254 T. S. Hart: 



part of the area. With these are aissociatod granitic and 

 metamorphic rocks and a few small patches of more basic 

 igneous rocks. In the extreme west a considerable area of 

 sandstones usually regarded as Upper Palaeozoic occurs, resting 

 on the granitic, metamorphic and other old rock^. A few scat- 

 tered patches of the Permo-carboniferous glacial series also occur, 

 though these are absent from the greater part of the area. 



The Mesozoic rocks we may regard as outside our present sub- 

 ject. The supposed occurrence of this series at Skipton requires 

 further evidence before it can be accepted as definitely of this 

 age. 1 



Overlying the older rocks on the highlands are fluviatile, 

 lacustrine and volcanic rocks of Cainozoic age. On the margins 

 of the highlands some of these beds may be litoral or estuarine. 

 The fluviatile depositTs are in some cases remnants, and then 

 usually at a high level ; in other cases they are well preserved 

 continuous valley deposits, forming deep leads either above or 

 below the present vailley levels. 



The present surface config-uration is not determined by the 

 folding of the older rocks. To quote Selwyn, " the strike of the 

 older rocks constituting tlie mass of the main range is at right 

 angles to the axis of the range itself, and quite uninfluenced by the 

 granitic and other plutonic or basaltic rocks occasionally met 

 with equally on the range as on either side of. and remote from, 

 its axis." 



From almost any eminence one of the first features of the 

 landscape which attracts attention is the occurrence of long 

 lines of nearly level-topped or undulating ridges. Occasionally 

 these ridges may abruptly end or bo continued at a lower level. 

 Here and there an isolated volcanic hill rises, or it may be a 

 grouj) of such hills, and more rarely there are solitary hills and 

 ranges of other appearance. The general character is that of a 

 plateau which has been deeply trenched by a series of valleys. 

 Between these valleys are the residual ridges, the remnants of the 

 old high plain. 



If we imagine the high plain restoi'cd following the line of 

 the present nearly level hill crests, we would have a plain 



1 R. A. V. Murray, Report on tlie Skipton Coal Seams. Report of Progress Geol. Surv. 

 Victoi-ia, Vn., ISS 



