146 DESCRIPTION OF THE STRATA. 



portion of the lowest part of the Staiths beds, beneath which is the 

 loivest shale, occupying, as at Boulby and Huntcliff, more than lOO 

 feet, and stretching along the shore towards the right, that is, towards 

 the north-west. Here, therefore, a dreadful convulsion must have 

 occurred, either by the elevation of the strata on the north, or the 

 subsidence of those on the south ; and as the dogger, on the left hand 

 side of the slip, is nearly on a level with the inferior part of the Staiths 

 beds, on the right ; and the beds here seem to be of the same general 

 thickness as at Boulby, we cannot estimate the quantity of subsidence 

 at less than three hundred feet ! 



The place of the fissure in the cliff is concealed by alluvium, 

 broken shale, and rubbish, heaped together in wild confusion; and the 

 whole shore bears marks of violent disruption. The rocks in the fore- 

 ground, where the females are collecting limpets, consist chiefly of 

 the upper part of the Staiths beds, which are stretched out to a con- 

 siderable distance from the point. On the west and north-west, these 

 rocks abut against the ends of the very lowest visible beds of the 

 alum shale, with their indurated coverings, corresponding with the 

 beds at HuntclitF foot, or Avith the Redcar rocks. As these beds and 

 the Staiths beds meet at right angles, and dip in different directions, 

 the line of junction on the scar is remarkably distinct; and it presents 

 very strong indications, that the break has been occasioned, not by 

 the elevation of the beds on the north, or north-west, but by the 

 subsidence of those on the south or south-east : for while the beds of 

 the lowest shale are comparatively little disturbed, the Staiths beds 

 that meet them, and are a little above their level, are terribly broken 

 and shattered ; and portions of them stand up with sharp edges at the 

 line of junction, as if thrust into that position by the violent crash of 

 their subsidence. To the south of this first and principal fracture, 

 we meet with a succession of fractures, in the sti'ata along the shore ; 

 so that portions of the Kettleness beds, and presently after the Sands- 



