■CROMER FOREST-BED. 
165 
which has forced the Chalk above its normal level, and it is at 
])resent doubtful how they end off. Pliocene dej)Osits will 
not improbably be found beneath the Chalk, which is here 
contorted into a loop and inverted. The Chalk cannot have 
stood at its present high level when the Forest-bed was 
deposited, for the laminated clays are seen close to the Chalk 
without containing any fragments of it. A small hill of this 
sort would have entirely disappeared long before the whole 
of these Pliocene strata could have been laid down, for the 
Chalk is exceptionally soft, and it would have been always 
exposed to atmospheric action and the constant washing of peaty 
water. It has been stated that Crag occurs on the top of these 
Chalk bluffs; but this is a mistake ; the shelly sand there seen 
is merely a patch of the ordinary Glacial sand. 
An attempt was made to settle the relations of the strata by 
boring close to the southern face of the bluff; but this only 
proved that at least 10 feet of Glacial sands pass under the con- 
toi'ted Chalk, for at that depth boring was stopped by quicksand, 
without reaching Pliocene strata. 
On the south-east side of the bluff the Forest-bed reappears 
within 140 yards, and as the base of the Boulder Clay is there 
a few feet higher than on the north-west side, the Upper Fresh¬ 
water Bed is again seen At 180 yards from the Chalk the 
following section occurs :— 
Boulder Clay. 
Upper Fresh¬ 
water Bed. 
Forest-bed 
(estuarine). 
Feet. 
f Sand and blue loam mixed - - - 1 
I Sand irregularly mixed with blue clay : Stic- 
I cinea throughout - - - -2^ 
I Blue bedded carbonaceous clay with seams of 
sand and a few small stones; twigs and 
''i shells throughout, Succinea putris very 
common, Gyclas cornea one valve - - 
1 Contorted laminated clay and sand, with a 
I little gravel and a carbonaceous seam at 
[_ the base - - - - - 2 
r Well-bedded blue clay with a few thin seams 
< of gravel and sand - - - - 
I Bedded sand and clay - - - - 1 -f 
The perfectl}^ undisturbed stratification of the Pliocene strata 
at this spot is remarkable, for not only is the Chalk in the cliff 
oil each side much folded, but the foreshore immediately 
opposite the section above noted is occupied by highly disturbed 
glacial deposits and Chalk, which at one point appear to overlie 
the carbonaceous clays of the Forest-bed. It is possible that in 
the last section we may have both the Arctic and the Upper 
Freshwater Beds: but at the time this exposure was noted the 
writer was unaware of the distinction, and for the last ten 
years this part of the cliff has been too obscure for detailed re¬ 
examination. At 180 yards beyond the south-eastern Chalk 
bluff pan is seen at the top of the lieach, but no clear exposure 
occurs for 130 yards further. From the reappearance of the 
