Volume 2

Principles of geology : being an inquiry how far the former changes of the earth's surface are referable to causes now in operation. / By Charles Lyell ...

  • Lyell, Charles, Sir, 1797-1875.
Date:
1834
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Principles of geology : being an inquiry how far the former changes of the earth's surface are referable to causes now in operation. / By Charles Lyell ... Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by King’s College London. The original may be consulted at King’s College London.

    14/474 (page 6)
    — Still more important are the changes which have taken place on the coast opposite the right arm of the Rhine, or the Yssel, where the ocean has burst through a large isthmus, and entered the inland lake Flevo, which, in ancient times, was, according to Pomponius Mela, formed by the overflowing of the Rhine over certain low lands. It appears that, in the time of Tacitus, there were several lakes in the present site of the Zuyder Zee, between Friesland and Holland. The successive inroads by which these, and a great part of the adjoining territory, were transformed into a great gulf, began about the commencement, and were completed towards the close of the thirteenth cen- tury. Alting gives the following relation of the occurrence, drawn from manuscript documents of contemporary inhabitants of the neighbouring pro- vinces. In the year 1205, the island now called Wieringen, to the south of the Texel, was still a part of the mainland, but during several high floods, of which the dates are given, ending in December, 1251, it was separated from the continent. By sub- sequent incursions, the sea consumed great parts of the rich and populous isthmus, a low tract which stretched on the north of Lake Flevo, between Staveren in Friesland, and Medemblick in Holland, till at length a breach was completed about the year 1282, and afterwards widened. Great destruction of land took place when the sea first broke in, and many towns were swept away ; but there was afterwards a reaction to a certain extent, large tracts at first submerged having been gradually redeemed. The new straits south of Staveren are more than half the width of those of Dover, but are very shallow, the greatest depth not exceeding two or three fathoms. 1 he new