore, derived from some fallen cliff. 



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North of Hornsea gap, where a little gully divides the cliff, which 

 is about fifteen feet high, we observe a small lacustrine deposit, thirty 

 yards long, consisting of the following series, beginning at the surface ; 



Lacustrine deposit. Brown clay and soil. Peaty earth. Brownish marl. White 

 marl, and shells, and plant roots. Beneath is gravel, resting on pebbly clay. 



At a short distance beyond this place, (marked I. in the section,) the 

 cliff is twenty feet high, and exhibits frequent alternations of gravel and 

 clay, in a more regular order than is usually observed. Beginning at the 

 surface, we have ; 



1 Yellow and white small gravel of chalk and flint. 



2 Brown clay, with very small fragments of chalk, flint, .lias, magnesian lime, 



porphyry, &c. 



3 As No. 1. 



4? Layers of bony sand. 



5 As No. 3, and 1. 



6 As No. 2. 



7 As Nos. 5, 3, and 1. 



8 The general base of the cliff is blue clay and pebbles. 



K 



