128 Dr. BucKLAND on the Formation of Valleys hy Elevation, 



Lombardy, that the tertiary strata were limited in their extent to certain hol- 

 low spaces within the area of the chalk, has been proved incorrect by the dis- 

 covery of similar strata very extensively over Europe ; and an excellent account 

 of these further discoveries has been recently given by M. Brongniart in the 

 2d edition of his History of the Environs of Paris. 



They have also been found to occur in the most distant regions of Asia, 

 Africa^ and America; so that these deposits, which were at first considered sim- 

 ply local, are proved to be among the most extensive, as well as the most recent, 

 that have taken place on the globe : and as their general position is certainly, 

 for the most part, in the lowest spaces of the earth's surface, and their exist- 

 ence in mountain-summits but an occasional and rare anomaly, the most sim- 

 ple solution of their appearance in such lofty situations will be found in the 

 hypothesis, that these mountains have been elevated since the period at which 

 the position of the tertiary strata took place. 



1 shall now add a few remarks on the diluvian and post-diluvian deposits that 

 occur within this district. 



The diluvian deposits do not differ materially from the ordinary gravel of the 

 London basin. The thickness and extent of these beds of gravel are very 

 irregular. They consist chiefly of chalk-flints, more or less rolled ; a few 

 rounded pebbles of the Lickie sandstone, and occasional fragments and blocks 

 of the tertiary gray-wether sandstone, being intermixed. Near Newbury 

 they have been occasionally found to contain the remains of the elephant, 

 rhinoceros, ox, stag, horse, &c. 



The post-diluvian formations are limited to the flat meadow district which 

 forms the valley on each side of the Kennet, from Hungerford nearly to Read- 

 ing ; and consist, 1st of peat, and 2dly of marl (here called malm), analogous to 

 the shell-marl which accompanies the peat of many shallow lakes in Scotland 

 and England. The average width of the peat is less than a mile, and its thick- 

 ness varies from 5 to nearly 15 feet. Large quantities of it are dug for fuel, and 

 are also burnt into peat-ashes, which serve as a top-dressing for land. It is 

 much intermixed with minute crystals of selenite and a small quantity of carbo- 

 nate of lime, and abounds with branches and other remains of trees, viz. fir 

 cones, nuts and seeds; and also with the bones and horns of oxen, red deer, roe- 

 bucks, horses, wild boars, and beavers. A human skull of high antiquity has 

 also been found in it at a depth of many feet, at the contact of the peat with a 

 substratum of shell-marl*. It was accompanied by rude instruments of stone, 



* This skull, together with a valuable collection of horns, teeth, and bones from the peat bog.i 

 near Newbury, has, by the kindness of Colonel Page and J. Hempstead, Esq. of Newbury, been 

 presented to the Oxford Museum. 



