168 H, A. Nicholson — On the Lake District. 



displayed in a number of magnificently moutonne'd crags and bosses, 

 in wbicb they are seen to undulate repeatedly, forming a series of 

 small but well-preserved anticlinals and synclinals, the dips of which 

 are N.N.W. and S.S.B. at angles of from 25° to 35°. The inclination 

 therefore of these beds is only about half as high as that of the 

 Skiddaw Slates in the Gatescarth Yalley. 



From Scarf Gap to a point a little to the south of the foot of 

 Ennerdale Lake — a distance of more than five miles — the Green 

 Slates and Porphyries continue to repose upon the syenitic porphyry 

 before -mentioned, this intrusive mass occupying the lower half of 

 the valley of the Liza, and forming the range of hills which bound 

 Ennerdale on the south. At this point, which is near the source of the 

 river Calder, the Green Slates again come into relation with the Skid- 

 daw Slates and continue to be underlaid by them for about four miles 

 until we come to Stockbridge near Egremont. Along this line how- 

 ever the hills are low and rounded and the country is much obscured 

 by drift so that little can be said as to the relations of the two for- 

 mations. Wherever seen the inclination of the Skiddaw Slates is 

 found to be at very high angles, varying from S.S.E. at 55°, as at 

 Flat Fell and Dent Hill, to verticality as at Wilton. They are over- 

 laid by traps and trappean breccias belonging to the Green Slate 

 Series, but no dip could be made out in these beds and their junction 

 with the Skiddaw Slates is nowhere observable. 



The Skiddaw Slates in their main area in the north-western por- 

 tion of the Lake district, as is well known, ultimately fold over 

 towards the N.W., and are partially succeeded by a belt of 

 country in which rocks belonging to the series of the Green Slates 

 and Porphyries come to the surface. Between Egremont and 

 Cockermouth, and again between Cockermouth and Sunderland, the 

 Skiddaw Slates are overlapped by the Carboniferous Limestone, and 

 their upward termination is, therefore, not exhibited. A little to the 

 north of Sunderland, however, strata belonging to the Green Slates 

 begin to make their appearance, and continue to be superimposed 

 upon the Skiddaw Slates throughout the remainder of this area, till 

 close upon Troutbeck Station, where the Skiddaw Slates are again 

 concealed for a distance of about a mile, partly by Old Eed and 

 partly by the Carboniferous Limestone. Throughout the whole of 

 the distance between Troutbeck and Sunderland — a distance of 

 about fifteen miles — the Green Slates and Porphyries constitute a 

 well-defined, somewhat semi-circular, range of hills, which com- 

 mences near Sunderland in the Beacon Hill and Binsey Crag, is 

 continued by the mountains round Overwater, runs nearly due E. 

 and W. from this point to a little to the south of Hesket-new- 

 Market, (as the Caldbeck Fells), and then suddenly turns to the 

 S.E. by Bannest Hill and Murrah to Eycott Hill near Troutbeck. 

 In examining this comparatively little known range, we shall find a 

 clearer exposition of the true relations between the Skiddaw Slates 

 and the Green Slates, than is obtainable in any other part of the 

 Lake-district. 



Commencing in the neighbourhood of Sunderland, the Skiddaw 



