TRANSACTIONS OF THE HULL GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY
Volume 5, page 41
WINTER SESSION, 1899 - 1900
LECTURES, PAPERS, Etc.
A "STRIATED PAVEIIENT" AT WITHERNSEA.
Last summer, near the pier at Withernsea, a feature of great interest to students of glacial geology was visible. This was a "striated pavement" such as has been found and described in south Lancashire and other places, but so far as I am aware has not previously been met with on the east coast. This striated pavement consisted of a large number of boulders, of all sizes, which were embedded in the Boulder-clay laid bare, near low water mark. These boulders were remarkable for being all on the same level, a very unusual feature in Boulder-clays, and in nearly every instance their longer axes were from north to south, and the upper surfaces of the boulders were polished and striated in the same direction. The boulders of Carboniferous limestone exhibited this feature particularly well. In a few instances the under surfaces also of the boulders were scored ant ice marked. These may have been turned over by the moving ice, or perhaps were dragged along under it for a short distance. Several of the boulders were perched on the top of small pinnacles of clay, presenting a peculiar appearance somewhat resembling the earth pillars of the Tyrol, on a very small scale. The boulders had evidently protected the clay immediately underneath, and as the surrounding clay was washed away by the action of the waves, the small stone-capped pinnacles were left behind.
This striated pavement, would seem to indicate that at this point the Purple Boulder-clay itself had been over-ridden by the ice, and planed and striated in the same way as a rock surface.
Thomas Sheppard, F.G.S., August, 1899.
