68 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



encroachment of the sea, is evident from the incidental notice of 

 Camden. " In this isle remaineth the dead carcase only as it were 



Fig. 6. — Section at Pagham Creek. 



High-water-level. 



► 18 feet. 



Low- water-level. 



1. Estuary-mud, with a strong band of sliells(*). 



2. Stools of trees with their roots in situ ; a. Platform with roots and trees. 



3. Ochreous and blue mud, with shingle and shells. 



4. Gravel and sand with marine shells. 



5. Ferruginous gravel. 



6. Lower Tertiary sands and clays, with a band of mud-pebbles at+. 



of that ancient little city (Selsey), hidden quite with water at every 

 tide, but at low water evident and plainly to be seen." 



The only place at which a good section of the estuary-beds of 

 South Sussex is to be seen is at low water on the east of Pagham 

 Creek, and is as follows (see fig. 6) : — (No. 1) a deposit of estuary- 

 mud, which thins away east and west, resting on muddy shingle and 

 subangular gravel (No. 3), which, though of small thickness, is di- 

 vided into two bands, the upper being bright-yellow, the lower blue ; 

 together they are not more than a foot in thickness, and it is difficult 

 to say whether the trees (No. 2), the stems of which are seen sur- 

 rounded by the gravel, grew where the gravel-bed formed the highest 

 stratum, or whether it has been accumulated round them ; that they 

 were rooted in the subjacent clayey gravel is shown over a large 

 extent of denuded surface (fig. 6, a) at this place. 



Beneath No. 3 is a deposit of clayey and sandy shingle, containing 

 sea-shells and from 3 to 4 feet thick (No. 4) ; No. 5 indicates patches 

 of the old glacial gravel, resting on older tertiary sands and clays. 



The whole of this section is about midway between extreme tide- 

 levels, so that there must have been several oscillations of level here 

 subsequently to the brickearth-deposit. 



1st. The main beds (No. 4) must have been raised into a sub- 

 aerial surface, which (2ndly) must have been depressed to receive the 

 covering of estuary-silt (No. 1). 



It would thus seem, that, whilst the coast-line of Hants and Sussex 

 has been undergoing the process of recent elevation, the opposite one 

 of the Isle of Wight has experienced depression. And also that the 

 estuary deposits from Portsmouth eastwards, as far as Lewes, show 

 a like series of oscillations throughout. 



There is a great deal of authentic evidence as to the extensive 



