THE MIDLAND NATURALIST. 



'Come forth into the light of things, 

 Let Nature be your teacher." 



Wordsworth. 



THE AGE OF THE PENINE CHAIN.* 



BY E. WILSON, F.G.S. 



The Penine Chain is the name for that hilly tract of country which 

 stretches from the borders of Scotland on the north to the centre of 

 Derbyshire on the south. This important range possesses the structure 

 of a great though complex anticlinal, the result of a meridional move- 

 ment of upheaval that took place at a remote period in the physical 

 history of our island. The axis of elevation of the chain, which ranges a 

 little west of north, through North Derbyshire and the West Eiding of 

 Yorkshire, throws off the coal measures of Yorkshire and Derbyshire on 

 the one side and those of Lancashire and North Staffordshire on the 

 other, with a steeper dip on the west, and a much gentler inclination on 

 the east. The maximum upheaval is attained in the north of Derbyshire, 

 where a large dome-shaped mass of mountain limestone has been brought 

 to the surface at an altitude of 1,500 feet above the sea. In many ways 

 this prominent feature in the physical structure of our island is worthy 

 of notice. It has had a great deal to do with the distribution of the 

 mineral wealth of the North of England; and if as one result of that 

 elevation a vast amount of valuable coal measures has by subsequent 

 denudation been swept away, still many mineral substances of great 

 economic value are brought within our reach that would otherwise have 

 been hopelessly buried in the bowels of the earth. At the same time we 

 are indebted to this ancient earth-movement for that bold and beautiful 

 scenery — moorland and mountain, scar and dale — that characterises 

 the Penine Chain in its range from the Weaver Hills northwards 

 through the counties of Derby and York. It is not, however, from an 

 economical or an assthetic, but from a physical point of view that I 

 propose to consider this ancient mountain chain. In particular I seek to 

 arrive at the geological date of its upheaval. 



The age of the Penine Chain has long been a matter of conjecture 

 with physical geologists. While all are agreed that the uprising of this 

 great anticlinal took place before the Triassic epoch, the question still 

 remains whether it occurred before or after the Permian era. In 18G1 



* Eeaa before the Natural Science Section of the Nottingham Literary and 

 Philosophical Society, Oct. 8th, 1879. 



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