152 DESCRIPTION OF THE STRATA. 



On comparing the elevated strata of Sleights and Eskdale side, 

 ^vith those of Woodlands, Nevvbigging, and Aislaby, on the right 

 bank of the Esk, we see clear indications, that there must be a break 

 in the strata, in or near the channel of the river, probably the conti- 

 nuation of the great break at its mouth. The thick sandstone beds of 

 Aislaby are indeed at a very great elevation ; but as they dip toward 

 the south, like the strata on the left bank, were they continued across 

 the valley in the plane of their general dip, instead of meeting the 

 corresponding sandstone strata in the top of Sleights Brow, they 

 would meet the alum shale in the slope of the hill. The same indi- 

 cations mark out the course of the break through the vale of the Esk, 

 as far as Castleton ; from whence it appears to pass through Common- 

 dale and Kildale to the plain of Cleveland ; the line of the break 

 corresponding with the division between the first and second ranges 

 of our alum hills. On the left of this line, the hills, though somewhat 

 broken by dales, rise to a great height, presenting abrupt faces towards 

 the north, in which the aluminous strata are often seen at a great ele- 

 vation ; whereas the hills on the right are considerably lower, and 

 their surfaces have a gentle slope towards the south, in which the strata 

 consist of the higher beds of sandstone shale and coal, covered in 

 some places with the blue limestone, and the strata above it. Perhaps 

 in some parts of this line, particularly about Danby and Castleton, 

 the slip may be as great as that of Peak, if not gi-eater; though the 

 subsidence is in the opposite direction. 



On the north-west side of Whitby piers, the numerous contor- 

 tions, cracks, and dislocations, in the strata of sandstone and sandy; 

 shale, give evidence of the catastrophe that has here occurred. These 

 strata, which are near 100 feet high beside the battery, gradually de- 

 scend, with some undulations, till they sink below the level of the sea, 

 at the distance of about a quarter of a mile, leaving only an alluvial 

 cliff. Before we reach Lector nub, they again rise to a considerable 



