OOLITIC CLIFFS. 
49 
cliffs afford few other subjects of observation, till at the northern pro- 
montory the oolitic rocks emerge from the sea, and form the long reef 
called Filey Brig. 
CLIFFS OF THE OOLITIC SERIES. 
That at some former period the strata which emerge from beneath 
the vale of Pickering, in ridges sloping to the south, but precipitous 
toward the north, have had their surfaces exposed to the ravages of 
water, is evident by inspecting the cliff above Filey brig. For here the 
diluvial clay, rising to the height of one hundred and six feet, rests upon 
the lower beds of coralline oolite, which immediately cover the lower 
calcareous grit. (See p. 2, for a statement of the complete series.) The 
remainder of the oolite and the upper calcareous grit above it, which 
occur in situ a few miles inland, had been removed before the diluvial 
matter was laid upon the wasted surface of the remaining rocks. 
In the enlarged section of these appearances, it will be seen that the 
diluvium rests on rubbly oolite, five feet in thickness ; beneath are two 
beds of solid oolitic limestone, (occasionally separated by two feet of a soft, 
yellow, calcareous grit,) which contain clypei, lutrarise, trigonia costata 
and clavellata, pecten viminalis, pecten vagans, gryphasse, melanin, &c. 
This limestone, which belongs to the upper oolite, rests upon the calca- 
reous grit, of which beds to the thickness of sixty feet rise from the sea, 
within the distance of a quarter of a mile. In the upper part of the 
rock lie a few alternations of limestone ; and both these and the grit 
beds contain most of the fossils which occur in the oolitic layers above, 
excepting perhaps the echinida. The surfaces of the beds of calcareous 
grit are singularly characterised by ramified masses of doubtful origin, 
which appear like dichotomous cylindrical sponges. Below twenty- 
five feet of this rock lie nine feet of soft, yellow, sandy stone, containing 
large spheroidal, highly-indurated, calcareo-siliceous balls. This band of 
soft sand and hard balls may be traced for a great distance, along the 
H 
