Page:Submerged forests (1913).djvu/78

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64
SUBMERGED FORESTS
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Sueda maritima

Atriplex patula

Rumex

Urtica dioica

Alnus glutinosa

Corylus Avellana

Quercus robur

Alisma Plantago

Ruppia maritima

Eleocharis palustris

Scirpus Tabernaemontani

Carex 3 sp.

In this list, as is usually the case with the newest submerged forest, we find only plants that are still living in the immediate neighbourhood. Also, only such plants as are widely distributed are here found as fossils, the characteristic west-country flora being unrepresented. The reason of this limitation will be discussed later.

For various reasons, which will be explained later, it will be well before describing the submerged land-surfaces of Cornwall and the Atlantic coast, to complete the account of those surrounding our enclosed seas. We will therefore take next those bordering on the English Channel.

CHAPTER VI

THE ENGLISH CHANNEL

The English Channel, like our other enclosed seas, is bordered on either side by a fringe of ancient alluvia and submerged forests, which however are fast disappearing through the attacks of the waves. The destruction is so rapid, and in many parts has