14 MR. T. P. JAMIESON ON THE [Feb. I906, 



Aberdeenshire is the lied Clay which occurs along the eastern coast 

 of that county. Some account of it will be found in vo]. xxxviii 

 of this Journal (1882) p. 160, where I endeavoured to show that 

 it had been formed during a time when there was a flow of ice 

 along the coast from south to north, caused apparently by the 

 approach of the Scandinavian Glacier, which had the effect of blocking 

 the natural outlet of the Scottish ice to the east, and compelling it 

 to turn along the coast nearly at right-angles to its natural course. 

 This northward flow brought with it red sediment and multitudes 

 of stones from the sandstone-rocks and associated volcanic beds of 

 Forfar and Kincardine. A subsequent visit to that district enabled 

 me to ascertain that the mineral character of the volcanic fragments 

 which occur in this Aberdeenshire Clay, is identical with that of 

 the rocks along the coast between Montrose and Lunan Bay. Here 

 I may mention that so long ago as December 2nd, 1840, Sir Charles 

 Lyell 1 remarked that the observations of Mr. Blackadder and himself 

 led them to infer, that a great flow of glacier-ice had at one time 

 gone along the Valley of Strathmore from Dunkeld north-eastward 

 to the sea at Lunan Bay ; a circumstance which harmonizes very 

 well with the further transport from Lunan Bay northward along 

 the coast to Aberdeen. If this diversion of the Scottish ice from its 

 natural direction was caused by the approach of the Scandinavian 

 Glacier, it enables us to connect the Glacial history of Scotland with 

 that of the Norwegian ice when it attained its great spread to the 

 west. I shall therefore give some further particulars regarding these 

 Bed-Clay beds, as new opportunities of studying them have arisen 

 since I wrote my paper on the subject. A line of railway has been 

 formed from Ellon to Cruden, right through the district where 

 they are best developed, and in the cuttings of this line some 

 interesting sections were brought to view. Large excavations have 

 also been made near Peterhead, in connection with a convict-prison 

 and a harbour of refuge ; while near Aberdeen fresh diggings have 

 been opened up in the clay-pits, as well as excavations for some deep 

 sewers close beside them. 



These red beds exhibib a great variety of character. Sometimes 

 they consist of thick masses of pure clay, which is often finely 

 laminated, a proof of tranquil deposition in water of some depth. 

 Sometimes thick beds of fine sand and gravel are associated or inter- 

 stratified with this clay. In other places the clay is of coarser 

 quality, being mixed with stones, and showing no appearance 

 of stratification; in which cases it often presents a hard firm 

 texture, quite like a Boulder-Clay. All these varieties, however, 

 pass occasionally into each other, as if they belonged to one and the 

 same series. The character of the sections changes frequently and 

 abruptly, sometimes within a few yards. The arrangement is not 

 often in straight regular beds, but is generally undulating, often 

 rapidly so. Finally, there are in some places esker-like mounds of 

 gravel, such as those beside the Loch of Slains, which contain the 



1 Proc. Geol. Soc. vol. iii (1842) p. 342. 



