62 A SECTION OF THE CLIFFS NEAR NEWBIGGIN 



strata exposed show the following sequence : — 



Boulder Clay : the characteristic stiff brown un- 



stratified clay with boulders ... ... ... 2 feet. 



Sandstone : very much crushed and broken ... 10 „ 

 Blue Shale : a fissile blue shale, containing 

 bands of ironstone and distorted remains of 

 Anthracosia ... ... ... ... ... 8 „ 



Coal Seam ... ... ... ... ... ... 2 „ 



Underclay : this is not visible in the section immediately 

 in contact with the gravel bed, but it is a few yards 

 away. It exhibits the usual development and con- 

 tains nodules of ironstone and the fossil Stigmaria. 

 Sandstone forming the present sea-platform. 



In the section of the ancient sea-cliff the base recedes faster 

 than the upper portion, the concavity being filled with gravel. 



The elevated platform upon which the gravel deposit rests 

 is of Coal Measure sandstone, sloping towards the cliff at an 

 angle of 5 , irregularly eroded, much of it owing its preserva- 

 tion to the tenacity of the overlying deposit, which in many 

 places is supported by columns and buttresses of sandstone, 

 so that the base of the gravel-bed may be examined for a 

 distance of three or four feet backward from the cliff-front. 

 A portion of the soft underclay, which would originally 

 entirely cover the sandstone, remains, forming a matrix in 

 which are embedded small rounded and water-worn pebbles. 

 A small fragment of the coal-seam has resisted denudation, 

 and is shown in the section. The platform forms one-half of 

 an anticlinal fold. 



Where the deposit abuts against the cliff, the gravel bed is 

 almost entirely arenaceous and formed of material for the 

 greater part but little water-worn. Flat slabs of rock similar 

 to the detritus at the base of " Hawk's Cliff," crushed and 

 broken fragments of micaceous sandstone and coarse sand 

 covered by well rounded boulders, constitute the greater part 

 of this section of the deposit. Occasional quartz pebbles, 

 very small and well rounded, appear. 



