Yol. 68.] GLICIATTON OF THE BLACK COMBE DISTRICT. 423 



It is about 2 miles long, and occurs in three main sections. 

 Commencing on the north between the 800- and 900-foot contours, 

 it descends to near the 500-foot contour about half a mile south- 

 south-east of Seathwaite Church. The southern section, east of 

 Seathwaite, has moutonne rock-surfaces protruding through it at 

 its southern end. The middle section is similar, but conceals the 

 rock-surface more thoroughly. South of Long House Gill, this 

 section is most prominent near the top, where it forms a broad 

 terrace. It consists of a tumultuous accumulation of huge sub- 

 angular boulders which cover a considerable part of the hillside, and 

 enclose many a marshy flat or swamp. The third section, north of 

 Long House Gill, is more ridge-like, and divides into two mounds, 

 covered with great angular blocks, many of which are of banded 

 ash. 



The moraine lies in an embayment where the contours on 

 opposite sides of the Duddon Valley widen out. This widening 

 doubtless caused a state of semi-stagnation, or, at any rate, of slow 

 movement, in the ice on this side of the valley, resulting in the 

 accumulation of surplus debris. 



(2) Marginal Channels and Associated Sands and Gravels. 



Eefore the Ice Age, the normal drainage of the country lying 

 between the Duddon Estuary and the Esk was westerly or south- 

 westerly. The Esk and the Which am Beck, for example, flowed to 

 the south-west, and the Kinmont Beck, near Bootle, to the west of 

 south-west. Thus the main drainage then, as now, occupied 

 channels running nearly, but not quite, at right angles to the coast- 

 line, which trends slightly east of south. 



There is, however, another series of channels, which are now for 

 the most part either dry, or occupied by insignificant streamlets ^ ; 

 while their general trend corresponds more or less with the trend 

 of the moraines upon the hillsides north and east of Bootle 

 (p. 421). 



In some cases the channels were merely carriers of the marginal 

 drainage of the ice-sheet — now in the ice, now in the reck, or 

 between the ice and the rock-face. In other cases they represent 

 channels scoured out by overflow waters, from lakelets held up 

 between the ice-front and embayments of the land. 



As the position of the ice-margin altered from time to time, new 

 channels were developed, so that two or more courses were some- 

 iimes formed in parallel sequence at consecutively lower levels. 

 ' In-and-out ' channels, and channels formed entirely in drift, or 

 between an ice-wall and a drift-wall, are also represented. 



(i) The Granite Area south of Eskdale. 



The shelf-like western part of the granite outcrop (see p. 406) 

 between Eskdale and Kinmont Beck is about a mile wide, and 



^ The E;iver Annas being an exception. 

 Q.J.G. S. No. 271. 2h 



