Tertiary Gravels in Aberdeenshire. 225 
CONCLUSIONS. 
We have now described the gravels of Buchan, and have given 
our reasons for regarding them as relics of Tertiary beds of possible 
Pliocene age. If our contention is correct, the amount of erosion 
since Pliocene time is seen to be very great.t 
These Aberdeenshire deposits appear to rest on some kind of 
platform near the 400 feet contour. This at once recalls the well- 
known Pliocene platform of Cornwall, described by Clement Reid, 
Mr. George Barrow, and others. Further, there is a great likeness 
in position and stratigraphical relations between the Aberdeenshire 
gravels and those from near Berkhamstead, described by Mr. C. T. 
Gilbert and Mr. Barrow.2 It appears likely, then, that in this distant 
corner of N.E. Scotland there are traces of Tertiary features and 
deposits similar to those of Cornwall and Hertfordshire. 
The contents of the Buchan gravels are dominantly quartzite 
in the west and flint in the east parts of the outcrops. With regard 
to the source of the materials, few definite statements can yet be 
made. The quartzite is certainly notderived from any Aberdeenshire 
or Banffshire quartzite. The only rock known to us which is at all 
like it is the Scarabin quartzite in the county of Caithness. The 
confirmation of this suggestion requires a more detailed porolosices 
and field study than we have yet been able to give. 
1 Cf. George Barrow, Proc. Geol. Assoc., vol. xxx, 1919, p. 36 et seq. 
2 Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc., vol. Ixxv, 1919, p. 32. 
VOL. LVIII.—NO. V. 15 
