192 Mr. Hutton on the Stratiform Basalt. 



passage of ponies to carry away the ore upon their backs. The mine 

 machinery is erected upon the Whin Sill, which has been laid bare for 

 the purpose. Its surface is even, and a Limestone, which reposes 

 upon it, may be seen in close contact, unaltered either in colour or 

 texture. 



SUCCESSION OF STRATA AT THE MURTON MINES, IN A DESCENDING 



ORDER. 



Faths. Yds. Ft. 



Limestone, 6 



Sandstone, 1.1 



Limestone, 12 



Whin, . „ 3 



Slaty Sandstone, 110 



Jew, or Great Melmerby Scar Limestone, 18 



On the south side of the valley, down which Murton Beck takes its 

 course, the Whin may be seen in a " Hush" upon a Lead vein. North 

 of this, in Hycup Nick, the Whin Sill forms the edge, or uppermost 

 bed, round the eastern end of that singular valley, and from hence its 

 denuded surface may be traced, almost without interruption, by the 

 side of Maize Beck, as before observed, to Birkdale, near Cauldron 

 Snout, the waters never cutting through it until we arrive at that spot. 



At Dufton Mine, in Rundle Beck, the Whin is worked into, and is 9 

 fathoms thick. North of Rundle Beck, the Whin is seen in Swindle and 

 Knocker Gill Becks ; also in the streams running past the villages of 

 Milburn and Knock, in all which situations it is from 7 to 9 fathoms 

 thick, and holds a perfectly regular course. 



very edges, all round, in a directly opposite course towards the Tees, by Maize Beck. 

 Could these have been valleys prior to the upheaving of this range of hills ? If not, it be- 

 comes exceedingly difficult to account for the removal of such immense masses of matter as 

 have here disappeared. Without entering at all into the general question of valleys, may 

 we not be allowed to suppose many of those which have originated in the action of running 

 water alone, to have been formed whilst the strata were in a half-consolidated, soft, and 

 yielding state ? There are some of the phenomena attending the great D}'ke of the New- 

 castle Coal field, which, to my mind, prove that the strata remained soft for an immense 

 period after their deposition. 



