456 MB. E. M. DEELEY ON THE PLEISTOCENE 



A much greater lapse of time is indicated by the unconformity at 

 Oadby ; for here both the Melton Sand and the Middle Pennine 

 Boulder-clay are absent, the Chalky Clay resting upon a highly 

 contorted surface of the Quartzose Sand. 



At Wigston the Chalky Clay has also been thrust upon Quartzose 

 Sand, while at Aylestone it has been forced over the Middle Pennine 

 Boulder-clay as well, contorting and ploughing up both deposits.* A 

 similar explanation is perhaps applicable to the sand and Boulder- 

 clay met with at the northern entrance of the Stanton tunnel, on the 

 Nottingham and Melton Line. 



In the great majority of cases the Chalky Clay rests directly upon 

 a highly disturbed surface of older rock. 



As it is in the neighbourhood of Melton Mowbray that the deposit 

 is typically developed, I have called these sands, gravels, and loams, 

 the Melton Sand. They are interstratified with the sedimentary 

 Boulder-clay forming the base of the Chalky Clay. Indeed, as I have 

 said before, there is no break in the Middle Pleistocene epoch 

 indicating lapse of time, the divisions into stages being made for 

 convenience of treatment, and to emphasize the fact that the ice of 

 the Chalky-Clay stage advanced over a submerged area in this part 

 of Britain. 



At Melton Mowbray, in the brick-yards on the north side of the 

 town, were to be seen interstratified beds of sand and brick-earth, 

 containing flint, chalk, Oolitic limestone, &c. According to Professor 

 Judd, the brick-earth and sand is " overlaid by ordinary Boulder- 

 clay, which here attains a thickness, as proved by well-sections and 

 borings, of not less than 200 feet." I did not in this case see the 

 Chalky Clay resting upon the Melton Sand, but there seems to me ta 

 be little doubt as to the correctness of Professor Judd's statement. 

 When I visited the Melton sections, the more southerly of the two 

 was almost wholly excavated in these stratified beds. At the bottom 

 is a dark silty clay with pebbles ; it breaks u]3 into small angular 

 fragments, and contains Triassic, Carboniferous, Jurassic, and 

 Cretaceous rocks in abundance. Besting upon this pebbly brick- 

 earth comes a bed of light-coloured sand, almost free from pebbles, 

 but rather coarse in places. The whole is highly contorted. These 

 contortions and the deposits they affect are of different age from those 

 beds of disturbed flinty gravel which formed the upper 7 or 8 feet 

 of the section. The lower sand and clay were exposed to a depth 

 of about 15 feet. 



In a clay-pit a little further to the north may be seen the same 

 sedimentary Boulder-clay. 



Still further south, at Asfordby, the light yellow or grey sand is 

 15 feet thick. It contains dark seams, and pebbles of flint, hard 

 chalk, Oolitic and Lias limestone, &c. It shows signs of great 

 disturbance, and appears to be covered by brownish Chalky Clay. 



A similar deposit was seen at Grimston in a temporary excavation ; 

 it is here within 30 feet of the present "Wold top, indicating a very 

 considerable submergence. 



South of the river Eye, at Eye Kettleby, stratified sand, about 8 feet 



