the Neighbourhood of Gamrie, Banffshire. 147 



so extremely friable, at their first exposure, that it was very difficult to procure perfect ones. The 

 following section exhibits their situation. 



1 . Soil and grey clay. 



2. Yellow loam 6 inches. 



3. Gravel in ochreous clay 8 



4. Dark grey clay, very tough 6 



5. Dark brown do. do. 4 



6. Fine sand, with irregular patches of bleached 



shells, and occasionally gravel. 



About fifty yards distant, the following somewhat similar section is displayed. 



1. Loam, striped grey and yellow 2 feet. 



2. Gravel in ochreous clay (same as 3 of last section) 2^ 



3. Dark clay 2 



4. Sand 



- The shells, which are all recent, may be traced at intervals, and upon the same level around the 

 hill. They consist of A starte Scotica, Tellina tenuis, T. Donax, Buccinum undatum, Natica glau- 

 cina ? Fusus turricola, Dentalium Dentalis. 



The sands and clays vary considerably in thickness, and are accompanied by thin, subordinate 

 beds of gravel, the lowermost of which reposes immediately upon the old red sandstone, and con- 

 sists almost entirely of slightly rolled angular fragments of argillaceous slates with a few quartz 

 pebbles. A second bed lies above the shells, and the pebbles are more rounded, and have been 

 derived from a greater variety of the older deposits. A third, which occurs in the uppermost 

 stratum of sand, is similar to the second. There are, besides these, a few small irregular layers in 

 the upper sands. The most persistent of these beds is the lowest, which varies in thickness 

 from four to thirty feet, and almost invariably accompanies the deposit ; whereas the others are 

 frequently wanting. 



Flints (apparently chalk) are common on the beach, and it is probable that they were derived 

 from some of the upper beds of gravel of this drift ; for Mr. Christie of Banff informed me, that he 

 had found them in the gravel on the top of McDuff Hill, and they have been met with also in the 

 interior of the country. 



From the above details it appears, that the series of sand and clays, was 

 partly derived from the destruction and transport of the lias and lias marl. 

 It is also evident that the disturbing power was of long continuance and of 

 varying intensity. The rolled fragments, which generally underlie the trans- 

 ported, lias clay, indicate periods of paroxysms, when the waters, breaking 

 and tearing up the lias and older rocks, bore them from their original to 

 their present position ; rolling and rounding, in their course, the harder frag- 

 ments, and holding in suspension the finer clay, which, upon the cessation of 

 the more violent action, subsided according to gravity, and thus formed 

 a layer of fine clay resting upon a bed of gravel. The sands indicate a 



