TOPOGRAPHY OF BLAKENEY POINT. 
493 
evidence as to the cause. Prior to the winter of 1910-1 1 the Long 
Hills bank (No. 20, Fig. 2) was still straight, or at any rate only 
slightly curved. In the early part of 1911 a series of gales 
from the South-West broke off its exposed apex — cutting it off 
square and transporting the eroded materials so as to make a 
new bank inserted at right angles to the stump of the old one 
(Fig. 8). This observation gives the probable solution of how 
the L-shaped terminals on the Marams banks and elsewhere 
came into existence — of course at a very remote period. 
Relation of Marshes to Main Beach and Laterals. 
From the preceding general account of the main shingle 
beach and the relation to it of the lateral banks, it follows that 
the state of the materials in these two classes of structure must 
be markedly dissimilar. In the one the pebbles ranged parallel 
to the shore will remain mobile, so that the beach must slowly 
encroach on the marshes behind ; whilst the laterals, on the 
other hand, being set at right angles to the shore and in large 
measure sheltered from wave impact, will enter on a state of 
dormancy. 
One consequence of this will be the fundamentally different 
relations obtaining along the lines of contact of the salt marshes 
with the main bank and laterals, respectively. The marshes, as 
their level rises, will gradually overlay the flanks of the laterals 
with mud ; we get here mud resting on shingle. At the junction 
of the marshes and main bank, however, the relationsare precisely 
reversed, for here it is the shingle (being mobile) that is being 
drifted over the mud. It is needless to point out that these 
physical peculiarities are reflected in the character of the 
vegetation along these different types of junction. 
Stabilising Effect of Vegetation. 
Whilst the main bank tends to overwhelm the marshes 
behind it, its travel will be liable to retardation by a variety 
of circumstances. Thus the presence of bushes of Suceda 
fruticosa, very general on parts of the Blakeney Bank, tends 
to arrest the marshward flow of the shingle. The pebbles 
become piled up on the weather face of the bushes, whilst on 
