VIII.—The Erroneous Nomenclature of the Drift

Extract

The necessity for a reform in the present nomenclature of the Drift is apparent from the different papers on the subject, but more especially from the note appended to Mr. Bird's supplementary paper on the “Post-Pliocene Formations of the Isle of.Man” (Geol. Mag. May, 1875, p. 228). The author of this paper states that this glacial drift is “generally marine.” May I ask how a drift deposited in the sea can be called glacial? Undoubtedly, originally, it was ice-formed, but so also are all the drifts or the major portion of them, that at the present day are accumulating in the seas round our islands, in our lakes, and in our river valleys; let them be shingle, gravel, sand, silt, or a boulder drift. A normal glacial drift must be deposited direct from ice.