JEFFREYS ON RAISED BEACHES IN ROSS-SHIRE. 217 



2. Notice of the Raised Beaches on the Western Coast of 

 Ross-shire. By J. Gr. Jeffreys, Esq. 



( Communicated by the Rev. Professor Buckland, D. D.) 



About two miles above Craig Inn, and eleven from the present 

 termination of Loch. Carron, there is a level platform extending 

 for some distance in a parallel line with the valley up which the 

 loch at present flows, elevated about 50 feet above the present 

 sea level, and sloping at an angle of 45°, and its breadth seems the 

 same as that of the present beach at its foot. Sixteen miles from 

 the termination of the loch is a similar platform with the same 

 direction and slope, but apparently at a higher level ; and on the 

 opposite side of the loch (which is about half a mile wide in that 

 part) is a corresponding platform, similar in every respect to the 

 other. This is outside the loch, about a mile below Strome ferry, 

 which forms the entrance to it. Some miles further down the 

 main channel of the sea, at a place called Plockton, the same 

 appearances present themselves ; and here the elevation is about 

 60 feet above high-water mark. 



On examining this latter platform, I found underneath the super- 

 ficial stratum of earth a bed of coral and shells two or three feet 

 thick, and precisely similar to the beds which, as I ascertained by 

 dredging, exist in the adjoining sea. The depth of the sea varied 

 from three to upwards of a hundred fathoms. 



At Applecross similar indications of a former beach are to be 

 found, and also at Shieldaig near the mouth of Loch Torridon, and 

 at Gairloch, on the same coast. In the former locality (Applecross), 

 the platform or bank appeared to be almost entirely composed of 

 coral and shells. In the neighbouring sea prodigious quantities of 

 testaceous and calcareous mud appear to be accumulating. 



I would further remark that the platforms in question do not 

 appear to have been formed by drift, or by the ordinary action of 

 the winds and waves, because their base is beyond the reach of any 

 tide, and at the mouth of Loch Carron they are situated on both 

 sides of the channel, and are consequently exposed to different 

 winds and currents of the sea. The whole appearance seems re- 

 ferable to a sudden elevation of the land by means of some sub- 

 terranean convulsion. 



It is worthy of remark, that on the eastern coast of Scotland, 

 particularly on the Moray Frith, trunks of trees are found em- 

 bedded in the sands at low water, thus showing a subsidence or 

 depression of the land on that side. 



