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EROSION OF CLIFFS.
143
which stretch to the north of the Straits of Dover wniformly exhihit a
convex arrangement. The waves give back in sand and mud what they
have taken in rocks and boulders.*
We must not think that it is the force alone of the breakers that demolishes the cliffs along the shore. The sea would be almost powerless
against the hard rocks if, on approaching the shore, it was not charged
with all kinds of debris, blocks and pebbles, sand and shells—projectiles
which are hurled by every wave against the cliffs which oppose them.
■4 .
Fig. 58.—" Giants' Caldrons *' of Haelstolmen.
Using thus the stones that have fallen as so many battering-rams, the
billows roll them over the strand to the foot of the cliffs, dash them
against the- projecting points, and finally break off masses and reduce
them to sand. The sand itself, incessantly washed against the rocks,
wears away the most solid layers little by little, and thus continues the
work of destruction commenced by the shingle: it is in great part the
fragments of the promontory itself which serve to further its destruction. On all the rocky coasts of Scandinavia, Scotland, Ireland, and Brittany, the multitude of reefs that extend seaward for a great distance
from the shore are nothing else than the ancient foundations of the continent, which have been gradually razed by denudation to a level with the
Fig. 59.—Section of the " Giants' Caldrons," of Haelstolmen, taken along the line a b, in Fig. 5S.
water. From the top of any hill on the coasts of Paimpol, Morlaix, and
Abervrac'h, we may thus distinguish at low tide what was the primitive
form of the shore.
* Marchal, Annates des Ponts et Chausees, ler sem., p. 204.
| Title | The ocean, atmosphere, and life |
| Creator | Reclus, Elisée |
| Publisher | Harper |
| Place of Publication | New York |
| Date | 1873 |
| Language | eng |
| Type | Books/Pamphlets |
| Title | 00000160 |
| Type | Books/Pamphlets |
| Transcript | EROSION OF CLIFFS. 143 which stretch to the north of the Straits of Dover wniformly exhihit a convex arrangement. The waves give back in sand and mud what they have taken in rocks and boulders.* We must not think that it is the force alone of the breakers that demolishes the cliffs along the shore. The sea would be almost powerless against the hard rocks if, on approaching the shore, it was not charged with all kinds of debris, blocks and pebbles, sand and shells—projectiles which are hurled by every wave against the cliffs which oppose them. ■4 . Fig. 58.—" Giants' Caldrons *' of Haelstolmen. Using thus the stones that have fallen as so many battering-rams, the billows roll them over the strand to the foot of the cliffs, dash them against the- projecting points, and finally break off masses and reduce them to sand. The sand itself, incessantly washed against the rocks, wears away the most solid layers little by little, and thus continues the work of destruction commenced by the shingle: it is in great part the fragments of the promontory itself which serve to further its destruction. On all the rocky coasts of Scandinavia, Scotland, Ireland, and Brittany, the multitude of reefs that extend seaward for a great distance from the shore are nothing else than the ancient foundations of the continent, which have been gradually razed by denudation to a level with the Fig. 59.—Section of the " Giants' Caldrons," of Haelstolmen, taken along the line a b, in Fig. 5S. water. From the top of any hill on the coasts of Paimpol, Morlaix, and Abervrac'h, we may thus distinguish at low tide what was the primitive form of the shore. * Marchal, Annates des Ponts et Chausees, ler sem., p. 204. |
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