Yorkshire Plains. 335 



duced by fractures and ' convulsions of Nature,' for in 

 this and many similar cases, what can be their origin 

 but the tranquil scooping powers of disintegration and 

 running water, aided by an unknown amount of time. 

 East of the Magnesian Limestone lies the plain (p) 9 

 almost as flat as a table, and covered to a great extent 

 with an oozy loam, like the warps of the Wash and the 

 Humber, and like these, perhaps, formed of old river 

 sediments. The New Red and Lower Lias strata (4) 

 lie beneath the warp, and for the most part, below the 

 level of the sea, and high on the east, like a great 

 rampart, the escarpment of the Oolites (5) rises in 

 places to a height of more than 1,100 feet, with all 

 its broad-topped moorlands and deep well-wooded 

 valleys. Such is the anatomy of the fertile Vale of 

 York and its neighbourhood. 



