50 



G. H. Kinahan — Origin of the Fleet. 



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currents of tlie water in the bay with the outside current. If, 

 therefore, the land is raised a few feet, bars would be already- 

 formed with their accompanying lagoons; and the latter subse- 

 quently would fill up or be otherwise modified by the weathering 

 of the marginal cliffs and by matter carried into them by land 

 drainage, the growth of peat, etc., till eventually the bottoms of 

 many would be raised so high that they could be drained and 

 reclaimed. 



Thus have been formed on 

 the coast of Ireland the lagoons, 

 marshes, and reclaimed lands 

 situated N.W. of WicklowHead; 

 the mudlands of Wexford Estu- 

 ary, N.W. of Greener e Point; 

 the lagoons called Ladys-island 

 and Tacumshin Lakes, west of 

 Carnsore Point ; the lagoon 

 called Ballytiege Lough, N.W. 

 of Crossfaraoge Point; the muds 

 and sands of Bannon Bay, 

 N.N.E. of Baginbun Head ; the 

 lagoon called the Backstrand at 

 Tramore, N.E. of Newton Head ; 

 and many similarly situated 

 lagoons and salt marshes on 

 other portions of the Irish coast. 

 Therefore it seems probable that 

 the Fleet in Dorsetshire and all 

 the marshes and low lands that 

 are now reclaimed, from Port- 

 land Island to Dover, along the 

 south coast of England, were 

 formed similarly. 



When the south coast of Eng- 

 land was a little lower than at 

 present, there were shoals run- 

 ning obliquely from the Island 

 of Portland ; these when the 

 land rose became a bank in- 

 closing a lagoon; and as long 

 as the lagoon exists, so must Chesil Bank, as the waters of the Fleet 

 keep the bank from travelling inwards. Meteoric action, instead of 

 forming the Fleet, probably filled it up more or less, as it must 

 have formed slopes of the old marginal cliffs, while the streams must 

 have deposited matter in it, and peat-producing plants are gradually 

 heightening the marshy shallows. 



[See article " On the Formation of the Chesil Bank, Dorset," by Messrs. H. W. 

 Bristow, F.R.S., and William Whitaker, B.A. (Lond.), Geol. Mag. 1869, Vol. VI. 

 p. 433, PI. XIV. and XV., and p. 325, Noticed by Col. Geo. Greenwood, p. 523, and 

 by the Authors at p. 574. Eeferred to by Mr. Mansel-Pleydell in Geol. Mag. I873j , 

 Vol. X. p. 445.-EDIT. Geol. Mag.] 



Sketch Map of the Bay and Shoals between 

 Cahore and Greenore Points, Co. Wexford. 



