108 H. A. Nicholson — On the Lake District. 



soutli of Manesty, Here the Skiddaw Slates are seen dipping S.S.E. 

 at 50°, and are surmounted by tlie same felspathic trap, seen near 

 Grange. There is no apparent disturbance of the strata at the line 

 of contact, but the beds immediately beneath the trap are of a light 

 greyish brown colour, and do not present the ordinary appearance of 

 Skiddaw Slate. This lowest trap is overlain by a great series of 

 cleaved felspathic ashes and breccias, the whole, when seen on a 

 large scale, dipping S.S.E. at a low angle (probably about 25° to 30°). 

 These ashes and breccias have been largely worked for slate in Goat 

 Crag and Castle Crag, and in the neighbourhood of the Bowder 

 Stone. The dip of the cleavage does not differ from that of the 

 bedding, except in amount, and is S.S.E, at from 80° to 90°. 



Two points are observable here, one regarding the stratigraphical 

 position of the highest beds of the Skiddaw Slates which are seen in 

 this section, the other relating to the composition of the breccias in 

 the Green Slates. As regards the first, the beds upon which the 

 lowest trap rests are not by any means so soft and shaly as are the 

 upper beds of the Skiddaw Slates. They much more resemble the 

 lower beds, being usually hard and flaggy, and this continues to be 

 the case as far as Honister Crag. I shall, however, afterwards 

 adduce instances in which the lowest beds of the Green Slates are 

 more conspicuously and "unequivocally superimposed upon the in- 

 ferior portion of the Skiddaw Slates. As regards the second point, 

 I would merely observe that very many of the included fragments 

 of the breccias in the Green Slates — both in this and in many other 

 localities — are extremely similar to pieces of Skiddaw Slate. 



Prom the Hollows the line of junction between the Skiddaw 

 Slates and Green Slates can be traced across Low Scawdel to Castle 

 Nook, beneath Eel Crags, a little to the north of Dale Head, and 

 through the north-western end of Honister Crag. Along the whole 

 of this line the Skiddaw Slates dip S.S.E. at angles of from 50° to 

 65°, and they are uniformly surmounted by the felspathic trap, 

 which is ordinarily at the base of the Green Slate Series. In the 

 Gatescarth valley, on both sides, these phenomena are especially 

 well exhibited. Thus, under Dale Head, the highest beds of the 

 Skiddaw Slates, as seen in this section, dip S.E. at 75°, and are 

 directly overlaid by the same felspathic trap with overlying slates 

 and breccias, which we have already found to exist at the entrance 

 of Borrowdale, the dip of the latter not appearing to exceed some 

 30°, or thereabouts. Exactly the same thing can be seen in the 

 flanks of Honister Crag, the dip of the Green Slate Series being 

 particularly well displayed here, especially when viewed from the 

 opposite side of the valley. 



(To he continued). 



