Page:Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London, vol. 27.djvu/374

 low sand ; the flow from one spring amounted sometimes to 1500 gallons per minute. For a long time their source was a complete puzzle, as it was not suspected that water could find a passage through the thick bed of Purple Clay. On a boring being made through the Purple Clay, it was proved that the springs had their origin in the lower sand-bed overlying the Chalk ; and it is most probable that the water found its way to the surface through the holes of old borings made through the Purple Clay before the work was begun. Several old bore-holes were found, during the course of the excavation, filled with small pieces of chalk.

This bed of sand overlying the Chalk appears to be of some extent in the neighbourhood of Hull. It was 16 feet in thickness where a boring passed through it at the east end of the lock ; and the same sand was found by all the borings to the westward which passed through the Purple Clay. It appears to increase in thickness to the east of Hull, as a boring* taken at Blockhouse Mill shows a thickness of 26 feet of sand between the Purple Clay and Chalk. Several thousand yards of this sand were brought to the surface by the springs in the lock ; it was of redder colour than the Hessle Sand, but contained, like it, particles of chalk.

Discussion.

The President remarked upon the singularity of the occurrence of a bed of ashes at such a depth in these deposits.

Mr. Gwyn Jeffreys referred to the President's paper on the Kelsey-Hill beds, and remarked on some of the Mollusca obtained by Mr. Hawkshaw.

Mr. Boyd Dawkins mentioned the occurrence of a submarine forest on the coast of Somersetshire, forming a layer of peat, beneath which was a land-surface, on which the forest had grown, and in which flint-flakes were found at Portlock and Watchet on digging through the peat. He remarked on the depression of the coast of Somersetshire within the human period, and suggested that the forest at Hull may have been contemporaneous with that of Somersetshire.

Prof. Morris inquired whether any trees or roots were found as when growing. The shells obtained were estuarine. Prof. Morris remarked on a submerged forest near Whittlesey, with terrestrial plants and freshwater shells imbedded in the overlying clay.

The Author, in reply, stated that the trees had fallen where they grew. No direct evidence of man's presence had been found in connexion with the remains of the fire ; but judging from the general appearance of these remains, he could come to no other conclusion than that the fire was the work of man.


 * Phillips's ' Geology of Yorkshire,' second edition, p. 27.