^m ^^Wav'-v ^H«^i iwwfe'as'^ ^^ririMM AAA'AnAb I mmmmmm n'rvAAA fffi/^AAAA/' l:2!l 'i^^nr^! BOUGHT WITH THB INCOME FROM THE SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND THE GIFT OP 1S91 INGIiNEERTKGtiBRARY 4:/m/0 /.^/^//^Z^. Cornell University Library QE 262.A6D13 1897 The geology of the country between Applb 3 1924 004 543 405 Cornell University Library The original of tiiis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924004543405 30 NEW SERIES. 102 S.W. OLD SERIES. MEMOIRS OF THE GEOLOGICiL SURVEY. ENGLAND AND WALES. THE GEOLOGY OF THE COUNTKY BETWEEN APPLEBY, ULLS WATER, AND HAWESWATER; (EXPLANATION OF QUARTER-SHEET 102 S.W„ NEW SERIES, SHEET 30.) J. E. DAKYNS, M.A., B. H. TIDDBMA5T, M,A., F.G.S , AND J, G. GOODCHILD, F.G.S. With PETROLOGICAL NOTES, ur the latb J. CLIFTON WARD, F.G.S.- ATO W. W. WATTS, M.A., F.G.S. FUBLISHBD BT OBDBK OP THB LOEDS COMMISSIOITEES OP HBR MAJBSIT'S TBBASTJBr. LONDON: PRINTED FOR HER MAJESTY'S STATIONERY OFFICE, BT ETBE AND SPOTTISWOODB, PETHTEES TO THE QTJEBS'8 MOST EXCBILEHT MAJESTT. And to be purchased, either diieotl? or through any Bookseller, fW)m £TB>E AHD SJOTTISWOODE, East HABDiiia Steeet, Pibet Stbbet, B.C. ; or JOHN HENZIEB & Co., 12, Hahoyeb Stbeet, EmKBUBSH, and 90, West Nile Sibeet, Giassow ; or HODGES, T'IGGIS, & Co., Limited, 104, Geaptos Steeet, Ikbus. 1897. Price One Shilling and Sixpence, LIST OF MAPS, SECTIONS, AND OTHER PUBLICATIONS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF ENGLAND AND WALES. The Maps are those of the Ordnance Survey.geologically eploured by the Geological Surveyor the united Kingdom, nnde| the Superintendence of Sir As.cs. Geikie, D.O.L., LL.D., P.K.S. Director General. (For Maps, details of Sections, and Memoirs issoed by the Geological Survey, tee " Catalogue.") ENGLAND AND WAlES.-CScaleone-inohtoaniile.) 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NE*, SE, 98 NW, SW, NE*,SB, 99 (NE*), (SB*), 101 SB, NB*, NW*, SWM02 NW, NE' SW*, SB*, 103*, 104*, 106NW*,SW*.(NE*),SBM06NW*, SW*,NE*, SE*, 107 SWt, NB*, SE*, 108 SW*,NE*, SE*, 1( NW*, SW,* SB*, 110(NW*), (NE*), SE*, SW*. New Series— 1. of Wightt, with Mainland* (330, 331, 344, 446), 8s. Bd. 232*, 249*, 329*, 330*, 331*, (332*), (333*) 334*, (841t -342t, 343t. GEIVEHAXi nXAP :— (Scale 4 miles to 1 inch.) ENGLAND AND WALES.— Sheetl (Title) ;-2 (Northumberland, &c.), 7s.; 3 (Index of Colours), 3s. 6d.; 4 (I. of Man 3s 6d. • 6 (Lake District), 12s. 6d. ; 6 (E. Yorkshire), 7s. ed. i 7 (N. Wales), 6s. 6tJ.; 8 (Central England, 16s. ; 9 (Bastei Counties), 12s.; 10 (S. Wales and N. Devon), 4s. 6(J. ; 11 (W. of England and S.E. Wales), 20«.; 12 (London Bas: and Weald), 10s. 6d.; 13 (Cornwall. &c.), 7s. 6d. ; 14 (S. Coast, Torquay to I. of Wight), 9s. ; 15 (S. Coast, Havant Hastings), 4s. 6d. New Series, printed in colours, sheets 6, 9, 12, and 16, 2s. 6d. each. HOKIZOBTTA.!, SECTION'S, 1 to 140, 146 to 148, England, price 5s. each. VERTXC.A.K SECTIOn-S, 1 to 81, England, price 3s. 6d. each. COMPX-ETED COVmrTIES OF ETfCXiAira ANX* -WAI.ES, on a Scale of one-inch to a Mile. Sheets -46 NW, NE, SWt, SEt. 62 NW, NB, Sheets marked * have Descriptive Memoirs .4NGLESEXt,-77 N, 78, BBDFOBDSHIBB, SW, SE. "BERKSHIEB,— 7*, 8t, 12*, 13*, 34», 45 SW*. BBBOKNOOKSHIEEt.— 36, 41, 43, 66 NW, SW, 57 NB, SE. BUCKINGHAMSHIEE,— 7*, 13*. 45* NE, SB. 46 NW. SWt, 52 SW. -CAEKMAETHBNSHlEBt, 37, 38, 40, 41,42 NW,SW, 66 SW, 57 SW, SB. ■OABRNAEVONSHIEBt,— 74 NW, 75, 76, 77 N, 78, 79 NW, SW. ■CAMBEIDGESHIREt.— 46 NE, 47*, 51*, 52 SE, 64*. •CARDIGANSHIBBt,— 40, 41, 66 NW, 67, 58, 59 SB, 60 SW. OHBSHIEE,-73 NE, NW, 79 NB, SE, 80, 81 NW, SW*, 88 SW. CORNWALLt,-24t, 26t, 26t. 29t, 30t, 31t, 82t, S 3St. ■CUMBBELAND,— 98 NW, SW*, 99, 101, 102 NE, NW, SW, 106 SB, SW, NW 107. DENBIGHt.— 73 NW, 74, 75 NE, 78 NE, SE, 79 NW, S W, SB, 80 SW. DKEBYSHIEEt,— 62 NE, 68 NW, 71 NW, SW, SE, 72 NE, SE,S1,82,88SW,SE. DBVONSHIBBt.-20t, 21t, 22t, 28t, 24t, 26t, 26t,& 27t. DOBSBTSHIEE,— 15, 16, 17, 18, 21, 22. Hor. Sect. 19, 20, 21, 22, 66. DUEHAM,-102 NE, SE, 108, 105 NB, SE, SW, 106 SB. ESSEX,— 1*. 2*, 47*. 48*. FLINTSHlEEt,-74 NE, 79. «LAMOEGANSHIEEt,-20, 36, 87, 41, & 42 SE, SW. GLOUOESTBESHIEE,— 19, 34*, 85, 43 NB, SW, SE, 44*. HAMPSHIEE,-8t, 9t, 10*, lit, 12*, 14, 15, 16. HEEEI'ORDSHIEB,— 42 NB, SB, 43, 58, 56 NB, SB. HBETEOBDSHIEE,— It NW, 7*, 46, 47*. HUNTINGDON,— 51 NW, 52 NW, NE, SW 64*, 65. XBNTt.— It SW & SE, 2t, St, 4*, 6t. lANCASHIBB,— 79 NB, 80 NW*, NE, 81 NW, 88 NW, SWt. 89, 90, 91, 92 SW, 98. E 93015. or Counties marked t are illustrated by General Memoirs, LEICESTEESHIEE,— 53 NB, 62 NE, 68*, 64*, 70*, 71 S' SW. LINCOLNSHIEBt,— 64*, 66*, 69, 70*, 83*, 84*, 85*, 86*. \ MERIONBTHSHIEEt.— 59 NB, SE, 60 NW, 74, 76 Nl SB. MIDDLESEXt,— It NW, SW, 7*, 8t. M0NM0UTHSHIEE,-«6, 36, 42 SB,NB, 48 SW. MONTGOMEEYSHIEEt,-56 NW, 69 NE, SE, 60, 74 ST SB. ^ NOEFOLKt,— 60 N W, NE*. 64*, 65*, 66*, 67», 68*, 69. NOETHAMPTONSHIEE,-64*, 45 NW, NB, 46 NW, NW, NE, SW, 63 NE, SW, & SE,6S SE, 64. NORTHUMBERLAND,— 102 NW, NE, 105, 106. 107. id 109, 110, NW, SW*, NE, SE. ,..,«. NOTTINGHAM,— 70*, 71* NB, SE, NW, 82 NB*, SE* SV 83, 86, 87* SW. OXFOEDSHIEE,— 7*, 13*, 34*, 44*, 45*, 58 SE*. S.W PBMBEOKESHIEBt,— 88, 89, 40, 41, 58. EADNOKSHIEE,— 42 NW, NB, 66, 60 SW, SE. EUTLANDSHIEEt,— this county is wholly inoludi within Sheet 64 SHEOPSHIEE,- 65 NW, NE, 56 NE, 60 NE. SE 61 i NW, 73, 74 NE, SE. ' SOMEESETSHIEE,— 18, 19, 20, 21, 27, 85. STABFORDSHlRE,-54 NW, 55 NB, 61 NE SE 2. NW, 71 SW, 72, 73 NB, SB, 81 SE, SW. SUFFOLK,— 47,* 48,* 49*, 60*, 51*, 66* SB* 67* SUEEEY,— 1 SWt, 6t, 7*, 8t, 12t. SUSSEX,— 4*, 5t, 6t, 8t, 9t, lit. WAEWlCKSHIEi!,— 44*, 45 NW, 58*, 64, 62 NE STI SE,63NW. SW, SE. WESTMORLAND, - 97 NW, S W*. 98 NW, NE* SB* 1 SB*, 102. • '\ W1LTSHIEE,-12*, 18*. 14, 15, 18, 19, 84*, and 36 W0ECESTEESHIEE.-4S NB, 44», 54, 55 62 SW SE SB. ' YOEKSHIEB,— 85-88, 91 NB, SE 92-97*,'>S f NB, SE, 103 SW. SB, 104*. E*, SE* 30 NEW SERIES. 102 S.W. OLD SERIES. MEMOIRS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. ENGLAND AND WALES. THK GEOLOGY OF THE COUNTRY BETWEEN APPLEBY, ULLS WATER, AND HAWESWATER; (EXPLANATION OF QUARTER-SHEET 102 S.W., NEW SERIES, SHEET 30.) J. E. DAKYNS, M.A., E. H. TIDDEMAN, M.A., F.G.S., *• AND J. G. GOODCHILD, F.G.S. With PETEOLOGICAL NOTES, by the late J. CLIFTON WARD, F.G.S., AND W. W. WATTS, M.A., F.G.S. PUBLISHED BY OKDER OF THE LORDS OOMMISSIOIfEES OP HER MAJESTY'S THEABDRY. LONDON: PRINTED FOR HER MAJESTY'S STATIONERY OFFICE, BT ETRE AND SPOTTISWOODE, , PBIHTEHS TO THE QUEEN'S MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY. And to be purchased, either directly or through any Bookseller, from ETEB AND SPOTTISWOODE, East Harding Street, Fleet Street, B.C. ; or JOHN MBNZIES & Co., 12, Hanover Street, Edinburgh, and 90, West Nile Steeet, Glasgow ; or HODGES, EIGGIS, & Co., Limited, 10*, Grapton Street, Dublin. 1897. Price One Shilling and Sixpence. Ill PREFACE. The original geological survey of the area represented in the map (Sheet 102 S.W.), to which the present Memoir is an explanation, was completed as far back as the year 1876, and was the work of Messrs. W. T. Aveline, T. McK. Hughes, J. E. Dakyns, R. H. Tiddeman, J. Clifton Ward, R. Russell, W. H, Dalton, J. G. Goodchild, G. H. Lightfoot, and E. J. Hebert, the mapping being under Mr, Aveline's superintendence. The map as it now appears was issued in 1893. Of the officers above named seven have retired from the service and one is dead. Some delay has consequently arisen in the preparation of a description of the map. The present Memoir has been arranged mainly by Mr. Dakyns and Mr. Goodchild ; the contributions of the different surveyors being indicated by their appended initials. The sheets of the county maps on the scale of six inches to a mile included in the present one-inch map 'are Cumberland 57, 58, 65, 66 ; and Westmorland 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 12, 13, 14, 15, 19, 20, 21, 22. The area embraced by the map extends from near the head of Ullswater on the west to Dufton and Appleby on the east. As it thus embraces the north-eastern part of the Lake District, including Haweswater, Bleawater, and Brothers Water, it possesses much geological interest in its copious development of the Borrowdale Volcanic Series. It contains also the northern edge of the Shap granite boss, aiid in its north-eastern corner a portion of the remarkably interesting inlier of the Silurian Series at the base of Cross Fell. Around the hills of Lower Silurian Rocks the Carboniferous system is well developed. Its red basement sandstones and conglomerates (Upper Old Red Sandstone) occupy a considerable area to the north of Ullswater, but southward they diminish to a thin series forming at the surface a narrow band which can be followed south-eastward lying unconformably on the older rocks E S3015. 500.— 2/97. Wt. 7161. a 2 IV and passing conformably upwards into the base of the Carboniferous Limestone. The Limestone-series is fully developed. To the north of it lies a broad belt of the Penrith Sandstone followed by the Triassic formations of the Vale of Eden. Some of the petrographical notes were left by the late Mr. Clifton Ward ; the rest have been supplied by Mr, W. W. Watts. ARCH, GEIKIE, Greological Survey Office, Director General. 28, Jermyn Street, London, S.W., 2l8t December 1896. CONTENTS. Page Pbepacb, by the Dlbbctor GtEnbral - - - - - iii Chapter I. — Introduction. Physical Features. Table of Forma- tions - - - - - - 1 Chapter II. — Lower Silurian. Area north of Ullswater. Skiddaw Slates. Borrowdale Volcanic Series. Intrusive Koclis - 5 Area south of Ullswater and west of the High Street range. Skiddaw Slates. Borrowdale Yoloanio Series : with notes on Microscopic Structure of Rocks. Intrusive Rocks : with notes on Microscopic Structure. Faults - - - 7 Chapter III. — Lower Silurian. Area between the Carboniferous rocks and the High Street range. Skiddaw Slates. Borrow- dale Volcanic Series - - - - - 13 Microscopic Structure of some of the rocks in the area east of the High Street range. Oontemporaneons Igneous Rooks. Intrusive Rocks - . ' . . - 23 Chapter IV. — Lower and Upper Silurian. Area around Knock. General Introduction. OomparaMve Table of Strata. Faults and Disturbances 29 Detailed Description of the Rocks : — Lower Silurian. Skiddaw Slates. Coniaton Limestone Series. Volcanic Rocks of Knock Pike - - - - 34 Upper Silurian. Graptolitio Mudstones. Stockdale Stales or Pale Slates (Tarannon Shales). Ooniston Flags - - 39 Igneous Rocks ...... 4,2 Chapter V. — Qarbonijerous : Area south-east of the River Eamont. " Upper Old Red Sand- stone " or Basement Beds of the Carboniferous. Lower Limestone Shales. -Carboniferous Limestone and Toredale Series - - - - - - 45 Area east of the River Lyvennet. Carboniferous Limestone Series. Millstone Grrit - 52 Area north of the River Eamont. Basement Conglomerate - 59 Area soath-east of the Kirk Rigg fault. Carboniferous Lime- stone Series - - - - - - 63 Area north of the Kirk Rigg fault. Carboniferous Limestone Series - - 66 Area near Milburn Grange. Carboniferous Limestone Series - 68 Chapter VI. — Permian and Trias. The Red Rocks op the Vale OP Eden - - - - 70 Chapter VII. — Glacial and Post-Glaoul Deposits : Glacial Deposits on the Silurian area east of High Street - 88 Glacial Deposits on the Carboniferous area south of the River Eamont, and west of the Lyvennet - - - 90 Stiperficial Deposits near Appleby between the Eden and Lyvennet 92 Glacial Deposit's of the Vale of Eden - - - . 9i Superficial deposits north of the River Eamont ... 98 Distribution of Boulders " ... 101 Chapter VIII. : Economics -.-.-- 104 Index .... - lOtj E 93015. b ILLUSTRATIONS. Page Fig. 1. Plan of Minette Dyke seen in the Pale Slates of Swindale Beck, Knock GiU - - - - - 43 „ 2. Section on the Midland Eailway at Hale Grange, New- biggin, Westmorland ..---- 86 The work contributed by the several Officers of the Geological Survey is as follows : — Dakyns, J. K., 13-23. 68-69, 88-90, 102, 103. Dalton, W. H., 45-52, 90-92. GooDCHUD, J. G., 29-62, 72, 74-87. Hebeet, B. J., 90. EussELL, E., 5, 6, 61-68, 70, 71, 83, 84, 88, 90-92, 95-102. TiDDEMAN, E. H., 62-59, 72-74, 92-96. Ward, J. 0., 5-12, 23-28, 59-61, 101. Watts, W. W., 6-12, 23-28, 44, 61. THE GEOLOGY OF THE COTJNTBT BETWEEN APPLEBY, ULLSWATBR, AND HAWESWATER. CHAPTER I. Inteoduotion. Physical Features, The country to be described in this memoir includes parts of Cumberland and Westmorland, and forms two distinct portions which correspond to differences of geological structure. The south-western portion consists of Lower Silurian rocks, mostly of volcanic origin, and is a mountainous district, which attains the extreme elevation of 2,663 feet above sea-level on High Street. This range is so called because it is traversed by a portion of the old Roman road from Ambleside to Carlisle. With the exception of a small triangular area in the extreme north-east, which is also somewhat mountainous, the remaining area, amounting to about two thirds of the whole, is occupied by beds of Carboniferous, Permian, and Triassic age, dipping gently to the north-east. This district, though it rises somewhat sharply, where it faces the Silurian mountains, to an extreme height of 1,315 feet in Crosby Ravensworth Fell on the west, is nowhere of a mountainous character; but consists I'ather of a series of elevated terraces, whose steep sides formed by the outcrop of harder beds face south-westward, and whose summits fall away gently with the dip towards the north-east. The geological structure of the country is tolerably simple on the whole. The mountains are composed of volcanic rocks of the Borrowdale Series striking E.N.E., and consisting of alternations of ash and breccia with a few beds of contemporaneous trap or lava. The volcanic rocks are nearly everywhere faulted against older beds of clay-slate known as the Skiddaw Slates, which occupy most of the lower slopes between the rugged mountains and the Carboniferous escarpment. The clay-slates contain several beds of ash or ashy grit interstratifind with them. The Carboniferous rocks lie unconformably on the Silurian, with a general north-west strike. The basement-bed is a red conglomerate of varying thickness, formerly grouped with the Old Red Sandstone. It is succeeded upwards by red shale and sandstones and then limestones, which pass up gradually into the overlying Carboniferous strata. These consist of a great series of alternating beds of limestone, sandstone, and shale. The Carboniferous rocks are themselves overlaid unconformably by a series of red sandstones and shales, the " Red Rocks " of the E 93015. A 2 PHYSICAL FEATURES. Vale of Eden, which have been classed partly as Permian and partly as Trias for the reasons given in the sequel. The Silurian rocks in the extreme north-eastern corner of the area are brought up by a fault, the most westerly of the three great Pennine Faults ; and they form part of the narrow strip of these rocks which runs along the foot of the Carboniferous escarp- ment of the Cross Fell range, from Fell Dykes south-east of Haton to a little north of Melmerby in Cumberland, a distance of about fifteen miles. This Silurian strip is rendered prominent even at a distance by the three steep conical hills known as Murton, Dufton, and Knock Pikes. Knock Pike, which is the only one that occurs in the area under description, reaches a height of 1,306 feet above sea-level. The subdivisions of the Carboniferous rocks are given in the annexed Table of Strata. The red marl and red conglomerate at the base, correspond to the beds classed as Lower Limestone- .fihale and Basement Conglomerate in the Explanation of the -adjoining area on the south.* The Shap Limestone (M) is the Eavenstonedale Limestone of that memoir, much attenuated in thickness. The sandstone, shale, and limestone, immediately above it are the Ash Fell Beds. The two limestones, L and K, together make up the thick limestone described as equivalent to the Melmerby Scar Limestone of the Pennine range. Thus the overlying limestone-shale series will correspond more or less with that generally known as the Yoredale Series ; but any attempt to correlate individual beds with well-known members of that series must from lack of evidence be often very uncertain. The I'ocks classed as Permian and Trias consist broadly of the : following subdivisions : the lowest bed about Appleby is a breccia or conglomerate locally known as Brockram, succeeded upwards "by other beds of sandstone and brockram: but in the north- western part of the Permian area, about Penrith, the lowest bed exposed is a thick mass of highly false-bedded sandstone, known as the Penrith Sandstone. These lower beds are succeeded by a set of clays and red marls containing gypsum and plant-remains. I'he marls become sandy towards the top, and pass up gradually into the higliest bed, which is an evenly-bedded red sandstone known as the St. Bees Sandstone from the fact that St. Bees Head is formed by this rock. The beds immediately above the Penrith Sandstone contain magnesian limestone in some parts of the country, and are of Permian age. As however the Lower Lias occurs near Carlisle, and the St. Bees Sandstone is very like beds elsewhere classed as Trias, it has been decided to adopt Sedg- wick's classification, as far as possible, and to take the Magnesian Limestone or, in default of it, the Plant Beds, as the top of the Permian ; and, when both those obscure and insignificant beds fail us, to draw the line at the top of the Penrith Sandstone. * Geology of Kendal, &c., by W. T. Aveline and T. McK. Hughes. Ed. 2. Heviscd by A. Strahau. 1888. TABLE OF FORMATIONS. 3 Besides the above-mentioned rocks, there are also various intrusive masses, bosses and dykes, of igneous origin, seldom of any great extent, which will be described in their proper places. The chief of these igneous rocks is the Shap Granite, a small part of which occurs in this area. With the exception of a small tract in the south, which drains into the Lune, and of another in the north, near Penruddock, which di'aius into the Petterill, the many streams flow, directly or indirectly, into the Eden. The Silurian tract in the south-west forms part of the far- famed Lake Country. It includes the greater part of Ullswater, the wild and beautiful Hawes Water, and the mountain tarns known as Angle Tarn, Hayes Water, and Blep, Water, the last being one of the finest tarns in the Lake Country. Ullsjvater separates a small tract of Silurian rocks on the north from the main mass lying to the south of that lake. This again is clearly divided into an east and west portion by the range of High Street, which maintains a height of over 2,000 feet for nearly six miles in this area. East of this range, the Silurian country drains into the Kiver Lowther, which rises in Wet Sleddale just west of the Shap. Granite. West of High Streer. the drainage is into Ullswater and the River Eamont which flows out of it. The rivers Lowther and Eamont unite at Brougham Castle, the Roman Brovacum, near Penrith, and together flow into the Eden four and a half miles east of Penrith. Table of Formations. PosT-GliACiAL. Peat, Alluvium, and River Gravels. Glacial. Sand and Gravel, Morainic Detritus, and Boulder Clay or Till. 'St. Bees Sandstone. Red Marls with Gypsum. fPlant Beds with Gypsum and Dolomite. rUpper Sandstone ~ Permian -{ Penrith Sand- _ J Upper Brockram I stone ~ I Middle Sandstone [_ • [_Lovver Brockram Uppee Caebonifeeous. Millstone Grit. f Sandstone and shale. Feet. A. Limestone of Bewley Castle. Sandstone and shale. B. Limestone of Kings Meaburn_f Main \ and Great Strickland ~" {_ Limestone J Sandstone and shale, 0. Limestone ^ j Foue-fatHOm ^ \_ Limestone j Sandstone %a^ sbale^ Teias-Tj »of Appleby. 120 D. Limestone of Grayber. Sandstone and shale. A 2 TABLE OF FORMATIONS. Feet. M 12; o H 03 a o a o « o E. G. H. Limestone of Brackenslack. 1 Lowther Sandstone and shale. f Limestone Limestone of Maulds Meaburn Edge J J Sandstone and shale. Limestone of Johnny Hall's _ f Keagill Trees. ~ \_ Limestone Sandstone and shale with coal. Limestone of Little I -< = { ={ SiMONSTONE Limestone } 30 55 35 Hardra Scar Limestone } 30 K. Strickland. Sandstone and shale. Limestone of Maukls Meabu»n. Sandstone and shale. Limestone . _ . . . Sandstone and shale. Limestone of Askam _ - . . Sandstone and shale with occasionally a thin limestone. Limestone of Knipe Scar (fossils, chiefly brachiopods, abundant) ----- Sandstone, shale, and lime-_ f The Ash 1 stone. " \ Fell Beds j Limestone of Shap, with C Eavenstone- 1 sandy beds and quartz = -< DALE |> pebbles. \_ Limestone J Red marl and shale. Basement Beds : Red conglomerate (" Upper Old Red Sandstone") - - - - - rConiston Flags. Upper Silurian< Stockdale Shales or Pale Slates. [_Graptolitic Mudstones. 'Bala and Coniston Limestone Series. Borrowdale Volcanic Rocks and Milburn Group. _Skiddaw Slates. M. 180 30 100 110 120 50 Lower Silurian AND Cambrian. Intrusive Igneous^ Rooks. "Lamprophyres. Dolerite. Diorite. Felsite. Micro -granite. Granite. Note. — The thicknesses given abore were estimated by Mr, Ruesell from; a horizontal section drawn in a north-east and south-west direction through the village of Newtown. OHAPTEE II LOWER SILURIAN. Area North of Ullswater. The area north of Ullswater and the River Eamont is divided into three parts, geologically. A Lower ' Silurian tract in the south, an area of Basement Conglomerate next, and Carboniferous Limestone bordering the district on the north. The Lower Silurian is taken to include both Skiddaw Slates (which may in part be Cambrian) and the rocks of the Borrowdale Volcanic Series. In this chapter we describe the Lower Silurian rocks alone. Skiddaw Slates. The area over which the Skiddaw Slates occur north of Ullswater is but part of the like tract which extends upon the south and south- east side of the water. The ground seldom rises more than 400 feet above the lake, and in very few places as much. The slates, which are only exposed in the courses of some of the streams, are black and much cleaved. In Pencilmill Beck, Watermillook Com- mon, the best section is seen ; here the cleavage is often nearly vertical, and close cross-join tage gives rise, with the cleavage, to fracture in a pencil form, and a mill for the working of slate-pencils has been established, but is now in disuse. This Skiddaw Slate area is almost uniformly drift-covered, generally forming a striking contrast to the rougher, less cultivated, and somewhat craggy ground occupied by rocks of the Volcanic Series. Nothing can be said about the dip or strike of these black slates, and on ^11 sides they appear to be faulted against the rocks of the Volcanic Series or the Conglomerate. J. C. W. The small district around Cocklakes Hill where Skiddaw Slate is shown on the map, does not admit of much description inasmuch as the limit of its extension eastwards is uncertain. Immediately west of our present area, Skiddaw Slate exists in the cutting for the Cockermouth, Keswick, and Penrith Railway, on the north side of Tarn Moss and for some distance along the Penrith road. That this rock extends farther south has been proved by the bore-holes which were put down by the Moss Bay Iron and Steel Co., Lim., in the fields south of Troutbeck Station. Here Skiddaw Slate was found under the drift, at depths varying from 18 to 24 feet. Farther investigations by the same Company proved Skiddaw Slate under the Red Conglomerate in the field at the south end of the occupation road leading to Great Mell Fell and situated just under the Wood. Mainly in consequence of their known occurrence in such close proximity to this portion of country, but also on such general grounds as the thorough 6 LOWER SILURIAN. examination of the surface-indications furnished, the Lower Silurian rocks have been extended eastwards in the manner indicated on the map. On the south and east the boundary bet\^'een the Skiddaw Slate and Eed Conglomerate could not be ascertained with accuracy, but on the north the line of the Springfield fault north of Swinescales Beck is more definite. BORROWDALE VoLCANIC SeRIES. The rocks of this series occur chiefly on, and both north and south of, Gowbarrow Fell (see Hor. Sect., sheet 118), but also occur in curiously-faulted rectangular areas among the Skiddaw Slates, at Hagg Wood, Birk Crag, and The Knott. These areas stand up as rather craggy heights above the surrounding and low ground of Skiddaw Slate, and beautiful views of the Lake are obtained from thsm, especially from Birk Crag, 1,045 feet in height. Verv few undoubted lava-beds can be detected, the best marked being a small outlier on Birk Crag, capped by breccia and cleaved ash {see Hor. Sect, sheet 119). Its character is that of a compact and blue crystalline rock. [The specimen (E. 55)* from this locality is like the other hypersthene-augite-andesites (or -basalts) to be shortly described. In addition however to the larger porphyritic plagioclase felspars which are aggregated into groups together with bastite pseudo- morphs after hypersthene, there is a set of smaller felspar prisms, embedded in a ground made up of felspar microlites and gi-ains with chlorite.— W. W. W.] _ ' Upon the Knott there is, amongst the unmistakeable ash, some very trap-like rock, but this appears to be ash in a state of great alteration ; at all events it is imtraceable as a bed. [A specimen (E. 179) from the Knott is an ash containing at least one marked andesite fragment, in which are sharp por- phyritic plagioclase crystals like those which, slightly broken, are scattered through the bulk of the rock. There are also large pseudomorphs, probably after hypersthene, much shattered and injected with quartz mosaic, calcite, and chlorite. The matrix consists of minute felspar microlites and grains, with iron-ore dust. — W. W. W.] The general character of the ash over the whole area under discussion is that of a crumbling, felspathic, oftentimes purplish, and roughly cleaved rock, showing extensive alteration in parts, but with the fragmentary character clearly seen in otherw«. Occasionally the highly altered ash bears garnets, and is very compact, blue, and trap-like, as just above Woodhouse and about Priest's Crag. [The rock of Priest's Crag (E. 168) is a hypersthene-augite- andesite. The porphyritic plagioclase felspar is fresh and zoned, * The reference-numbers are those attached to the rock-slides in the Petro- graphical Department of the Geological Survey Office, London. SKIDDAW SLATES. t the bands running parallel to the outlines of the crystals, which are therefore not clastic ; no augite is left, hut pseudomorphs of oalcite probably represent it ; there are also bastite replacements of hypersthene. These constituents, together with iron-ores, are embedded in a minute microlithic matrix consisting of striated felspars set in much chlorite. — W. W. W.] Those dips which are seen along the line of junction with the Skiddaw Slates clearly show the faulted character of the junction. The cleavage in the ash dips generally to the south-east at a high angle— 75° to 85°. The ash forming the narrow band upon the north side of the long east-and-west fault is of a very crumbling and felspathic character, as is seen a little to the south-west of Bennethead. The extension of this band in an easterly direction is somewhat uncertain. Inteusive Eocks. Among the Lower Silurian rocks the only case of intrusion seems to be at Airy (Aira) Point, just where Airy Beck empties itself into Ullswater. Here a mass of diorite occurs in the midst of the Skiddaw Slate, and is sometimes used for road-metal. [Judging by the other rocks intrusive into the Skiddaw Slate of the area, this rock is not unlikely to be a diabase, probably containing uralite ; unfortunately no specimen has been preserved. — W. W. W.] Area South of Ullswater and West of the High Street Range: This area includes two tracts of Skiddaw Slate, bordering the lake, and a highly mountainous country made up of rocks of the Volcanic Series. Skiddaw Slates. This formation occurs over a triangular area three miles in length, upon the east side of Ullswater, from Howtown to Pooley Bridge; and over a small and somewhat rectangular area immediately south-west of Sandwick. Area between Howtown and Pooley Bridge. — The character of the ground is undulating, but low. The slate is mostly hidden by a covering of Drift, but may be seen in some of the stream courses, its appearance being that of an ordinary clay-slate. Sandwick Area. — The south-eastern boundary of this small tract is believed to be unfaulted, and is well marked by the coming on of marshy ground. The south-western boundary is clearly a fault, directly crossing the strike of the Volcanic rocks immediately to the west. The slate, though generally covered by Drift, is well seen in the small beck which joins Scalehow Beck, and beside a small 8 LOWER SILURIAN. plantation, in the bed of the stream-, there occurs a grey-blue, dark-spotted rock, weathering like greenstone, exposed for a few, feet in the midst of the slate. A microscopic examination of this petrologically doubtful rock reveals the following structure. A great deal of diffused chioritic matter in a felsitic-looking base ; quartz grains rather abundant; pyrites; vesicles filled with chlorite. This rock may be an unaltered volcanic bed mixed with sedimentary matter, or it may represent a small intrusion of diabase. [E. 94. A dyke in the Skiddaw Slate S.E, of Scale How Wood (six-inch map, 12 W.E.) is a much decomposed diabase still showing traces of its large felspars, while the augites and amygdaloids are now replaced by quartz, which is often idiomorphic, by calcite, and chlorite.— W. W. W.] BOREOWDALE VOLCANIC SeEIE3. The rocks of this series occur under the following forms : — 1. Contemporaneous Traps (Lavas). 2. Volcanic ashes and breccias. 3. Cleaved ashes and breccias. 4. Highly-metamorphosed Volcanic rocks. A conformable passage upwards from the Skiddaw Slate to the Volcanic Series may be seen in Swarth Beck, one mile N.E, of Howtown. 1. Contemporaneous Traps (^Lavas), In the tract north of Hayeswater Gill beds of lava are not very numerous. They may however be well studied on Hallin Fell, near Howtown ; at various points on the Beda Fell ridge ; and on Place and Birk Fells. Representative specimens taken from each of these localities may be thus described. Lithologically, they consist of a compact greenish-blue base, with somewhat of a conchoidal fracture and containing small porphyritically-embedded crystals. Microscopically, the base is crystalline, though much obscured by chioritic matter ; it does not however display such a minutely felspar-crystaUine structure as is the case among many of the lavas of the district, for there are, besides the needles, many medium-sized felspar crystals, and some large ones, for the most part certainly of plagioclase. No augite is found in an unaltered condition. Magnetite, and black patches which may be limonite, occur. [Several specimens from these localities have been cut and they show that there is considerable variety in the lavas. Some are undoubted andesites, while others are too basic to be placed unre- servedly in this division, and belong to the division called by Messrs. Harker and Marr* basalts without olivine, and by some other geologists, basic andesites. To the former class of augite- andesites belong the rocks of Hallin Fell (E. 11) and Hound How, Place Fell (E. 54). These rocks have large porphyritic crystals of plagioclase generally too decomposed for precise * Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc, vol. xlix. (1893) p. 359. BOREOWDALE VOLCANIC SERIES. 9 identification, and aggregated into groups (glomeroporphyritic structure), augite represented by chloritic pseudomorphs, and a second generation of lath-shaped plagioolase generally fresh and graduating down to the felspar microlites of the ground- mass. Hypersthene appears to be absent from this set, but the shape of the pseudomorphs does not allow a positive statement on this point, while prisms of apatite are fairly abundant. The other set, which must be called hypersthene-augite-andesites or -basalts, is represented by specimen E'. 59 from Haig Crag, and E, 20 from Beda Fell. These showporphyritic aggregates consisting of much plagioclase felspar with pseudomorphs after hj'persthene and, possibly, augite, embedded in a matrix, usually microlitliic; but occasionally cryptocrystalline with few microlites, of the same character as that of the augite-andesites, but sometimes without any trace of the second generation of felspars mentioned above. Pyrites and ilmenite are present in these rocks. — W. W, W.] These lavas are generally variable in thickness, sometimes rapidly dying away. A fine series of lavas alternating with volcanic ash may be studied on either side of Threshthwaite Cove. The best course to take in studying these in the field is to ascend Hartsop Dod (to the east of Brothers Water), follow the horse-shoe-like ridge in a southerly direction as far as Threshthwaite Mouth, and then return northwards along Gray Crag, down to the village of Low Hartsop. In this way all the various beds will be crossed. As is so frequently the case, the individual, lava- flows cannot be traced continuously for any long distance. Four samples of these lava-beds have been sliced and the following results obtained : — Lava b. (E. 10). W. of Threshthwaite Cove. Lithological. — Compact base with small reddish felspar crystals, and vesicles filled with calcite. Microscopical, — The felspar-crystalline base much obscured by chloritic matter. Larger crystals of felspar a great deal altered. No unaltered augite. Magnetite. Vesicles filled with calcite. Lava c. b. e. (E. 4 and 8). W. of Threshthwaite Cove. Lithological. — Finely-granular base with small disseminated crystals^ and vesicles. Microscopical. — Base of minute felspar-needles with porphyri- tically-embedded crystals of orthoclase and plagioclase. A great deal of chlorite or viridite and no distinct or unaltered augite. Magnetite. Lava f. (?E 1). W. of Threshthwaite Cove. Lithological. — Somewhat compact base with disseminated pink felspar crystals, and iron-pyrites. Microscopical. — Crystalline base made up of somewhat broader felspar-prisms than usual, some of which seem to be orthoclase. 10 LOWER SILURTAN. The intermediate augite (or hornblende ?) grains seem to have been converted largely into epidote (?). Magnetite rather scarce. Vesicles edged with quartz and filled with chlorite. In one pari these vesicles are all crowded together and the intermediate matter has a minutely crystalline structure. [Four lavas from N.E. of Threshthwaite Cove (E. 1, 4, 8, 10), present most of the characters already described in the augite- andesites. There are three generations of felspar present, the first mostly occurring in single individuals and but rarely aggregated into groups ; there is little doubt but that augite was originally present and hypersthen* absent ; minute iron-ore dust, crystals of apatite, and a good deal of epidote are present in the specimens. The slide E. 1 apparently contains the edge of a diabase intrusion. E. 69 from east of Threshthwaite Cove has a finer base and its augite pseudomorphs are grouped with the porphyritic felspars. Apatites and large sphenes are present in this rock. — W. W. W.] The rock forming the Pikes, near Angle Tarn, is a compact tabular lava, dipping at a very high angle, 2. Volcanic Ashes and Breccias. North-east of Howtown a great thickness of breccia and coarse ash is exposed dipping north-eastwards at angles of from 30° to 40°. The thick breccias forming the upper part of Birk Fell are probably somewhat higher in the series. Winter Crag, Beda Fell, is a gootl example of the way in which coarse ash and breccia more readily form rough crags than do the finer varieties of ash or even some of the traps. A peculiar breccia occurs S.E. of Birk Fell Slack ; the fragments are embedded in a pink felspathic paste weathering brown. The whole is suggestive of tuff or volcanic mud and breccia, since the paste has every appearance of having been soft at one time. Upon the High Street range much of the felspathic ash is intensely decoinposed, and hence gives rise to a crumbling grass- growing soil. Over the greater part of the area north of Hayeswater Grill, the dip of the various ashy deposits is south-easterly, and on Birk Fell the amount averages 40° for a considerable distance. Half-a-mile east of Pooley Bridge is How Hill, formed of volcanic rocks. It would seem, from the shape of the ground, to be a small outlier, upon Skiddaw Slate, and to be faulted on the east. 3. Cleaved Ashes and Breccias. In many parts the ashes, and sometimes even the breccias, where not extensively metamorphosed, are highly cleaved and good workable slates occasionally occur, as in Caudale and upon Place Fell. The strike of the cleavage is very constant, and generally about north-east. Usually the cleavage-planes stand nearly vertical. INTEUSIVE ROCKS. 11 4, Highly-Metamorphosed Volcanic Rocks. Besides that usual amount of metamorphism to which all the Volcanic rocks are subject, there frequently occur tracts over which metamorphic action has worked such a change as often to eflFace the original character of the rocks. Thus ashy beds become almost indistinguishable from those of lava or from trap of an intrusive nature. The district around Angle Tarn is an example, for here it is almost impossible to distinguish between ash and lava. At Rampsgill Head the rocks have quite a por- phyritio appearance, and indeed it is very possible that here there may be some intrusions, yet a careful search will generally reveal traces of fragmentary structure upon weathered surfaces, even where the interior of the rock ia most highly crystalline. [Two rocks (E. 71 and 72) from Rampsgill Head and one (E. 60) from N. of Rampsgill Head belong to the same type as the Threshthwaite augite-andesites. There are usually aggregates of porphyritic plagioclase, no hypersthene, pseudoniorphs of augite, not in great plenty, with iron-ore dust, and secondary calcite and epidote embedded in a matrix of fine felspar microlites. In E. 60 the felspars are clear and fresh-looking but contain much white mica. — W. W. W.] Again, the cliff due north-east of Low Hartsop, is formed for the most part of breccia, but this breccia is so compact and trap- like that the fragments are likely to be at first overlooked*. Intensive Rocks. On Brock Orags, to the north of Hayeswater Gill, a curious patch' of intrusive rock occurs, which on its northern side is likely to be -mistaken for a contemporaneous bed, while its southern side clearly displays considerable change of level relatively to the general bedding around. Two specimens of this rock have been microscopically examined, with the following result : — Lithological. — Compact blue base with small scattered crystals. Microscopical. — Felspar-crystalline base but very chloritic. Embedded crystals of fekpar, much altered; augite, and magnetite. The rock in fact would seem to be an altered dolerite, or one nearly allied to that class, and may be conveniently termed a diabase. [The specimen E. 82 from Brock Crags is a very characteristic . hypersthene-augite-andesite or -basalt. The matrix consists of minute felspar microlites, often mere skeletons, embedded in a brownish glass, which is only very slightly altered and still isotropic. There are unmistakeable pseudomorphs of hypersthene, well-preserved crystals of plagioclase, occasionally aggregated, and also separate aggregates consisting solely of fresh augite, allotriomorphic internally but idiomorphic externally. Iron- ores and secondary quartz occur. E. 78, from the same locality, is probably the same rock very much altered. — W. W. W.] 12 LOWER SILURIAN. Another case of a somewhat similar diabaise occurs half-a-mile south of the summit of Hartsop Dod, and its affinity with the neighbouring lava-flows should be noted. Two specimens of this rock hare also been sliced : — Lithological. — Dark fine-grained matrix with augite crystals and vesicles. Microscopical. — Crystalline base made up of small felspar needles, with mingled chloritic matter. Scattered augite crystals of some size. Magnetite and black bars (pyrites?). Vesicles filled with chlorite. [Specimens E. 80 and E. 81 from Caudale Moor to which this description probably applies, are remarkable rocks. The aggre- gates of porpbyritic augite are quite fresh;' they are set in a ground consisting of short, stumpy, felspar prisms associated with minute granular augites. There are large pseudomorphs in chlorite, some of whose shapes are suggestive of olivine, while others are more like felspar or hypersthene. Probably rhey represent the latter, as there are a few granular aggregates which may have replaced felspar. But they are penetrated by an enormous number of needles of actinolite set in at least three directions, so that all those in one direction extinguish simul- taneously. The ground-mass is obscure. The rock is likely to have been a hypersthene-basalt with little porpbyritic felspar. In this place should be mentioned the rock E. 93 mapped as an intrusion on Swarth JBeck (7 S.W.). It is an andesite, apparently without porpbyritic augite, but containing three generations of felspar, the earliest being large and aggregated into groups of which the constitutents are idiomorphic externally only, the second are lath-shaped, clear, and smaller, and the third, minute microlites associated with the epidote and calcite of the base. — W. W. W.] Faults. Some of the faults have been already incidentally mentioned. The smaller ones require no further explanation than the map itself offers. The fault shown as bounding the large triangular Skiddaw Slate area on the south-east, is rendered necessary by the manner in which, north-eastwards from Swarth Beck the various beds of Volcanic Series strike full against the line of junction of the two formation. The straight Vale of Fuesdale is traversed by a north and south fault. The fault ranging north-west from Beda Fell and just east of Long Crag throws down on the north-west, and as has been already noticed, brings at one part of its course the Skiddaw Slates against the Volcanic rocks. J. C. W. 13 CHAPTEE III. LOWER SILURIAN. Area between the Carboniferous RocTcs and the High Street Range. -This district comprises the Silurian area east of the crest of the High Street range ; and extends from the Carboniferous escarp- ment of Moor Divock in the north to the granite area of Wastdale Crag in the south. It includes an irregular tract of Skiddaw Slate on the south-west side of the River Lowther, a large tract of the Volcanic Series, and a small area of Shap Granite. Skiddaw Slates. The most northerly exposure of this formation is at Butterwick : the rock is seen in Gill Beck, between Gill Head and Butter- wick, and at intervals on the hillside as far as Low Roughill (pronounced Ruffle) westward ; and southward as far as Pow Beck : the dip is not seen, but the neighbouring volcanic rocks are striking against the Skiddaw Slates so that these last seem to occupy a triangular area between Butterwick, Roughill, and Bampton, bounded by two faults and the alluvium of the Lowther. The Skiddaw Slate is again seen immediately south of Bampton. Here for a short space there may be a base to the volcanic rocks : but near HungerhUl the latter are thrown down by a fault to Walmgatefoot, whence the base runs above Walmgate, where Skiddaw Slate is seen, and below the dwelling known as Eastward, up to the fault passing near Thornthwaite Hall. The Skiddaw Slate is seen along the hillside and in the banks of Hawes Water Beck, and appears to pass up gradually into the volcanic rocks, so that it is somewhat uncertain where the base of the latter should be drawn. On the east side of Hawes Water Beck, the Skiddaw Slate is seen in several places on the hillside between that beck and Swindale, in which dale also it is found frequently exposed on both sides of the valley as well as in the beck nearly as far south as Swindale Foot. In this area ambiguous beds of gritty ash or ashy grits are found interstratified with the ordinary shaly Skiddaw Slate. One of these beds forms a prominent ridge of rock between Toathmain and Rawhead, traversed by thin veins suggestive of copper : the dip could not be made out : but the ridge, which probably runs along the strike, trends nearly north and south to a part of the beck wiiere interstratifications of calcareous and gritty ashes with Skiddaw Slate are well seen. Here however the beds have a different strike, varying from E.S,E. to S.S.E., and dipping at angles of from 55" S. W. to vertical or even inverted beds. Thfr general strike of the beds at this point would carry them up to an exposure of similar gritty ash, containing fragments of 14 LOWER SILURIAN. Skiddaw Slate, which is seen just within the inclosures near Eayside (pronounced Eacet) Gill. Ashy beds are also seen in the Skiddaw Slate in this gill near the footpath from Rayside to Tailbert Head. Similar ash is seen with thin interbeds of slate dipping N. by W. at 65° at the bend of Swindale Beck below the old Slate Pencil Mill. The road up Swindale Beck passes close by this old mill: and in the adjoining quarry there is a very good section of ordinary Skiddaw Slate containing bands of nodules, by means of which the beds are found to be dipping at 85° to the S.E. : higher up however we have discordant dips, probably due to a prolongation of the Thornthwaite Hall fault. The Skiddaw Slate of Swindale is certainly faulted against the volcanic rocks on the west ; because the latter, which here consist of compact blue trap interstratified with beds of ash, strike directly against the Skiddaw Slate, and end abruptly in a steep craggy bank along the foot oF which water breaks out at intervals for the distance of nearly a mile. On the east side of the dale the faulted nature of the boundary is not so unmistakable ; but the general straightness of the line and an apparent discrepancy in the strike of the two sets of rocks indicate here, too, a probably faulted junction. The volcanic rocks on this side are fine massive ash with some trap -like portions : they are dipping at angles of 28° to 45°, towards E. and S.E. : and are apparently regularly overlaid by interstratifications of Skiddaw Slate and ash ; but at Tailbert where these beds are seen there is much disturbance. From Tailbert downwards the whole length of Rayside Grill, as far as the Rayside and Tailbert footpath mentioned above, is occupied by ordinary Skiddaw Slate, dipping at high angles with a general N.N.E. strike, and witbout any mixture of volcanic material ; for the bosses of igneous rock, which project through the slaty ground W. by N. of Tailbert are of a character generally indicative of intrusive rocks. Below the junction of Rayside Gill with Swindale Beck, the latter stream is occupied by Skiddaw Slate in beds, vertical, or highly inclined to the east or west as the case may be. Between Goodcroft and Fairy Crag bridge a small miass of beautiful quartz-felsite interrupts the Skiddaw Slate for a space : on the east side of this intrusion the Skiddaw Slate is found occupying the rest of the beck with a steady strike and well- marked dips ranging from 45° to 75° W.S.W. Along the course of the River Lowther, above its junction with Swindale Beck, we have an ascending series of beds, persistently striking W.S.W. on the whole, and consisting of Skiddaw Slate and gritty ash nearly up to Keld. This series we will now describe in order, going up stream. The lowest section is in Skiddaw Slate just below Rosgill Hall Wood. The beds in the stream are dipping at 35° to the S.E. ; but at the edge of the wood they are contorted. The next set of beds seen are gritty and calcareous ash, in the wood, with thin seams of Skiddaw Slate, dipping at 25° to the S.E. by S. The upper part of these beds is well seen in a little cliff on the north side of the river, SKIDD AW SLATES. _ 15 where the rocks appear to dovetail with Skiddaw Slates ; and beds of the latter, dipping at 1 5° to the S.E. by S., occupy the bed of the stream right up to the cliff: but from the smashed appearance of the ash beds and the presence of quartz veins, there is probably a fault running along the face of the cliff and parting the two sets of beds. The next section is below the Abbey Bridge, where we have Skiddaw Slate dipping at 35° to the S.S.W. with a thin band of interstratified ash near the top : these slates are succeeded by a bed of ash containing large concretions; and this by Skiddaw Slate at the ruinsof the old bridge, but the dip is not clear here; There is possibly a strike-fault here, as the beds appear to be crushed, and the spot is on the line of a fault. The next section is in a bed of massive ash, of a reddish-green colour, forming a bank on, the west side of the river immediately south of Shap Abbey : then at the bend of the river south of the abbey we have ash dipping at 60° under Skiddaw Slate : and the bed of the stream is occupied by both rocks curiously faulted against each other. Above this point unfortunately the beds are quite hidden by Drift for some distance. The next section is near the confluence of Lanshaw Sike. Here we have contorted beds of Skiddaw Slate in the stream adjoining a crag of light blue sandy ash con- taining pebbles of slate. The relation of the two sets of rocks is not seen just here ; but a few yards higher up the ash reaches half across the stream, with a dip eastward, and strikes against the Skiddaw Slate on the south : this last is seen a little further south to dip at 65° and 85° to the S.S.W. and thus to strike against a mass of grey ash weathering rusty, which forms a little crag on the west side of the river. The next bed going up stream is a compact blue calcareous ash with slate fragments, succeeded by a mass of cleaved rough ash in which there is a narrow band of Skiddaw Slate striking N.E. by N. This brings us to the foot of Keld Gill, which is occupied by massive grey ash with slate pebbles. Beyond this point the only Silurian rocks seen along the River Lowther belong to the volcanic series, but Keld Gill and Thornship Gill as well as Lanshaw Sike exhibit beds of Skiddaw Slate. The only section in Lanshaw Sike, besides that at the foot already mentioned, is quite at its head, where Skiddaw Slate is seen apparently dipping at 70° to the W.N.W. The part of Keld Gill immediately adjoining the exposure of ash at the foot is obscured by Drift, but at the first strong bend Skiddaw Slate is seen apparently dipping at 62° to the W.N.W. A little further on a boss of ash is seen close to the beck : this is certainly the same bed as that which forms White Crag, which is striking for it : a few yards to the east of White Crag, Skiddaw Slate is seen on the moor on the strike of the beds at the bend of Keld Gill. On the west of White Crag we have a small bank of well- bedded Skiddaw Slate dipping W.N.W. at from 45° to 55° ; and again to the west of this, more Skiddaw Slate occurs in Keld Gill, dipping at 35° in the same direction. Close by on the hillside above there are beds of trap and ash, which appear to be parted 16 LOWER SILUillAN. frcnn the slate by a fault as the beds strike towards each other. Another exposure of Skiddaw Slate occurs in Thornship Gill between Bleak Dod and the bield lower down the stream. There is a continuous section of slate for the distance of 16 or 17 chains : the beds have a general N. and S. strike alonsf the stream north of the Dod, the dip being at angles of 30° to 60° to W. by N. and W. by S. : but beyond the bend the beds are dipping south, and south by west at 25° to 50°, and beyond the next bend we have beds of gritty ash with a thin seam of slate dipping at 50° E. by S. and thus striking at the Skiddaw Slate last seen. . Hence there is probably an east to west fault between the two sets of rock ; but the gritty character of the ash and the seam of inter- bedded slate point to these beds being near the limit of the volcanic area. • I have now described sufficiently all the more important exposures of Skiddaw Slate. In a country so covered with Drift it is impossible to be sure of the structure, and different observers will probably continue to take different views ; but as the alter- nations of ash and slate seen in the Lowther are not to be traced westward, where instead thereof we have a mass of pure and simple Skiddaw Slate, there may be a fault between the two seta of beds, probably throwing up on the west. The discordant strike of the Skiddaw Slates and of the volcanic rocks, which form the edge of the purely volcanic area, indicates a north and south fault between the two, down-throwing on the west. Thus here as elsewhere round the margin of the Lake Country the volcanic rocks appear nearly everywhere to be faulted against the older Skiddaw Slates. This is a very remarkable circumstance for which no explana- tion, as far as I am aware, has ever been offered. Were the bounding faults of normal character, we might suppose them to have been caused by the subsidence of the masses of ejected material, on the removal of the elastic pressure which caused the eruptions, into the hollow formed underground by the ejection of so much matter. As the faults however are of very high hade, being what are now called " thrusts," this explanation is of no avail. I would here remark that hade, a miner's term, is always measured from the vertical ; and that therefore thrusts, or faults making a small angle with a horizontal plane, are faults vnth a high hade, and not with a low hade, as they are often incorrectly termed. BOREOWDALE VOLOANIO SeRIES. We will now describe the volcanic rocks, beginning at the north where the lowest beds appear, and working our way southward to the higher member of the series. There is a good section of the lower beds exposed in the bold crags that form the northern end of the High Street range facing UUswater. They consist of a series of bedded ashes and breccia, containing one or two beds of lava, all steadily dipping N.E. The rock is not well seen on the BOEROWDALE VOLCANIC SERIES. 17 moor immediately above the crags ; but at the Knotts and Ordnance Station, 1,331 feet above sea-level on Whitestone Moor, there is a section in bedded ash and breccia dipping N.E. at 10°, and along with those beds a trap-like vesicular rock, which how- ever could not be traced far. South of this. Brown Beck gives sections in cleaved and sometimes flint-like felspathic ash : but the rocks are so greatly weathered that it is difficult to make out much about them. The same remark may be made generally of the High Street range north of High Raise, and Bason and Laythwaite Crags, throughout the whole extent of which country, stretching for five or six miles in a N.N.E, direction, the rocks are intensely disintegrated. As far as can be made out Ihey seem to consist of highly-altered felspathic ash, such as in a less-decomposed state forms the mountain spurs north of Riggindale. Amongst these lower beds of ash and breccia we find a trap (lava) stretching across Sceugh from Butterwick Crag to Helton Dale, where it probably dies out, as it could not be traced further, and is very thin where last seen. This trap is cut ofi" at Butterwick by the fault, which there brings up the Skiddaw Slate. Between Bampton and Scrogs Hall a trap appears south of the faulted inlier of Skiddaw Slate : this may be the same bed, as it lies on the strike of the other : it overlies coarse-bedded ash of a purple hue dipping W. by S. Above Scrog's Hall anothec bed of trap is seen. These beds appear to be cut off by a fault ranging W. by N. across the south side of Howe Moor. Amongst the ash beds underlying' these lavas a boss of intrusive trap appears in Ireland Wood, south-west of Bampton... Above the lavas a long extent of obscure ground stretches from Hows Moor to Helton Dale ; but at Kettle [Crag, on Helton- Dale Horse, there is a good section of rough and cleaved ash dipping S. by W. at 50° ; and again in the grains* of Helton- dale Beck cleaved beds of ash and breccia dipping S. by W, at 40° ; but the rocks are much weathered. South of this scarcely anything is to be seen till we reach Cordale. Along Cordale Edge amid beds of rough ash there is a bed of lava ; but though fragments of striped slate are lying about in plenty, it is impossible to see the dip : the trap is probably dipping steeply to the S.E. nearly with the slope of the hill; and such appears too to be the dip of the slates in the Sealhole quarry. In the grains above Sealhole we have the usual highly decomposed felspathic rocks, wiih one or two obscure trap- like portions ; and in the lower part of the dale, near Moornhill, there are beds of rough ash dipping N.W. Crossing Willdale ovec a descending series, we come to a bed of lava west of Dry barrows, which is probably the equivalent of that on Hows Moor ; and below it there are altered rough felspathic ashes, which form the craggy hills north of Low Hawes Water. Amongst these ashes there is a peculiar bomboidal bed, consisting of felsitio * The term " grain " is applied to the feeders of a beck, or to the spoi where tiTO Bmall streams unite. E 93015. B 18 LOWER SILURIAN. nodules as big as one's fist : this bed may be seen in several places running south from Drybarrows, tlie strike there being north and south. East of this horizon there is a complicated bit of moundy ground reaching from Drybarrows across Aika Hill to Burn Banks. This broken ground consists of inter-bedded traps and asheSj'dislocated by several faults and traversed by two greenstone dykes. The traps are in places very vesicular. A fault and copper vein, which was once worked with but little success, crosses these beds in a W.S.W. direction, and forms the northern boundary of a massive compact trap of great thickness, which is thrown out of sight west of Colby by a N.N.W. fault. On. the west side of this fault we have a great thickness of crystalline streaky rocks, trap-like in part, but weathering rough and in places show- ing by included fragments that they are highly-altered ash and breccia. These rocks range from Colby by Mile Crags and across Measand Beck by the higher force to Lad and Laythwaite (pro- nounced Laythelt) Crags.- The beds are rolling with a general -easterly dip ; but owing to the steepness of the ground we have the lowest beds at the bottom. On Lad Crag the whole mass of rock is so intensely^altered and trap-like that it is difficult at first to make any distinction between one part and another : but the compact rocks at the base are even more trap-like than the upper part, and careful search shows a vesicular band like the top of a lava below Sandhill Knots, and a regular breccia overlying trap to the west and south. Further on in the same direction we lose the upper intensely-altered rocks, but still have in its proper place a thick lava or two such beds : these range along the hillside below Laythwaite Crags and under Bason Crag towards Whelter Bottom, vehere they appear to thin away entirely. The underlying beds are mere ordinary rough ash containing a well-marked set of nodular bands about nine feet thick, like that mentioned above (p. 17) as occurring south of Drybarrows. This bed can be traced from near Low Kop by Fordingdale Force, all along the face of Bason Crag and Whelter Crag to Hanging Stones, where it is faulted and lost to sight ; but it or a similar bed is found again in Eandale Beck, ten chains below the sheepfold, whence it can be traced for some distance across the moor in a band fifteen yards wide. A similar bed is seen in one place ten chains above the sheepfold. Here some of the nodules are six inches long. The same or a similar bed, forty feet thick, is found cropping out among the well-bedded, but altered, felspathic ashes that form ^the north side of Riggindale ; and lastly it is seen in two beds- just below Kidsty Pike. It has been traced for a distance of three miles nearly continuously, and thus affords a valuable clue to the run of rocks. I may remark, as an interesting fact, that a precisely similar nodular or bomboidal bed is to be found in North Wales associated with the felstones of Y-Tryfan, as well as in other places. Tiiis bed, easily distinguishable and unique in character among the ashes and felstones of the district, 1 have found at intervals from Y-Tryfan by Gallt y Gogo to the BORROWDALE VOLCANIC SERIES, 19 crags above Owm Ffynnon. A similar band or bands is to be seen on Castell-y-G-wynt and on the spur of Y-Glyder-fawr that runs towards Gorphwysfa at the top of Llanberis Pass.* Since the above account of the Mardale nodular band was written eighteen years ago, I have seen an interesting description of nodular Rhyolites by Mr. A. Harker in his Essay on the Bala Volcanic Series of Caernarvonshire, to which I must refer for a fuller account of such bomboidal beds. Not having had an oppor- tunity of re-examining the Mardale rocks since 1876, I will only say that the nodular bands seemed to be ashes rather than lavas. The rocks whose trend has thus been pointed out by the course of the nodular band, consist of rough, massive, bedded and altered felspatbio ashes with a few beds of lava : the upper part of the series is the least altered, while the lower beds among which the traps occur are the most so : thus the Whelter Crags are ordinary rough and bedded ash in massive beds, while the lower rocks that form the spur south of Hanging Stones, from the 1,500 contour to Birks Orag, are altered felspathic ashes. Similar rocks range along Kidsty Howes to the head of Riggindale. Below Birks Crag we find, extending down to the beck, alter- nations of more and less altered rocks with two chief beds of trap, the dip being about 10° to the N.N.W. Several grey dykes, generally trending N.E. and S.W., cross the Whelter Crags, and one granite dyke runs from near High Whelter in a W.S.W. direction. North of Whelter |Knotts, which consist of the highly altered felspathic ash, there occurs a mass of trap-like rock. This rock has in places very indefinite limits and is much mixed up with ash, so that it is probably not a lava, but either an extremely-altered portion of the ash or an intrusive trap. We have now carried our description of the rocks up the north side of Riggindale to the dale head. Here rolling beds of coarse and massive ash are found circling round by Twopenny Crag, the Straits, Short Stile and Hause Crag to Long Stile. A trap, repeated several times by faults, with a beautiful vesicular top, is found among the bedded ashes that form Long Stile. Lower down, rough ash rudely cleaved, and blue compact altered rocks form Rough Crag ; and at the eastern end of the Rigg there are bedded ashes and slates with traps. The ground is broken by faults and the dips are high to the south-east. One of the traps associated with this set of beils is found between Blea Water Beck and Small Water to be in parts well cleaved : this is noteworthy as being unusual in traps in this district. Amongst these beds also two columnar traps are conspicuous, running up to the face of Harter Fell. The rocks at the head of Mardale form a broken anticlinal; thus the bedded ash, breccia, and lavas of Harter Fell and Small Water dip S.E. at angles ranging from 20° to 70" ; while the aimiiar bedded ash and lavas of Blea Water and High Street dip * See also Bamsay, Geol. N. Wales, Ed. 2, p. 132. J\ 2 20 - LOWER SILURIAN. N.W. at 20° to 50°. These beds are probably a repetition by faulting and rolling of the Small Water and Harter Fell rocks : they both consist of well-bedded rough ash and breccia and con- tain bands of fine slate ; and in both are found two columnar traps. This bring us to the southern limit of the map. Of the adjoining country on the south suffice it to say that the general sequence of the beds from north to south is as follows : — Altered ash and trap (probably a repetition of the rocks on the north face of Harter Fell), cleaved ash, massive rough ash, and fine slates which have been worked in Mosedale and Wrengill, and at Kentmere opposite the reservoir house. The slates are overlaid by a well- marked hornstony trap, which I have traced from Steel Rigg in Kentmere, to Little Mosedale, where it forms the crag known as Brunt Tongue Over this there comes a great thickness of rough ash and breccia, rudely cleaved, with bands of finer slate and some trap-like beds, the upper part being much altered. This is succeeded by the Coniston Limestone with its associated pink felstone. We have now described the country north and west of Mardale ; and there remains to be described the country between Mardale and the Skiddavr Slate area of the River Lowther. This can be conveniently divided into two portions : first, the country between Hawes Water and Swindale ; and secondly, that between Swindale and the Shap Granite. The Country between Hawes Water and Swindale. — That the volcanic rocks at the north-east end of this area are brought against the Skiddaw Slates by faults, is shown by the strike of interbedded ash and trap on Rosgill Moor. The trap is a compact blue rock : and the thick bed of ash in Frith Wood is coarse and brecciated. The course of Hawes Water Beck l)elow Thornthwaite Hall is occupied by a compact blue trap similar to that on Rosgill Moor : its strike is not apparent, but judging from the run of some thin lava flows amid the over- lying ashes it is probably from N. W. to S.E. The greater part of Naddle Low Forest is occupied by rough ash and breccia having a general dip to the S.W. as shown by some seams of bedded ash, which contain one or two thin bands of trap. These beds, which seem to be cut off by a fault, are succeeded by compact trap, which forms the hillside at the south-east end of Naddle Forest. A similar trap occurs in the valley-bottom in the High Forest : but it has a well-marked vesicular top, and is regularly overlaid by bedded ash inclined at angles of 1.5° to 40° towards the N.W. or W.N.W. The beds throughout the rest of Naddle Forest have a similar strike. These bedded ashes and breccias are succeeded on the west side of Naddle by a remarkable dolerite, porphyritic in parts, and containing much auglte, the line of junction being marked by a vesicular band. The dolerite forms the crags overhanging Hawes Water, the most conspicuous of which lying due east of the straits is called Wallow Crag. From the mineralogical BORBOWDALE VOLCANIC SEJltlES. 2l resemblance of the rocks there is every reason to believe that this is the same trap as that which occurs on the north sides of H awes Water near Oolby and Measand. There the trap is associated vvith highly-altered rocks ; and here one finds along the line of crags that mark its outcrop, many transverse fissures on the sides of which the rock has a very ashy look. I confess that the rock looked to me more like an intrusive or intensely-altered rock than a lava, but the Measand rock was considered to be a lava. We were not able to trace tlie rock all the way down to Hawes Water ; for the hillside beneath the crags is much obscured by fallen blocks, and north-eastwaid the trap seems to end off abruptly along a north-west line. I m^y remark that the rocks between Hugh's Laithes Pike and Wallow Crag are highly altered, Alittle south of the Ordnance Station 1427 in the High Forest, the dolerite is cut off by a fault, south of which bedded and more or less altered ashes occupy the whole space from Powleys Hill to Hawes Water. Above these ashes we find in Guemess Wood a trap which at its south-east end is nearly throughout highly vesicular. It is overlaid by breccia and rough ash. Along Mardale Banks the beds which have hitherto had a pretty persistent north-west dip, begin to undulate ; and at length, as may be seen near the footpath across Mardale Common, the dip is S.E. at high angles of 40°, 50°, 60°, &c. The rocks along Mardale Banks are nearly all very rough ash and breccia with a band of well-bedded ash in the upper part. Over these comes a bed of trap which is in parts highly vesicular, like the bed in Guerness, to which it corresponds in position. This trap cannot be traced in a north-easterly direction beyond a north and south line of break, which is marked by a nearly continuous feature from Naddle to Mardale Common. This fault is crossed by another coincident with a copper-vein along Guerness Gill. The resulting displace- ment is probably of no great amount, as a trap occurs on the the north-east side of the faults very nearly on the previous line of strike. This rock is well seen at Woof Crag and south thereof. East of Woof Crag there is an exposure of bedded ash dipping west at 25° with trap on both sides of it ; but the general dip appears to be south-east from Hare Shaw to IMullender. The lower beds, which from Hare Shaw to Powleys Hill consist of altered felspathic ash weathering white, like those along the north side of' Eiiggindale, thus crop out along the lop of the hill and north thereof, while the slope towards Swindale is occupied by the overlying traps and bedded ashes. These latter do not how- ever extend all the way down the slope into the valley-bottom ; but appear to be cut off by a strike fault, which brings in the overlying rocks consisting of well-bedded ash. This fault is probably part of a fracture v.-hich crosses Mardale near Grove Brae, where vein-stuff is seen in the Grove, and which, ranging along the north side of Mardale Green, cuts off the traps there and extends past Small Water and north of Nan Bield into Kentmere. The well-bedded ashes (mentioned above) are well seen dipping south at angles of from 15° to 90° along the hillside above 22 LOWER SILURIAN. Swindale Head as far as Selside End. Here the bedded ash is succeeded by rough ash and breccia that show but scant trace of bedding. These rough rocks, which form the Blake Dods, are found, on following the normal south-westerly strike, to become a blue altered rock in Hop Gill, west of Selside Pike, and along Branstreet. The rough ash of Blake Dods is succeeded by fine pale cleaved ash, which forms the crags known as Black Bells and Black Wood, above Dod Bottom. The Oountry between Swindale and the Granite Area. — We will now describe the countiy east of Swindale. The lowest beds seen south of the MuUender fault are bedded ash and breccia in the stream near Truss Gap. These are succeeded upwards by the following series : fine splintery ash, false-bedded ; a compact rock of doubtful nature ; well-bedded and rough ash ; massive breccia, forming Outlaw and Gouther Crags and Waite Howes ; alternations of fine and rough and well- bedded ash, shown south-west of Blea Moss ; and a set of inter- bedded traps seen below Black Crag and Glede Howe. The traps cannot be satisfactorily traced far west of Black Crag. They are succeeded by a thick mass of rough ash and breccia, which is well seen aiong the crest of the hill from Black Crag to Willy Winder Hill. Similar masses of rough ash and breccia, with here and there some bedded portions, partly broken by faults, extend across the country from Swindale Common by Fewling Stones to above the A of the word SHAP (on the six-inch map), where they are cut oiF by a fault bringing up the traps of Kalfland. From Hobgrumble Gill to Willy Winder Hill these breccias are overlaid by a dark compact, partly crystalline, trap-like rock, which from its behaviour appears to be highly-altered rough ash : it ends abruptly in both directions against unaltered beds, but whether along faults or master-joints it is difficult to say. The trap-like rock is over-laid by the rough ash of High Weather Howe : this by a peculiar fine compact, partly -bedded, rock which weathers white ; and this by a second set of rough ashes succeeded by a thick mass of cleaved ash, which contains the beds of fine slate that have been wrought in Mosedale, in Wrengill, at the head of Long Sleddale, and in Kentmere. Similar cleaved ashes are found on the strike of these in the Lowther Valley at Crags Mill and Kemphow; but considering the proximity of the Skiddaw Slate, these are probably a lower set brought up by an extension of the north-and-south fault which brings the Skiddaw Slates against the traps of Kalfland. These traps are of dark compact rock, and they probably correspond to the similar traps oii Eosgill Moor, The cleaved ash containing workable slate, mentioned abovej is succeeded by a thick set of rough ashes and breccias. These are the beds which around the granite are converted into a dark compact porcellaneous rock. There are several dykes of microgranite or quartz-f elsite, among these altered rocks, pointing towards the granitic area, and at the BOSEOWDALB VOLCANIC SERIES. 23 south edge of the map a dyke of fine-grained grey granite has been traced for nearly a mile among the unaltered rocks. J. R. D. MicEoscoPic Stetjotuee of some of the Rocks ilvj the Area East of the High Steeet Range. A. Contempoeanbous Igneous Rooks. 1. Lavas. Porphyritic Dolerite, Wallow (Walla) Crag, Haweswater. 6in., Sh. 13. Lithological. — Fine mottled-looking porphyritic rock, with pale green felspar and dark augitic matter. Microscopical, Specimen A. — Largely made up of augite in iri-egular plates, and showing fine colours in polarized light. Intermediate parts mostly filled up wilh highly altered felspar. Small garnets are present. Specimen B. — ^A rather coarsely crystalline mixture of plagio^ clase felspar and altered augite, with a great deal of diffiised calcareous matter and some quartz. Apparently very little magnetite, but black patches of an irony mineral are frequent in parts. [The rocks from Wallow Crag (E, 2 and 24) have the microscopic aspect of sills, although the appearances are not absolutely inconsistent with their occurrence as very thick lava-streams. In the best preserved example the structure is ophitic, but there^ is a very small quantity of a second generation of felspar in prisms and granules between the ophitic patches. Plates of augite in various stages of conversion into uralite, enclose large crystals of plagioolase, which have usually undergone a certain amount of new growth at their edges, and this seems to consist of the same substance, formed at the same time as the prisms just mentioned. There is secondary calcite and quartz, the latter occasionally penetrated by actinolite needles. — W. W. W.] Three specimens taken from what is probably the same lava bed, upon the other side of the lake, show the following structure. Specimen C. — Altered felspar crystals of medium size, with chloritic and serpentinous pseudomorphs, and quartz in small grains. The chlorite is often crystallized in fan-like groups. Specimen D. — Coarse crystalline mixture of felspar — much of which is certainly plagioclase — and augite, with black titaniferous iron-oxide and pyrites. Fine fans of chlorite crystals. Specimen E. — Much the same as the last, the minerals all much altered. [The three specimens from Measand Bfeck (E. 43, 45, 46) to which this refers belong to the same rock-type as Wallow Crag. Sufficient augite is left to show that it is the mineral which has been converted into uralite, and of this there is a great deal in the slide. Hypersthene is probably present in 43, but absent from 24 LOWER SILURIAN. the others. The structure is like that described from "Wallow Crag. A good deal of white mica has grown inside the felspars, and new felspar growth has taken place at their edges. — W. W. W.] Lava — cleaved — Aika Hill. 6 in., Sh. 13. Lithological. — This bed occurs amongst cleaved ashes upon Aika Hill, just north of the foot of Haweswater. It is of a green colour and micro-porphyritic ; being cleaved it has, rather an ashy aspect. Microscopical. — Minute felspar crystalline base, the space between the needles being filled with chlorite and scattered magnetite. Larger felspar crystals porphyritically embedded and much altered. A good deal of diffused calcareous inatter. No indications of the cleaved structure in the slice examined. [There is no porphyritic augite in the rock E. 6 — the porphyritic felspars are of two kinds, larger and smaller laths ; the base is minute and microlithic ; there are iron-ores in crystals and in fine dust with calcite and epidote. — W. W. W.] Lava (of Diabasic character). E. 7, Brunt Tongue. 6 in., Sb. 20. E. 9, S.E. of Brown Howe. 6 in., Sh. 20. Lithological. — Very compact and flinty-looking. Eflfervesces •slightly with acids. Microscopical. — No definite crystalline but a somewhat granular base of a brownish colour, with many small magnetite grains and small porphyritically embedded crystals of felspar and augite (?), mucli altered. A great deal of diffused chlorite, the small grains . of this mineral possibly representing augite. [Two specimens (E. 15, 17) taken from the trap-like bed at the 'head of Long Sleddale are very similar in microscopic character to those just described, but in one of these examples the embedded crystals all have a definite set in one direction, and in both some of_ the small brightly coloured (under polarized light) crystals .appear to be epidote. — W. W. W.] Lava (of Diabasic character). S.S.W. of Brown Howe, Mardale. 6 in., Sh. 20, Lithological. — Very compact flinty-looking rock. Microscopical. — The base seems to be glassy, with yellowish doubly-refracting particles, which may represent augite grains. Magnetite in small grains. Felspar in crystals showing much alteration, but felspar needles absent. Lava (cleaved Diabase). N. of Small Water. 6 in., Sh. 20. Lithological. — The cleaved character gives an ashy appearance. Effervesces with acids. Microscopical. — Minutely chloritic-granular base much im- pregnated with carbonate of lime. Crystals of felspar drawn out in direction of the cleavage-planes. Magnetite and pyrites (1) present. BOREOWDALE VOLCANIC SERIES. 25 Lava (of Diabasic' cliaracter). Thorny Knott. 6 In., Sh. 20. Lithological. — Compact blue base with green spots. Microscopical. — Only traces of crystalline structure to be seen in the base. Chlorite disseminated and serpentine as pseudo- morpliic matter. Very little unaltered augite. Magnetite. Felspar, much altered. [The six specimens above described E. 7, 9, 15, 17, 40, 52 have many characters in common. In containing no other porphyritic constituent than plagioclase felspar they agree with the specimen from Aika Hill, but they differ in the paucity and smallness of these crystals. The groundmass also is excessively minute, bo that a high power is neceesary to demonstrate that it is chiefly made up of minute microlites of felspar with calcite and chlorite. Iron-ores are not plentiful, but most of the rocks contain epidote. A great deal of sericite is developed along the cleavage direction in the rock from north of Small Water. That from Thorny Knott (E. 51) contains porphyritic felspar and bastite pseudo- morphs of hypersthene grouped together and set in a fine base of felspar microlites and augite grains. — W. W. W.] (2.) Volcanic Ashes (highly-altered examples). Highly altered Ash. The Knott. 6 in., Sh. 20. Lithological. — Crumbling mottled, felsitic base, weathering of a light colour. . Microscopical. — Finely granular and chloritic base with a flowing structure among and around crystals and fragments of crystals, many of the latter lying in the direction of the flowing lines. Character generally felsitic. [This rock (E. 175) has been subjected to considerable crushing. There are porphyritic ciystals of orthoclase and- plagioclase often faulted and crushed, a few of hornblende, but none of quartz, set in a cryptocrystalline matrix. It is a crushed felsite and is not unlikely to occur here as a dyke. — W. W. W.] Concretionary bed in altered Asb. KIdsty Pike. 6 in., Sh. 20. Lithological. — Egg-shaped nodules but with no definite internal structure. Weathering white round the edges. Microscopical. — General felsitic structure, with a great deal of chlorite. [This rock (E. 172) is almost certainly a nodular felsite and is probably continuous with that from Threshthwaite Mouth (E. 16.3); the latter has an exceedingly minute groundmass in which felspar microlites and sericite can be distinguished. Embedded in this are traces of felspars, chlorite pseudomorphs, quartz grains, and some sphene. The nodules are white exteriorly, and get gradually darker towards their interior, which is loaded with chlorite. The nodules are broken up and have angular edges in the rock.— W. W. W.] 26 LOWER SILUEIAN. Altered ash at junction with Shap Granite. 6 in., Sh. 21, (a.) Sleddale Pike. (6.) Below Wasdale Pike. Lithological. — (a) is very compact and with a purplish-grey micaceous base : (6) is a fine-grained grey micaceous rock. Microscopical. — Base is felsitic, with numerous minute mica- flakes and grains of a yellowish-green colour and sometimes drawn out in lines (as in {a), cleavage?). Accompanying these are many minute black spots which appear to be magnetite, though sometimes they have an almost circular outline; and a great number of small light green prisms lie scattered about. Under a power of a ;^-inch the base shows faint lines like the outline of a tesselated pavement, and under crossed nicols these lines are seen to belong to a semi-crystalline . felsitic structure, as if the quartz and felspar had not completely separated from each other. (3.) Ashy and Gritty Beds in the Skiddaw Slates, E. 192, 193, 194, 808, 809, 810. Interstratifications with Slate. 6 in., Sh. 13. Lithological. — Very sedimentary in appearance, but with an ashy-looking grain in parts. Microscopical. — Absence of crystalline particles ; all decidedlv granular, with the small fragments generally irregular in their shape. Calcspar occurs disseminated and in strings. Gritty Calcareous Ash. ' Eosgill Wood, below the outcrop of the Carboniferous Limestone. E. 191. 6 in., Sh. 14. Lithological. — Very trap-like in general appearance, compact, and grey-blue in colour. Microscopical. — No trace of crystalline structure discernible. Small quartz and other fragments. Irregular vesicles and cracks filled with calcite. Under crossed nicols the ground is dark with scattered points of light* B. Intrusive Rocks. Dolerite (E. 92) amongst Skiddaw Slates. TuUybouse Gill, Thornthwaite. 6 in., Sh. 13. Lithological — Fine, grey, slightly speckled rock, effervescing with acids. Microscopical. — Fine crystalline mixture of plagioclase felspar in large needle-form crystals, and a slightly pleochroio mineral which may be hornblende, though it is very like augite in many ■places. There is also a good deal of a dark green blotchy- mineral and iron-pyrites. Calcspar in interstices. [There is sufficient augite left to show that the structure was originally ophitic and that the rest of this mineral is replaced by calcite and chlorite ; the iron-ores are almost entirely replaced by leucoxene. — W. W. W.] INTEUSIVE ROCKS. 27 Diabase (E. 91) (quartzose). East side of Aika Hill. 6 in., Sh. 13. LitJwlogical. — Fine-grained grey, crystalline base, with pyrites. Microscopical. — Crystalline mesh-work of short, squarish fel- spar and quartz crystals and chlorite, with pyrites, and diffused calcite. [E. ,91 is a diabase containing lath-shaped felspars often fresh, twinned, and zoned, and large crystals of ilmenite much altered in places to leucoxene ; these are set in calcite, chlorite, and secondary quartz, so that it is not possible to make out the original structure, once doubtless ophitic. The specimen E. 79 from Tailbert (14 S.W.) is intensely altered. There are relics of augite crystals which appear to have been twinned but are now in the form of chlorite, traces of porphyritic felspars and possibly of hyperstnene.in a highly-altered matrix containing secondary quartz, some felspar, and much calcite with a few garnets. — W. W. W.] Quartz Feldte (E. 135). Fairy Crag, Crag Bridge. 6 in., Sh. 14. Microscopical. — In the slices examined the base of this rock is felsitic, being composed largely of quartz in small grains and a great quantity of the yellowish-green chloritic mineral frequently crystallized in radiate and fan-shaped groups. Crystallized felspar seems rare, while brown mica is present in long flakes, and crystals of quartz are here and there porphyritically embedded. Besides these minerals a little hornblende may also be present. There are some excellent examples of actively-moving bubbles in the liquid cavities of the quartz. Quartz Felsite (E. 138). Near Aaron's Bield, N. of Brown Kowe. 6 in., Sh. 20. This is a small patch occurring among highly-altered ash- rocks. The character of the neighbouring rocks would suggest that this may be only an extreme of alteration. Lithological. — Compact crystalline base with small white felspar crystals, and some crystals of quartz. Microscopic. — Felsitic base with small quartz crystals enclosing portions of base [and surrounded by resorption halos], short green dichroic mica fibres, and a few large felspar crystals, some of which are plagioclase [generally aggregated into groups]. Here also a great deal of chloritic mineral, crystallized in fan-shaped groups, is diffused throughout the mass. Porphyritic Quartz Felsite Dyke. Kiver Lowther, near New Ing. 6in., Sh.2l. Lithological. — Very compact base containing many mica flakes, quartz, and large pinkish felspar crystals. 28 GKANITE. Microscopical. — Felsitlc base, containing large crystals of felspar, both orthoclase and plagioclase, showing good crystalline forms. There are also many flakes of brown mica much altered into the less pleochroic green variety ; and blebs of quartz. [The porphyritic crystals in this rock resemble those of the Shap Fell granite. The only one cut by the slide is a microcline pegmatitically intergrown with quartz. There is much plagioclase in well-developed crystals enclosing mica flakes and itself at times enclosed, but in a decomposed condition, in later orthoclase. The rock has the characters of apophyses of the Shap Granite. — W. W. W.] Shap Granite* Wasdale Crag. 6 in., Sh. 21. Lithological. — Coarsely crystalline granite with large red felspar crystals, dark mica, and some pyrites. Microscopical. — Coarsely crystaliine quartz with a tendency to definite crystalline form in some parts ; liquid cavities in the quartz much in lines but not very numerous. Felspar is plagio- clase, often showing the richest blue colour in polarized light, with beautiful banding. Large portions of these crystals — especially of the interior — are converted into an opaque granular substance. The mica is brown, sometimes showing crystalline form, strongly dichroic, and in parts converted into a green alteration-product, less dichroic. In an example of this granite at its junction with the altered volcanic rocks, the general matrix of the granite is more quartz- felsitic. J. C. W. * For a full account of this granite see paper by A. Haiker and J. B. Marr on " The Shap Granite and Associated Rocks," in the Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc, vol. xlvii. p. 266. 29 CHAPTER IV. LOWER AND UPPER SILURIAN. Area around Knock, General Introduction. Physical Characteristics. — The area occupied by the Lower Palaeozoic Rocks in the vicinity of Knock is the central portion of a long and narrow strip of strata older than those around, which extends, as a faulted inlier, from near Roman Fell on the south-east to about a mile to the north of Melmerby in the opposite direction, a distance of about fifteen miles. The physical aspect of much of this area is striking, and is specially characteristic. It consists of a chain of conical and rounded hills, or Pikesj which stand like buttresses between the steep edge of the great upland area formed by the Carboniferous rocks on the north-east, and the undulating lowlands formed by the Permian and Triassic rocks of Edenside on the south-west. General Geological Features, — The geological sections around Knock Pike are generally, and rightly, regarded as affording the most accessible and most easily-studied exposures in the district ; and on this account Knock Gill (or Swindale Beck) and Knock Pike are much more frequently visited by geologists than any part of the areas adjoining. Moreover, it has long been recognised that the geological structure of this small area affords information of considerable importance in the interpretation of some other- wise obscure geological problems presented by the rocks ot the Lake District and elsewhere. For this and other reasons the area specially under notice calls for a fuller description than its mere superficial extent would at first sight appear to warrant. In order that the student may be able to fully appreciate the special features of these rocks, it is desirable to take in review here the broader features of the geology of the rocks of the same ao'e in the Lake District, so that the points of agreement or of difference between the history of the rocks in the two areas, may be brought into suflBcient prominence to render the special features of the geology of this region clearer than would be possible by other modes of treatment. The succession of Silurian Rocks in the Lake District, their thickness, and their equivalents in Wales are as follows : — Upper J tiliirifill 1 Silurian Lake District. Kirkby-Moor Flags Bannisdale Slates - Coniston Flags and Grits - Stockdale Shales or Pale Slates Graptolitic Hudstonos Equivalent Strata in Wales. Thickness in Feet. Upper Ludlow Ludlo-w-Wenlock Lower Wenlock Upper Llandovery Lower Llandovery 13,000 to 14,000. 30 SILURIAN. Lake District. Equivalent Strata in Wales. Thickness in Feet. Lower Silurian and Cambrian. Coniston Limestone Series, including some Volcanic Eocks. Borrowdale 'Volcanic Series Skiddaw Slates Bala- Llaudeilo to Arenig - Arenig to Middle Cambrian. 1 I 10,( 12,000 ,000 For purposes of comparison with the rocks of the same age occurring in the Pennine area, it will suffice in the preliminary- remarks to notice such of the more salient characteristics of each as is necessary for the purpose in view ; and, in doing so, it will be more convenient to notice them in ascending order. In regard to the Skiddaw Slates, which type of rocks is extensively developed in the Pennine area, the departure from the type seen in the district around Keswick is not of sufficient importance to call for any special remark. In the case, however, of the succeeding volcanic rocks of the Borrowdale Series, differences of much importance in the present connexion are very apparent on comparison of the types prevailing in the two areas. In the central part of the Lake District the Borrowdale Volcanic Eocks consist of a vast pile of tuSs, agglomerates, and lavas, which occur without any interstratified material to which a sedimen- tary origin can safely be attributed. Hence the volcanic group as a whole, is generally regarded as having had a mainly sub-aerial origin. But in various places on the outskirts of the Lake District, rocks of distinctly sedimentary origin occur interstratified with volcanic rocks, in such a manner as to leave no doubt that part at least of these cases are those of strata which aecuuiulated on the seaward flanks of the old volcanic area. Hence the eastern margin of .the present Lake District happens nearly to coincide with the zone where the volcanic type of accumula- tions begins to pass into the marine type proper to areas outside the zone of eruption. This fact is of much importance in the present connexion, because, in the area more particularly under notice, there occur repeated alternations of sedimentary rocks of the Skiddaw Slate type with giits and greywackes containino- a variable, but often large, per-centage of fragmentary material of volcanic origin. These are unaccompanied, as a rule, by lava flows. The fossils which occur in association with this mixed type of strata show that the rocks pertain to a higher horizon than the Skiddaw Slates properly so called, and that they belono' to the Upper Arenigs. We may therefore safely conclude that^the area specially under notice remained through at least all the earlier part of the period, when the Borrowdale type of rocks was being formed, so far from the centres of eruption, that few or no lavas reached as far out toaea, and that it was only during the more violent paroxysms of eruption that volcanic ejectamenta were shot SILURIAN. 31 forth to sufficient distances to reach this point, and thus to form any noticeable proportion of the material accumulating here upon the sea-bottom. Li other words, the volcanic rocks of the Borrow- dale type are here represented by rocks of a different character, which are mainly of sedimentary origin. There is sufficient evidence to show that the thickness of rock of this type amounts to several thousands of feet. It will be convenient to adopt for this the name Milburn Grroup, from the locality near which it is most typically developed and is best Seen. Returning to the further comparison of the two areas : we find that the highest members of the volcanic series in the Lake District belong to petrographical types different from those prevailing in the older and lower part. In place of the andesites and basalts of the Borrowdale type proper, the higher volcanic rocks are, very generally, trachytes, or evenliparites, together with their respective tuffs. The same is the case in the Pennine aref Wyegill Plantation, on the road below Greenrigg Quarry, Threaplanda, Longlands, Towcet, between Little Strickland, High Hall, and Thrimby Bridge, the bank of the Leith at Slieriffs Park Wood, and in the bed of the river to the north. In consequence of the numerous disturbances of the strata in the district to the north-west of these localities, and also of tiie rarity of good sections, the exact correlation of the rock seen in some of the exposures is often open to doubt. The Limestone of Little Strickland. — This limestone, which is regarded as the equivalent of the Simonstone Limestone of the typical Yoredalc iirea, and of the Tynebottom Limestone of the upland areas to the north, c>nsisis, like the limestone below, of close-grained, thickly-bedded, grey limestone, generally free from earthy admixture, and often locally altered into dolomite, or even partly replaced by ferric oxide. This general description will suffice for the rock everywhere within the limits of this map. It is seen in the bed of the Lyvennet at Low Bridge ; on the north bank of Low Wood Besk from Byesteads to Reagill Grang>; ; at Greenrigg Quarry, and thence to Threaplands, in the neighbour- hood of Avhich are several exposures. It is well seen at several places near Little Strickland, the principal quarries being near Longlands and north of Towcet Cottages. From below Moorri'ng it extends in almost unbroken succession to Lowther Deer Park, and again in the banks of the Lowther near Yanwath Hall. The Limestone of Little Strickland is overlain by shales, which are followed by alternations of sandstones and shales accompanied E 93015. D 50 CARBONIFEROUS. by a thin and not often -very pure, but remarkably persistent, lied of coal. Associated with this series of beda there generally occur two beds of limestone, which are usually not of sufficient thickness to be traced on the ground for any great distance, but which are, nevertheless, persistent over several hundreds of square miles, from the dales of north-west Yorkshire far away into Northumberland, vvhere these limestones are respectively known as the Post Limestone and the Cockleshell Limestone. Amongst the localities where beds referred to this subdivision are to be seen may be mentioned the following : — Scattergate- Quarry and the adjoining gill ; Maulds Mcahuin Green ; Barnskew Bank. The coal-seam above referred to may be traced for three- miles or more in the neighbourhood of Reagiil. It is rarely more than 8 or 10 inches in thickne'ss; but at one time, judging by the number and extent of workings in it, it must, have been regarded locally as of considerable importance. Workings on this horizon can be traced from the pastures east of Crosby Ravensworth to Little Strickland or even farther — though it by no means follows from this that the seam is actually continuous the whole way. The sandstone associated with the coal seam is seen at intervals from the localities mentioned above, past Lowther Park ta Tirril. The Limestone of Reagiil. — In the Lyvennet at Barnskew fine- grained, hard, dark-coloured limestone dipping N.E. at 7° is traceable to below Whitehouse. This limestone overlies the coal just referred to. It should be mentioned here that there is some doubt regarding both the exact position in the series of the limestone in question, and also of its correlation with limestones exposed in the areas both to the east and the west of the Lyvennet. This is owing to several causes. One is the uniformity in character of the limestones near this horizon, so that it is very difficult and in many cases impossible for the field-surveyor ta decide which he has before him ; another is the fact that the sandstones and shales which separate the limestones are steadily thinning as they are traced towards the north-west, so that a limestone above or below one which is being followed across the country may appear to be continuous with it. The last, and most important, reason, is the absence of exposures continuous along the outcrop for more than a short distance. Considerable uncertainty, therefore, attaches to the identification of this limestone and the one that succeeds it. The sandstones and shales that succeed the limestones just noticed are seen here and there in a lew quarries and natural exposures ; amongst which may be mentioned Meabnrn Park ; White Stone, Newby ; ISewby Pasture; the Leith,near Strickland Mill ; Hackthorpe and Lowther. The Limestone of Maulds Meaburn Edge. — This forms a bold escarpment in Meaburn Park, where it has been quarried for lime. It is seen in a well near I^ankaber, and in large quarries west of Barnskew. Limestones ivhich (with some doubt) have CAKBONIFEROUS LIMESTONE SEIIIES. 51 Leen referred to tins same horiz)n occur in Ncwby Pasture ; and Limelands Quarry south of Great Strickland (where the limestone in question contains siliceous bands like those which are generally characteristic of on? of the higher limestones of this series). The limestone of Limelands Quarry occurs again in the bed of the Leith directly below Hackthorpe, and in Lowther Park, where this limestone is thick and is ■well exposed. From near Wood- house (I m. W.S.W. of Clifton) there are several exposures as far as the railwajr ^ m. S.E. of Yanwath. East of Lankaber very irrrgularly current-bedded sandstone is seen not far above tlie limestone ; and at 300 yards N.E. of High Lanksiber, coarse rubbly sandstone similar in lithological character to that seen near Hoff, is exposed. The same rock is seen at Little Beck, Kings Meaburn Mill ; Low Moor ; Hard Ing; near Weather Crook, Thorny Croft, and to the S.W. of Great Strickland. At all these localities the sandstone is generally coarse, almost like, typicnl Millt^tone Grit, and like this, it contains much detrital iriuscovite and decomposed felspar. Very commonly, like many other of the sandstones of this part, it is locally and irregularly stained of a deep red, brown, and dull purple. Green discoloration spots, characteristic of red strata whose coloration is an original feature, are, however, conspicuous by their absence. It may be remarked here that a coarse grit of this same general nature, occurring in association with an encrinital limestone charged with nluCh siliceous matter in the form of b.mds and chert nodules, is a characteristic feature of the part of the Yoredale Rocks below the Main — Twelve Fathom — Great — or, as it is termed on the map, the Great Strickland Limestone, presently to be described. This association, which is peculiar to this zone, has been of considerable value in tracing the rocks in question across areas confused by faults and obscured by drift, such as form so much of the lowlands of the country under description. In the Alston district a grit of similar character, but of lesser thickness, is so constant in its occurrence above the Four Fathom, or Lower Undersett Lime- stone, as to have received a distinctive name — the " Quarry Hazel." In the same district the Upper Underset of the York- shire dales occurs ?s a thin but very constant band of limestone lying between the Quarry Hazel and the Great Strickland Lime- stone. A sirailar limestone, too thin to be separately mapped, is occasionally seen in this district above the coarse grit just noticed. Above the horizon of the limestone last referred to occurs a thin series of flags sandstones and shales which underlie the base of the Limestone of Great Strickland. These do not present any features specially calling for notice ; we therefore pass on to the desci'iption of this, which is the chief limestone of the Yoredale Rocks here as elsewhere in the neighbourhood. The Limestone of Great Strickland (The Main — Great— or Twelve Fathom Limestone). — This, nearly everywhere in the north-west of England, consists of a close-grained, grey limestone, D 2 52 CARBONIFEROUS. generally in moderately-thick beds (or posts as tliey are called here), move or less encrinitil in composition, and tending, locally, to be somewhat siliceous in its upper parts. It varies in thickness from seventy feet at the eastern end of this district to about thirty-five or forty feet, which may be taken as its average thickness here. Here it is often much dolomitizeu along joints and other divisional planes, and drusy cavities nre, consequently, oF common occurrence. In some places the alteration hsis proceeded further and the dolomitic parts graduate into ferruginous dolomite and from that into hsematite. This general description will apply to it over the whole of the lowland district. It is seen, and largely quarried, at many localities ; amongst •which may be mentioned ihe following : — Barwise (or Barras) Hall; several places near Kings Meaburn, where it forms Jackdaw Scar; Byesteadr", aud several othier places near Morland ; from the east end of Newby to Dalian Bank it is nearly continuous ; at Great Strickland, as the name employed here implies, it is well seen ; on the right bank of the Leith at Old Scar ; Bowbert-hill Quarry shows at least thirty feet of this rock. The uppermost beds are seen in the Lowther near Clifton, where they consist of impure limestone stained red by infiltered iron from the Red Rocks which until lately covered them. Sandstones and shales succeed the Great Strickland Limestone. These are seen at Woodhead ; between Mealy Sike and Greengill JSike; Lancaster Bank Wood ; Woodhouse Gill ; and in the Leith above Melkinthorpe. They ai'e seen again at Clifton ; and are especially well shown at Hughs Crag Quarry between Clifton and Penrith. J. G. G. (Partly from notes by W. H. D.*) Area east of the River Lyvennet. Carboniferous Limestone Series. Tlie rocks east of the River Lyvennet, now remain to be described.* The lowest of the Carboniferous beds described by Messrs. Dalton and Goodcliild do not come into the present area. Under the names of Basement Beds, Ravenstonedale Limestones, Ash Fell Beds, and Melmerby Scar Limestone (part of which lies in the area), they have been described in the ^Memoirs on the Quarter- sheets 98 N.E. and 97 N.W., dealing with tracts to the south and south-east. The whole series consists of a great thickness of limestones shales and sandstones, whereof the limestones predominate in the lower and the sandstones in the upper beds. * Contained in Ibe Six-inch mage of Westmorland, Sheets 9, IS, and 22. CARBONIFEROUS LIMESTONE SERIES. 53 Tlie rocks 1 ave a jrentle inclination of wliicU the general direction i^ north in tlie ground directly south of App'eby, but puckered by gentle corrugations, which give dips ranging from N.W. to N.E. The southern portion, consi.-ting chiefly of large areas of thick limestones, is more bare of Drift than the lower ground to the north which is made up of more rapid alternations of rocks, and before reaching the main body of the Permian Rocks is almost covered everywhere by Glacial drift. Thi-i may be probably accounted for by the former being higher ground, and j)artly because gre.it tracts of limestone give less facility for the manufacture of stifi' Till than do the rapid alttrnatioiis which contain shales and sandstones, as well as limestones. A Till which is made up of limestone-fragments is almost a gravel, and more easily dissolved or washed aw.iy than one into the composition of which clay largely enters. The Limestone of Knipe Scar. — The main mass of limestone above the Ash Fell Beds called Knipe Scar Limestone — or L. in the Table of Hocks (p. 4) — forms a large tract in the S.E. corner of the area over a wild tableland, having from 900 ta 1,200 feet of elevation, intersected by the small valleys. The beds are undubiling in gentle folds, whose axes lie about N. 30° E. and S. 30" W., the synclinals forming ridges, and the anticlinals hollows, Ft. In. Ft. Is. Surface soil and Drift - - • - 8 Brown Shale - - - - 16 6 Limestone ..... 60 30 6 A small shaft was sunk a little lower down the hillside, and Mr. Geo. Inneg informs me that the measures passed through were nearly as follows, bat that a detailed account of the sinking was not taken : — Section in Small Shaft. Ft. In. Ft. In. Surface soil and Drift - - About 6 Soft brown Shale and lumps of brown and black stone. Limestone predominating at the base - - - - „ 16 White Sandstone, very soft . - ,, 20 42 In the two westerly Bore-holes conglomerate was found under the surface in both instances. Farther north at the small brook which joins Skitwath Beck near the Old Limestone Quarry, and shout 8 chains from the Beck, the results obtained from three additional Bore-holes are given below : — South-Easterly Bore-hole, No. 28 (l.). Surface soil and Drift ... Conglomerate . . - Middle Bcre-hole, No. 29 (l.). Surface soil and Drifts Limestone Conglomerate North-Westcrly Bore-hole, No. 30 (l.) Ft. In. Ft. In. 4 4 19 4 — 23 4 3 9 1 8 5 5 6 ~^" 11 5 )• 7 19 6 25 6 52 4 6 — 56 6 Surface soil and Drift Sandstone and Shale Dark Shale Conglomerate In order farther to test the accuracy of the Bore-holes No. 28 (l.) and No. 29 (l.), trenches were dug on both sides of the small brook near the site of the Bore-holes. Under the surface soil, which was 1 ft. 6 ins. to 2 ft. thick, a whitish hard calcareous shale containing small fragments of soft red slate and nodules of limestone was proved to exist. It bore a strong resemblance to the bed, lying between the red conglomerate and the limestone, seen on the north side of Skitwath Beck south of Penruddock, and referred to above (p. 60). From what has been stated it is evident that on the west side of the Beckces fault, the Basement Conglomerate occurs immediately under the surface, and that on the east side of this line there are some 40 or 60 feet of shales and sandstone. The positions of the Bore-holes are so near each CARBONH''EnOUS LIMESTONE SERIES. 63 other that there is not space for the conglomerate to come up to the surface with the ordinary dip and rise of the strata and it must therefore bo thrown up on the west by a fault. Again there are more Bore-holes on the north side of the wall extondin"- north-west from the small brook to the Cattle Shed. °' Bore-liole, No. 31 (l.). Ft. In. Ft. Ik. 6 6 3 1 — — —' 10 3 7 3 7 3 1 8 — 8 3 Surface soil and Drift Limestone, magnesian Sandy brovm Limestone Bore-liole, No. 32 (l.). Surface soil and Drift Limestone, magnesian ... Sandy brown Limestone - - The limestone which is here called magnesian, is dolomitized Carbon- iferous Limestone. Limestone has also been found at Whitbarrow Hall. Traces of linestone are obseryable at the north end of the field south of Whitbarrow Farm-house. Eed conglomerate occurs in the field north of the Penrith Boad and cast of the road leading to the Farm. From what has been stated above, it would seem thatihe limestone is thrown down on the north-west along a line indicated by the Whitbarrow Fault. Besides the exposure of conglomerate on the north side of Swinescales Beck, already referred to in' cfmnexion with the Springfield fault (see p. 6), the basement- beds are exposed on the Penrith road in the Plantation west of Whitbarrow Farm, and in the valley west of the road from Springfield to Berricr. Decomposed conglomerate was also seen on the road to Berrier, north of the road from Barrier to G-reystoke. R. R. Carboniferous Limestone Series. Area south-east of the Kirk Rigg Fault. — The fault which has been called the Kiik Higg fault is that shown on the map, north of and nearly parallel to the Penrith road, running in a north-east direction from Penruddock. It has a downcast to the north, apparently increasing eastwards. If the Red Hills Limestone be the same as that at Hoghouse Hill, which tiiere is some reason to believe, it is thrown westwards from north of Belmont to Hog- house Hill, a distance of nearly a mile, and therefore the fault here must have a large downcast to the north. At Penruddock it seems almost to have died out, for there is probably very little difference in the relative horizons of the beds north and south of the fault. The ground is so obscured by drift that the exact position of the fault cannot be ascertained. . The section on the north bank of the Skitwath Beck south of Penruddock where the limestone is seen coming on naturally above the conglomerate, has already been mentioned (see p. (i2). Immediately east of this the ground is obscure, but near Highgate the lower part of the Carboniferous Limestone Series forms two 4>4 CAEBONIFEKOCS. features, ami the strata are overlaid by quartzose sanJstone, which 3ias been pierced by a boring as follows : — Bore-Jiole, No. 21 (l.). Surface soil and Drift ... Sandstone and Shale-partings Sandstone . . . - Eed Shale Eed Sandstone . . - . Sandstone and Shale Gritty Limestone - - - This Bore-hole does not give the full thickness of the sandstoae, as it ■commences below the base of the overlying limestone. The latter rock is ■exposed in the scar between the, road to Hutton John and the Township Boundary. It is a dark limestone containing iJ%Mcfco?ieZZa. A Bore-hole in Eobinson's field south of the Penrith Bead proved the existence of two important beds of shale in this limestone. Ft. In. Ft. In 10 10 17 5 24 2 1 16 4 15 3 74 2 27 6 27 6 111 8 Bore-hole, No. 67 (a.). Ft. In. Ft. In. 7 7 2 6 4 6 7 1 14 1 10 9 10 9 2 2 1 3 3 3 6 8 14 6 14 6 4 9 4 9 57 9 Surface soil and clay Dark Limestone Shale Sparry Limestone Dark Shale Limestone Shale - Dark Limestone - Blue and White Shale Xiimestone A band of grey clay, shown by a line on the map, separates the JthT/nchoiieUa-iiaiestone from that next above. Another Bore-hole at the north side of Robinson's field and near to the Penrith Eoad was put down through the lower beds of the upper limestone as follows : — Borehole, No. 18 (l.). Ft. In. Surface soil and Drift - - . -15 Limestone with thin Shale partings - - 22 6 Close by there is a small quarry on the south side of the road, in which tlie limestone dips apparently to the south-west. In the fields north of the road at this quarry several Borings have been made. The most important of them is as follows : — Bore-hole, No. 14 (b.). Surface soil and Clay Shaly Sandstone . Limestone Shale Limestone Shale - Limestone Dark Sandy Soil - Ft. In. Ft. In - 9 6 9 6 - 14 3 14 3 - 10 6 - 1 - 22 2 - 6 0. - 16 55 8 - 4 4 83 CARBONIFEROUS LIMESTONE SEEIES. 65 The limestones above the qiiar(zose sandstone are supposed to be on the same horizon as the Summerground Limestone further north, a bed regarded as the equivalent of the Melraerby Scar Limestone. The beds just described nre broken rear Highgate, and also enst of Dacre Bank, as shown by the siiifting of the Rhynchonella- liinestone ; and the faults marked on the map are drawn to account for these displacement?. The fault near Dalemain is proved by the break in the escarp- ment of the limestone which forms the b:ink crowned by Elders Plantation. This band is believed to be above the Rhynchonella- limestone. The dip of the strata varies from 5° lo 10°, and from N.N.E. to N.N.W. The rooks above Elders Plantation and Eveningbank Wood consist of limestone with thin bands of sandstone and shale, and are exposed in several places, as the ground south and west of Stainton is nfarly, nil bare rock. The overlying beds are well seen in the river-bank near the bend east of the village. The section is as follows : — Blooky limestone forming the elope of the hill. Thickly-bedded sandstone. (Gap).' Limestone forming a scar. Sandstone and flags, down to river-bed. The highest bed in this series is well seen in ""several places, and lias been quarried on both sides of the railway. The overlying measures seem to consist mainly of sandstone, traces of which are of frequent occin-rence in tiie fields hereabouts. Next in succession comes the limestone seen at the Ford south of Red Hills :— Sandstone. Shale, 4 ft;. Limestone. Sandstone. Exposures in a railway -cutting near Red Hills and in the fields, enable us to map this limestone for some little distance to the noith-west, but it is soon lost under the drift, or cut off" by the Kirk Rigg fault. The sandstone between this bed and the limestone next iibove it contains fossils. It is seen in the river-banks south of Red Hills and also on the Penrith Road and in the railway-cutting at this place. The overlying limestone comes down to the River Eamont south of Skirsgiil Hall and can be traced nearly as far as the sharp bend in the river between Skirsgiil Hall and Eamont Cottage. It has a pink top and is encrinital ; and it has been quarried on both sides of the railway. Eastwards of the Permian area no rocks are seen except some small exposures of sandstone in the bed of the river. Various features trend across the country in the direction of the strike, but the character of the underlying rocks is not known. E 9301.7. E c 66 CAEBONIFEROU?, Area north of the Kirk Bigg Fault. — The grounci in the extreme north-west of the district is not very clear. Limestone occurs at Berrierjust outside the map. A reddish sandstone, probably 2?i situ, was seen nt tbe source of Hatters Sike. East o" Berrier a ridge consisting of two beds of limestone with a thin band of sandstone between them trends south-east. This rock is also to be seen in Hatters Sike east of Berrier End. The dip is towards the north-east, and varies from 8° to 12°. •East of Skitwath Beck many exposures of limestone occur throughout the distiict, and both quarries and bore-holes show that the rocks are alternations of limestone, sandstone, and shale. Thus a bore-hole in a quarry proved the following beds : — Dark sparry Sandstone, 19 ft. 10 in. Dark Sandy Shale, 16 ft. 7 in. Dark Sandy Limestone, 6 ft. Sin. In a quarry north of Beckside, limestone is to be seen passing down into sandstone. , Eed sandstone is seen near the south end of Moorslack Wood about half-a-mile west of Motherby, and two Bore-holes give the following sections : — Bore-hole, No. 76 (a.). In field close to south end of Moorslack Wood. Ft. In. Ft. In. ■Surface soil, &c. - - - - -1010 Ked Sandstone - - - - 27 4 Shale .... 3 9 31 1 Limestone . . - 2 2 2 2 Bore-hole, No. 78 (a.). Watering Place east side of Moorslack Wood. ■Surface soil, &c. .... 4 Sandstone - - .3 Shale - . - . 6 Sandstone and thin partings of Shale - 22 Shale . .... 2 Sandstone . - .12 Shale Hard Gritty Limestone - - 4 Penruddock stands on limestone which is probably equivalent to tbe limestone forming the crags at Summerground. In the railway-cutting east of Penruddock a thin sandstone is to be seen overlaid by another bed of limestone. This sandstone is probably on the same horizon as the band of hard sandstone which occurs in connexion with the limestones in Greystoke Park and at Johnby.* The overlying limestone is still further exposed in the railway-cutting and on the surface south of the railway. In * Ward, Geol. N. part of Lake District, p. 47. 34 3 4 6 7 11 6 47 6 6 4 6 56 Ft. In. Ft. In _ 1 4 1 4 . 6 9 6 9 . 8 5 _ 13 10 22 3 . 49 49 . 5 . 2 . 3 10 _ 15 6 15 6 . 9 9 9 9 . 9 3 . 1 3 - 2 3 12 9 127 4 CARBONIFEUOUS LIMKSTONE SERIES. 67 several instances the limestone is partially dolomitized. Eastwards towards the road to Greystoke, ndditionnl borings prove that the upper portion of- this rock consists of bandi of shale, limestone, and sandstone. In Motherby Quarry the strata under the limestone were proved to be as follows : — Bore-hole, Mollierhy Quarry. Shale Limestone Sandstone Shale LimoKtone Shale Limestone Sandstone - Limestone Shale - Limestone Shale - Limestone At the north-west end of the wood north of Motherby there is an old quarry in a purple, finely-grained sandstone, mainly massive but in places flaggy or shaly, and occasionally containing Stigmaria. Herj the rock dips N. 5° W. at 10°. The same sandstone is also quarried on the north-east side of the wood and at this place limestone is seen coming on above it. The limestone. is also exposed in the old quarry near tiie north end of Moorslack Wood and in a quarry west of BarfFs Wood, just outside the area. At this place the cli|) is N. 16° E. at 5°. A reddish sandstone and another limestone occupy the remainder of the area north of Motherby. East of the road from Hutton John to Greystoke, a limestone which may be equivalent io that at Barffs Wood, occurs at Stafford Wood. In the railway -cutting at the south-west corner of the Wood, limestone is seen resting on sandstone. Here the beds are inclined at an angle of I'0° in a N.N.E. direction. At the south- west corner of the Wood the rock dips N.N. W., and the exposure near the Old Limekiln shows a similar dip. Around Kirkbarrow the solid rocks are hidden under a covering of drift. In some places on Division Moor sandstone has been quarried, and there are also several groups of swallow holes which probably indicate the existence of as many beds of limestone. On the rising ground of Division Moor additional beds of sand- stone and limestone are exposed, but it is almost impossible to trace them with accuracy, though in two instances their positions have been indicated on the map. The limestones and sandstone which occur at Fluskew Pike west of Newbiggin have been traced round the Pike from the Newbiggin road to the northern edge of the area. The dip ranges from 6° to 9° to north-west. E 2 68 CAEBONIFEEOUS. The Newbiggin fault has been inferred chiefly on the groumJ that the upper limestone at Fluskew Pike is believed to be equivalent to the limestone at Hoghouse Uill. There is great similarity between the beds on both sides of Newbiggin. It iS' therefore surmised that there is a fault throwing up to the east, and running close along the road through the village, but the fault has not been actually seen. Limestone is seen in quarries south of the village and west of the road from Newbiggin to Stiinton. This may be the same bed as the lower limestone at Fluskew Pike. Opposite Fauldhead and east of the village the sandstone there exposed is succeeded by a limestone, probably the same as the upper limestone at riuskcw Pike. This rock has also been qutu'ried between Newbiggin and Hoghouse Hill, where the dip is in a north-east direction at angles varying from 8° to 10°. The small remaining portion of this district is obscured by drift. R. E. Area near Milburn Grange. — In the extreme N.E. corner of the area there occurs a small isolated area of Carboniferous Rocks- entirely surrounded by Triassic and Silurian rocks. This area is supposed to be bounded by faults both on the east and west. The faults are not seen, as the country is very much obscured by driFt; but jire inferred for the following reasons. The Carboniferous beds undulate a great deal and strike against the Silurian rocks on the east, so that different members of the Carboniferous series abut in succession against the Silurian : this indicates a fault on ihe east side of the Carboniferous area brino-lng up the older rocks on that side. On the south and west the Carboniferous rocks are bounded by beds of the St Bees Sand- stone, which between Milbuin Grange and Gullom Holme dip at angles of from 5° to 12° in a north-easterly direction towards the Carboniferous area. This again indicates a fault bringing the Trias against the Carboniferous. It is a continuation of tho western Pennine fault. In the .adjoining area of map 102 N.W., soft red false-bedded sandstone believed to be Penrith Sandstone, is seenin Crowdundle Beck close to Carboniferous Limestone, but dipping towards the west so as to pass over the limestone. The actual junction of the beds is not seen : as far as the dip goes the Penrith Sandstone might pass over the Carboniferous rocks; but as ihe shales over- lying the Penrith Sandstone come on very soon, the latter must either be faulted against the Carboniferous Limestone or be abnormally thin. The Carboniferous beds consist of alternations of limestones, sandstone, and sliale : the limestone greatly preponderates, so that the beds probably belong to the Melmerby Scar series. At a spot half a mile north of Milburn Grange, a thick bed of lime- stone is feen dipping south .at 15° and 20° overlaid by calcareous sandftone ; the sandstone is succeede 1 on the south by limestone CARBONIFEROUS LIMESTONE SERIES. 69 probably overlying it, and this limestone by sandstone still further «outh ; but the ground is much obscured by drift, and moreover is just on the line of a fault seen at Howgill Castle to the north, so that we cannot tell exactly how the beds are related to one another. The section near Howgill Castle at the margin of the area is in descending order as follows : near Marblescar Well, ihin-bedded red-stained limestone dipping at 30" W.S.W., thick- bedded crystalline gritty limestone dipping at 35° nearly in the s'ame direction, sandstone, liraettone just below Howgill Castle e, contains abundant pieces of Carboniferous sandstone. This is only to be expected in a basement-bed -which is here in near proximity to the Mill.-tone Grit. Although the western boundary of the Ptrmian rocks may be thus accurately described, we find exposures of Carboniferous sandstone and shales to the cast of it in several places. For in- stance, at ihe bend of the Eden near Crackcnthorpe Hall we iiave fine salmon-red sandstone dipping W.S.W., which seems to be a Permian sandstone overlying the Brockram — but it is faulted against coarse Carboniferous sandstones which are dipping east at 25°. The fault seems to be running between S. 10^ E. and S. 20° W., probably the former. This will take it along the iiltle valley running west of and parallel to Hoff Beck, and give a western boundary to the inlier of Carboniferous rocks. Hoff" Beck gives many exposures in the Litter, but the existence of Brockram in the bed north of Bandley Bridge gives a southern limit to the Carboniferous inlier in this direction. The base of the Permian is concealed by drift east and west of this point between the fiult already mentioned and another yet to be described near Appleby. Close to the junction of Hoff Beck with the Eden, Brockram may be seen dipping to the north-east at 10° : and at a position corres- ponding with the strike of this, close to the Eden at ihe r-oith end of "Tlie Banks," where the river crosses over to the other s"de of the alluvium by a turn called Whirly Lum, Brockram is again seen dipping E.N.E. and overlying the Carboniferous grits. Inasmuch as the opposite banks of the river and those for some distance to the north show Carboniferous rocks, there seems to be at least a strong probability of a fault running in a line from one to the other of these sections, and bounding the Permian in the cast. This may be considered therefore a faulted outlier in the Carboniferous inlier. In the bed of the river and in the banks between the Appleby Gas-works and the Penrith road, Brockram is to be seen. Carbimiferous rocks are absent unless some rock in a deep pool Avhieh was always under water and inaccessible represents them. The north-eastern boundary of the inlier may be therefore either a fault or a natural base. Its course is con- jectural, being hidden by Glacial Drift. The same may be said for the fault bounding the inlier on the north. Brockram is also seen in the Penrith road a little below the Eriary. A sandstone like the Penrith Sandstone comes on at a lower level in the same road, and may bo seen at intervals on the east cide of the river and the road as far as Bongate. ( 4 PKEMIAN. Thi're is probably a, fault, between the two fiist mentioned poinls, which runs in ihe direction of "The Banks," and being a downthrow on the south-east may form the boundary betv/een the Carboniferous and Permian rocks. This is almost a cer- tainty, because although opposite Castle Bank and beneath the Castle we have Brockram pnssing under the red sandstones with a north-eastorly dip, it chies not appear again, and the next rocKs on the nortli are Carboniforous. A small fault running across the Eden may be seen o[)posite to Castle Bank with a downthrow to the N.W. It drops the red sandstones against the Brockram. Another fault, which is running parallel to the Eden and enters the area with it east < f Barrel!?, throws red sandstone on the east asfainst Brockram on the west, and has therefore a do a ntlirow on the east. It a])peara to l:c running in the direction of that described by the month of Hoff Beck and Whirly Lum, but if it is the same fault it has licie a reversed throw, a not very uncommon circumstance. A stcond inlior of Ctirboniferoiis rocks may lie seen on the Settle and Carlisle llailway west of the road to Brampton. Castrigg lies west of it. Brockram occurs on the side of the cutting just north of the crossing of the Roman Road, but this rock and the features made by it gradually recede from the railway as it runs north. Carboniferous sandstones and shales however are visible in the cutting for some distance ; they appear to be dipping N. 35 E. at 15° to 20°. There is at least one strong grit with shales above and below it. The limits of this injier arc entirely conjectural. It may be faulted on the western side. Probably there are many more faults running in the same direction on the east side of the Eden. If it were not so we should have a much greater thickness of Brockram than the clearer sections in the neighbourhood v.oukl warrant us in assuming. But the ground being very much covered with drift, there is little chance of obtaining more definite information. Where the road from Appleby enters tlio ground on which the annual fair is held, Brockram is to be seen, but near by I found some traces of slude turned up. I thought at the time that it might have been brought up a bore-hole, ai^d Mr. Goodchild now informs me that this was the case. R H. T. Loicer Brockram. — Perhaps the best sections in the Lower Biockram are those situated right and left of the road between Burrelis and Hoff', where this rock has been extensively quarried for building-purposes. In the Burrelis Quarries the superficial aspect of the Brockram reminds one strongly of the type of Carboniferous limestone prcTalent in the adjoining district. It is very evenly bedded, it occurs in thick " posts," it is very regularly jointed, and its colour is identical with that of many of the iron-stained limestones so common in the neighbourhood. Moreover, as the rock contains a large per-centage of limestone fragments, which form about nine TEKMIAN. 75 tenths of the rock, its mode of weathering naiurally follows tliat of the rock from whicli its predominant constituent has been derived. When looked at more closely, however, the Brockram is clearly seen to consist of an aggregate of fragments, more or ]e.«s angular in form, which are bound together by a cement of calcareous sandstone, The materials range in size from that of mere grains up to blocks two, or three, feet in diameter. The predominating size, however, may be said to be about two inches. 'J.'here is not any very clear evidence of sorting of the niaieiiuls in regard to either size or form, as big blocks and little are promiscuously associated, much as they arc in boulder clays. The stones, however, usually lie with their longer axes parallel to the bedding planes. This fact would suggest a sub-aqueous origin f()r the rock in this case, aided perhaps by the distributing action of shore-:ce. Any- thing approaching a veiitable glaciated (as distinguished from slickensided) stone has been sought for in these rocks for many years, but usually in vain. But during the visit of the Geologists' Association to Stank Quarry in 1889 the late Mr. Wm. Aikinson, B.Sc, of Knock, obtained from the solid rock of this quarry an unmistakeably glaciated limestone-boulder, which was examined by the whole party, and about the glicial origin of whicli no one present Teltany doubt,* At irregular verticil intervals the strata (or " posts ") are separated by thin and very inconstant beds of calcareous sandstone, of the same nature as that which forms the cement of the rock, and which are, like this cement, of a pale copper-red colour. In respect of this, these thin partings resemble the Penrith Sandstone, and may be regarded as the thin ends of sheeis of sandstone which gradually swell into beds of greater importance as the strata trend towards the north-west, and eventually take the place of the Brockram entirely. Taking it as now' the generally-accepted view that the Penrith Sandstone is mainly a desert sand, and therefore of eolian origin, the layers in question may be regarded as inter- stratifications of blown sand amongst the lacustrine equivalents of that rock.f The dominating constituent of the Brockiam, here and else- where in the district, is unquestionably limestone, which forms from eighty-five to fully ninety per cent, of the rock. Of the remainder about five or six per cent, consists of sandstone of Carboniferous origin, together with some derived chert, and a little shale. Here and there occurs a pebble of liver-coloured quartzite, which we should probably be correct in regarding as having been deiived from some older conglomerate. Fragments of Whin Sill have been carefully sought for ; but liitherto without success. Nor have any traces of the rocks of the adjoining Lake District as yet been found liere. Hardly any of the constituents .of the Brockram remain in what must have been their original mineral condition. • Proc. Geol. Assoc, vol. xi. p. xciv. t See Goodcbild, Trans. Cumberland Abboc, Kg. ix., ISSP, p. 31. I b I'ERMIAir. The llmestone-fragraeiiti are dolomitized in various degrees; some appear to be hardly, if at all, changed from their original condition, vvliile others are entirely re-crystallized ihroughout, or are affected so much by the cliange of dimensions consequent upon their alter- ation into dolomite, that they arc full of drusy cells and cavities, which are frequently lined with crvslals of pearl spar. Some other limestone-fragments are affected in a different way, and are parlially, or even entirely, replaced by impure hseaiatite, the original form of the lime-stonc- '"ragmen t remaining, apparently, quite unchanged. Fragments of limestone of an arenaceous or of an argillaceous character, such as occur in the the Carboni- lerous rocks adjoining, are occasionally changed in colour from the original grey to bright red. The fragments of Carboniferous shale, and of sandstone, are usually altered in a different waj*. The light mica of the sandstones is altered into a plum -coloured mineral compound, which seems to pass in some instances into haematite ; wliile the sandstone-matrix is itself stained various shades of dull purple, puce, or even of biigiiier lints of red, it' the rock happens to be at all calcai-eous. Fragments of shale aic affected in the same manner, thougli they exhibit a decided tendency to pass into tints of pale lilac, nr puce.* Breccias of essentially the same character as those described in connexion with the quarries at Burrelis are well displayed at several other localities south of the River Eden. A good exposure may be examined near Barwise Hall about two miles south-west of Appleby, and in several little quarries and natural exposures to the north of that, as far a< Penny Hall. This rock is agaia seen near the junction of Colby Beck wUh the Eden ; and also nearer Apy^leby, at Thistley Hill ; as well as in various small exposures connected wish the lo k worked at Burrelis. At all the localities mentiuncd the rock is mainly the lower part of the Lower Brock ram. As the [)rt vailing dip on the whole ia towards the north-east, higher beds tend to come on in that direc- tion ; but the combined effects of faults and the local variations of dip, repeat the strata and keep the lower beds near the surface over most of the area to the south-west of Appleby. In the Eden below Appleby Castle, however, what are probably the highest beds of the Lower Brockram are well exposed. The lowest beds seen consi-it of breccia-conglomerates of the kind already described ; but, perhaps, on the whole, rather less dolo- mitic in character than they are elsewhere. These are succeeded by a'ternations of thin bands of breccia with breccia-sand- * The replacement by hoematiee of tlie original c^ilcareous constituents of the fragments included in tlie breccia has in some instances proceeded so far as to make it appear at first sight that the Brockram includes veritable fragments of haematite, and hence that the haematite must be older than the Brockram, instead of owinf its present mineral character to changes brought about at a later date. The change referred to is often well displayed in hand-specimens, and there are some in the Museum of Practical Geology that -well illustrate the point in question. It may be -tvorthy of remark that, among the various stages of alteration from dolomitized lime- stone into ha:matite no noticeable trace of carbonate of iron has yet been detected in the oases mentioned. PERMIAN. I t fitonee, resembling to a great extent the sandstones seen nt higher horiz3ns, but containing a variable per-centage of limestone-frag- ments scattered irregularly through the mass. These fragments are of all sizes from small stones up to pieces eighteen inches in diameter. These alternations clearly indicate the transition to the next subdivision above. The dip of these rocks is on the j^hole towards the north-east, so that it is possible that these breccias may pass naturally beneath the section of red sandstone seen a little lower down the river in that direction. Red sandstones figaiii are seen in close connexion with beds of breccia believed to be high up in the series in Sweet Milk Sike, just below the ruins of Bewley Casile ; but whether there is a natural transition here, or whether the line between the breccias and the red sandstone is in tliis case a faulted one, cannot be determined with certainty. On the north side of the Eden, near Appleby, some faults of large throw bring the Lower Brockram again to the surface, and oven the Carboniferous rocks below it are exposed in several places. A small section of these beds is exposed on the north side of the Eden Valley Railway just N.W. of Appleby Station. Another exposure may be easily examined on the north side o£ the Roman Road near Gallows Hill, rather less than a mile N.N.W. of Appleby Church. But the best sections are those displayed in tlie Brockram Quarries at Stank, a short distance to the east of Gallows Hill, and about three-quarters of a mile N.N.E. of Appleby.* In regard to the lithological character of these beds they do not differ essentially from the beds already described in connexion with Burrells. There is here, however, a much higher dip, which ranges between ten and twenty degrees towards the N.E. Prof. Harkness found that bore-holes were put down through these beds in this neighbourhood, and the presence of Carboniferous rocks immediately below them clearly proved. There can therefore be no doubt that these breccias at Stank and the other places near represent the Lower Brockram brought up by faults, and that they are not tlie representatives of the Upper Brockram, as their position in rtlation to the Brockram on the south side of the Eden has led maiy persons to suppose. The shape of the ground along a line ranging north-westerly throujih Hungriggs, on the dip-side of the quarries just referred to, suggests that the breccias terminate upwards in the Middle Sandstone, just as they seem to do at Appleby C.istle ; but the evidence is too scanty to admit of any certainty upon this point. The only other exposure of the Lower Brockram that heed be mentioned is a small, and not altogether satisfactory section that, during the construction of the Midland Railway, was laid bare at the north end of the Castrigg Cutting, between Appleby and Long Marton. Its mode of occurrence in relation to the Car- boniferous rocks exposed in the same cutting, nearer Appleby, seems to indicate that it actually represents the very base of the * See ante p. 75. 78 peRmiax. Lower Brockram, whicli, iP that were the case, would here come on naturally above the Carboniferous Grit?. Middle Red Sandstone. — Turning now to the Middle Sand- stone of the Appleby type of succession, we find some excellent and easily examined exposures on the north side of the Eden at Appleby. One of the finest of these is that seen opposite Appleby Castle, where the rock has been quarried to some extent for building-stone. Another section is presented by a deep quarry amongst the houses just north of Bongate Mill. But the section most easily examined is that exposed by the road-cutting at Drawbriggj, Bongate, just east of the old Gaol. Here the rock consists of moderately hard, thickly bedded, red sandstone, varying in tint from p:ile copper-colour to Venetian red. The most noticeable feature about tiie rock, here, as nearly every- where else, is the prominence of the features produced by false- bedding. From top to bottom not a trace of anything that can be trusted as a plane of normal bedding can be seen ; the whole rock consists of a pile of lenticular masses and curved wedges of red sandstone, eacii mass showing more or less evident signs of scooping and other forms of contem_poraneoiis erosion. Extended observations upon the directions of false-bedding in the rock show that there is a marked predominance of f.dse-bedding planes inclined, in a general way, from some easterly point towards the west. On the assumption that the Penrith Sandstone is of eolian origin, this westerly false -bedding may indicate tlie prevalent direction of the winds during the dry seasons. The rock is almost exclusively a sandstone ; beds of shale in this part of the formation being rare or absent alto<.^ether. In composition this sandstone presents some features of considerable interest. It consists of an aggregation of small sub-angular and well-rounded grains of quartz, generally coated by a thin film of hematite, which seems to act to some extent as the cementino- material of the rock. With the quartz grains occurs a variable per-centage of mealy-looking grains of small size, which are pro- bably fragments of some felspar more or less kaolinized, though other minerals in a state of decomposition may also be present. But the strangest feature in connexion with this rock is the con- spicuous al'sence of any noticeable per-centage of mica. In this respect the rock under consideration contrasts strongly both with the St. Bees Sandstone,, and with the sandstones of the Car- boniferous rocks beneath. In the rocks last-named, mica, in some form or other, can always be detected. Quartz of secondaiy origin has crystallised ujwn many of the sand-grains : perhaps the silica thus deposiied may have been partly derived from the decomposition of the mica, which is now absent, as well as from the felspar-grains already referred to. No reliable estimate of the thickness of this sandstone can be made, as, apart from any other considerations, the rocks are cut off by faults, and nothing like the thickness exposed in Helton Beck is seen in any continuous section here. PEKMIAN. 79 Upper Breccia, or Brochram, and Upper Red Sandstone. — In the direction where this higher bed should come on above the Brockram, at Stank, no satUfiictory evidence of the precise nature of the rock is forthcominej. The form of the ground does not help much, on account of the rock-features being masked by drift. . But the led and sandy character of the soil at points where the drift is thin may be taken as evidence of the nature of the rock beneath. There can be little doubt that a considerable area on tlie dip-side of the Stank Brockram as far north as the woods at Flakebridge, is occupied by the remaining three subdivisions of this member of the Permian seriep. At Brampton a small lane in the middle of the hamlet, leading northward to Mill Beck, exposes a section in the higher part of these beds. The lowest bed exposed consists of red sandstones of the type just described as occurring at Bongate, but here containing one thin band of breccia, hke the very top beds of the Upper Brockram exposed in Helton Beck. This sandstone is succeeded on the north by a thick series of friable, half- consolidated, flaggy sandstones of a bright red tint. Rocks of this kind are well exhibited behind the Old Smelting Mill a mile south of Dufton. The same crumbling, friable, red sandstone may also be seen afc several places in and around Long Marton. There can be little doubt that the soft - sandstone just referred to represents the highest member of the Penrith Sandstone Series. Westward of a line joining Bewley Castle and Brampton, the exposures of Penrith Sandstone are confined almost exclusively to red sandstone of one or other of the two types before mentioned. This arises mainly-from the fact of the rapid replacement of the Breccias, in tlifir trend westward, by the thickening of the seams and beds of red sandstone described as occurring in connexion with the breccias near Apppleby. The reason of the non-exposure of the Lower Brockiam west of Bewley Castle, may possibly arise from the fact tbat the boundary thence north-westward for a few miles is faulted, so that the lower beds are concealed. The Lower Brockram has, almost certainly, not died entirely away, for in a gill rising south of Cliburn, what is probably the very top of the lower member of this series is represented by a few feet of Brockram of the ordinary kind, which passes up into Red Sandstone of the Bongatetype, and forms the picturesque little gorge known as Trough Gill. Elsewhere the whole of the rocks belonging to this subdivision consist exclusively of red sandstones, of essentially the .same type as those described in the Bongate section. From Appleby north-westward for a few miles the soft half- consolidated type of Penrith Sandstone prevails, though harder beds do occur here and there. But north of Cliburn rocks of a more compact character begin to occur in force, and to prevail throughout the whole of their extension towards the north-west. It is this diiference in the proportion of hard and durable beds to those of a soft and crumbling nature that gives rise to the distinctive physical character of the hills of red sandstone that form the surface in the northern part of this area, when compared 80 PERMIAX. with the tame and featureless aspect of the scenery prevailing where the softer sandstones predominate. A good section of tliese softer smdstones maj' be easily seen, even from the railway- carriage, at Cliburn Station (Eden Valley Eailway), where the bright copper-red tint and the cliaracteristic false-bedding of this rock are very well displayed. Some of the harder beds of the Penrith Sandstone, especially in the district around Penrith itself, contain a variable per-cenfage of doubly-terminated six-faced pyramids of (luartz, with well- defined, and usually very bright, faces. It is the presence of these crystals that impurfs the sparkling effect to so much of the stone qunriied at Whinfell and in the hills to the north. Secondary quartzj as already noted above, occurs also near Appleby, and, in fact, nearly everywhere in the Penrith Sandstone; but it is much more abundantly developed ;av)und Penrith itself. Microscopic examination sliows conclus'ively that this crystalline form is due to the deposition of secondary quartz around nuclei formed of rounded grains of sand. Some of the angles of the quartz crystals seem to have undergone atti'ition before they finally settled into their present resting places. The film of lijematite that coats most of the grains, extends over both the worn and the unworn parts of the crystal?. The upper limit of the Penrith Sandstone is nowhere well- defined within the area. The only instance in which its exact position was ever actually proved was in connexion with the gypsum -workings at Kirkby Thore, where the gypsum at one jilace actually extended down to the top of the sandstone beneath. The top bed was red, instead of being fulvous or saffron-coloured, as it often is in the area to the east of this (102, S.I'j., new series, nheet 31). And, on the other hand, it did not exhibit that peculiar quartzitic appearance so charactsristic of the beds on this horizon for some distance to the north. J. G. G. Permian and Trias. Shales with Gypsum, Matjnenan Limestone, and Plant Beds. — The boundary between the Plant Bed?, or between the Mag- nesian Limestone, and the Penrith Sandstone is very uncertain. It is rarely tint ihe junction bt-tween the two is either exposed or proved, and the division between the Plant Beds and the Bed Shales cannot be definitely traced. In addition to this, the district where these beds exitt is generally covered by Glacial Drift, and the surface-features are due to sub-aerial denudation of the drift rather than to any change in tiie nature of the under- lying strata. The shales themselves are exposed in some of the brook sections and in some of tlie pits in the neighbourhood where gypsum has been, or is now being, worked. On the strength of these exposures, together with such evidence as the surface supplied, a line has been laid down across the country between the Old PERMIAN AND TKIAS. 81 Smelting Mill, near Dufton, and the valley of the Eden, west of Newbiggin (Westmorland). This line represents with some degree of accuracy both the base of the Plant Beds and the top of the Penrith Sandstone. Close to, but just beyond the eastern edge of the area^ red and yellow sandstones and shales with carbonaceous matter are seen in the south bank of Burthwaite Beck at the west end of Flakebridge Wood, while near to this place, and within the map, the upper beds of the Penrith Sandstone occur in Rheabower Wood on the north side of the Beck. The junction of the Penrith Sandstone with the overlying marly shale is exposed at the south end of Park Brow on the west side of Mill Beck Valley. Northwards the steep sides of the valley are obscured by slipped ground and no continuous section can be seen. West of Stamp Hill the base of this subdivision of the Permian is approximately defined, because in the Gypsum Pit on the south- east of the road known as liong Rigg, Penrith Sandstone was proved to lie immediately under the bed of gypsum which was formerly worked there. And in the extensive old quarries on the north-west side of the road, gypsum occurs below shales probably the equivalent of the Plant Beds. At Pott's Well, near the Parish Boundary between Newbiggin (Westmorland) and Long Marton, red shales containing beds of gypsum, ranging up to 1 foot 6 inches in thickness, and also subordinate beds of sandstone have been proved in the old pits there. The Acorn Bank Gypsum Pit furnishes the next evidence whereby the position of the top of the Penrith Sandstone can be approximately fixed. The section exposed was as follows : — Section at Acorn Banh Gypsum Pit. Ft. In. Red Shale witli bands of soft yellow Sandstone Blue Shale with vegetable remains ... Bed Shale . - . . - Blue Shale with vegetable remains ... Gypsum in massive beds, uneven top . - 15 to 20 Eed Sandstone, very tough and hard, proved under Gypsum ...... Red Shales with thin bands of hard sandstone were found tinder the drift in the deep cutting for the Midland Railway (Settle and Carlisle Branch) north of Crowdundle Beck, and red sandy shales with subordinate beds of sandstone, lying, in a nearly horizontal position, are seen on the north-west side of the Beck near Newbiggin Bridge. R. R. The Magnesian Limestone division and the associated Plant Beds are very imperfectly represented here, as compared with the rocks of the same age in the district to the east. Indeed, the Magnesian Limestone itself does not appear to occur at all. The evidence at present available will not enable any definite opinion to be expressed as to whether this is due to a rapid westerly E 93015. F 82 PERMIAN AND TKIAS, attenuation of all the rocks on this horizon, or whether it is due to the removal of these rocks by denudation prior to the deposi- tion of the Eed Shales that come on next above. It is possible that the small thickness of beds seen in this area, as compared with their much more complete development in the area imme- diately to the east, may be due to a combination of both these causes. The highest Permian strata represented, pertain to the Plant Beds, which consist of a variable series of beds of maroon, pale glaucous, and dark grey clays and shales, with thin bands of magnesio-calcareous sandstone, usually of various shades of fulvous, and with occasional thin bands of impure magnesian limestone, and a little lignite. The whole series in this area nowhere much exceeds twenty feet in thickness, and in this respect these beds offer a remarkable contrast to their equivalent strata in the area (o the east, as, for example, in Helton Beck, Here and there throughout the grey clays,, as well as in the fulvous sandstones above referred to, occur carbonized fragments of vegetable remains, nearly always too imperfectly preserved to admit of identification. They may be collected in tolerable abundance at Mr. Boazman's quarry at Acorn Bank ; but they may be met with wherever the Plant Beds are exposed. The thin bands of magnesian limestone, which occur in the Plant Beds frequently contain small cavities whence crystals of selenite have been dissolved out — a result which is probably due to the action of water charged with organic matter. All the gypsum worked in this district occurs between the top of the Penrith Sandstone and the base of the St. Bees Sandstone. It is by no means confined to any definite horizon within the vertical limits mentioned. It may, however, be described as generally occurring in this neighbourhood, on, or about, the horizon of the Magnesian Limestone and the Plant Beds. In the large pits worked just to the north-east of Kirkby Thore Town Head, the gypsum extends, as already mentioned, down to the Penrith Sandstone itself; near Stamp Hill, it occurs well up in the Bed Shales that overlie the Plant Beds, and at a geological horizon perhaps as much as fifty or sixty feel higher than it does at the pits first named. It is most important to note here that these Cumberland and Westmorland deposits of gypsum occur at a very mnch lower geological horizon than the gypsum deposits in the Midland Counties, and agree in position with the gypsum and rock-salt of the Middlesborough district.* The Midland deposits occur in the Keuper Marls, strata lying above the St. Bees Sandstone where the succession is complete. The gypsum usually occurs in one main bed, which occasionally attains a thickness of twenty feet. It is commonly accompanied by a variable number of thinner beds, worthless for commercial purposes. The thickness, is however liable to considerable varia- tion, due, apparently, quite as much to original irregularities of deposition, as to subsequent removal by solution in water charged ♦ See also E. Wilson, Quart. Jouro. Geol. Soc, vol, xliv. p. 761. TRIAS. 83 •with organic matter. The effect produced by the last-named cause can be very well studied in nearly every pit where this mineral is being worked. The upper surface of the gypsum is furrowed and eroded often to a depth of several feet, much after the same fashion as in the case of a mountain torrent which has drilled out pot-holes and caldrons in its bed, more particularly when the water flows in a channel cut out of the limestone-rock. Some of these pot-holes traverse the entire thickness of the gypsum, and leave a mass of clay in the place formerly occupied by the hard rock. In addition to the irregularities of bounding surface arising from the causes just mentioned, there are others whose relation to the gypsum on the one hand and to the enclosing rock on the other, seem suggestive of action of another kind. The clays and marls overlying the main mass of gypsum are traversed in all directions by thin veins and irregular seams of the same mineral ; and the proportion of gypsum occurring in this manner increases as the main mass is approached. Some of the upper .protuberances on the surface of the gypsum manifestly show that the bedding of the shale adjoining is continued without intei'ruption through the mass of gypsum, just as the lines of bedding of the Chalk may be traced uninterruptedly through some nodules of flint. It is probable therefore that the dissolution of the gypsum interspersed through the overlying rock, and its re- deposition at a lower level,, has locally brought about an irregular intergrowth which has, in places extended downwards to, and ■become united with, the main mass.* The gypsum is nearly everywhere well-jointed. Good sections may be examined at the quarries near Kirkby Thore, and at Acorn Bank, near Temple Sowerby; while a good natural «xposure, showing the gypsum in the condition of aggregation of lustrous satiny fibre.«, may be seen in the Red Shales on the' south bank of the River Eden at Winderwath.f J. G. G. Trias. 'The Triassic rocks include the following divisions : — 2. — St. Bees Sandstone. 1. — Red Shales with Gypsum. It has been already stated (p. 80) that it is practically impossible in this district to separate the equivalent of the Plant Beds and the Magnesian Limestone from the Red Shales ; and we have now farther to observe that the passage upwards from the Red Shales to the St. Bees Sandstone is generally so gradual that there is, strictly speaking, no well-marked horizon where the one may be said to end and the other to begin. The Red Shales' enter the district from the east on the north side of Burthwaitc Beck near Dufton Wood, and follow a north- * See Goodchild, Proo. Geo!. A.-soc, vol. x. p. 425. t See also Harkness, Quait. Journ. Geol. Soc, vol. xviii. p. 209. F 2 84 TKIAS. westerly course across Mill Beck, Keld Site, and Crowdundle Beck to the northern edge of the area. They occupy a strip of country, about half-a-mile broad, extending from east of Long Marton to west of Newbiggin (Westmorland). At the north end of Park Brow and almost opposite to the place where a new Bridge over Mill Beck has been erected, the following section was observed on the west side of the valley, a short distance below the horizon which has been taken as the base of the St. Bees Sandstone in this, neighbourhood: — Ft. Ins. Soft decomposed Red Sandstone - ■ Fine Breccia with numerous fragments of quartz and"! o q limestone - - - - - --/ Soft Red Sandstone ..... Here the dip is N. 15° E at 19°. North-west of Mill Beck the next exposures of the E,ed Shales qccur in Keld Sike. A t Stamp Hill, they are well exposed on the north side of the valley, and on the south side of the valley, near the sama place, there is an Old Pit where Gypsum has been worked. Farther east there are Red Shales with sandstone- bauds seen on the north side of the stream, and just above where tne valley again takes a northerly direction, the St. Bees Sand- stone is exposed on the west side of the brook. At this point, therefore, the position of the probable junction of the Red Shales and the St. Bees Sandstone can be ascertained within certain limits. Between Newbiggin Bridge and the point where Milburn Beck joins Crowdundle Beck the Red Shales are not exposed, but the deep gorge at Millpark Wood through which Milburn Beck flows, is cut out entirely in St. Bees Sandstone. Throughout most of the district between Keld Sike and Crowdundle Beck the boundaries delineated on the map are very uncertain. The Glacial Deposits hide the solid rocks and render any physical features they may form so obscure that neither the top of the Penrith Sandstone nor the base of the St. Bees Sandstone can be determined with much accuracy. R. R. 1. Red Shales with Gypsum. — With the exception of some small exposures seen here and there . beneath the glacial drift in the Midland Railway-cuttings south-east of Newbiggin, and of some equally unimportant sections connected with the workings for gypsum, the beds on this horizon only appear in the north banks of Crowdundale Beck, just above Acorn Bank, and in the fine sections exposed in the adjoining cuttings on the Midland Railway. The beds consist of venetlan-red shales, which are occasionally interbedded with thin flags of the same colour.. Near their upper limit the Red Shales everywhere pass by insensible gradations into the flaggy beds of the St. Bees Sandstone above ; and there can be no doubt that they should be regarded simply as the shaly base of that rock. TBIAS. 85 A common feature of the Red Shales is the occurrence, here and there throughout the whole series, of spots and decoloration- marks of a pale-green tint. All the sandy bands, and much of tlie more argillaceous part also of this rock, contain more or less detrital mica, a constituent that has been already mentioned as very rare, or almost entirely absent, in the Penrith Sandstone below. No trace of anything like fossils has yet been detected in these beds ; though obscure markings, that may represent ichnites of some kind, have occasionally been found. Ripple-marks occur upon the faces of bedding of these shales ; and occasionally more satisfactory evidence of their shallow-water origin may be found in the shape of desiccation-marks. The total thickness of the Red Shales in this area probably ranges between two hundred and three hundred feet ; though there is no means of determining this point with certainty. As a rule the beds next below the St. Bees Sandstone consist almost exclusively of Red Shales with thin bands of micaceous sandstone ; anything like the coarse fragmental beds seen in the sandstone-series below being conspicuous by their absence. But on the north-west of Mill Beck, about midway between Dufton and Brampton, a thin band of calcareous breccia-conglomerate emerges from beneath the St. Bees Sandstone. The section where this exposure occurs is not very clear, and the distance of this conglomerate below the lowest exposure of the St. Bees Sandstone cannot be estimated with any certainty. The com- paratively high dip prevailing in that neighbourhood would leave room for about a hundred feet, but there might be more than that. The rock consists of a series of stratified bands of breccia- conglomerate alternating with soft red sandstone and sandy shale. It is made up of well-rounded pebbles of quartz, ranging up to the size of a filbert, with a few sub-angular fragments of lime- stone, and of some other indeterminable rocks, bound together by a calcareo-arenaceous paste of much tiie same nature as that of the Brockram below. Whether this conglomerate marks the horizon of a small stratigraphical break or not is a point that, with the evidence at present available, cannot be satisfactorily determined ; but collateral evidence afiforded by other sections would seem to lend some support to the view that such is the case. Whatever view be taken there can be no question that it is on or about the horizon occupied by this band of conglomerate that we find a marked change in the lithological character of the sandstones belonging to the formation under consideration. During the construction of the Midland Railway (Settle and Carlisle Branch), a cutting of a quarter of a mile, S.E. of Black Leases, through the part occupied by the "496" below the trigonometrical station marked on the One-Inch Map, showed the lower part of the Red Shale series beneath Glacial Drift. These Red Shales were clearly seen to lie on an eroded surface of a series of thin bands of magnesian limestones and dark-grey clays, which evidently belong to the Magnesian Limestone and Plant 86 TRIAS. Bed Series. The relative positions of these rocks are shown in^ the annexed figure.* Fig. 2, — Section on the Midland Railway at Hale Grange, Newbiggin, Westmorland. Bed Shale Series resting on eroded surface of the Magnesian Limestone and Plant Bed Series. The appearances suggested that the change of physical con- ditions which led to the deposition of red sandstones and shales in place of the lignites, magnesian limestones, and unctuous dark-grey clays of the older series, was accompanied locally by a certain amount of erosion of the beds below. Contortion of the surface-layers of the rock by the passage of heavy masses of ice would not suffice to account for the phenomena in question. 2. St. Bees Sandstone. — This, the highest member of the- formation under notice, differs in lithological character from the Penrith Sandstone, and the difference is sufficiently well marked to enable anyone to distinguish between the two even in hand specimens.f The St. Bees Sandstone is well-bedded, finer grained, somewhat darker in colour, usually distinctly laminated, and' contains more or less detrital mica. Then again, the crystals formed by secondary quartz, that constitute so marked a feature in the case of the Penrith Sandstone, are here either very rarely developed or entirely absent. In addition to the above-mentioned differences the St. Bees Sandstone is, taking it all through, thinner-bedded, and is divided up at vertical intervals of every few feet, by irregular and thin- beds of shale — a character that, in connexion with the Penrith Sandstone, occurs nowhere except near the very top. Both the- shale beds and the sandstone also contain galls of red clay. Another feature in connexion with the St. Bees Sandstone as well as with the shales that form its natural base, is the presence of irregular decoloration patches here and there throughout the rock ; these occur in such a manner that one-half of a block of sandstone belonging to this horizon may be of a uniform dull venetian-red, while the other may be of a pale greenish drab, the * See also Goodchild, Trans. Cumberland Assoc, No. xvii., and Quart. Journ- Oeol. Soc, vol. xxxi. p. 82. t, See also T. V. Holmes, Trans, Cumberland Assoc, No. vii. p. 79. TRIAS. 87 line of demarcation between the two being often very sharply defined and bearing no relation to the bedding of the rock. Eipple-marks are common on the bedding-faces of many of the slabs ; more rarely suncracks, with trails and tracks of organic origin occur, these latter being usually too iU-defined and obscure to afford any satisfactory clue to their precise nature. Rain-prints , and pseudomorphic casts of crystals of rock-salt have lately been found in these rocks near Newbiggin, by Mr. Wilbert Goodchild. The St. Bees Sandstone has been largely used for building- purposes ; it works freely, and is obtainable in blocks of larger size than the false-bedded Penrith Sandstone can furnish. There is a large quarry in ^Jiis stone just north of Newbiggin Hall, at the northern margin of the area. Several smaller quarries occur in and around Milbum, Knock, and Dufton. The rock is tolerabTy uniform in character over wide areas, so that a description of this rock taken at St. Bees Head, or even in Furness, in North Lancashire, will apply almost exactly to the rock anywhere in the Eden Valley. It is highly probable that the St. Bees Sand- stone would prove to be an excellent water-bearing formation, but neither this sandstone nor the Penrith Sandstone has been properly tested in this respect. At the most only a thickness of a few hundred feet of the St. Bees Sandstone now remains in the area represented by this map ; although there is reason for believing that at one time its thickness here may have been nearly two thousand feet. The rock dips at a comparatively low angle, and the width of outcrop between the supposed base of the sandstone and the line where the beds are cut off by the Pennine faults nowhere much exceeds two miles, and is mostly less than that. J. Q. G. 88 CHAPTER VI r. GLACIAL AND POST-GLACIAL DEPOSITS. The Glacial deposits consist of the usual admixture of Boulder Clay or Till and Morainic detritus with occasional patches of stratified sand and gravel. It will be convenient to describe these deposits and kindred matters as they occur in separate districts. We shall therefore first ileal with the Glacial phenomena of the Silurian area south of Ullswater; and shall next describe the snpei-ficial deposits of the country south of the River Eumont, concluding with those north of that river. Glacial Deposits on the Silurian Area east of High Street. The low ground along the course of the River Lowther is thickly covered with Till up to about the 1,000 foot contour : above this level there is but little Drift. J. E. D. A small deposit of sub-angular gravel occurs at Bleabeck bridge east of Lodge, at the southern edge of the area, where the road from Shap Wells joins, that from Shap to Kendal. It is composed of rudely interstratified sand and sub-angular gravel, most of which consists of decomposed granite. Two oblong patches of gravel exist in Cordale, about one mile above Staingarth. They are raised several feet above the peaty valley-bottom. Cordale Beck cuts into the easterly mound and shows a section of tolerably well- rounded gravel. The weeterly mound is entirely turf-covered and the surface is thickly studded with boulders of local rocks. At Hodgson Hill, north of Waterside, east of UUswater, there are two small hillocks about twenty-five feet above the level ot the hike, near the confluence of Elder and Aik Becks. They are composed of gravel similar in character to that (mentioned on p. 100) which occurs between Knott and Gowbarrow Bay on the north side of the lake. R. R. In the heart of the mountains there are several instances of moraines. There are very good ones at the head of Swindale. A section made by the beck in one of these mounds shows the material to be precisely similar to the modern moraines of Switzer- land. Another excellent instance of a moraine analogous in shape and disposition to Alpine deposits is at Riggindale Head, where the moraine is mainly composed of blocks derived from Short Stile. Blea Water is surrounded, except on the craggy side, by Drift ; but there is no good section ; the tarn, however seems to be partly dammed up by Drift. The rooks at the head (if Blea Water are scored with strise pointing up to the craws : this shows GLACIAL DRIFT. 89 that small glaciers once clung to these crags, descending straight from them, precisely as small glaciers now come down the sides of the Aiguilles facing Chamouni. It is only of course in special places that signs of this local glaciation, which wound up the age of ice, are to be seen. The striae generally found on the rocks are due to an earlier and more extensive glaciation. Generally speaking, they run more or less along the valleys ; and, when the direction of motion can be determined, it is down the dales, showing that the ice-flow had in general a movement from the centre of the fells outwards more or less along the present valleys. In some few places I have found two sets of striae on the same rock ; thus in Swindale in two instances I found on the same rock scratches pointing N.N.E. and E.N.E., of which the latter are the oldest ; but both sets are more or less along the valley. There are however some exceptions to this longitudinal direction of the glacial strise,: thus in Mosedale below the slate quarries, just outside the limits of this map, we found scratches in the valley bottom pointing S. 15° E. or across the valley. Besides scratches on the rocks, we have instances of grooving on a largier scale, thus in Mardale the spur of High Street known as Dudderwick is crossed by a succession of furrows, more or less along the strike, which are probably due to the action of ice. That the ice has been not only over Dudderwick, but over the higher part of the Erigg called Eough Crag, is shown by boulders perched on the summit of the ridge ; one of these is near the Ordnance Station 2,062 feet above sea-level, on the very highest part of Rough Crag. Likewise the spur called Kidsty Howes, formed of rough altered ash, is crossed by furrows trending E. by N., and shows " crag and tail." Owing to the general similarity of the rocks of the country, boulders do not often afford .any indication of the direction in which the ice flowed. The following are exceptional instances, but they are far from being satisfactory. At Rawhead, near Kosgill, a peculiar gritty ash crops out in a ridge alongside the road. A boulder of precisely ^imilar rock is found on the common a little way to the south, as if the ice had moved southward, i.e. up the valley of the Lowther; but this boulder may not have been derived from the mass of rock now exposed on the roadside. It was mentioned above (p. 23) that a dyke of fine-grained grey granite is seen in Wet Sleddale for nearly a mile. Boulders of a similar rock are found due north of this dyke near Glede Howe in the Swindnle basin. These, if trustworthy, would indicate that the ice i)ad moved northward and crossed Wet Sleddale instead of going down it. Lastly I have found two boulders of a nodular rock, prec'sely like the nodular bed of Kidsty Pike and Whelter Crags and Dry barrows, far away to the south and east of any known out- crop of that reck : one of these is in Mosedale on the roadside, near the valley bottom, east of the slate quarry; the other is still further south at Harrop Pike at an elevation of over 2,000 feet. 90 GLACIAL DRIFT. It will be remembered that it is in this neighbourhood that we set the transverse scratches in Mosedale.* ^ J. R. D. "With reference to the Silurian area between High Street and Ullswater Mr. Hebert writes -that clay with large angular stones imbedded in it, occurs along the sides of Bannerdale andBoredale, and upon the low ground bordering the low end of Ullswater. Moraines abound in the neighbourhood of Hayeswater, and in the adjoining valley of Pasture Beck. The small islands in Ullswater and the margin of the lake are well elaciated ; but the rocks are seldom of a nature to retain ice-scratches. Soundings of Ullswater and Hawes Water. Ullswater. — This nowhere attains a depth of 200 feet. The deepest part occurs opposite Birk Fell one third of the distance across the lake : a uniform depth of over 190 feet is here maintained for a distance of one mile. The lake like many others of glacial origin deepens rapidly as we pass from its head along its length, attains its greatest depth at about one third of its length from its head, and then gradually and slowly shallows until its low end is reached. E. J. H. Hawes Water. — This lake is nearly cut in two by a huge fan of torrent-detritus brought down by the Measand Beck and shot into the lake. We here see going on before our eyes a process, the like of which has in past time severed Derwent Water from Bassenthwaite Lake, and Buttermere from Orummock Water, and which will surely in time sever the High from the Low Water in the case of Hawes Water. The straits between the tw» portions of the lake are very shallow, twelve feet being the greatest depth obtained by me in that part. The greatest depth of the Low Water is 49 feet immediately opposite Wallow Crag. The greatest depth of the whole lake is 97 feet in the High Water, where several soundings of from 93 to 97 feet were obtained at about a mile from the head.f J. E. D. Glacial Deposits on the Carboniferous Area south of the River Eamont, and west of the Lyvennet. The Glacial Drift between Crosby Eavensworth Fell and Shap is mainly of that stony nature characteristic of this deposit in most districts lying adjacent to the Fell Country. The matrix in * Siuce writing the above, I have been informed by Mr. A. Harker that the felsite associated with the Coniston Limestone between Shap Wells and Long Sleddale i& nodular like the Mardale rock. t See also J. B. Marr, Quart. Journ. Geol. Sec, vol. 11. p. 37 ; and vol. lii. p. 15. GLACIAL DKIFT. 9Z Tvhich the larger stones are enclosed consists chiefly of small fragments of stone, and both large and small stones are for the most pait derived from local rocks. As a rule the Drift has been removed from the principal ridges and steep escarpments throughout the country occupied by the Carboniferous rocks, while it occurs along the sides and In the bottoms of the river- valleys, and in the hollows between the ridges and bosses of solid rock. Sometimes, however. It has been swept entirely out of either the whole or a portion of a valley, and both the sides and bottom are now quite free from drift, as In the case of the stream west of Waters, near Shap ; In other Instances, the rock forms one side of the valley while on the other a considerable deposit of drift still exists, as In the case of the country east of Oddendale. Boulder Clay occurs along the lower flank of the Crosby Eavensworth Fell escarpment, and spreads round both sides of Hardendale Fell towards Thornship on the west, and towards The Nab on the east. It is probable that in this locality the Drift Is thicker thail it is anywhere else In this immediate neighbourhood. Over much of the Carboniferous area it forms a thin covering only, through which the underlying rocks here and there project. At Hazel Moor, between the west and east branches of Lyvennet Beck and thence eastwards up to the base of Hollins Scar, the Drift is composed almost entirely of limestone-fragments. On the north side of the westerly branch of Lyvennet Beck there is a bold scar of limestone, while on the south side there is a thick accumulation of local drift. In some places it Is very like Till, and altogether has quite a diffierent appearance from mere talus. In the branch of Lyvennet Beck which has its source at the King's Well, south of Hazel Moor, the drift-like character . of the deposit is clearly seen. Here it is composed of earthy clay and small stones, and contains boulders, the majority of which are blocks of limestone. * The easterly branch of Lyvennet Beck cuts down through the Drift, and the limestone Is exposed both along the sides and in the bed of the stream. Numerous springs and flows of water come out of the limestone on the east side of this branch of the Lyvennet. The , northern slope of Crosby Ravensworth Fell is mostly covered with a thick growth of peat, but as far as the sections extend, they seem to show that the Drift possibly runs well up toward the summit of the ridge and gradually becomes indis- tinguishable from weathered or decomposed rock. Boulders of Shnp Granite, some of them of very large size, are strewn abundantly over the whole of this district. On many portions of the moorland aroimd Hardendale Fell, and over the country between Waters and The Nab, Shap Granite boulders may be counted by hundreds, if not by thousands. They also occur very numerously on the moorland south and east of Odden- dale towards Slack Eandy and the Old British Settlement at Ewe Cose ; In fact, wherever the land Is uncultivated these. 92 GLACIAL AND POST-GLACIAL DRIFT. boTilders exist in immense numbers almost to tlie complete exclusion of boulders derived from the local rocks. Boulders of Volcanic Ash and Lava do occur here and there but they are very sparingly distributed. Two of the largest boulders measured were as follows : — Breccia in the alluvium of the Lowther, in Mitchelholm Bottom near Woodhouse west of Clifton Station, 16 feet in length above the grass. Breccia, a mile east of Pooley Bridge, measuring 12x10x6 feet, and of about five tons weight: others nearly as large occur on the slope below Scrogs Wood. In this neighbourhood some of the large boulders are known locally as Thunder Stones. This term is generally, though not invariably, applied to blocks of volcanic rock which emit a metallic or ringing sound when struck by the hammer. Glacial striae, trending north and south, have been observed near the railway on the watershed above Shap ; and at High Lan- kaber striae have been noticed pointing north-north-west down the valley of the Lyveimet ; and Otterstone Crag shows in worn and grooved faces the passage of ice along the Ullswater hollow. The soil on the reclaimed land is an earthy clay with here and there a slight mixture of peat. Except where it consists of bare rock, the unreclaimed land is usually covered with a layer of mountain peat. Peat is also frequently found in the alluvial flats of the existing streams. R. E. andW. H. D. Superficial Deposits near Appleby between the Eden and Lyvennet. The following are the deposits occurring in this area : — fPeat. Post- Glacial"^ Alluvium and Eiver-gravel. t_E.iver Terraces, p, . , fTill, or Boulder Clay. (_Pre- or Inter-glacial (River "?) Gravel. In the year 1881, or 1882, a tunnel was made opposite the gasworks through Battlebarrow to a lower part of the river, to carry off the sewage of Appleby, It was commenced at the lower or western end and driven E. 18° S. Being at Appleby at the time I was able to watch the progress of the work and this resulted in a discovery of some interest. The tunnel commenced at a little below the surfaee of the Carboniferous rocks, here reddish sandstones and rather shaly beds, but the upper part was in gravel and very soon the tunnel left the rock and proceeded entirely in clean gravel and sand. In appearance it was exactly like the river-gravel of the present time and could not be distiu- guished from it. Just at the same time the land above was being drained, and the cuttings for this purpose revealed nothing GLACIAL DRIFT. 93 but exceedingly stiff red Till, full of limestone and other boulders well covered with glacial scratches : the ordinary Till of the district. A tooth was found in the gravel when the excavations had reached about 300 yards, i.e. about three-fourths of the distance, the remainder of the tunnel being as yet unexcavated. This fact precludes, I think, any possibility of accidental introduction. I was also satisfied with the bona fides of the workmen, for the find was only elicited by questioning, and a reward for the discovery was not followed with a farther supply to meet the demand. The tooth in question was submitted by me to my friend the late Professor Busk, F.R.S., who pronounced it to be the "molar of a small ox, probably Bison." Whatever it may be it is obvious from its position in gravel under Till, that it existed prior to the last great spread of Glacial conditions in the north of England, and is therefore either of inter-glacial or pre-giacial age. It is more likely of the former age. Bison was found in the Victoria Cave near Settle under glacial beds and also in the Cave at Ray Gill, Lothersdale, near Skipton, but in neither of these cases were the remains found out in the open, but protected by a rock. In this case it is difficult to escape the conclusion that the gravel represents an ancient river-bed which existed in inter-glacial times and was not cleared away by the subsequent grinding of ice-sheet and glacier. It is a most uncommon occurrence in the north-west of England, and indeed so far as I am aware quite unique in that area, to find such beds with the remains of animals in them. Gravels often occur under or intercalated with Till ; b^t without fossil remains it is often impossible to say whether they represent some phase in the ever-shifting conditions of a land- er sea-glaciated area or the normal state of an open river- valley In ordinary cases of glacial denudation earlier deposits in valley-bottoms are more often than not removed by the grinding and flow of ice and water going down the valley. The rarity (but for this case I might say the absence) of any pre- or inter- glacial remains in the valleys of the north-west of England is no doubt due to this cause. In this particular case, however, con- ditions were somewhat different. At the maximum, or rather at a high development of glacial conditions, the passage of ice was not down the Eden valley, but up or across it as, e.g. at the time when the Shap Granite boulders were carried across the Pass of Stainmore, and an accumulation of material would be less easily removed in this direction than along the valley seawards. On the mitigation of conditions and the resumption of the ordinary flow down the valley, the earlier river-bed may have been so well covered up by accumulations of material as to escape complete denudation. Some such explanation is necessary to understand this very exceptional occurrence. I Ice-Scratched Rock- Surfaces. — The following Table gives the position of Glacial Striae on the rock-surfaces at their junction with the overlying drift, and the line of direction of the ice-flow 1)4 GLACIAL DRIFT. over them as thereby indicated in the portion of the area which I have surveyed : — Westmorland Direction of 6-iuch Map. Glacial Strise. Sheet IX. 250 yards N. of Roman Road in Castrigs Rail- way Cuitiug - S.E. Sheet XV. C60 y.irds E. of Grayber . . - On Sandstones near (S.W. of) Barwise Ilall (3 E., 25° S. places) S.E. .500 yards E., 25° S. from Rutter Force on lime- stone quarry E. of the road - S.E, In road 200 yards N.N.W. of Heights Castle E. 15° S. Small quarry 300 yards South of Bladder Pots - S. By Scale Beck S.W. of Howe Slack . E., 7° S. Another 1 70 yards higher up Stream E., 15° S. " White Quarry " 670 yards W. of Nags Head Inn - - - - S., 25° E. Sheet XXII. - 400 yards S. 15° W. from Gathorn Hall above the road S., 5° E. On road to Orton from Appleby 400 yards E. 25° N. from Blasterfield E., 15° KT. 500 yards S.W: from Whitewall - S. 180 yards N.E. from Grange Hall, Asby - S., 15° E. It will be seen that the direction ranges between East 15° North, and South : a range of 105°. If we reduce them to an average we find the prevalent direction to be S.E. Of course these scratches have been produced at different stages of the growth, and flow of glacier and ice-sheet, and not all at the same time ; but it is interesting to note that the average direction corresponds with the main direction of the Eden Valley, or the greater valley as bounded by the Lake Hills on the S.W. and the Cross Fell Chain on the N.E. The grooves on only one of the strlation-surfaces point from the region whence Shap Granite boulders, so plentifully scattered here, must have been supplied to this district. This is above Orton Scar, near Blasterfield, on a prominent ridge which may well have stood out of the path of local glaciers when the maximum conditions of ice-accumulation were abating, and have thereby escaped subsequent local glaciation. Shap Granite boulders are very abundant about there. Till or Boulder Clay. — This is thickly spread over the area under review and lies for the most part in long whale-backed ridges, whose arrangement gives stronger outlines in the district than do the changes In the subjacent rocks. The one-inch maps with hill-shading give a better Idea of the foi-m of the ground Imparted by this arrangement of material than do the six-inch maps of Westmorland, In which the levelled contours are so sparingly introduced as to be almost useless. It will be'seen that these ridges or " drumlins " have a general trend of S. 30° E,, -which Is evidently connected with the direction In which the ice GLACIAL AND POST-GLACIAL DRIFT. 95 moved, or with the lines along whicli it melted with greater or less rapidity: lines which may have been determined by crevasses, ice-movements, carriage of materials, &c. The Till west and south-west of Appleby is generally of a reddish colour and vnries from a very stiff to a sandy clay well packed with boulders of all sizes. These are chiefly of local rocks, though some have travelled fair distances. Shap Granite and other Lake Country rocks are also to be seen, the former in great aVjun dance. Boulders of Shap Granite occur plentifully along the Eden above and below Crackenthorpe Hidl. Along the road from Bewley Castle to Bolton Mr. Goodchild has noted several boulders ■of Ennerdale Granophyre and one of micaceous quartz-porphyry, Shap Granite boulders are also to be seen, and there are many in Teas Sike W. of Bewley Castle. At the house east of Burwain a well was sunk through 33 ft. of Glacial Drift into 9 ft. of grit where a supply of water was found. The Till about here is ail more or less red. In Swinegill Sike, south of Bewley Castle ruins, are many old .shafts or shallow digginjis similar to shallow conl- workings, but no trace of coal exists. Tiiere are many nodules and pebbles of ironstone and reddle in the brook-bottom and in the drift, and it is probable that tliey formed the object of search. Grey and purple ■shale is the only rock visible here, dipping N.N.E. at 8°. Between Hawkrigg and Penny Hill in the next gill east, similar pebbles and nodules occur, and here the rock is Brockram, yellow and red. In the river-cliffs about Appleby, fine sections in Drift occur — especially at the " Banks." These are mostly formed of Till of ordinary type with well-scratched boulders of all local rocks, particularly limestone. Several feet of gravel and sand occur in the upper part of the section, but are capped with Boulder Clay. Gravel occurs also in the road south of Appleby Castle, near the turn down to Castle Bank and Bongate Stepping Stones. Peat occurs occasionally in patches on the alluvium of the river- side, or in little waterlogged hollows between the mounds of Olacial Drift; but it does not attain much thickness or extent in this district. Some of these hollows have probably been tarns either silted up or drained by nature or the farmer. I may mention the alluvial flat at Dryevers and that at Barwise Hall. In the flat between Crackenthorpe Hall and Bewley Castle ruins, there is a fine clayey alluvium up to five feet thick, over- lying peat with trees, about one foot thick, and Boulder Clay, as noted by Mr. Goodchild. He thought the alluvium might make good bricks and tiles. R.'H. T. Glacial Deposits of the Vale of Eden, Between Trout Beck and the River Eden the Till is all of the sandy type. As a rule it decomposes into an earthy clay soil. In some instances, as in the vicinity of Brampton^ the soil is very 96 GLACIAL DRIFT. sandy, and it is probable that little, if any, drift exists there. But on the high ground along the Roman Road, the Till ia more clayey, and this is also the case in the district north of Appleby. Red Till was seen in a small excavation in the side of the road nearly opposite the Friary, north of Appleby. Although the Penrith Sandstone is extensively exposed in the neighbourhood of Appleby, along the valleys of Brampton Beck and Knock Gill, there are no clear sections i?howing distinctly the actual character of the Drift. The slopes of the railway-cuttings are soiled over, and grass grown, so that now very little information can be obtained from them ; but from such data as do exist, it seems that the red sandy Till is interstratified with irregular beds of sand and gravel and that it is almost entirely of local origin. For while there are boulders and fragments of Shap Granite, and far-travelled rocks from the Lake Country and from Scotland, the majority of the stones and the matrix in which they are contained, are chiefly derived from tiie rocks in the immediate neighbourhood. East of the River Eden the district from Temple Sowerby through Kirkby Thore to Long Marton is likewise entirely covered by sandy Till, for the soil is generally of a sandy nature, though sometimes passing into an earthy clay. The strip of country extending from Newbiggin (Westmor- land) by Stamp Hill and east of Long Marton to Dudmire, is occupied by the Red Marls containing gypsum, which lie between the Penrith and St. Bses Sandstones. And here is an instance showing how the character of the Till changes with the character of the rocks on which it rests, as the Till along tbe area above indicated is composed of red clay and stones. The sections exposed in the Gypsum Pits from Acorn Bank to Stamp Hill all show red Till resting on Red Marls. In the cutting for the Midland Railway near Newbiggin Station, a similar section was seen* ; and in the cutting at Hale Hill, Glacial Drift containing lenticular beds of sand was proved to a depth of 30 feet. From Newbiggin Moor to Milburn Grange and across Knock Moor and Marton Moor to the country around Dufton, sandy Till prevails. In this neighbourhood the St. Bees Sandstone is only exposed in the banks and sides of the valleys, in the stream courses and in an occasional quarry. The Drift, in the vicinity of Moorland Head, Knock Moor, Knock and Birks Head, forms an earthy clay soil, but in the district around Dufton the soil is more sandy, and this is probably due to the proximity of sand- stone to the surface. South of Dufton the surface is in some places very stony. Throughout this locality many of the stones lying on the surface are derived from the Silurian rocks alono- the base of the escarpment, but there are also a considerable number of fragments which have been brought from the T^ake Country. The Silurian rocks are not so universally covered by Glacial Drift. The TiU becomes more and more stony as the high ground is approached, and it sometimes passes almost insensibly into the waste from the sub-aerial decomposition o£ the slates and ashes. * Goodchild, Quart. Joum. Ge«l. Soc, vol. xxxi., p. 82. GLACIAL DEIFT. 97 The high ridge from Knock Pike to the north-east corner of the area is free from Drift. A thin covering of Drift overlies the Carboniferous rocks north of Milburn Grange and east of Milburn. Here the surface partakes more or less of the nature of the underlying li mestones and sandstones which appear at the surface in several places. The cuttings for the Eden Valley Bailway shows the general sandy nature of the Till over the Permian area between Clifton and A-ppleby. Thus, near to, and east of, Wetheriggs Brick and Tile Works, the drift consists largely of sand and sandstone blocks; of the remaining embedded rock-fragments about one half are Lake Country and the other half Carboniferous rocks ; south of Leacet Plantation the surface is reddish and very sandy, weathering white on the top, the sand and the contained blocks cf sandstone being apparently derived from the underlying Penrith Sandstone ; south of Whinfell Farm the Till contains much sand and sandstone along with Silurian and Carboniferous rocks ; south-west of Julian Bower the fragments enclosed in the sandy Till are more or less rolled, and consist mainly of Silurian and Carboniferous, with a few Permian rocks, but towards the middle and deeper parts of the section the Till was more clayey and rested on decomposed Penrith Sandstone at the bottom of the cutting ; south of Skygarth the surface is sandy and pebbly, the deposit becoming more clayey deeper down, while the foreign stones are mainly rocks from tlie Lake Country and some large boulders of Carboniferous Limestone ; east of the road near Sky- garth the stones are mostly far-travelled and chiefly from the Lake Country, with some blocks of Carboniferous and Permian sandstones. The country from Eamont Bridge eastwards across Brougham Moor and Whinfell to the River Eden is largely covered by sandy Till. There are, however, considerable areas in the vicinity of Whinfell Forest where the' surface consists of actual hard rook or of sand resulting from the decomposition of Penrith Sandstone. The Sandstone lies very near the surface throughout the whole of this district ; and consequently the Till is generally sandy, in some instances so much so, that it is scarcely dis- tinguishable from decomposed red sandstone except by the num- ber of foreign stones which it contains. Here and there patches of pure sand occur. These may be portions of the bed of sand which sometimes lies between the Eed Sandstone and the sandy Til], or may simply be the result of the decomposition of the rock itself The far-travelled stones contained in the sandy Till belong chiefly to rocks existing in the Lake Country. These foreign stones occur over the surface of the whole country, exist- inw even on rock-surfaces and in places where the the nature oF the soil shows that it is entirely derived from the waste of the underlying rocks. A section in red Till was exposed at the east end of Oglebird Plantation on the west side of the River Eden. E 93015. „ 98 GLACIAL AND POST-GLAOIAI/ DRIFT. Mounds of Sand and , Gravel occur on the south side of the' River Eamont, east of Brougham Castle. The largest group lies between Castle Farm and Whinfell. In the banks on the south side of the alluvial flat on the south of the River Eamont the gravel is seen resting directly on the Penrith Sandstone. The Esker mounds extend southwards on both sides of Light "Water as far as Haversheaf Hall. Still further south there are' other mounds, but these are probably little rock-eminences covered with thin coatings of gravel. Occasionally the surface becomes flat and then the gravel appears to pass gradually into sandy Till, as in the space between Countess Pillar and Moor Houses, but in most instances the boundary between the grSvel and the till is more or less sharply defined. At the west end of tlie river bank close to the road leading to Hornby Hall, and ■ north of Whinfell, gravel immediately overlies Penrith Sandstone. In a similar manner gravel is £€en lying on the rock along the east bank of the river, where it bends and flows northwards and' finally circles round St. Ninian's Church. Although moundy in places, the surface of the gravel here is in general, like that of the gravels which pass insensibly into sandy till. There are no sections in this locality showing the internal structure of the gravel mounds. In the low-lying district north-east of the River Eden, there is only one small patch of gravel. It occurs on the south side of Keld Sike and east of Stamp Hill. Some Esker-like mounds form very conspicuous features in the country which slopes down towards Milburn Beck north of Knock Pike. They are composed of angular and subangular gravel. In the gravel pit on the north side of the road from Knock leading over Fell Pastures, the gravel is angular and coarse but well stratified. The materials forming some of the other mounds seem, while still angular, to be much finer. In this respect they resemble the general character of the Eskers which occur high up in the river-valleys on the western side of the Lake District. At Cosca Hill on the east side of Knock Gill and south of Great Rundale Beck there is a large mound of find gravel. It has the characteristic shape, form, and surface outline of a true Esker. Another small mound occurs on the west side of Knock Gill and south of Knock Pike. Much of the smaller and finer material entering into the composition of these mounds consists of Skiddaw Slate fragments. Superficial Deposits north of the River Eamont. It has already been mentioned that Glacial Drift exists very generally over the area occupied by the Skiddaw Slates north of the River Eamont {see p. 5). In this locality the rock is seldom exposed at the surface except where the small streams have cut their cliannels down through the surface-deposits into the solid strata below. There are cases, however, other than in brook- ■ GLACIAL AND POST-GLACIAL DRIFT. 99 courses, where the Skiddaw Slate does occur at the surface, and in these cases the rock is invariably disintegrated into small fragments and much decomposed. Speaking fjenerally, the country from Eumney's Mead to Gowbarrow Park is almost com- pletely covered by drift ; a thin covering most probably it usually is, as the little ravines and brook-channels in Avhich exposures of slate are seen are very rarely of any great depth. The Till in this neighbourhood is for the most part derived from the slate on which it lies, and coqsequently it is more like a true Boulder Clay. It consists of stiff blue clay with angular and su6-angular stones, on many of which, especially on the fragments of slate, glaiial striae are sti'ongly marked. Sometimes the frag- ments of local rocks are so small and so numerous that the matrix in which the scratched stones are contained, is almost entirely composed of them. Close to Ullswater, and especially where the belt of low-lying land adjoining the lake is broad, the Till has been partially re-arranged and is quite like shingle. Throughout the district which is now being described, the Glacial Beds weather into an earthy clay-soil, forming a medium quality of arable and pasture land. The more highly elevated land occupied by the Volcanic Rocks, and by the Basement Conglomerate is practically free from Glacial Deposits. Over most of the country occupied by the Volcanic Rocks the surface is either of hard rocks or of soil derived from the decom- posed ash. In the last-named case, it usually forms rough moor- land pasture. North of Great Meldrum and Little Meldrum the low-lying ground across the valley of Blackdike Beck and Matterdale Rigg. up to the base of Great Mell Fell, is covered ■with red earthy Boulder Clay ; and occasionally patches of blue Till are exposed in the brook-sections. In the localities generally where the Basement Conglomerate exists, it is exceedingly difficult to distinguish the drift-covered areas from those where decomposed rock alone forms the surface, because the soil derived from the one is very similar in character to that derived from the other. There is, however, this distinction, viz., wherever the Boulder Clay is very thin or altogether absent, there is usually very little clayey matter in the soil, and the apparent gravelly nature, as well as the darker red colour, of the ground is most marked. This is the case on the flank of Great Mell Fell, around Little Mell Fell, in the district between Bennet- head Banks and Soulby Fell and at Dunmallard Hill. There are numerous exposures of solid rock throughout these areas, and even when the rock is not exposed, the soil turned up by the plough is precisely like decomposed Red Conglomerate. The Red Conglomerate is also exposed in many of the brook-sections beneath the Boulder Clay. A thin coating of Drift covers the low ground on both sides of Dacre Beck. It partakes somewhat of the general nature of decomposed conglomerate but is more clayey and, contains stones G 2 100 GLACIAL, DRIFT. of a more varied description, many showing traces of ice-strise. The colour is in this case of a greyish-red tint. Over the Limestone-area the Boulder Beds sometimes consist of a stiff clay containing stones, sometimes o£ earthy gravel, and sometimes of beds passing gradually from the one to the other. These gradual passages render the separation of the more clayey from the more gravelly portions of the drift utterly impossible. Good sections of the Drift are to be seen in the cuttings for the Cockermouth, Keswick and Penrith Railway, between Troutbeck and Penruddock stations. In the cutting north of Cocklakes Hill, the drift consists of — Ft. In. Surface soil - - - - - "^on Stiff Clay and Stones - - - . / » " Olay and Grravel - - - - - 2 Olay and Stones - ■ - • - 5 6 The Boulder Beds were proved to a depth of 16 feet in the next cutting eastwards towards Penruddock. They were composed of scratched stones and sub-angular gravel in a clayey matrix with many large boulders. Blue clay under yellow clay, probably only the weathered surface of the blue clay itself, was found in draining the land between Tarn Moss and the road from Penruddock to Matterdale. North of Whitbarrow Hall, around Kirkbarrow Hall, and on Division Moor the Drift is mostly of the clayey type and forms a stiff clay soil. Around Newbiggin (Cumberland) and eastwards to Penrith it is of a gravelly character, forming light soil, well- - suited both for pasture and arable land. There are considerable areas about Motherby, Penruddock and eastwards to Stainton, where the limestone-rock lies at, or near, the surface. In these instances, as in the case of all limestone- soils, the land is eminently suited for grazing. North of Ullswater mounds of sand and gravel are very sparingly distributed. Some Esker-like mounds occur at Knott -on the north side of the road from Pooley Bridge to Patterdale, and although the moundy form of the surface is confined to the immediate vicinity of Knott, the gravel seems to extend west- wards to Gowbarrow Bay. Brownhow Hill east of Stoddah Bank appears to be a gravel- mound, but there are no sections showing its true character. Between Swinescales Farm and Swinecales Beck another spread of gravel forms the ridge near the junction of two small valleys. Hereabouts are several gravel pits, but in none of them are the sections very clear. The deposits seem to consist of sand and gravel. In the gravel-pit on the east side of the road from Penruddock to Patterdale, under a thin layer of surface-grixvel, 8 feet of sand was seen. On the west of the alluvial flat between the Patterdale road and Cocklakes Hill there are two very tiny gravel mounds. At Beckces Brewery, and on the east side of Skitwath Beck another small patch of gravel occurs. BOULDEHS. 101 North of the Penrith road, at Black Hill, a still smaller gravel mound lies close to the outbuildings erected for the small farm occupied by Mr. Geo, Innes. The excavations for the site of these buildings exposed a section showing the composition aud structure of the mound. The gravel is coarse ; and the pebbles, uniformly about the size of a hen's egg, are embedded in a matrix of sand. This gravel rested on sand in which are some large pebbles. The stratification is inclined 40° in a direction nearly due south. Gravel also occurs east of Stainton, in isolated mounds and patches extending northwards from the River Eamont. There is a large excavation in one of these gravel -deposits south of the Cockermouth and Penrith Railway, and east of Redhills limekiln. The gravel seems to form part of a series of Eskers which occur in isolated mounds north-westwards by Newton Regny to Kelbarrow. R. R. Distribution of Boulders. While north-west of Ullswater and the River Eamont the Boulders belong to the rocks of the Volcanic Series of the Lake Country generally, there are a few the origin of which can be readily determined as they are rocks of a distinctive character. Thus, Boulders of Quartz Felsite (Microgranite) from St. John's are found west of Penniddock, at Black Hill, and on Greystoke Moor ; in the sections exposed in the railway-cuttings for the G. K. and P. Railway, west of Penruddock, many boulders of the same rock are to be seen. Boulders of Volcanic Ash and Porphyry lie scattered around Little Mell Fell, over Watermiilock Common and the district northw