GEOLOGY 



The Mountain Limestone from Doveholes through Castleton and 

 Bradwell to Eyam is bounded by a narrow belt of lower ground con- 

 sisting of Yoredale Shales. Slopes which run nearly parallel to the 

 limestone boundary rise from the depression. These slopes are the 

 edges of several outliers of shale grit which once formed a large plateau 

 which extended from Chapel-en-le-Frith to Eyam, and included the 

 moors in the extreme north of the county. Edale and the valley of the 

 Derwent near Hope, Bamford and Hathersage have divided this plateau 

 into several outliers. Near the centre of the shale grit plateau is an 

 outlier of Kinder Scout grit, which is called the Peak. Though a flat 

 tableland, it reaches a height greater than any other part of the county, 

 some portions of it being 2,000 feet above the sea. The shale grit dips 

 under the Kinder Scout grit, which on the west forms a ridge from 

 Chapel-en-le-Frith through Hayfield to Glossop, and on the north 

 extends some distance east from Glossop into Yorkshire. The various 

 members of the Millstone Grit series may be traced as far south as 

 Belper. The Chatsworth or Rivelin Grit forms the fine escarpments of 

 Froggat Curbar and Baslow Edges, east of Stoney Middleton, and that 

 of Crow Chine near Ladybower. On the west as far as Doveholes the 

 limestone is bounded by the Yoredale Shales, though the boundary is 

 often faulted. In the neighbourhood of Earl Sterndale the boundary is 

 greatly complicated by faults, and west of Buxton the limestone is 

 faulted against the Yoredale Shales and shale grit which dip under the 

 Millstone Grit of Axe Edge and the Goyt Basin. Between Buxton and 

 Doveholes the limestone is bounded by the Yoredale Shales, which dip 

 under the Millstone Grit of Combs Moors on the west. 



The greater portion of the rocks of Derbyshire belong to the 

 Carboniferous Series. This is succeeded by the Permian, which only 

 forms a narrow strip near the eastern boundary of the county, and the 

 Trias, which is confined to the southern part. The Jurassic formation 

 is unrepresented, and the Pleistocene deposits are found in places covering 

 the carboniferous and Triassic rocks. 



The Peak district has a world-wide reputation for beautiful scenery, 

 and well illustrates the intimate relation which exists between rock struc- 

 ture and scenery. The Toadstones, which were first investigated by 

 Whitehurst in 1778, furnish evidence of the volcanic activities which 

 prevailed at intervals during the deposition of the Mountain Limestone 

 and the shales and limestones immediately succeeding it. The Moun- 

 tain Limestone is interesting not only because of the fossils it contains, 

 but on account of its numerous caverns and underground streams, its 

 mineral waters, which have since the time of the Romans been famed 

 for their medicinal properties, and its lead mining industry, with the 

 curious and antiquated laws by which it is governed. The old mine 

 heaps which disfigure parts of the county bear testimony to the great 

 activity of this industry in bygone days. 



Coal is the most important and largely worked rock in the county. 

 Limestone is quarried largely for road metal, lime burning and building, 



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