Historically, "'Diluvium "'was a term in geology for superficial deposits formed by flood-like operations of water, and so contrasted with alluvium or alluvial deposits formed by slow and steady aqueous agencies.
32.
Using the European method of detailed recording of the stratigraphy of the superficial deposits ( the masonry structures themselves were not extensively cut into ) he was able to infer that both buildings had been shattered by a sudden disaster which marked the end of the Classic period occupation.
33.
After receiving his early education at William Topley ( 1841-1894 ) he communicated to the Geological Society of London in 1865 the now classic paper " On the superficial deposits of the Valley of the Medway, with remarks on the Denudation of the Weald ".
34.
:They may be formed in the Danian, but the Sarsens are apparently an example of silcrete, a superficial deposit resulting from weathering, so even if you could find the base of this, it wouldn't be a stratigraphic contact . talk ) 18 : 54, 24 February 2011 ( UTC)
35.
Superficial deposits cover much of the coastal plain; these include glacial deposits with large boulders, raised beaches, brick earth and gravels, marine and estuarine, and the interesting Lower chalk or Coombe rock, formerly known as Elephant Beds, a coarse rubble of chalk waste formed late in the Glacial period, well exposed in the cliff at Black Rock east of Brighton, where it rests on a raised beach.
36.
As a geologist in the mid-1820s he supported William Buckland's interpretation of certain superficial deposits, particularly loose rocks and gravel, as " diluvium " relating to worldwide floods, and in 1825 he published two papers identifying these as due to a " great irregular inundation " from the " waters of a general deluge ", uniformitarian geology Sedgwick talked of floods at various dates, then on 18 February 1831 when retiring from the Presidency of the Geological Society he recanted his former belief in Buckland's theory.
37.
At this time, most of what Sedgwick called " The English school of geologists " distinguished superficial deposits which were " diluvial ", showing " great irregular masses of sand, loam, and coarse gravel, containing through its mass rounded blocks sometimes of enormous magnitude " and supposedly caused by " some great irregular inundation ", from " alluvial " deposits of " comminuted gravel, silt, loam, and other materials " attributed to lesser events, the " propelling force " of rivers, or " successive partial inundations ".
