Ilt7 



YORKSHIRE. 



YORKSHIRE. 



1198 



pites, and Echinodermata, but Jfollmca and Conchifera are less plentifu* 

 than in the south of England. The lowest band of the cbalk is red, 

 as in Lincolnshire. The chalk is unconformed to all the strata below, 

 resting on each of them in succession iu different parts of the Wold 

 edge, aa far as the lower beds of the lias. 



Spteton Clay (150 feet thick ?). This blue argillaceous deposit lies 

 under the chalk, but does not graduate into it. It appears on the 

 coast at Speeton, and inland at Knapton and other point?. The 

 organic remains are numerous, different from those in the chalk, and 

 also different from those in the strata below. They appear to have 

 analogies to the gault of the south of England, and also to the Kim- 

 meridge clay ; the former analogies perhaps predominate. Some of 

 the sheila occur in the ' Neocomian ' formations of France, which are 

 supposed to be nearly equivalent to our lower greensand. 



Oolitic System. 



Kimnuridge Clay. This occurs along the north side of the Vale 

 of Pickering, and under the escarpment of the Wolds, near Cave. 

 It is not clearly seen in contact with the Speeton clay above, into 

 whi h it gradually passes. It contains Ostrea deltoidea. 



Upper Caleareoui (frit (60 feet thick). This is seen on the hills 

 above Wass Bank, and near Pickering. It contains a few fossils. 



OonUtine Oolite (60 feet thick). This rock forms generally the 

 uppermost stratum of the ranges of tabular hills which extend from 

 Scarborough to the Hatnbleton Hills, and then turns southward to 

 Walton and Acklam. Its oolitic grains are of various sizes, some 

 beds being coarse pisolite. A few bands of chert nodules occur in it, 

 and crystallisations of calc-spar and quartz, and deposits of chalcedony, 

 lie in the cavities left by the decomposition of organic remains. It 

 is not generally durable in bull. lings. In this rock is situated Kirk- 

 dale Cave. Several rivers sink into it, and reappear after long sub- 

 terranean passages. The organic remains are extremely numerous; 

 toe coral bands being local, but characteristic. 



lower Calcareous Grit (80 feet thick). It forms the edges of the 

 tabular bills above mentioned, and occasionally broad and very poor 

 heath surfaces. Though called calcareous, it has little of carbonate of 

 lime in its composition, and some of the shells which it contains are 

 silicified. Locally it is a good building-stone. The fossils are very 

 numerous, and almost exactly like those of the same rocks in Oxford- 

 chin. Ammamtm verMfrro/ts is 



Oxford CUy, or Gray Eartk of .SeorooronjA Cattle Bill (150 feet 

 thick). It appears in the steep slope of the escarpments of the tabular 

 hills, under the ' Nab Ends,' and on the breast of the sea-dins south of 

 Scarborough, The fossils which it yields are more like those of the 

 calcareous grit than those of the Oxford clay of the south of England. 



KtUoways Kofi, or Haeknea Rack (BO feat thick). It lies at the 

 base of the tabular bills, and at the foot of the sea-cliffs south of Scar- 

 borough. It is more ferruginous than the calcareous grit ; is in places 

 somewhat oolitic, and everywhere rich in fossils, such as Ammonite* 

 talioriensa, A. tublmu, Qrypkm diiatata, and other shells character- 

 istic of the same rock in Wiluhire, where it is much thinner and of 

 lees importance. The Hackness rock has proved a fair building-stone 

 in the museums at York and Scarborough. 



Cbmtroa* (10 feet (hick). This impure calcareous rock is separated 

 from the sandy Kelloways stone by a thin band of clay containing 

 GhuMeM. It is very rich in fossils, and is nearly continuous from 

 Scarborough t the vicinity of Malton. 



Below toe cornbraab, the oolitic series of Yorkshire is very much 

 unlike that of the south of England. In that is little sandstone, in 

 this little limestone; the clays of the south are shales in the north ; 

 and with the shales and sandstones are fossil plants, coal-beds, and 

 ironstone layers, very much like those of the older coal-fields. To 

 thses strata it is not desirable to apply always the same names ss those 

 which bslonf to (perhaps) contemporaneous beds in the south, but we 

 shall indiate the probable analogies. 



Upper Samdttuiu, Skmle, and Coal (nearly the equivalent of the 

 Hinton sands and Forest marble of Somersetshire), 200 feet thick. 

 This series of send^ tines (conglomeritie, or fine-grained, or laminated), 



t 1, and ironstone courses, may be studied about Scarborough 



in the cliffs to the northward. The coal is thin, and of small 



Ofmf Limestone (equivalent of part of the oolite of Lincolnshire), 

 30 feet thick. It occurs at the White Nab, south of Scarborough, at 

 Clougtiton, Staintondale, and other points north of Scarborough and 

 west of Whitby, always in an impure, rarely at all oolitic, state. But 

 as we turn south along the foot of the Hambleton Hills, it becomes 

 oolitic; and as the upper and lower sandstones diminish, it thickens 

 and acquires more of the usual oolitic aspect. It is in places very 

 ferruginous. The organic remains are numerous. They agree partly 

 with those of the cornbrash, and partly with those of a lower zone, to 

 he mentioned below. 



Low Sandstone, Shale, and Coal (500 feet thick). The coal in this 

 great mass of arenaceous and argillaceous deposits is thick enough to 

 be worked on the moors west of Whitby and north of Helmsley, and 

 on the sea-coast at Haiburn Wyke. Over it is a bed of sandstone, 

 hi which stems of Eqviteia stand erect, and below is a bed of shale. 

 This series of rocks ascends to the highest parts of the Cleveland Hills, 

 1300 to near 1500 feet above the tea. 



Ferruginous Beds (inferior oolite and sand of Somersetshire), 60 feet 

 thick. These appear in the Peak Hill at Robin Hood's Bay, at Kettle- 

 ness north of Whitby, and in various places round the base of the 

 Cleveland and Hambleton Hills, as Osmotherley and Craike Castle. 

 In the Peak Hill the slightly calcareous and irony beds are very fos- 

 silliferous, and the species of fossils generally resemble those of Dundry 

 Hill near Bristol. The transition from these beds to the lias formation 

 below is very easy and gradual, the base of the one aud the top of the 

 other being softened by intervening pale micaceous sands. 



Upper Lias Shale (called also Alum Sltale, from its being the princi- 

 pal seat of the manufacture near Whitby, Lofthouse, and Guisborough), 

 200 feet thick in the cliffs near Whitby, and in the Cleveland Hills it 

 gradually loses this thickness in going to the south of England, till 

 near Bath and at Lyme Regis it can hardly be said to exist at all. In 

 these strata lie most of the Saurian remains aud many of the fishes, 

 and in general a large proportion of the ammonites, belemnites, and 

 other shells for which the Whitby coast is famous. It yields conife- 

 rous wood, often changed to jet. 



Marhtont. A aeries of sandy, ferruginous, and slightly calcareous 

 beds, which divides the lias shales into two parts, and is very rich in 

 foasils, receives this name. At Robin Hood's Bay, Staithes, arid the 

 head of Bilsdale, it is very conspicuous. Thickne.-s 150 feet. These 

 are the strata which contain Ophiurce rather frequently about Staithes. 



Lower Lias Shale (500 feet thick). It forms the base of the lofty 

 cliffs to the west of Staithes, and supports the high moorlands of the 

 carbonaceous sandstones and shales, and continues to the south under 

 the Wolds. In its lower parts are bands of gryplntes, especially 

 where its course approaches the Humber. Hardly any true lias lime- 

 stone-rock occurs in Yorkshire farther north than about Cave and 

 Market Weighton. The ammonites and other fossils of this series 

 much resemble those of the Lyme Regis and Somersetshire lias, and it 

 contains coniferous wood, sometimes changed to jet. 



New Red Formation. 



Red if arli with Gypsum. These marly clays, with local occurrences 

 of gypsum (Pocklington, Holme), form a broad band on the eastern 

 side of the Vale of York, at the western foot of the oolitic and chalky 

 hills, but, being much covered by gravel drifted against these hills, are 

 less known as to thickness and properties than any other of the York- 

 shire strata. They may be several hundred feet thick. They contain 

 no fossils. 



Red Sandstone This is found on the western side of the Vale of 

 York, in an irregularly undulating tract of dry land, especially about 

 Ripon and Boroughbridge. It lias mixed with it a considerable mass 

 of white or yellow sandstones, dug near Boroughbridge. Its thickness 

 is unknown. It contains no fossils. 



PALEOZOIC STRATA. 

 Ifagneiian Limestone Formation. 



Brotherton Limestone (45 feet thick). This is a pale gray limestone, 

 much laminated with clay, and nearly devoid of magnesia : a few 

 shells occur in the lower beds. It is of vast importance iu agriculture, 

 the stone from hundreds of acres having been excavated and burnt to 

 lime, which is of especial value on the peat and silt lands in the levels 

 of Yorkshire. It ranges from the valley of the Wharfe near Tadcaster 

 in a nearly straight course of rising ground to near Tickhill. 



Red Clay and Oyptum (50 feet thick). This is well known in the 

 vicinity of Fairburu and Brotherton, aud has been cut through on the 

 York and North Midland railway. It separates the nearly pure lime- 

 stone of Brotherton from the magnesian limestone of \Veldon, and 

 makes a continuous belt of rather wet land. It has no organic 

 remains. 



Maynetian Limestone (150 or 200 feet thick). The composition of 

 this important rock is usually a mixture of carbonate of magnesia 

 and carbonate of lime. Sometimes the mixture is atomic. It is 

 generally granular, and the grains are often crystalline. Colour usually 

 yellowish, and the quality excellent for the mason, but of uncertain 

 durability. Huddleston and Roche Abbey stone are the moat in 

 request Tadcaster yields abundance of stone, some good. Spar 

 veins and cavities are common. Small veins of carbonate and sulphate 

 of copper, oxide of iron, sulphate of barytes, and sulphate of strontian 

 occur in the rock. In the vicinity of Garforth the lower portion is 

 laminated somewhat like the marl-slate of the county of Durham, 

 and yields Products and other fossils. Axini, Mytili, Nautili, spiral 

 shells, and a few corals occur in the limestone near Ferrybridge. The 

 springs which issue from the magnesian limestone often contain car- 

 bonate of lime, but seldom much magnesia. The course of the 

 magnesian limestone is in a range of low tabular hills from near 

 Masham, by Knaresborough, Pontefract, Broadaworth, and Roche 

 Abbey. These hills are finely escarped to the west and slope gently 

 to the east. The soil is not in general good, especially for grass, but 

 it is applicable to various cultivation. 



Lover Red-Sandstone, or Pontefract Rock. In places this is 100 

 feet thick, and consists of red, purplish, aud yellowish sands and clays, 

 with stems and other parts of plants. Near Pontefract it is usually 

 a mass of yellowish sands, of the greatest excellence for the use of 

 the metal-founder in the construction of his moulds. This is a pro- 

 perty which accompanies it along a great part of its course which is 



