Page:Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London, vol. 26.djvu/751

and, in a more fragmentary state, in the Isle of Wight, having a slope greater and in other directions.

2. That while the gravel covering these tablelands at the highest levels is of a far greater age than the valley-gravels of the rivers, the gravel near Bournemouth, on Beaulieu Heath, Titchfield Common, and at similar levels appears to be equivalent in position and age to the high-level valley-gravels, and also to the beach-deposits of Avisford and Waterbeach containing marine shells; and that a lower tract of gravel bordering on the northern shore of the Solent and Spithead appears to correspond on the one hand with the low- level valley-gravels of the rivers, and on the other with the marine gravel covering the low land of Selsea.

3. That the spreading out of the gravel, and the levelling of the tablelands, probably was effected in an inlet of the sea shut in on the south side by land which connected the Isle of Wight with the mainland, and opening to the eastward.

4. That a gradual upheaval appears to have gone on from the time of the oldest and highest gravels down to the date of the low-level valley-gravels, by which the inlet was narrowed into an estuary which received the waters of all the rivers from Poole Harbour eastward, the Isle of Wight being still connected with the mainland.

5. That of this upheaval in its latter stages there is evidence remaining in the marine gravel of Sussex, in the raised shingle of the Foreland, and in the beach-deposits of Waterbeach and Avisford.

6. That the flint implements of Bournemouth and Southampton Common are from gravel covering tablelands at elevations corresponding to the high-level valley-gravels, and that the implements from the coast between Southampton and Gosport are from gravel corresponding to the low-level valley-gravels.

7. That the position of the flint implement found above the raised shingle of the Foreland appears to prove that an upheaval to the extent of 70 or 80 feet has taken place since its deposition in the brick-earth; and that if the origin of the gravel covering the plains be as above supposed, the flint implements of Bournemouth show that the upheaval has been as much as 120 feet, and the implements in the gravel on Southampton Common as much as 150 feet, since the appearance of man.

 

DESCRIPTION OF PLATES XXXVI. & XXXVII.

Plate XXXVI.

Map of the south of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, with parts of Sussex and Dorsetshire, showing the principal gravel-covered surfaces. The lines of the Section are shown, and the letters refer to corresponding letters on the sections, figs. 1 to 10, Plate XXXVII.

Plate XXXVII.

Fig. 1. Section across the valley of the Avon and the highest part of the New-Forest tableland, through Fordingbridge, Hampton Ridge, and Blackbush Plain, with a section branching at Hampton Ridge and crossing the valley of the Avon at Breamore.