Ch. XX.] 



LANDSLIP NEAR AXMOUTH. 



537 



(I) belonging' to the lias, which shelves towards the sea. 



Nuiner 



springs 



issuing 



from the loose sand 



have 



oradually removed portions of it, and thus undermined the 

 superstratum, so as to have caused subsidences at former 

 times, and to have produced a line of undercliff between D 

 d E. In 1839 an excessively wet season had saturated all 



an 



Fig. 



50. 



* 



View of the Axmouth landslip from Great Bindon, looking westward 

 the Sidmouth hills, and estuary of the Exe. From an original 



drawing by Mrs. Buckland. 



to 



the rocks with moisture, so as to increase the weight of the 

 incumbent mass, from which the support had already been 

 withdrawn by the action of springs. Thus the superstrata 

 were precipitated 



them 



adjacent masses of partially undermined rock, to which the 



communicated 



slippery basis of watery sand towards the sea 



These causes 

 morning' of the 



24th of December, with a crashing noise ; and, on the even- 



ing of the 



same day, fissures were seen opening 

 the, walls of tenements rending anc 



<y m 



the 

 sinking, 



until a deep chasm or ravine, B, was formed extending nearly 



