1855.] 



HULL ON THE COTTESWOLDS. 



485 



for the Tertiary formations ; and at a certain period of the Glacial 

 Epoch the appearance of the country must have been quite unique, 

 when these long sea-reaches, like so many canals, extended for miles 

 into the heart of a country which was itself unsubmerged. Some of 

 these ravines appear to be very similar to the Valley of Yedmandale 

 in Yorkshire, described by Mr. Sorby in the Journal of the Society*. 



Meteoric PhcBnoinena^ and the Tabular Platforms of Marlstone. — 

 It is seldom that an arrangement of the rocks occurs which tends 

 to throw light upon the meteoric influences of former ages. There 

 are, however, some pliysical features in the district under considera- 

 tion of so uniform a character, that we can scarcely suppose them to 

 be accidental ; and I submit, though with considerable diffidence, 

 that they appear to throw light upon these subjects ; that, in fact, 

 the directions and magnitudes of the tabular Marlstone areas afford 

 evidence that, at the period when they were in course of formation, 

 winds from the north and west were the most prevalent or powerful. 



The tendency which the Marlstone has of forming platforms is, as 

 described in the 'Geology of Cheltenham f,' "due to its being im- 

 mediately overlaid by the shales of the Upper Lias, which from their 

 softness have undergone a greater amount of denudation, leaving the 

 hard stratum of marlstone projecting from the sides or capping their 

 summits." 



Such being the case, it follows that the more rapid the denudation, 

 and consequently the more powerful the denuding agency, the larger 

 will be the tabular areas formed ; and that they will project in the 

 direction from which the forces have acted with greatest effect. 



I herewith present, in a tabulated form, several particulars, viz. 

 the locality, direction, and length of all the Marlstone platforms of 

 the district, frem half a mile in length and upwards ; omitting those 

 of Breedon Hill, as the fault, to which I have already referred, has 

 prevented the formation of platforms on the south side ; and con- 

 sequently no comparison can be made in this particular case. 



Localities^ Directions, and Lengths of the Marlstone Platforms. 



Locality. 



Direction. 



Length. 



Locality. 



Direction. 



Length. 



Upton Leonards 



Dowdeswell 



N. 

 N. 

 N. 

 N. 

 N. 

 W. N. NE. 

 NNE. 

 N. 

 E. 

 E. 



In miles. 



f 



1 



2 



1 

 2 



i 



3 



^ each. 



1 

 1 



Hitcote Comb ... 

 Goose Hill "1 



Ebrington J 



Broad Campden... 



Aston Magna 



Donnington 



Little Rissington.. 

 Little Compton ... 

 Chastleton 



N. 



S. 



NNE. 

 NNE. 



N. 



W. 



W. 

 WSW. 



N. 



In miles. 



2 



S 



H 



3 

 S 



1 



1 (nearly) 



1 



2 



H 

 1 



i (nearly) 



Gretton 



Toddington Park 



Oxenton 



Dumbleton (three) .. 

 Winchcomb 



Buckland 



Chipping Campden J 

 Mickleton Hill 



Shipton 





* Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. x. p. 328. f Second Edition, p. 38. 



X This platform was probably formed by the action of the sea running through 

 the strait between Ebrington and Dovers Hill. 



