Vol. 69.] AGE OP THE SUFFOLK VALLEYS. 609 



(e) Aide V a lie 3'. — The evidence in the much smaller valley of 

 the Aide is natural^* not so striking, but a comparison of borings 

 at Saxmundham and neighbouring places serves to show, as 

 Mr. Whitaker hints in the Survey Memoir on the Water-Supply 

 of Suffolk, that here we have a hollow of Drift and Crag cutting 

 through Lower Eocene deposits. It is not necessary for the present 

 purpose to discuss the question as to whether the Crag which rests 

 directly on the Chalk is in situ or not, for it is sufficient that 

 Drift extends for a thickness of 103 feet, down to a depth of 

 — 3 feet O.D., whereas the usual level in the neighbourhood for 

 the top of the Crag is about + 50 feet O.D. It is probable that the 

 borings at Kelsale, higher up the valley, which show 115 and 106 

 feet of Drift eroding deeply into Crag, confirm the presence of the 

 channel. The Chalk is dipping too rapidly in this extreme eastern 

 part of the county for the channel of Drift to cut down into it. It 

 is only to be expected that, if the channel, as well as the buttressing 

 on spurs already described, is due to glacial action, the phenomena 

 in this part of Suffolk, where the ice-sheet must have become 

 attenuated, should be less well-marked than in the west. 



(/) Waveney Y alley. — Finally, the probability of a buried 

 channel in the Waveney Valley was suggested by the writers of 

 the Geological Survey Memoir on the Halesworth and Harleston 

 area. 1 The Chalk crops out in the valley from Diss to Scole at 

 about +60 feet O.D.; but two borings at Hoxne show Drift with 

 (possibly reassorted) Crag material lying in a hollow of the 

 Chalk, which was here met at —40 feet O.D. The boring at 

 Eye appears to be connected with these two, but it is not easy to 

 account for the Fressingfield boring at 152 feet O.D. reaching 

 Chalk at —118 feet O.D. Indeed, this is the only case in Suffolk 

 where a great depth to the Chalk is met with (Drift and ? Crag) 

 which does not lie in one of the valleys. 2 It is possible that a 

 buried valley is here entirely masked by the Drift now forming 

 the plateau. The levels of the top of the Chalk near Hoxne and 

 Eye are: — Palgrave +105, Stuston +25, Diss +30, Scole +60, 

 Billingford +45, Wortham +110, and Thorndon +33 feet O.D. 



With reference to the Dallinghoo boring, which showed 79 feet 

 of Drift, the material cut through being described by the Rev. E. 

 A. Bullen,' 1 the late Prof. Seeley remarked that here we had 

 another hidden channel ; but this thickness of Drift is normal 

 •for the plateau, and proves nothing. 



At Euston, in the valley tributary to that of the Little Ouse, 

 running north-westwards from the watershed, a thickness of 

 224 feet of Drift was recorded, bringing the top of the Chalk to 

 — 140 feet O.D. Near by, the Chalk surface occurs at +60, 



1 Mem. Geol. Surv. 1887 (12) p. 3. 



2 But compare also the recent boring at Saham Toney ^Norfolk), described 

 by Dr. A. Strahan in the Summary of Progress of the Geological Survey for 

 1910 (1911) p. 75. 



' Bullen, 1901 (18) p. 285. 



