GLACIAL BEDS. 487 



out deep underground, against a mass of Drift that fills an ancient rocky valley of 

 which the plain above gives no indication. Over the moors of western and 

 central Northumberland there are considerable accumulations of pebbly gravel, 

 termed by Prof. G. A. Lebour the Moor gravels. The most recent Glacial 

 accumulations are Eskers, of which the ' Bradford Kaims,' seen on the road from 

 Lucker to Bambuigh, furnish an example.^ The Cheviot Hills, according to 

 Prof. J. Geikie, appear at one time to have been smothered in ice, for he found 

 Boulder Clay on the very watershed. 



In Cumberland, west of Carlisle, there is a great accumulation of "earthy 

 gravel," which attains a thickness of nearly 200 feet at Abbey Town ; and many 

 Eskers occur in this neighbourhood.* 



The Glacial phenomena of the Lake District, according to the Rev. J. Clifton Ward, 

 comprise Till [inoraine profonde), mainly the product of a confluent glacier-sheet ; 

 Drift gravel, and stratified sand and gravel, often occurring in the form of Eskers, 

 due principally to marine action, though some of the beds may be moraine matter ; 

 and Boulders carried far from the parent-rock by glacier-ice at one time, and floating- 

 ice at another. During the formation of the Till the principal valleys were occupied 

 by ice : then came submergence and the drifts were re-assorted : and afterwards on 

 re-elevation a second and lesser land-glaciation took place.^ 



Prof. T. G. Bonney has pointed out some of the striking instances of glaciation 

 in Borrowdale, Buttermere, and other places. He mentions a boss of ice-worn 

 rock on the north side of St. Mary's Churchyard, Ambleside ; Roches moiitonnecs 

 near Great Langdale ; a rounded rock on the left bank of the stream opposite to 

 the inn at Wythburn ; marks of glaciation on each side of Thirlmere, etc. He 

 observes that the Glen of the Lodore Falls appears to have been once occupied by 

 a glacier, though the main outlet was not by the chasm of the fall.* 



A study of the distribution of the granitic boulders from Criffel, in Kirkcud- 

 brightshire, from Eskdale, and from Shap Fell or Wastdale Crag three miles 

 south of Shap in Westmoreland, furnishes many striking proofs of glacial action.' 

 The transport of Shap granite into the plains of Yorkshire attracted attention as 

 early as 1825, for blocks have travelled down the slope of their native mountains, 

 over the limestone ridge of Orton (1000 feet), across the Vale of Eden, over the 

 limestone ridge of Stainmoor (1400 feet at the pass, over 2000 feet in other places), 

 down the Vale of York, over the Oolitic ridge (300 to 1485 feet), and over the 

 Chalk hills (500 to Soo feet) to Flamborough Head.'^ 



Wastdale Crag itself is 1600 feet high, and the rock is a remarkable porphyritic 

 granite, with large crystals of felspar. The Crag itself is much smoothed and 

 polished, and in some places scored by glacial striations. The erratic blocks have 

 probably been transported by land -ice.' 



Boulders of Criffel granite occur in the Drift of the plain of Cumberland, and 

 further south, while near St. Bees there are many boulders of syenite from Enner- 

 dale, etc. The cliff-sections near St. Bees show Drift with huge boulders of 

 rock and masses of red and purple shale (Permian and Carboniferous). 



The Glacial phenomena of the Eden Valley and the western part of the York- 

 shire Dale-district have been described by Mr. J. G. Goodchild. Many fine 

 sections have been exposed in cuttings of the Settle and Carlisle Railway. The 

 lowest drift consists of stiff clay full of well-glaciated stones, and this is overlaid by 



1 Geol. Northumberland, p. 14; see also Howse, G. Mag. 1864, p. 26S ; and 

 Bryce, Rep. Brit. Assoc. 1855. 



2 Holmes, Trans. Cumberland Assoc. Part vi., G. Mag. 18S3, p. 438. 



3 Geol. Mag. 1879, p. in ; Q. J. xxix. 439, xxxi. 152. 



* G. Mag. 1866, p. 291. See also Miss E. Hodgson, G. Mag. 1870, p. 328. 



s Mackintosh, G. Mag. 1870, pp. 349, 564; Q. J. xxix. 351 ; xxx. 711 ; 

 Harkness, Q.J. xxvi. 517 ; J- R- Dakyns, Yorks Geol. and Polyt. Soc. 1879; 

 Dr. H. A. Nicholson, Geol. Cumberland, etc. p. 45. 



8 Phillips, Rivers, etc., of Yorkshire, p. 18; Guide to Geology, ed. 6, p. 208; 

 Buckland, Proc. G. S. iii. 348 ; Rev. W. Thorp, Proc. Geol. and Polyt. Soc. 

 W. Riding, iii. 244; J. G. Goodchild, G. Mag. 1875, Q. J. xxxi. 55. 



' Croll, G. Mag. 1871, p. 15 ; see also Ibtd. 1864, p. 228. 



