﻿158 Thos. Belt — The Glacial Period in Norfolk. 



bed had become partly charged with marine remains, and that thus 

 the broken shells were introduced that are found in some of the 

 Norfolk drift. 



It will be readily seen that this is not a theory specially proposed 

 to account for the phenomena presented in the Norfolk and Suffolk 

 beds, but rather an attempt to show that they are naturally explained 

 by that of the German Ocean glacier, which rests upon other and 

 very strong evidence. I have, during the last twelve months, dis- 

 cussed this question with several geologists acquainted with the 

 district ; and though I cannot say that I have made any converts, I 

 have only met with general objections, such as the unwillingness to 

 admit that there was ever such an accumulation of ice as would fill 

 the bed of the German Ocean ; this feeling seeming to over-ride 

 every evidence of its existence. It will, however, strike many 

 minds, that in a theory so comprehensive as that which I have pro- 

 posed to account for the varied phenomena of the Glacial period, 

 there ought, if it is not the true one, to be many facts that cannot be 

 explained by it. I am unable, either by my own observation or by 

 studying the works of others, to find any ; and I have thought that 

 by presenting clearly my theory in reference to one restricted area, 

 and to one portion only of the Glacial period, I should offer a fair 

 opportunity to those who diff'er from me to bring forward the facts 

 on which they rely. I have therefore confined these remarks to the 

 question of the formation of the Quaternary beds of Norfolk and 

 Suffolk, up to and including that of the Cromer till, but have not 

 here dealt with the lai-ger subjects of the Boulder-clays and Middle 

 Glacial sands and gravels, of which, however, I have treated 

 elsewhere. 



Briefly, my conclusions respecting the beds in question are as 

 follows : — 



1. The Cromer forest grew before the German Ocean had been 

 blocked up to the north by ice. 



2. The fluvio-marine beds, lying above the forest bed and the 

 pebbly sands at the base of the laminated brick-earths, were formed 

 when the northern end of the German Ocean was partly obstructed, 

 so that the water was slightly freshened and a little raised above the 

 present level of the sea. 



3. The laminated brick-earths were deposited when the ice com- 

 pletely blocked up the German Ocean to the north, causing the 

 formation of a lake that drained to the south-west and gradually cut 

 through the Straits of Dover. The water of this lake was fi-esh or 

 but slightly brackish. 



4. The Straits of Dover were cut through, the lake lowered, and 

 the brick-earths denuded, whilst the ice was advancing southward 

 along the bed of the German Ocean. 



5. The ice reached the coast of Norfolk, and crumpled up and 

 shifted the brick-earths that it came in contact with, and in some 

 cases, as on the north coast of Norfolk, where its power was greater, 

 pushed them up and deposited till beneath them, as it did also with 

 great masses of Chalk-marl and Kimmeridge-clay. 



