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



lai'ge pair of shears brought forward which shall cut off or pare 

 down all the upraised central portion ; in this way the uppermost 

 blue cloth may be removed altogether from the centre of the low 

 arch, a less amount of the red cloth layers would be removed, while, 

 perhaps only a few topmost inches of black cloth would be touched, 

 but the consequence would be that, at the centre of the cloth dome, 

 an arch of black cloth would appear, on either side of this would lie 

 inclined layers of red cloth, to be flanked in their turn by similarly 

 inclined strata of blue cloth. Suppose, now, the ten inches of black 

 cloth to represent 10,000 feet of Skiddaw Slates, the twelve inches of 

 red cloth 12,000 feet of Volcanic Deposits, and the fourteen inches of 

 blue cloth 14,000 feet of Upper Silurian strata ; suppose, moreover, 

 the lateral pressure applied at either end of the cloth to signify a 

 probable depression of extensive tracts on either side of that over 

 which these formations are upraised, and the gnawing and planing 

 action of the sea along the coast-line of rising land, aided by the 

 powers of the atmosphere, to be represented by the great shears, 

 then, when the elevation and crumpling had done their work, and 

 brought the pile of 36,000 feet of strata conveniently under the 

 denuding agents, some of the outer coats of this dome must have 

 been pared away, and Upper Silurian and Volcanic deposits being 

 both removed over the central dome, the Skiddaw Slates themselves 

 would be once more exposed to view (see Plate II., Fig. 2). Such a 

 denudation must mean the removal of 20,000 to 25,000 feet of strata, 

 unless we suppose that within the distance of a few miles (twelve or 

 fourteen) the thickness of the Upper Silurian beds was much reduced. 

 To this amount of removed material we must add a considerable 

 thickness of Skiddaw Slates, themselves cut from the dome top. 

 Surely such an action must represent a very great length of 

 time, yet do we find that it all transpired in the interval between the 

 close of the Upper Silurian and the deposition of the Eed Conglo- 

 merate of Mell Fell, ushering in the great Carboniferous Period. 

 For these Lower Carboniferous rocks (Mell Fell Conglomerate, etc.) 

 are deposited across the denuded edges of all the older formations ; 

 at one place they lie upon Upper Silurian, at another upon rocks 

 of the Volcanic Series, and at yet another upon the Skiddaw Slates. 

 Thus there cannot be the shadow of a doubt as to the length of time 

 which must have elapsed between the close of the Upper Silurian 

 and the commencement of the Carboniferous Period, and of the 

 greatness of the woi*k accomplished in that time. 



It is to the earlier part of this lengthy period, when the Skiddaw 

 Slates were buried at their deepest, and internal commotions began 

 to be displayed, that I would assign the formation of the various 

 granitic centres. In an earlier paper I have treated of the probable 

 pressure under which they were respectively formed, and called 

 attention to the fact — in the Survey Memoir (p. 74) — that an axial 

 line of most intense metamorphism runs parallel with the main axis of 

 upheaval. That there was a disposition at this period towards 

 volcanic outburst I do not doubt, and that the mass of the Shap 

 Granite came nearest to establishing: a volcanic connexion with the 



