Ch. XIII.] THE INCLINED POSITIONS OF STRATA. 283 



entangled in the granite. At the eastern extremity of this 

 disturbed portion of the cliff there is no conglomerate, and 

 the stratified beds cannot be traced into immediate contact 

 with the intruding granite ; neither do their dip and direction 

 appear to have been much disturbed. " * " These disturbed 

 brecciated masses seem to have been formed by the me- 

 chanical action of the granite, which must, in that case, have 

 protruded in this place after the deposition of the beds of 

 limestone." 



This explanation, however, does not appear to us to be satis- 

 factory ; for it is not easy to conceive that, on one side of so 

 small a mass of granite, the strata should be undisturbed, and, 

 on the other, be severed into fragments, the protruding rock 

 itself being at the same time fractured and dislocated. 

 Might not the occurrence of this breccia be accounted for 

 by reference to causes now in action ? When the sea was at 

 a higher level (and it is an important coincidence that fifty 

 or sixty feet is about the average height of the ancient beaches 

 above the present tides), the oolitic strata would, as now, be 

 broken into fragments by the waves ; and, being at the foot 

 of a granite cliff, would, by the degradation of this rock, be 

 mixed with its detached blocks ; and the mass of this detritus 

 would be arranged in the hollows and irregularities, resulting 

 from the erosion of the elements ; so that an alteration of 

 the sea level, and a subsequent consolidation of the compound 

 debris, would produce a rock resembling the breccia in 

 question. 



Again, these distinguished geologists have referred to the 

 granitic conglomerate of Ousedale rivulet, as another proof 

 of the violent elevation of the granite. " What was the 

 exact state of the granite at the time the formation of the old 

 conglomerate commenced, it is not perhaps necessary to 

 enquire ; but it is evident that mechanical agents, by some 



* Geol. Trans. (New Series), vol. iii. p. 132. 



