Note 430 — Chapter V

Staring, De Bodem van Nederland, i, p. 317. See also, Bergsöe, Reventov's Virksomhed, ii, p. 11.

"In the sand-hill ponds mentioned in the text, there is a vigorous growth of bog plants accompanied with the formation of peat, which goes on regularly as long as the dune sand does not drift. But if the surface of the dunes is broken, the sand blows into the ponds, covers the peat, and puts an end to its formation. When, in the course of time, marine currents cut away the coast, the dunes move landward and fill up the ponds, and thus are formed the remarkable strata of fossile peat called Martörv, which appears to be unknown to the geologists of other parts of Europe."—Forchhammer, in Leonhard und Bronn, 1841, p. 13.