Page:Transactions of the Geological Society, 1st series, vol. 3.djvu/401



It is obvious that as the general dip of the strata of this district forms but a very small angle with the horizon, the superficial extent of the different beds occupies a greater stretch of country than from their thicknesses might at first be apprehended: in the section indeed, these measures are represented at considerable angles, yet by keeping the circumstance above mentioned in view, I hope it will be found to answer the purpose for which it is intended.

The marshes betwixt Louth and the sea, No. 1 of the section, consist principally of unstratified clay, with mixtures of sand and various marine depositions, which tend to prove that this mass of earth has been left by the ocean. A further confirmation of this may be derived from tracing the sites of the different old banks which once evidently formed the boundaries of the sea, which has now retired a considerable distance from them.

Proceeding westward we come to the basset of the chalk No. 2, being the highest stratum in this district. It forms the principal part of the Wold hills, extending in this section from Louth to the highest hills in Donington, a distance of about six miles: this stratum dips under the marshes; for on boring in them for water, the chalk is always found. On arriving at this, the workmen never fail to come at springs, and generally of sufficient strength to flow up higher than the surface, thereby justifying the conclusion that this bed is the uninterrupted continuation of the same chalk, the rough elevated basset of which forms the Wolds; and by the pressure of the water in which, the fountain springs obtained by boring in the marshes, are at once accounted for.

In the neighbourhood of Tetney, a village situated on the coast, are natural outlets of water called blow-wells; their depths have never yet been ascertained, but we cannot entertain a doubt of their communicating with the chalk. These wells overflow with a