WHITE NAB. 81 



out from beneath. All these strata are cut off, and made to terminate 

 abruptly, by the rapid descent from lied cliff to Cayton mill ; beyond 

 which is an unexpected cliff of calcareous grit, sunk upwards of two 

 hundred feet below its general level, and based on the Oxford clay. No 

 doubt this is owing to some ancient subsidence or sliding of a part of 

 the hill above. Immediately beyond, rises the lower portion of the 

 carbonaceous series, and at the prominent point called Ewe nab ascends 

 so far into the cliff, that the oolitic beds, which were before seen at the 

 island on the north side of Gristhorpe bay, appear above the level of 

 high-water. 



The oolitic beds which here present their huge blocks to the waves, 

 are so very similar to those described near the above-mentioned island, 

 as to need no additional description, further than to notice that the mille- 

 porse are here broken and less plentiful, and shells perhaps not so scarce ; 

 but the carbonaceous beds above them are different. (See the enlarged 

 section.) The reversed series is as follows : 



a. The oolitic limestone filled with fragments of coral, crinoidea, echinida, and shells. 



b. Soft yellow sandstone with ochry balls. 



c. Laminated sandstone. 



d. Block sandstone. 



e. Alternations of sandstone and shale. 

 /. Diluvium. 



These beds bend down towards the north, and the whole series sud- 

 denly disappears, beyond the point of Ewe nab, with indications of a 

 fault. Carbonaceous shale and sandstone, mixed with much diluvium, 

 occupy the low sea cliffs of Carnelian bay, and above are irregular broken 

 slopes of diluvium. These appearances continue to the point of rocks 

 called White nab, where the tide flows round a little island as conspi- 

 cuous as that formed of the same strata at the north point of Gristhorpe 

 bay. 



As at the island, and at Ewe nab, so at White nab, the oolitic beds 

 rise gradually from the south to a moderate height, and again fall gently 



M 



