. . .Liassic and may then have been a superficial channel, but I hold this to be disproved in my chapter on the antiquity of the Mendip Caves. I am, accordingly, forced to the conclusion that the Cheddar gorge was during the whole of the Secondary period a roofed-in cavern. The only difficulty which arises is a doubt as to the ability of the stream to remove so vast a bulk of falling material as must be accounted for; but when we see the process in actual operation, as at Wookey Hole, it is only necessary to demand sufficient time, and the difficulty vanishes. That a time did arrive when the rate of collapse more than kept pace with the destructive energy of the stream is indicated by the rapid rise which takes place in the road through the gorge. This favours the cave theory as opposed to the superficial channel theory, inasmuch as a superficial channel would[19] probably have maintained a more nearly equal depth throughout.

That the portion of M. Martel's theory. . . Read More