COLE : CHALK OF YOEKSHIEE. 
23 
about 150 miles of the shore line. Europe had certainly attained 
a continental form long- before the deposition of the chalk, and 
there is no reason to suppose that a deep sea, such as the Atlantic, 
occupied its area in cretaceous times. It is more probable that a 
slight depression allowed the waters of the Atlantic to pour over 
its central portion, the constant flow, eastwards, of a stream 
similar to the present Gulf Stream, supplying an enormous 
quantity of foraminifera, which, by their decay, aided by the dis- 
integration of coral reefs, caused the accumulation of calcareous 
sediment known as chalk. 
It may be added that the fossils found in chalky are indicative 
of animal life, existing not in deep, but shallow water. 
The beds of chalk which constitute the Wolds dip in various 
directions, owing probably to irregularities of pressure or com- 
pression in the process of elevation, but the general dip of the 
whole semicircular mass is in the direction of a central point 
somewhere about Hornsea, consequently the beds on the N. ridge 
running from Acklam to Speeton dip southwards, whilst the beds 
on the W. ridge from Acklam to Hessle dip eastwards. The base 
of the chalk is met with all round the N. and W. edges at varying 
elevations, marked by the line of springs, (vide Red Chalk, 1878). 
As a rule the higher the hills, the thinner the chalk. But the 
very fact of the chalk being thin, at most 200 feet on high 
elevations, shows that we are in the lower flint-bearing beds all 
round the N. and W. area, whilst we only reach the upper beds 
without flints on the inner and lower circle of ground, seawards. 
A line drawn from the S. landing at Flambro' Head through 
Burton Agnes, Kilham, Cottam Warren to Life Hill, Sledmere, 
on the one hand, and from thence south through Wetwang, Tib- 
tliorpe, and lieckonfield, to the Westwood pits at Beverley, will 
separate the two areas of flint-bearing and nonflint-bearing chalk ; 
that to the N. and W. containing flints, that to the S. and E. 
apparently without. A reference to the numerous chalk pits all 
