94 



Barrow, the Suir, and the Nore, rose more than it 

 does now, and the bases of the marginal cliffs were 

 awash and gradually being denuded. Since the land 

 has risen, flats or strands have, in most places, 

 accumulated along the sides, so that now it is only 

 in a few places the sea can reach the base of the 

 cliffs ; therefore they are gradually losing their former 

 perpendicularity. At the same time meteoric abrasion 

 has not acted on them as extensively as on such as 

 those in Glenmore, which have been long exposed to 

 its action ; therefore their geology can be studied and 

 understood. From them we learn that the changes in 

 the direction of the river valleys are due to transverse 

 breaks joining into, or crossing, the breaks along 

 which the valleys ran, and that most of these lines 

 of breaks are also faults or displacements, some being 

 much older than the others. It is quite evident that 

 some of the faults are pre- carboniferous and others 

 post-carboniferous ; but whether any of the latter are 

 post-glacial has not as yet been proved, principally 

 on account of the general absence of glacial accumu- 

 lations from the valleys. It is, however, probable that 

 some of them may be of the latter age, as recent dis- 

 placements have been proved to be not uncommon in 

 the surface accumulations occurring on the country to 

 the eastward. 



Valleys often occur along the axis of an anticlinal 

 curve. This at first may appear remarkable, but on 



