158 DESCRIPTION OF THE STRATA. 



Guisboroiigh hills or Rosebury Topping, instead of meeting the cor- 

 responding beds in these hills, they would sink deep below their 

 bases. In like manner, were the beds in Rosebury Topping prolong- 

 ed in the plane of their dip, to Greenhovie Burton, or Battersby bank, 

 they also would sink beneath the base of the latter ; being on the 

 opposite side of the great break formerly mentioned, that runs through 

 Kildale, Commondale, and the vale of the Esk. The hills of 

 Bei'naldby moor and Birdley moor, with the hill of Skelton and some 

 other small hills near them, may be viewed as vast detached masses ; 

 their strata having little or no continuity with those of the great chains 

 to Avhich they approach. 



As there are inland cliffs in our alum hills, as well as sea cliffs, 

 so there are also precipices on the coast which may be called suhma- 

 rine cliffs. We have repeatedly mentioned the rocky pavement of the 

 shore, vulgarly termed the scar. That pavement, which skirts all our 

 aluminous cliffs, stretching out into the sea to a considerable distance, 

 and forming a broad margin at low water, is no doubt the lower part 

 of what formerly constituted the cliffs of the coast, when the sea had 

 not encroached so far on the land. Judging of the past by the pre- 

 sent, we can easily see how this scar has been formed. The fronts 

 of the cliffs, exposed to the united attacks of the waves, the winds, 

 the rains, and the frosts, have gradually crumbled down; while their 

 bases, continually moistened by the sea water, which serves to harden 

 rather than to decompose, are preserved ; being subject only to the 

 very gradual wasting, resulting from the friction of rolling blocks. 

 Now, in tracing the scar outwards, it is found in several places to 

 terminate abruptly, pi'esenting a steep face towards the deeper parts 

 of the ocean : so that, were the waters of the sea removed, we should 

 find another range of cliffs, more or less steep, encircling the present 

 cliffs at some distance, while the scar would appear as a broad platform 

 or terrace between them. The sea may indeed be expected to fill up 



