212 NEW RED SANDSTONE. 



character, and it owes its origin to chemical and organic agencies.* 

 (See p. 218.) 



We owe our first and best descriptions of the Permian rocks to 

 Prof. Sedgwick.^ 



The New Red rocks of the Lake District occupy the Vale of 

 Eden or Cumberland Plain, resting unconformably upon the Car- 

 boniferous rocks. They also border the sea-shore from St. Bees 

 Head to the estuary of the Duddon, and still further south at 

 Walney Island and the adjoining portion of Lancashire. The 

 following is a general summary of the beds :^ — ■ 



/'Red and greenish-grey marls, with thin beds of marly limestone 

 T7- (Stanwix Marls). 30 to 50 feet. 



P Soft red and white false-bedded sandstones (Kirklinton Sandstone), 



and } 170 feet. 



j Upper Gypseous Shales, proved in boreholes at Abbey Town and 

 •p ,. Bowness, but nowhere exposed to view. 700 feet. 



Red, brown, and white fine-grained sandstone, not usually false- 

 bedded (St. Bees Sandstone). 500 to 2000 feet. 

 Red shales, etc. 250 feet. \ j 



Magnesian Limestone of Barrowmouth and Hilton 1^- 



Beck. 10 to 25 feet. SeT' 



Thin-bedded sandstones and shales, with bands of im- I 



pure coal and magnesian limestone (Hilton Plant- ) ^ r , 

 beds). 40 feet. / ^°° "^^^• 



Breccia (Upper Brockram). 150 feet. 

 Bright-red false-bedded sandstone (Penrith Sandstone). 300 to 



1000 feet. 

 Breccia (Lower Brockram). lOO feet. 



Permian.^ 



o 



The thickness of the Permian series has been estimated to be 

 about 1400 feet in the neighbourhood of Appleby, and about 3500 

 feet near Penrith.^ Mr. Holmes observes that while in places the 

 Kirklinton Sandstone rests unconformably on the New Red beds 

 beneath, and is itself overlaid unconformably by the Stanwix 

 Marls, yet the entire series belongs to one system. These un- 

 conformities are based on the local absence of some of the 

 members of the series, and not on any distinct evidences of 

 erosion. Moreover, the age is questionable, both of the Upper 

 Gypseous Shales and of the St. Bees Sandstone, which Mr. Holmes 

 regards as Permian. (See sequel.) 



The Penrith Sandstone is quarried at Penrith and Lazonby 

 (Lazonby stone). The term 'Brockram' (signifying broken rock) 

 is locally applied to the breccias, which are formed to a large 

 extent of fragments of Carboniferous Limestone embedded in a red 

 sandy matrix. They are well developed near Appleby and Kirkby 



' H. C. Sorby, Address to Geol. Soc. 1S79 ; see also E. Wilson, Midland 

 Naturalist, iv. 202, and plate viii. 



- T. G. S. (2), iii. 37. 



^ T. V. Holmes, Q. J. xxxvii. 286, P. Geol. Assoc, vii. 404. See also 

 Murchison and Harkness, Q. J. xx. 149 ; E. W. Binney, Mem. Lit. Soc. 

 Manchester, xii. xiv. ; James Eccles, Trans. Manchester G. S. x. 30 ; Dr. H. A. 

 Nicholson, Geol. Cumberland, etc., p. 81. 



* J. G. Goodchild, P. Geol. Assoc, vii. 411 ; G. Mag. 18S2, p. 223. 



