^1S25J 



Diluvial Foirmdthns. M 



swept over some of the highest elevations of the earth, it is still 

 obvious that true diluvial deposits must necessarily be of rare 

 occurrence near the crests of mountain chains. On this account 

 I thought myself fortunate in being able to discover two or 

 three examples of such deposits among the mountains of Cum- 

 berland. 



Sea-fell, 



1. In the deep water- worn channels which descend from Sea- 

 fell towards BurnmoorTarn, are great accumulations o{ detritus, 

 which, when I visited the spot in 1822, I considered to be 

 undoubtedly diluvial. These accumulations are apparently 

 connected with the transported blocks which are scattered over 

 the ground between Barnmoor Tarn and Wastdale Head, and 

 exactly resemble the detritus which still further down is accumu- 

 lated in the valley of the Mite. 



Ridge, near Red Pike. 



2. On the very top of the lofty ridge which separates the 

 valleys of Ennerdale and Buttermere, are most striking and 

 unequivocal proofs of the action of diluvian torrents. Between 

 Red Pike and Ennerdale Scaw, the top of the ridge is partly 

 composed of syenite, and partly of a soft variety of clay slate. 

 A smooth round-topped hill (called Starling Dod), composed of 

 the soft slate, forms the highest part of the crest between the two 

 summits before-mentioned. I was persuaded, before I ascended 

 this hill, that its singular form must have been produced by. the 

 action of water; and on reaching its summit, which is about 

 2500 feet above the level of the sea, I found it covered with 

 water-worn bowlders of red syenite and other rocks drifted 

 from the more lofty eminences of the same ridge, near Red Pike. 

 The same kind of bowlders are found near the top of Mellbreak, 

 a mountain which overhangs the west side of Crummock lake ; 

 and they may be traced on the sides of the water-worn hills, ancj 

 down the valleys which communicate with Loweswater and 

 Grummock foot ; and from thence the descending currents have 

 drifted them into the lower regions of the district where they are 

 mixed with the diluvium of the plains, 



Borrowdale Fells, ^c. 



3. JSTear the top of Glaramara, one of the mountain crests of 

 Borrowdale, and at the back of the Hay Stacks, near the top of 

 the ridge between Ennerdale Head and Buttermere, I saw seve- 

 ral bowlders which had been caught among the serrated edges 

 of those rugged elevations. The transported blocks were not 

 of a kind to enable one to point out the spot from which they 

 had been drifted ; but tlieir presence was enough to demonstrate 

 the former action of violent disturbing forces which had affected 

 the highestppm^lj^^^pf t}iQn^0^tti,t?^ fegiOn* 



