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I.—On the Formation of the Chesil Bank, Dorset

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 May 2009

Henry William Bristow  and
William Whitaker
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Extract

We do not propose to enter into the questions of the source whence the pebbles of the Chesil Beach are derived, nor of the way in which they are heaped up; these and other like matters having been almost exhaustively treated by Mr. J. Coode, to whose paper we refer the reader for a detailed account of the bank. The subject with which we propose to deal is simply the cause of the formation pf a long shingle-bank, separated from the mainland by a strip of water. This has not been noticed at length by any writer, as far as we know, though three theories of the origin of the bank have been brought forward.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Geological Magazine , Volume 6 , Issue 64 , October 1869 , pp. 433 - 438
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1869

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References

page 433 note 1 Judging from the quaint map that accompanies this description, the Chesil bank must have been much the same in Drayton's time as now. However, all the nymphs that we saw were more or less clothed. The general appearance of the boast in question is shown in Plate XV., which is from a sketch made by Mr. Bristow twenty years ago; being a view of the Chesil Bank and the “Fleet” or “Backwater” looking westward from near Fleet House.

page 433 note 2 Proc. Inst. Civ. Eng., vol. xii., p. 520 (1853).Google Scholar

page 434 note 1 Geological Manual, Ed. 3, 8vo. Lond., 1833, p. 80.Google ScholarThe theory is repeated in the author's later work, the Geological Observer, 8vo. Lond. (1851), p. 65, and Ed. 2 (1853), p. 56.Google Scholar

page 434 note 2 Principles of Geology, vol. i. p. 281 (1830), 1st edition.Google Scholar

page 434 note 3 Proc. Inst. Civ. Eng., vol. xii. p. 542 (1853).Google Scholar

page 434 note 4 Principles of Geology, Ed. 10, vol. i. p. 534 (1867).Google Scholar

page 434 note 5 Rain and Rivers, Ed. 2, 8vo. Lond. (1866), pp. 119, 132.Google Scholar

page 435 note 1 We are aware that at the mouths of many rivers bars of shingle stretch a long way across from one side, sometimes indeed to such an extent as to turn the rivers along the shore (between the land and the shingle), in the direction of the prevailing set of the currents, for some distance. But these are not really analogous to the Chesil Bank, where the shingle-beach is far longer, and where there is no river emptying into the sea, but only a succession of very small streams. There are also cases of shingle-banks completely damming up streams, and with a marsh or expanse of fresh-water on the land side, as at Slapton Sands, South Devon, and Cuckmere, in Sussex.