36 
HORNSEA. 
Hornsea mere is one of the few sheets of water now remaining in Hol- 
derness, of the many which once existed there. When, if ever in 
future ages, the wasting action of the sea shall have extended inland 
so far as to reach and empty this lake, its bed, partly uncovered at low- 
water, will resemble the bottoms of Owthorne and Sandley meres. 
The clay cliffs near Hornsea contain chalk and flint, with Belemnites 
mucronatus, and B. Listeri ; ammonites and other fossils from the lias of 
Whitby ; magnesian limestone from near Sunderland ; coal, sandstone, 
and mountain limestone, from the west of Yorkshire ; old red conglo- 
merate, grauwacke, syenite with magnetic iron ore, quartz, septariate 
ironstone, &c. Teeth of the antediluvian elephant likewise occur on the 
shore, derived from some fallen cliff. 
North of Hornsea gap, where a little gully divides the cliff, which 
is about fifteen feet high, we observe a small lacustrine deposit, thirty 
yards long, consisting of the following series, beginning at the surface ; 
Lacustrine deposit . — Brown clay and soil. Peaty earth. Brownish marl. White 
marl, and shells, and plant roots. Beneath is gravel, resting on pebbly clay. 
At a short distance beyond this place, (marked I. in the section,) the 
cliff is twenty feet high, and exhibits frequent alternations of gravel and 
clay, in a more regular order than is usually observed. Beginning at the 
surface, we have ; 
1 Yellow and white small gravel of chalk and flint. 
2 Brown clay, with very small fragments of chalk, flint, lias, magnesian lime, 
porphyry, &c. 
3 As No. 1. 
4 Layers of irony sand. 
5 As Nos. 3, and 1. 
6 As No. 2. 
7 As Nos. 5, 3, and 1. 
8 1 he general base of the cliff is blue clay and pebbles. 
