470 Mr. Hopkins on the Elevation and 



direct evidence on this point on account of the previous disturbance 

 to which they had been subjected ; but the great faults of the di- 

 strict prove to demonstration that its central portion must have 

 been submerged in the ocean subsequently to the formation of those 

 faults ; for, if an enormous denudation had not taken place after 

 their formation, every large fault must have given rise to a mural 

 precipice, or great ridge (such as that which the Penrin and Craven 

 faults have produced), by the elevation of the mass on one side of 

 the fault relatively to that on the other. The total absence of any 

 such precipice or ridge where enormous faults unquestionably exist, 

 prove incontrovertibly the submergence above asserted. 



Faults. — The faults of this district may be arranged in three 

 classes, according to the evidence we possess of their existence : — 



(1.) Those which offer conclusive evidence of dislocation. Such 

 are those of the Dudden, Coniston Water, one between Coniston 

 Water and Windermere, Trentbeck and Kentmere. 



(2.) Faults along the Lake valleys. The existence of these faults 

 is inferred from that of the Jakes, the formation of which it would 

 appear impossible to account for without referring them to disloca- 

 tions along the valleys in which they are found. The bottom of 

 Wastwater, for instance, is probably at a considerably lower level 

 than the surface of the sea, and it has not been formed by the 

 filling up of the lower end of the valley, for the bottom of it con- 

 sists of the solid rock in situ. It appears inconceivable that such a 

 lake should have been scooped out by the action of water. 



(3.) Faults along the upper portions of other valleys. If the 

 Lake valleys have originated in dislocations we seem justified in 

 inferring, from analogy, that other valleys differing from the former 

 only in the circumstance of not containing lakes, have had a similar 

 origin. It should be remarked, however, that this evidence can 

 probably be depended upon only in the upper parts of the valleys, 

 where denuding agencies must probably have acted for a much 

 shorter period than at lower levels, where they may have formed 

 valleys much more independently of previous dislocation. 



Theory of Elevation. — If we allow the conclusiveness of the above 

 evidence of faults, we have here a system of which the law is 

 obvious. Round the western extremity of the district they diverge 

 from its highest point and extremity of its axis of elevation. On 

 the north side they assume northerly, and then north-easterly, di- 

 rections ; and on the southern side they take southerly directions. 

 If we conceive a stratum of the mountain limestone, or the surface of 

 junction above described to be continued over the central portion 

 of the district, its dip along the faults would very nearly coincide 

 with their directions. 



This is one of the laws connecting the directions of dip and of dis- 

 location, resulting from the theory which the author has elsewhere 

 developed, supposing the faults to have been caused by the elevation 

 which gave to the limestone beds their present position. This theory 

 would therefore appear to assign these faults to the epoch of the 



