200 THE GEOLOGY AND SCENERY OF THE CLUB'S VOYAGE
and thinks a fault unnecessary. For my own part I am inclined to
favour Mr. Dalton's explanation as the more probable one; for the
Tertiary rocks of Essex afford no evidence of being contorted any-
where, and, on the contrary, appear to be singularly free both from
contortions and from faults of any magnitude, such as abound in
mountain districts. It is, indeed, almost impossible to imagine the
existence of a contortion of this kind in strata so soft and of so late
a date as those of Essex. But a reversed fault may exist anywhere,
and a small one at Loam Pit Hill, Lewisham, in Woolwich Beds,
which I noted there three years ago, is figured in Whitaker's "Geology
of London," vol. ii., p. 333. As regards the fault at Wickham Bishop,
my reason for giving a diagram to illustrate its effects, instead of
referring the reader to Mr. Dalton's section, is that the latter, being
without shading, is not so intelligible to the non-geological eye as a
shaded drawing ; and the increased slope here given to the fault
also tends to make the result more obvious.
But the question of most interest for us at this moment is whether
the fault in question, or any others known to exist, have had any
noticeable influence on the scenery of this district. That faults may
have a very powerful influence on the scenery of a locality is evident
to all who have studied the geology of a place like Settle, in N.W.
Yorkshire, where massive limestones of great thickness have been
thrown against beds of a totally different kind. But in Essex, though
many faults doubtless exist of which we have no evidence, nothing is
known of faults of any great importance, nor is there anything in Essex
geology which can be accounted for only by their aid. Besides, the
Tertiary rocks, with the Glacial and other drifts, which form the
surface of the country are all alike soft, and give no indication of the
range of a faulted line such as we get when hard and massive rocks
are brought side by side with softer beds. It is obvious, indeed, here
in central Essex, that where the London Clay, uncovered by other
strata, forms the surface, we have gently undulating country, while a
gravel-covered area, whether at a high or low level, has a flattened
contour—flatter even than that of the districts covered by Boulder
Clay. But if we enquire what explanation can be given of the
unusual height of the plateau of Danbury on our left, and of the
ridge of Tiptree Heath on our right, what answer can be given ? The
Wickham Bishop fault does not appear to me to throw any light on
the matter. We have no evidence as to the direction in which it
ranges, nor does it appear to be of any great size. Nor do we know