206 [Proc. B. N. F. C, 



V. — CONCLUSIONS OF THE COMMITTEE. 



The Curran Gravels form a stratified deposit extending over 

 a considerable area, and possessing at each point the same 

 characters. They consist of beds of gravel and sand 

 which rest unconformably on one another, the whole series 

 resting on the Estuarine Clay, which in turn rests on the 

 Boulder Clay. In places where the surface of the Boulder Clay 

 has had a greater elevation during the Estuarine Clay period, 

 the latter has not been deposited, and the gravels lie directly 

 on the former. The gravels were probably thrown down by 

 powerful currents as a bar across the entrance of Larne Lough ; 

 the shells which they contain lived on the spot where they are now 

 found. The character of the fauna in the whole depth of strata, 

 and its similarity throughout, point to the conclusion that no 

 marked climatic changes occurred during the period of deposi- 

 tion, the temperature of the sea being about the same as at 

 present. There is no trace of ice action in any of the beds ex- 

 amined, and the character of the fauna of even the lowest bed 

 of the series shows that it was deposited subsequent to any 

 glacial period. The worked flints which the gravels contain 

 consist almost entirely of rude flakes, and occur chiefly on the 

 surface of the deposit. They decrease rapidly in quantity 

 through the upper bed of gravel, and are nearly absent from 

 the sandy layers ; and in the lower gravel they occur sparingly 

 throughout the bed down to a depth of 20 feet below the 

 surface, where the Estuarine Clay series begins. 



