Vol. 50.] 



SECTIONS FROM ROMFORD TO TTPMINSTER. 



445 



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about 35 yards from the bridge the London Clay began to disappear, 



its place being gradually occupied more and more by dark silt with 



interbedded sand and small pebbles, 



and the Thames Valley gravel still 



forming the surface. At a distance 



of 60 yards from the bridge this silt 



and sand occupied the whole of the 



space between the surface-gravel and 



the bottom of the cutting. And at 



85 yards the gravel, which had been 



gradually encroaching upon the silt, 



came down to the bottom of the 



cutting, which was not so deep by 



about 3 feet as at the bridge, and 



gravel only could be seen southward 



of tbat point. < 



The section was so clear that the § 

 northern boundary of this silty g 

 deposit was perfectly distinct, though m 

 its former extension southward could g 

 not be ascertained owing to the 

 erosion which had taken place during 

 the deposition of the overlying gravel. g 

 It appeared to me to be a fragment n 

 of the silted-up channel of an ancient £ 

 stream-course. This old stream- g 

 course must have been of consider- r 1 

 able size, as more than 80 yards from t 

 the bridge the inclination of the beds 3 

 was still southerly, as though the g 

 centre of the channel had not been g 

 reached. On the opposite side of the 3 

 cutting material of the same silty 

 character could be abundantly seen, «^ 

 but the section had been obscured | 

 by having been sloped. All, there- ? 

 fore, that can be said as to the direc- 

 tion of the channel is that apparently 

 it was about east and west. Among 

 the small pebbles visible here and 

 there were many of Chalk, and it 

 seemed to me that the contents of 

 this old silted-up channel had been 

 very largely derived from the Boulder 

 Clay. But no fossils could be seen 

 to indicate fluvial, estuarine, or any 

 other conditions. 



I next visited this cutting on 

 May 11th, 1893, in the company of 



Messrs. W. Whitaker and H. W. Monckton, whom I had asked to 

 visit Ilomford in order to see the silted-up channel just described. 



Q. J. G.S. No. 199. 2h 



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