OF ELTE AND ERROL. 619 



Elie Shore Section. 

 This occurs close to the harbour, running eastwards from the pier along high- 

 water mark, where, in 1862, the beds were much more fully laid open than they 

 are now. In the descending order they showed the following series : — 



Section II. 



Fig. 2. 



1. Immediately below the surface blown sand, in horizontal layers, from 4 

 to 6 feet, or rather more, in depth. This is the seaward edge of a great sheet 

 of the same kind, which stretches, with intervals, far along the coast, and reaches 

 in some places more than a mile inland. The whole town of Elie is built on it. 

 In the present section, at the point where beds 2 and 3 thin out, the lowest por- 

 tion of this blown sand has hardened into a kind of sandstone or concrete, rolled 

 fragments of which may be found among the boulders of the beach. 



2. A thin bed of sea shingle and shells. Apparently it is a portion of the so- 

 called raised beach, and will be referred to more at length under Section IV. 



3. A layer of peat from 5 to 10 inches in thickness. It is in situ, the plants 

 which formed it having grown on the spot, as is shown by the traces of their 

 roots going down vertically into the underlying beds. The roots themselves are 

 decayed, but the ferruginous stains, which show their course, are very marked. 

 Of the remains enclosed in this peat, by far the most common is the Arundo 

 phragmites, the common reed of our fresh- water marshes, which grows at present 

 freely in the neighbourhood. The thin outer coverings of the underground stems, 

 with their unmistakable jointings, occur in great quantities. There are seeds of 

 various kinds, and decayed wood, but no shells. This seems a portion of the 

 submerged forest of this coast. 



At this point there occurs a break in the series which should be carefully 

 noted. These three upper deposits are markedly unconformable to those 

 beneath. When first laid down the lower beds would be approximately 

 horizontal ; but, by the action of some force, they must have been thrown 

 into convolutions. The process of deposition was suspended ; part of 

 the material already laid down was abraded and swept away ; and when, 

 after a time, the process of deposition was again resumed, the newer beds 

 were laid down horizontally across the truncated and upturned edges 

 of the lower beds. This break should be noted as showing a blank in 

 the record. 



