File:The Quarterly journal of the Geological Society of London (13859810875).jpg

IN THE CONTORTED DRIFT OF CROMER.
231
of these masses attain, together with the remarkable way in which
the continuity of the chalk is preserved without disruption. This
characteristic interested me much

and fortunately one of the best-
defined of the boulders of this form I found to be partially within
reach. I saw this mass on three separate occasions, and eventually
made a coloured sketch of it on the spot, which is reproduced in fig. 9.
Fig. 9. — Chalk Mass between Cramer and Sherringham.
a b. Beds of shells 2-3 inches thick.
d. Stratified sands.
//. Background of contorted drift.
e. Contorted beds of sand.
e. TiU.
It was about 120 feet long

I judged it to be about 12 feet in its
thickest part, thinning out gradually northwards at its lower end,
where I measured it, to only 9 inches. This part I could reach with
my hammer, and found it to be solid compact chalk. The flints, as
will be seen on reference to the drawing, follow the form of the
mass, showing that it has been to some extent bent

but I could
discover no fractures. But the most remarkable fact I have to
record as bearing upon the mode of its transport is that, underlying
it, at a, was a bed of shells about 2 or 3 inches thick, consisting of
broken valves closely packed and crowded together, and above it was
another and similar bed b. The mass lay at about the angle dis-
played in the drawing. Where these shells occurred the boulder was
underlain by contorted beds of sand (c), and above by sands (d) rudely
stratified in the direction of the upper surface. In addition to those
I have described are larger masses of chalk marl. It is unnecessary
for me to describe the " boulders " in greater detail. Lyell, in his
paper in the Phil. Mag. 1840, shows also the lamination and folding
of the drift in contact with the masses conforming to their outline.
It must also be remembered that where the included masses do not
occur in the drift, as at the extreme ends of the section described, it
is much less disturbed and convoluted in its character.
Q.J.G.S. No. 150.