Rev. J. Clifton Ward — Geology of the Lake District. 51 



pebbles of quartz, and fragments of black slate, accompanied some- 

 times by felspathic portions, giving it a somewhat ashy appearance. 

 These conglomeratic characters more particularly prevail in a bed 

 occurring high up in the Skiddaw Series, to be referred to hereafter 

 (see large-clotted band in Map). Again, in the lower part of the 

 series, gritty beds very largely prevail, as in Whiteside and Grasmoor 

 (Hor. Sect. No. 2, a, p. 54), where there are some thousands of feet of 

 such beds. Fossils are not abundant in the sandy or gritty beds, and 

 indeed, with the exception of worm tracks, and some doubtful Grap- 

 tolites in the flaggy parts, and a single obscure shell in the upper 

 grit of Latterbarrow, none have been found. 



Physical Conditions indicated. — In this 10,000 or 12,000 feet of 

 deposits, we meet with no indications of deep-sea conditions, rather 

 throughout of shallow-water and shore conditions. Judging from 

 the way in which, generally speaking, the sandy and gritty beds 

 thicken westwai'ds, one would be inclined to infer that the current 

 drift was from the west, and continental land not far off in that 

 direction. To allow of such a thickness of shallow- water deposits, 

 there must have been continual depression of the area of deposition, 

 and the greatest thickness of gritty beds occurring in the lower part 

 of the series accords well with the idea of such a slow depression 

 taking place, and causing the gradual submergence of the neighbour- 

 ing land, whence the coarser sediments may have been derived. 

 The presence of the bed of grit high up in the series may have been 

 the result of a special set of currents lasting for a short time, and 

 distributing the current-borne material very irregularly, as is, 

 indeed, clearly shown by the great variations in thickness of the bed. 

 It is quite possible that this bed of grit may indicate either a cessation 

 of depression and slight denudation of the previously formed deposits, 

 or even a partial elevation accompanied by denudation. There is 

 little or nothing, however, in the general course of this grit to 

 indicate the presence of a marked unconformity, rather would it seem 

 to point to some slight change of conditions in the depths of the area 

 of deposition. In the south-west of the district, about Lank Eigg, 

 and Latterbarrow, this grit is succeeded at once by volcanic deposits, 

 the black slates of the summit of Skiddaw being entirely absent. 

 This would seem to show that the volcanic forces came into play 

 earlier in this direction than about Keswick, and as volcanic action is 

 generally connected — in the first place at any rate — with movements 

 of elevation, it may well have been that some such movements 

 preceded and prepared the way for the deposition of the grit. Tho 

 volcanic ashes laid down upon the grit of Lank Eigg and Latter- 

 barrow contain many rolled pebbles of that grit, and the character 

 of these early ashy beds is clearly such as to indicate submarine 

 volcanic deposits. On the other hand, the very presence of rolled 

 pebbles of the grit proves that sufficient time must have elapsed for 

 the consolidation of the gritty deposit ere the volcanic beds were laid 

 down. This leads us naturally and without break into the next 

 period — that of great and long-continued volcanic activity. 



