504 CHALKY CLAY OF THE FENLAND, ETC. [Aug. 1895, 



37. The Chalky Clay of the Fenland and its Boedees : its Con- 

 stitution, Okigin, Disteibtttion, and Age. By Sir Heney 

 H. Howoeth, K.C.I.E., M.P., F.E.S., F.G.S. (Read June 19th, 

 1895.) 



[Abstract.] 



The distribution of the Clay (so often termed Chalky Boulder 

 Clay) is noticed, and it is stated that it is surrounded on all sides by 

 country occupied by different deposits, being mainly separated from 

 the sea on the east and north-east by sandy and pebbly materials, 

 while on every other side it is clearly and sharply defined. The 

 paucity of foreign stones is noted as compared with natives, and the 

 similarity of the matrix of the Chalky Clay to the material of the 

 older deposits of the neighbourhood. The Author maintains that the 

 contents of the Clay indicate movement of material from west to east 

 in some places, as shown by Jurassic fossils in the East Anglian Chalky 

 Clay, and from east to west in others : in fact, that movement took 

 place in sporadic lines diverging from the Wash and the Fens. He 

 appeals to the amount of disintegration that has taken place to furnish 

 the material for the Clay, the shape of the stones in the Clay, and the 

 distribution of the Clay itself, as evidence against the action of land- 

 ice or icebergs, maintaining that there is no evidence of submergence 

 at the time the Clay was formed ; and criticizes the attempts made 

 to explain the formation of the Clay by water produced by the 

 melting of ice. 



The Author believes that the denudation of the Fen country which 

 produced the great mass of the Chalky Clay with most of its boulders 

 was coincident with and caused by the bending and folding of the 

 Chalk of Eastern England, which took place after the deposition of 

 the Crag beds, and that during the period of folding a great depres- 

 sion was formed round the "Wash, into which the water rushed from 

 the North carrying debris and mixing it with clays; this, rushing 

 into what was virtually a cul-de-sac, dispersed and scattered its load 

 in all directions. 



