Page:Submerged forests (1913).djvu/69

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V]
IRISH SEA AND BRISTOL CHANNEL
55

sallow and reed, both roots and stems. It also contained seeds of Valeriana officinalis and Carex, and elytra of beetles. There was no evidence of salt water.

At this point it will be observed that the floor of Keuper Marl rises, and Bed 9 abuts against it. Beds 10, 11 and 12 lay below the dock bottom, and were exposed only in the excavation for the foundations of walls, etc. Fortunately, Dr Strahan was able to examine a good exposure of the important part of them.

10. The section commenced at the dock bottom—that is, at the peat last described (No. 9); in the upper part it was timbered up, but at a depth of about nine feet, blue silty clay of the usual character could be seen and dug out through the timbers. This was followed by two feet of greenish sandy silt full of reeds, and containing leaves of willow, and land and freshwater shells, such as Limnaea auricularia, Planorbis albus, P. nautileus, Hydrobia ventrosa, Valvata piscinalis, V. cristata. The plants were Salix caprea and Phragmites.

11. Peat with much broken oak-wood, mixed with seeds and freshwater shells. The plants obtained were oak, hazel, cornel, hawthorn, bur-reed and sallow.

12. Reddish clayey gravel with land shells and penetrated by roots, passing down into red and green grits, limestone and marls. This gravel is