556 CENOZOIC TIME. 



second, 1,059 feet; the third, 847 feet. This is one among many cases that might be 

 cited. As a general thing, the elevated sea-border formations occur on the coasts of 

 regions whose interior is diversified with high lake and river terraces. 



A deposit generally regarded as among the earlier Quaternary of Britain, or transi- 

 tional between the Pliocene and Quaternary, is called the " Cromer Forest Bed " ; it is 

 traced for over forty miles along the Norfolk Cliffs, between Cromer and Kessingland, 

 beneath Drift. It contains remains of plants, insects, and shells of living species, along 

 with the remains of some Pliocene as well as many extinct Quaternary species, and 

 some modern Mammals (p. 571). 



The sea-border shell-bearing deposits of southern Sweden have a maximum height 

 of 200 feet; of western, 200 to 500 feet, and mostly 325 to 400 feet (Erdmann); those 

 of the northwest coast of Norway, in Hardanger, 293 to 331 feet (Sexe). 



The valley of the Rhine contains extensive deposits of this Cham plain era; part ap- 

 parently due to the earlier' DUuvian epoch, or that of ice-melting, but largely of the 

 following Alluvkm part. The material of the alluvium is mostly the loess, a fine yellow- 

 ish-gray loam, — generally a little calcareous from pulverized shells; and in some parts 

 it contains glacially-marked stones. Between Basle and Binnen, this alluvium has a 

 thickness of several hundred feet; and throughout it there are land and fresh-water shells. 

 Lyell speaks of its presenting a bluff front to the river, and of isolated hills of it 

 standing in the valley, and finds evidence in this that it was deposited when the land 

 stood at a lower level. It is regarded as uncertain, however, whether the loess may not 

 in part be a deposition from the floods consequent on a second glacial epoch, mentioned 

 beyond (p. 561). Similar facts are reported from most of the river valleys of Europe. 



In Belgium, according to Dupont, along the valley of the Lesse, and others, the lime- 

 stone caverns situated at the greatest elevations — eighty to one hundred feet above the 

 present river — are those which contain the older remains of Mammals; and those be- 

 low are successively more recent as their height is less. Moreover, the river alluvium 

 shows that, when the upper caves were inhabited, the valley was filled with water and 

 river-border deposits, nearly to the level of the cave. Thus the change of level, which 

 marked the close of the Champlain period and the introduction of the Recent period, 

 is very strikingly exhibited. 



The facts from Europe hence confirm the conclusion from America, 

 that the Champlain period was the era of flooded rivers and lakes, and 

 of the most extensive fresh -water formations in the world's history. 

 Europe also had rivers dammed up by gravel and sand from the 

 unlading glacier. It has been recently shown that the Rhine owes its 

 present channel at the Falls at SchafFhausen to its having been forced 

 out of an older one ; and it is probable that the Champlain period 

 was the time of the catastrophe. 



3. RECENT PERIOD. 



The Recent Period is divided into (1) the Reindeer, or Second 

 Glacial era ; and (2) the Modern era. Evidences of a Second 

 Glacial epoch have not yet been clearly made out in America. 



I. Rocks: kinds and distribution. 



The formations are such as are found now in progress, either over 

 the land, along sea-borders, or in seas. The following are some of 

 the more important kinds : — 



Of Mechanical Origin. — 1. The Continental. — Alluvial beds 



