THE MOORLAND DISTRICT. 35 



of the next hilly district, at Hambleton end, twelve hundred and forty- 

 six feet above the sea. 



The rocks which compose this moorland district rest upon the red 

 marl and sandstone. In the following table, they are numbered accord- 

 ing to the general series of Yorkshire strata, pages 32, 33. 



Greatest observed thickness. 

 Feet. 



Carboniferous and oolitic 

 formation. 



Lias formation. 



200 

 30 

 500 

 60 



200 

 150 

 500 



of 



10 Impure, sometimes oolitic limestone, full 



shells. (The cornbrasfi of geologists.) 



11 Sandstone, shale, ironstone, and coal, with car- 



bonized wood, ferns, and other fossil plants. 



12 Impure, often oolitic limestone and ironstone, 



with many fossil shells. (Oolite of Bath.^J 



13 Sandstone, shale, and coal, with carbonized fossil 



plants. 



14 Subcalcareous, irony sandstone, often containing 



shells, called dogger. (Inferior oolite of 

 Somersetshire.) 



15 Upper lias shale, or alum shale, with nodules of 



argillaceous limestone, ammonites, belemnites, 

 &c. (Blue marl of Northamptonshire.) 



16 Ironstone and sandstone strata, with terebratulae, 



pectines, cardia, aviculse, &c. (Marlstone of 

 Northamptonshire, &c.) 



17 Lower lias shale, with gryphsese, pinnae, plagios- 



tomae, &c. (Lias shale of Somersetshire.) 



THE LIAS FORMATION. The lias formation first appears on the sea- 

 coast, under the High Peak, near Robin Hood's Bay, and continues 

 along the shore, with only one exception west of Whitby, to Saltburn 

 and Redcar ; being very generally covered, in all the higher cliffs, by 

 the lower portions of the carboniferous formation. Its great thickness 

 is apparent in the sides of Robin Hood's Bay, and in the precipices of 

 Rockcliff. Inland, it follows the sinuosities of the moorlands above 

 Guisborough, by Rosebury Topping, Burton Head, and Carlton Bank, 

 towards Hambleton, and extends a considerable space into the low plains 

 lying to the west of those hills. It is exposed by denudation along a 

 great part of the valley of the Esk, and in many of its tributary branches, 



F 2 



