Additional Observations on the Raised Beach of Sangatte with reference to the Date of the English Channel, and the Presence of Loess in the Cliff Section

Abstract

I n my paper on the Loess and Quaternary beds of the north of France and south-east of England, I expressed an opinion that the break in the land between France and England was not the result of the last geological change†, but that the Channel existed at the period of the formation of the low-level gravels of the Somme and Thames valleys, and probably at the period of the high-level gravels. The argument was based upon the position of analogous beds at places on both sides of the Channel, upon the contour and slope of the land, and the direction of the Sangatte and Brighton raised beaches. I was not then able to give more positive evidence. I am, however, now in possession of facts which enable me to do so, and these I will briefly lay before the Society. On my return last Easter from an excursion in Belgium with several Fellows of this Society, I took the opportunity of revisiting the Sangatte section in company with Mr. Godwin-Austen. The winter storms had cleared the beach and bared the cliff, and we found a long and very interesting section exposed. Our visit was short. It enabled me, however, to recognize some beds very loess-like in character, and to detect traces of shells in some of them. We also again noted in the underlying old sea-bed layers of a green sand, which might have been derived either from some Lower Tertiary beds or from the Greensands. We thence proceeded round