148 Mr. Prestwich on the Structure of Gamrie, Banffshire. 



period of calm ; for in such a state only could the delicate remains imbedded 

 in them, have been preserved. 



This deposit appears to have been uplifted from the bottom of the sea 

 in which it was formed, by a power not acting uniformly; for a gradual rise is 

 perceptible in it, from the level of the shore at Blackpots, to Gamrie, where 

 its base attains a height of 100 feet; indicating a disturbing power, whose 

 energies increased as it tended eastward. 



These and other phaenomena, on the shores of the Moray Firth, prove that 

 the level of the land has been altered several times, during recent geological 

 periods. Some of these phaBnomena, indicative of an elevation more recent 

 than the one just described, and well exhibited along the coast three miles 

 to the west, and twelve miles to the east of Bantf, I here purpose to notice 

 briefly. At various points along this line, the effects of the last uplifting 

 of the land are unequivocal, and prove a rise of the coast to an extent varying 

 from six to twelve feet. To the west of Banff, at White Hills and Black- 

 pots, may be seen, at the foot of the cliffs, and at about six feet above high- 

 water level, a bed of shingle, which, in some places, contains large quantities 

 of Patella vulgata, P. Itevis, Trochus ziziphinus, T. cinerarius, Littorina 

 littorea, and Turbo retusus, all of which inhabit the adjacent sea. 



This change of level is also well exhibited in the cliffs of old red sandstone 

 in the Bay of Gamrie, where remnants of a raised beach, four feet thick and 

 ten feet above the level of high tide, remain in the indentations and hollows 

 of the rock. This beach consists of flattened pebbles of the adjoining schists, 

 precisely similar to those forming the present beach ; but it contains no shells. 



To this elevation may be ascribed the drainage of the former low lands 

 of the country. Around White Hills* there exist, at a height of about 

 twenty-five feet above high-water level, patches of a drained peat moss. 

 It is composed of thin layers of peat, alternating with two seams of a fine 

 gravel of white quartz grits, containing land and freshwater shells. The 

 thickness of the whole does not usually exceed four feet. The peat is much 

 decayed, and the shells, which are excessively friable, consist almost entirely 

 of the Succinea amphibia and a species of Helix. 



* See Map, PI. X. The full extent of this deposit is not marked on the map. 



