69 



sand, which has overwhelmed the greater part of the west of the 

 Island up to a height of 250ft. It is called the Quennevais. 



By alternating intervals of land subsidence and elevation, 

 Jersey has been rendered alternately insular and Continental several 

 times during the recent, or quaternary period, and the softer strata 

 which originally covered the island have been removed. But 

 traces of these are constantly found to prove their former 

 existence. For instance, flint pebbles are found in all the bays, 

 showing that chalk was over Jersey, and recently small deposits 

 of Devonian shale, containing many characteristic fossils have 

 been found in clefts of the granite. This shale is exactly the same 

 as that now found forming the cliffs on the opposite coast of Nor- 

 mandy. Sandstone and Limestone pebbles are also found. 

 Jersey is not a place for the fossil-hunter, but is most interest- 

 ing to those who study volcanic rocks. 



The proof of the subsidence of the shores of Jersey subse- 

 quent to its insulation is the presence of well-marked raised 

 beaches. These occur at two elevations, an upper about 125ft., 

 and a lower about 70ft. above present sea level. A proof that 

 Jersey was elevated and Continental, or peninsular lies in the 

 fact that the remains of the wild horse, the Urus, the reindeer 

 and other deer, and even the Woolly Rhinoceros, together with 

 the implements of palaeolithic man have been found in caves 

 60ft. above the sea. In these caves no molluscan shells were 

 found, which probably would have been the case if the sea had 

 been within easy reach. 



In historical times, during the last 1,000 years, numerous 

 earthquakes have taken place in Northern France and in the 

 Channel Islands. For instance, in March, 709 a.d., a serious 

 earthquake, causing great destruction, occurred in the Channel 

 Islands; and another, or rather a series of earth movements, took 

 place between 22nd and 29th October, 842. On this latter 

 occasion throughout the North of France a loud subterranean 

 noise, recurring several times a day for seven days, was heard. 

 Again, in the year 1091 , serious and disastrous shocks were felt in the 

 Islands and in the North-west of France. Two years before that 

 there had been severe shocks in England, and again in 1161. The 

 whole shore of Brittany, and Normandy, and the Islands were 

 greatly affected by earthquakes. At the end of the 17th Century 

 a severe earthquake shock occurred in the sea, off Sark. The 

 year 1691 was remarkable for severe earthquake action in the 

 Atlantic. On 22nd December, 1843, an earthquake wast felt at 

 Guernsey; and another on April 1st, 1853. 



It is evident, then, that the region occupied by the Channel 

 Islands always has been and still may be considered to be in 

 an unstable state, and that there are causes close at hand capable 

 of producing elevation or depression, slow or sudden, from time to 

 time beneath these Islands. A well-marked proof of recent sub- 

 sidence of part of the coast of Jersey is the presence of submerged 



