DESCRIPTION OF THE COAST. 
39 
clay, under a covering of gravel. At Owburne, nothing appears but the 
laminated clay ; but, beyond, this rises into the cliff, and continues 
between the incumbent gravel and subjacent pebbly clay, all the way to 
Bridlington. It is well distinguished from the pebbly clay by the un- 
dulations of its layers, and by the extremely small size of the gravel 
which is mixed with it. I am induced to refer its origin to the diluvial 
floods, because of the extensive covering of gravel which here lies upon 
it ; and there can be no better proof than this affords of the varied con- 
dition of those waters. For, in the cliff south of Bridlington, we behold 
at the bottom a great mass of amorphous clay, full of pebbles, derived 
from distant places in different directions, evidently brought together 
by a wide-spreading and mighty flood ; above lies a more equal deposit 
from more quiet waters : and over all is spread a confused mass of gravel, 
composed chiefly of chalk and flint, derived from the neighbouring 
hills. At the bottom, we see the turbulent effects of rushing floods ; 
above, the sediment of tranquillizing waters ; and finally, the accumula- 
tions from a local current. 
From the preceding description of the coast of Holderness, it is 
evident that no formations appear there which can be considered as be- 
longing to regular marine strata. Of the diluvial accumulations, by far 
the most prevalent, that which is the base of the whole cliff, is blue and 
brown clay, containing dispersed pebbles ; above this, a more local deposit 
of undulated laminated clay ; and finally, gravel on the top, or mixed 
with the pebbly clay. In this formation lie the teeth and tusks of ante- 
diluvian elephants, and abundance of water-worn fossil shells, derived 
from neighbouring and remote districts. Resting on these diluvial beds, 
we find the deposits of later, more quiet, more contracted waters. Lakes, 
which existed in hollows of the deluge-worn surface, have been slowly 
filled up by clay marl, shells, and peat, subsiding from their waters, and 
either drained by the industry of man, or emptied by the approaches of 
the sea. The shells which occur in these clay beds, belong to fresh- 
water species now living; they lie almost invariably at the bottom of 
