Raised Beaches

Raised Beaches are ledges on cliffs or near the sea, but at some height above its present level, covered with shingle and sand, often with sea-shells, and sometimes with sea-caves behind them. Their raised position is generally taken as evidence of the land having risen since their formation. On the coast of Chili this has been brought about at various successive periods by violent earthquake action; but elsewhere, as on the coast of Scotland and Norway, the movement seems to have been more gradual. Some geologists, however, explain such raised sea-beaches on the assumption that the land has remained rigid while the ice of the Glacial Period raised the sea-level by attraction. Raised beaches left by the shrinkage of evaporation surround the Great Salt Lake and the Dead Sea. [Parallel Roads.]