All JEoliani De2'>osit at Clevcdon. 



419 



The Loams calcareous . 

 ,, ,, ferruginous 

 The Deposits micaceous 

 The Fine Quartz angular 

 Angular Talus of local derivation 

 Fine Matter independent of locality 

 Lack of Stratification . 

 Vertical Cleavage 

 Calcareous Concretions. 

 Capillary Tubes . 

 Distribution dependent on physiography 

 Outline as of Loose Roije, yet asymmetrical 

 Land-shells locally abundant 



„ 4 genera in common . 



„ 2 species ,, 



Vertebrates locally abundant 



„ concentrated about shelters 



„ 8 genera in common • 



,, 6 sj^ecies ,, 



Voles verj' abundant . 

 Sea-birds and marine debris 



— 



There seems now to be general agreement that the Loess is a 

 product of aeolian action in a cold climate ; and the Clevedon 

 drifts, there can be little doubt, were accumulated under similar 

 conditions. The Loess-lands lie along the southern margin of the 

 region of maximum glaciation. The Clevedon drifts are 12 miles 

 from Cardiff, where we find the maximum southern extension of the 

 land-ice of Wales. 



I do not suggest any correlation, especially as Loess is well known 

 to be of more than one age, and to be overlain, locally, by certain 

 glacial accumulations. All that the Clevedon deposits appear to 

 tell us at present is that, at some time during the latter part of the 

 Pleistocene period, Loess conditions extended fronj the Continent 

 into south-western Britain. 



The Contemporary Levels. 

 The drifts run down to the edge of the great Somerset alluvia 

 (Fig. 2) with a slope of 7 degrees, and without any sign of thinning- 

 out, so that, as they are certainly by far the older, they must pass 

 under those alluvia, and must descend considerably below sea-level.^ 

 Thus, as they are exclusively terrestrial, the land must, at the time 

 of their formation, have stood considerably higher than it does 

 to-day. Now, the submarine contours show that, with an elevation 

 of 50 feet, open sea would not approach to within 8 miles ; and that, 

 instead of the 12 mile sea-channel of to-day between Clevedon and 

 South Wales, we should have a mere one mile river-channel. That 

 conditions of this kind prevailed at that time finds some confirmation 

 in the nature of the bird-fauna, for, with the sea as near as it is now, 

 we should expect more than two sea-birds out of twenty-four. On 



1 Unless they were washed away by the sea during the period of the 

 Raised Beach. 



