68 Dr. Woolacott — A Raised Beach in Durham. 



conglomerate, and coarse breccia. The gravels are not usually so 

 distinctly bedded, nor do they appear anywhere to contain so many 

 bored rocks and shells as the typical part of the Easington deposit, 

 but that they were formed under the same conditions, and are raised 

 littoral formatioDS, appears clear when the coast between Seaham 

 Harbour and Castle Eden Dene is critically examined. It is 

 important to notice that the top of the level course can be traced 

 along the clifi for a few miles ; this layer marks a period of repose 

 in the movements that raised the beaches. It is a most distinct 

 feature and could only have been so uniformly laid down by marginal 

 deposition. The beds vary considerably, but they always contain 

 the same assemblage of local and foreign rocks, and shell fragments 

 can generally be seen in most exposures when they are examined 

 carefully. The series of sections along this coast is, in my opinion, 



S. ^' 



Fia. 2. — Section along the face of the c]iff at Easington. M.L. Middle 

 Magnesian Limestone, the eastern equivalents of the Reef. B.C. Main 

 boulder clay with Tweed-Cheviot and Lake District boulders. R.B. 

 Raised Beach resting on rock platform. P. The bedding is most distinct 

 at (but not confined to) the north end, and the platform is less clearly 

 defined when the deposit passes on to clay. S. Deposits of soft shelly 

 sand, brown reasserted boulder clay (Common Clay) rainwash and soil. 

 E. Position of Easington section (Fig. 3). The photographs, Figs. 1 and 

 2, are also of the cliff at this point. 



that which might be expected under the conditions in which a late 

 Pleistocene beach would be formed, and afterwards upraised. 

 It has been suggested that, although the deposit at Easington is 

 undoubtedly a beach, yet the course of cemented gravels on the same 

 level may be of Fluvio-glacial origin ; but the mode of occurrence 

 of these beds is unlike that of material of this type of deposition, 

 which has a tendency to occur in mounds, swellings, and irregular 

 beds, and not in extensive regular courses, except where it has been 

 washed into a lake or the sea. It is also impossible to draw any 

 line between what is undoubtedly a beach and that which is con- 

 jectured to be Fluvio-glacial. Another point of interest is that in 

 deciding that a deposit is an uplifted littoral formation, we insist 



