VI.—On the Geology of the Coast of France, and of the inland Country adjoining; from Fecamp, Department de la Seine Inferieure, to St. Vaast, Department de la Manche.

Abstract

The bay included between Cap d’Antifer to the east, and the Pointe de Barfleur on the west, is about sixty English miles in breadth*: it is formed by part of the coast of the department of the Seine Inferieure, the whole coast of that of Calvados, and the eastern part of the coast of La Manche. The shore of the department of the Seine Inferieure is bold; generally from four to five hundred feet in height†; and it is intersected by narrow valleys, which do not in general run far inland. This line of high bold coast ends near Cap la Heve. The right bank of the Seine, for many miles into the interior, is, with the exception of the low land between Havre and Harfleur, high and perpendicular: the left bank, from Villerville sur Mer‡ till about eleven miles east from Honfleur, is formed by high hills, which present at their bases either low cliffs or alluvial plains. The remainder of the left bank of the Seine is precipitous. From Henqueville to Dives the coast is hilly, with the exception of two flat sandy plains; one about a mile in length, between the river Toucques and Benerville Hill; the other, three miles long, between Benerville Hill and Villers sur Mer. This hilly country is separated from the low land of the environs of Caen by a line passing from the mouth of the river Dives, in a south-east direction, through Etreez. From Dives to St. Come, about twenty miles