252 Professor E. A. Daly— 



and skerries. " This beach must be more or less familiar to every one 

 who has visited almost any part of the coast-line of Scotland."^ 



Many memoirs of the Geological Survey of Scotland bear references 

 to this beach, which is described as seen "at frequent intervals", 

 or as " conspicuous " or as the " best developed ". In the Clyde area, 

 the Loch Fyne area, Skye, and elsewhere, its fossil shells are those 

 of species now living in Scottish waters. Clough writes : " With 

 regard to the age of the 25-foot beach, the consensus of opinion 

 seems to be that the elevation of the beach was completed in 

 Neolithic times." ^ 



In Jamieson's early account of the strand he states that a rise 

 of 25 or 30 feet (above Ordnance datum ?) is indicated, and that it 

 " seems to have been very general along the shores of this country ". 

 He concluded that the uj)]ift was unequal ; " consequently it is 

 the land that has risen, and not the sea that has sunk."^ Fifty years 

 later Wright published a sketch-map of the " 25-foot beach ", showing 

 a maximum height (above Ordnance datum ?) of over 35 feet near 

 Loch Linnhe, in Western Scotland, from which point the elevation 

 declines — to reach zero on the south-east and north-west shores of 

 Ireland, in northern Wales, and in the North Sea.^ Wright's placing 

 of this strand-line does not altogether agree with the descriptions 

 published by A. Geikie, Kinahan, Hull, and others, but would 

 indicate late Neolithic warping. 



According to Kinahan, " the 25-feet sea beach all around Ireland 

 rises and falls very similarly to the levels of the present sea-margin," 

 though he adheres to the uplift hypothesis as the only one to be 

 considered in explanation. The old level is marked by cliffs, stacks, 

 sea-caves, and beaches ; on open seaboards they have been largely 

 destroyed by waves breaking at present sea-level. From Wicklow, 

 southward, the strand is at about the 22 ft. contour. North of 

 Dublin Bay it is below the 20 ft. contour. In the old estuaries 

 it has been placed nearly on the 25 ft. contour, perhaps illustrating 

 the influence of the tides in causing different initial levels. Human 

 relics and shells of species now living in the Atlantic have been 

 found in the Irish beaches also. 



Hull described the " 25-feet terrace " as the most striking and 

 continuous of all the " raised " beaches of Ireland, and correlates 

 it with the 25 ft. strand in Scotland. However, he gives the average 

 elevation of the Irish beaches as 15 feet.^ The contrast in elevations 



1 A. Geikie, The Scenery of Scotland, 2nd ed., London 1887, pp. .381-2. 



- C. T. Clough The Geology of the Glasgow District (Mem. Geol. Surv, 

 Scotland), 1911^ p. 192. 



■^ T. F. Jamieson, Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc, vol. xxi, 1865, pp. 188-90. 



■* W. B. Wright, The Quaternary Ice Age, London, 1914, p. 422. According 

 to a personal communication from Mr. Wright (November, 1919) the zero 

 isobase should be drawn considerably farther south in Ireland and Wales. 



® G. H. Kinahan, Manual of the Geology of Ireland, London, 1878, pp. 251-8 ; 

 E. Hull, The Physical Geology and Geography of Ireland, 2nd ed., London, 1891, 

 p. 137. 



