/. Aitken — On Faults m Drift. 117 



coast, were lifted on it by the tides, and, to a certain extent, sea-worn : 

 and that, as pieces of the ice-foot and coast-ice were detached and 

 floated southwards, sub-angular scratched boulders were carried 

 with them, being deposited in the loamy mud, derived from the 

 Triassic plains, forming in the Lowlands of Lancashire and Cheshire. 

 (4) That the climate commenced to ameliorate, the subsidence still 

 continuing, clay was no longer brought down by glaciers to the 

 Lancashire ice-foot, the formation of Marine Lower Boulder-clay 

 ceased, and on its surface, the Middle Drift Sand, derived from the 

 erosion of the cliffs by the sea and of the land by rivers, commenced 

 to be deposited. (5) That subsidence did not cease until the 

 whole country was submerged to a depth of 1,400 feet. (6) That 

 a Glacial climate recommencing, the land rose ; that a pause or 

 fresh subsidence took place, the ice-foot again appearing, the Upper 

 Till was thrown down. (7) The land rising, glaciers again occu- 

 pied the valleys and scooped out the Marine Drift. 



V. — On Faults in Dbift at Stockport, Cheshire. 



By John Aitken, F.G.S. 



("With an Illustration.) 



DUKINGr the years 1866 and 1867 considerable discussion took 

 place through the medium of this Journal on the question of 

 the existence of dislocations, or faults, in Glacial Drift. As I believe 

 no communication has appeared since the latter year in these columns 

 on that subject, it may not be altogether uninteresting to your readers 

 if I briefly refer to a clear and unmistakeable example of faulted 

 drift which recently came under my observation at a ballast pit close 

 to the Stockport Eailway Station. At the time of my first visit, 

 about three months ago, my object being to search for traces 

 of marine shells in the sand, the several details of the section were 

 exhibited with remarkable distinctness, the action of the weather 

 having brought out the several lines of bedding and fracture as 

 sharply as though they had been produced in a body of compact 

 Sandstone ; indeed, so exact was the resemblance in that respect that 

 at a short distance it would have been difficult to believe that such 

 was not the fact. Unfortunately, since that time, a quantity of sand 

 has been removed from the face of the pit, thereby partially obliter- 

 ating the details; the principal features, nevertheless, were easily 

 discernible a few weeks ago, when I last visited the spot. 



The section has a longitudinal extension of 45 feet, and a vertical 

 depth of about 25 feet, 14 feet of the lower portion being almost 

 entirely composed of fine, sharp, stratified red sand of (according 

 to the classification adopted by Prof. Hull and Mr. Searles V. 

 Wood, jun.) Middle Drift age, conforming very closely as to colour 

 to the New Eed Sandstone of the neighbourhood, upon which it 

 rests, and from which it has evidently been derived, and in which 

 are distributed, in considerable numbers, rounded and water- worn 

 pieces of coal, in some places massed together in nests or pockets, 



