232 GEOLOGY OF THE ISLE OF WIGHT 



red mottled Wealden clay, contained numerous shells of nuts, 

 and the remains of beetles mixed with matted fragments of the 

 twigs and branches of trees. The latter, which were sometimes 

 coated with phosphate of iron, retained their original shapes and 

 general appeai'ance, and were saturated with water, which on 

 evaporation left a light shrivelled substance behind. The largest 

 fragments did not exceed two or three inches in diameter. 



In more recent years a causeway has been made on the north 

 side of the chine, and in the approach to it the following beds have 

 been cut through : — 



Brick earth, a reddish loam - - - - 



Grey silt, with much soft and blackened wood and bark, and 

 black, brittle nvit- shells .... 



Hard cemented gravel . . . - 



Dark earth, with much wood, as above 



Gravel ...... 



Vegetable layer, not continuous ... 

 Gravel ...... 



Wealden Clay ..... 



On the opposite side of the cutting a still more recent alluvial 

 peat and rootlet bed, about 18 inches thick, lies above the brick- 

 earth of this section, probably the black peaty clay seen in 1856. 



On the west side of Brook Chine also there occurs a peaty layer 

 in gravels of the same age as those at Shippard's Chine, and pro- 

 bably once continuous with them, as previously mentioned. A 

 large tree trunk is to be seen sticking out of the bed in an 

 inaccessible position near the top of the clifi". 



It has already been explained that the gravels in which these 

 vegetable remains occur are later than the Valley Gravels of 

 Group III., which cap the neighbouring cliffs. The newer series 

 was no doubt made up from the washing of the older, and it is 

 difficult to draw a hard line dividing the gravels of the two ages. 

 The later or "hazel-nut gravels" clearly form part of the alluvial 

 deposit which commences near Chilton Chine (p. 230). 



The stream, which has cut out the great ravine known as 

 Grange Chine, is fed by the two powerful springs of Bottlehole 

 Well and Shorwell. The alluvial fiat of the former consists of 

 peat where the stream runs over the Low^er Greensand, that of 

 Shorwell of silt, sand, and fine gravel. The chine begins where 

 the two streams join at Brixton, and has been of course cut 

 through the Alluvial Deposits deep into the variegated beds of 

 the Wealden series. 



The water, which enters the sea by way of Shepherd's Chine 

 (Cowleaze Chine on the former edition of the one-inch map), is 

 principally derived from springs issuing at the foot of the 

 escarpment which we described on p. 44 as running past Pyle 

 and Kingston. The springs being highly charged with iron, 

 the alluvial flat at Atherfield contains much ochre ; the broad 

 flat west of Corve is peaty. The stream meanders through 



