SCARBOROUGH CLIFF. 83 



It is very interesting to observe, in this walk along the south sands 

 of Scarborough, between White nab and the spaw, the peculiar appear- 

 ances of the carbonaceous sandstone. The frequent and remarkable cur- 

 vatures of the beds, the unequal intermixture of shale among them, and 

 the dispersion of carbonaceous fragments through the mass, leaves no 

 doubt of the agitation of the water which left this curious deposit. The 

 accumulation of diluvial matter increases continually northward, from 

 the high point of Kelloways rock opposite Wlieatcrofts, and it occupies 

 the whole cliff from the spaw to the bridge. It is, in general, clay filled 

 with pebbles of all kinds and magnitudes ; the largest masses are either 

 Shap fell granite, mountain limestone, or basalt. Among the most 

 abundant are porphyries ; of which some belong, I think, to the Cum- 

 berland mountains, others may, perhaps, be referred to Scotland. The 

 agates which have been transported along with trap rocks from Scotland, 

 or the north of Europe, are comparatively rare. In a few places the 

 diluvial matter swept from some particular line of country, seems to be 

 exclusively aggregated together. This is well seen behind the spaw, 

 where the gravel consists almost entirely of fragmented lias and moor- 

 land sandstones. Here lie many ammonites, pectines, gryphsea?, &e. 

 characteristic of the lias formation. 



In cutting the cliff above the terrace walk at Scarborough, a seeming 

 dislocation in the diluvium has been exposed. If the appearances may 

 be trusted, two layers of wet sand have been depressed several feet on 

 the northern side. But the depression being unequal in the two layers, 

 and the seeming dislocation not extending into the gravel beneath, are 

 circumstances never observed in a determinate dislocation of strata. The 

 cliff over the spaw varies from one hundred and fifty-one to one hundred 

 and seventy-one feet in height above high-water. 



That part of Scarborough emphatically called the Cliff, is from ninety 

 to one hundred and ten feet above high-water ; from hence the slope 

 grows continually flatter to Elands cliff, and beyond this point the whole 

 shore is occupied by streets as far as the commencement of the outer 

 pier. Here the steeps of the castle-hill rise suddenly from the water, 



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