394 



THE GEOLOGIST. 



geological point of view. Such, for instance, are — 1st, the slow oscilla- 

 tion of this district, first noticed by Belpaire, and which still con- 

 tinues 2nd, the progressive movement of the sand-hills (dunes) 

 towards the interior of the Belgian continent ; 3rd, the existence along 

 this coast of an immense bed of grey clay or marl, which spreads from 

 the river Scheld to Calais, and which has been formed at a compara- 

 tively recent period, according to some geologists, since the time of 

 Julius C£esar. To these and some other curious particulars we hope to 

 refer again. At present we have to speak of a peculiar rock which we 

 laid before the Academy of Sciences at Paris, a short time ago, and 

 which appears to be daily forming on the coast of West Elanders. 



The littoral portion of "West Flanders presents three distinct strati- 

 fications, Avhich have been classed by Omalius d'H alloy, in his 



Terrains Modernes," and necessarily belong to some of the most recent 

 geological formations. Beginning with the uppermost strata, we have — 

 1st, the sand of the coast, and of the sand-hills or ''dunes;" 2nd, a bed 

 of grey clay or marl, generally known as the " Argile grise d'Ostende " 

 (because it is very well developed in that neighbourhood), which attains, 

 in some places, a thickness of from three to eight feet or more ; 3rd, 

 a bed of peat, which lies upon the sand known as '' Sable de la Cam- 

 pine" (the whole of the province of la Campine being covered with it). 

 These beds of clay and peat pass under the sand-hills of the coast, and 

 extend to a considerable distance into the sea. 



The recently-formed rock to which I allude in this paper appears to 

 have been deposited, and continues in all probability to form daily, at 

 or near the extremity of the stratum of peat, more than six miles from 

 the coast, f When the weather is stormy, the sea throws up large 

 blocks, enveloping fragments of peat, and the shells of moUusca which 



* We have ah^eady noticed this in the pages of the Geologist (.January, 

 1858).— T. L. P. 



t About sis miles out at sea, and stretching along the coast from Blankenberg 

 to Ostend (a distance of about ten English miles), exists a bank or bar, called by 

 fishermen " The Black Bank," which is the most dangerous on the coast. There 

 are also many sand -banks, which shift their places according to the weather, the 

 currents, &c. The bank we allude to here is, however, nothing less than the peat 

 and clay beds mentioned in the text as stretching out into the sea underneath the 

 sand of the coast. It consist principally of peat, of which large fragments, often 

 pierced by innumerable PMcts dactylus, &;c., are constantly throAvn upon the coast 

 in rough weather. The anchors of ships will not'hold in it ; and at low water it 

 is covered with only three feet of water.— T. L. P. 



