1S25.J Diluvial Formations, ^ 



bowlders which have been drifted across the Firth from the rocks 

 of Dumfriesshire ; and in the diluvium still further to the south- 

 west, near the termination of the new red sandstone at Maryport, 

 the imbedded fragments of the transition rocks of Cumberland 

 become rare in comparison with the bowlders derived from the 

 opposite coast of Scotland. In the diluvial rubbish capping a 

 Jiill near Hayton Castle, about four miles north-east of Mary- 

 port, I found some large granitic bowlders resembling the rocks 

 of the CrifFel. Among them was one spheroidal mass, the 

 greatest diameter of which was ten feet and a half long, and 

 the part which appeared above the ground was more than four 

 feet high. -^ 



From Maryport to St. Bees Head, the cliffs are occupied by ft 

 succession of coal strata ; and the diluvial phenomena, though 

 of constant occurrence, present nothing worth remarking in this 

 place. 

 A West Coast of Cumberland, 



From St. Bees Head to the southern extremity of Cumberland, 

 the region bordering on the coast is formed of one almost conti- 

 nuous mass of diluvium^ interrupted here and there by low hills 

 of blown sand, and by other recent formations. In this part of 

 the county, the cliffs are of a deep red colour, caused by the pre- 

 sence of innumerable imbedded fragmelits of the subjacent new 

 red sandstone. With these fragments, bowlders of granite, por- 

 phyry, and greenstone, are scattered through the whole diluvial 

 covering; sometimes in such abundance as to give it the appear- 

 ance of a true conglomerate ; especially in places where, by the 

 infiltration of a new cementing principle, the whole mass has 

 begun to assume a coherent form.* 



Some of the granite blocks imbedded in the chffs are of great 

 magnitude. In the diluvial cliffs near Bootle, I found one of a 

 rude prismatic form which was twelve feet long, six feet wide, 

 and five feet and a half high. All specimens of this kind of rocfc- 

 have been drifted to the coast from the granitic region which 

 extends from Wastdale foot, through Muncaster fen to the 

 neighbourhood of Bootle; and occupies a part of Wastdale 

 Head, and all the lower parts of the valleys of the Mite and the 

 Esk. 



Diluvium of Low Furness. 



If we cross the estuary of the Duddon to the shores of Low 

 Furness, we find an exact repetition of the phenomena we have 



* When these diluvial conglomerates are not seen in situ^ they may be separated 

 from the older conglomerates by the freshness of their imbedded pebbles. Fragments 

 imbedded in tlje older conglomerates are generally in a state of decomposition, which 

 appears frequently to originate in a similar cause to that which so often produces decom- 

 position in crystals after they have become coated over by a deposition of newer crystal- 

 line matter. ' * ,-, , ■. ^ 



