First Lessons in Geology

Whilst the greatest effort has been made to ensure the quality of this text, due to the historical nature of this content, in some rare cases there may be minor issues with legibility. Now if there has been a recent shower, and the stream is rather high and the water thick and turbid, should we take up a tumbler-full of the water and allow it to settle, we shall see that the coarser particles fall to the bottom first and form a layer or stratum of gravel; above it is next deposited a layer of sand, and finally when the water has become clear, all the sedi ment having fallen to the bottom, we shall find uppermost a stratum of very fine sand, so fine that we cannot easily distin guish the particles, and this is mud. The entire deposit is said to be, in geological language, a sedimentary deposit.