308 D. Woolacott— Exposure of Sands and Gravels 



been removed in the course of quarrying operations, and no collec- 

 tion of shells has been preserved in any museum ; it is therefore of 

 interest that a deposit has lately been observed which can be 

 examined at any time by geologists, and from which specimens of 

 shells can easily be obtained. It is also of importance that the 

 exact mode of origin of these particular deposits should be 

 determined. 



The exposure here noticed occurs in the cliiT on the south-east 

 flank of Beacon Hill, about half a mile north of Easington station, 

 which is on the N.E.R. coast line midway between Sunderland 

 and Hartlepool. It can be examined in a steep footpath (the top 

 of which is marked by a stile) leading down to the shore at 

 this point. The deposit occurs at an elevation of about 60 feet, 

 and consists of horizontally and regularly bedded sands and gravels 

 which rest on a level shelf of Magnesian Limestone, and which are 

 distinctly traceable for a considerable distance to the north and 

 south. The gravels can be seen in the railway cutting behind for 

 at least 30 feet above the level of the shelf. The pebbles consist 

 mainly of water-worn fragments of Magnesian Limestone, but 

 others of quartz, sandstone, quartzite, rhyolite (Lake District), and 

 Cheviot porphyrite occur. It is, therefore, late Glacial or post- 

 Glacial in origin. 



Many of the pebbles are bored by annelids {Polydora) and others 

 by Saxicava. In the case of the latter some of the shells are still 

 in their holes. The sands and gravels are full of large and small, 

 whole and broken shells, some of which are in an excellent state of 

 preservation. The species include Littorina littorea, L. obtusata, 

 Patella vulgaris, Purpura lapillus, Mytilus edulis, Cy])rina islandica, 

 Saxicava, Pecten. Several foraminifera have been proved to occur 

 in the sand. In one part of the deposit some Helix are cemented in, 

 and Dr. Trechmann informs me that in the conglomerate a little 

 further south many rodents' bones occur. 



This deposit is of special interest as it is undoubtedly of the same 

 origin as other sands and gravels which occur 12 miles to the north 

 in Durham (their connexion can, indeed, be traced), and which 

 can be proved up to 150 feet above sea-level. Howse described 

 some caves at Marsden at this height in 1879, which he said were 

 sea-caves, and associated the sands and gravels on these hills with 

 their formation,^ Kirkby noticed sands and gravels at Fulwell resting 



at 150 feet. Trechmann has collected broken fragments of Mactra, Turritella, 

 and Cyprina islandica from the Sheraton Kaims, which are about 4 miles 

 inland at an elevation of 400 feet, and I have collected shell-fragments from 

 the spreads of sand and gravel at Salton Piercy, near Hartlepool. It is, 

 however, important to disconnect clearly the shell-bearing deposits which 

 are found lying along the Durham coast up to 150 feet from the shell-bearing 

 gravels and sands of the Kaims, and the spreads of sand and gravel which are 

 associated with them. 



' "Old Sea-caves and Sea-beach at Whitburn": Nat. Hist. Trans. 

 Northumberland, Durham, and Newcastle, vol. vii, 1880, p. 361. 



