LIVERPOOL GEOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION.

Field Meeting, May 14th, 1883.

Held at Monsal Dale and Bakewell. Conducted by Dr. C. RICKETTS, F.G.S. The following places were visited: The "Spar Mine" at Monsal Dale; Section of Toadstone at Cresbrook Mills; Sections of Upper Cherty Limestone and Toadstone; deposits of Tufa; Black Marble Quarries at Ashford; Chert Quarries at Bakewell.

Field Meeting June 2nd. 1883.

Held at Leasowe. Conducted by MR. T. MELLARD READE, C.E. F.G.S. The Post-Glacial deposits at Dove Point were examined (Vide Report.)

Ordinary Meeting, June 4th, 1883.

Held at the Free Library, the President, Mr. HENRY BRAMALL, M. Inst. C.E., in the Chair.

Mr. F. J. Lawrenson, was elected a Member.

Mr. W. R. Cooper, B.A., 11, Northumberland Terrace, Everton, was proposed as a Member.

DONATIONS.

66

"The Story of the Earth and Man" and " Fossil Men" by Dr. Dawson -presented by Mr. J. D, Howard; "The Cromer Forest Bed," by T. Mellard Reade, C.E., F.G.S. presented by the Author; Proceedings of the Liverpool Literary and Philosophical Society" 1881-82, from the Society.

The following Communication was read:

REPORT OF THE EXCURSION TO LEASOWE, (June 2nd, 1883,)

By W. H. MILES.

The party proceeded from Meols Station to Dove Point on the shore, under the guidance of Mr. T. MELLARD READE, (Vol. III.-Session 1882-83.-No. 9.)

C.E., F.G.S.- who stated that the beds to be seen at this point were similar to, but in some respects better developed than those to be observed on the opposite shore near the River Alt, in Lancashire.

Attention was first called to the æolian sand forming the newest shore deposit. At the base of this formation were stratified beds; the lowest, a soil bed resting on the Peat, was originally a land surface on which existed a Roman station. It is from this bed that most of the antiquities described in Hume's "Ancient Meols" have probably come. The coins

range from Roman through Saxon and Medieval to Modern times; whilst other objects found, chiefly ornaments or objects of personal use, are of equal if not of greater age. Above these stratified beds,-some of which may be tidal silt, while others are due to sand blown into slacks in which fresh water has accumulated from time to time,-is the blown sand of the dunes, which, cut into cliffs by the sea, and denuded by the wind, exhibits a rocky structure suggestive of some of the Triassic sandstones of the neighbourhood.

The group of beds already noticed rest immediately upon peat, the "Superior Peat and Forest-Bed." This deposit contains numerous stools or lower parts of the trunks of trees— Oak, Fir, and Birch,—mostly in the natural position they occupied when living, though one or two were to be seen lying prostrate. The tap roots or rootlets of these trees were noticed striking through into the silt below, and it was particularly noted that where two or three trees could be found close together, their roots were interlaced with each other, and could be traced ramifying in all directions.

Below this Peat Bed, a blue laminated clay or silt, of a stiff tenacious character, occurs. This Mr. Reade classes with "The Formby and Leasowe Marine Beds." It is an estuarine deposit containing numerous shells of Scrobicularia piperata, and also, in its lower portion, some sand and shore remainsit varies in depth according to locality.

Underneath the Blue Clay is found in some places an inferior Peat Bed, resting directly on the Boulder clay, A

portion of this deposit,-here thinned out very much,-was observed about two inches deep, and contained some rootlets striking through into the clay beneath, but to which plant they belonged was not determined.

It may not be out of place here to mention that the name "Dove Point," near where these deposits occur, is supposed to be derived from the Celtic word "Dhuv"- black, probably suggested by the dark appearance caused by the peat, and which would imply that the present condition of the shore has existed much the same since Celtic or early British times.

Mr. Reade explained that succeeding the Glacial Period in which the Boulder Clay was laid down under water, a period of elevation took place, the Boulder Clay became land, and was worn by subaerial denudation into an irregular surface. This is shewn by the fact of the Forest-Beds being found at various depths, ranging from 4 or 6 feet in some places to 60 feet in others; which would not be the case had they accumulated on an undenuded surface.

On this land surface, now elevated, vegetation flourished, giving rise to the lower or Inferior Peat Bed, and then another period of subsidence taking place, the land to a depth of 25 feet above the present mean sea level was submerged, and it was during this period of depression that the Blue Silt of the Formby and Leasowe Marine Beds was laid down by the sea.

Another period of elevation then succeeded,--in which the land stood relatively to the sea much higher than at present, Great Britain and Ireland probably forming part of the Continent of Europe,-and during which the Upper Forest-Bed already noticed was formed.

A partial submergence of the land, with its accompanying marine denudation since this last period, has resulted in the present configuration of the British isles, and locally has caused the formation of the blown sand and tidal silt deposits first noticed.

A careful examination of the trunks and rootlets exposed on the Leasowe shore, afforded conclusive proof that the re