90 Prof. Sedgwick on the Carboniferous Chain 



the magnificent tabular escarpment overlooking Mollerstang is composed ex- 

 clusively of the second millstone grit (No. 15.) ; and on the same face of the 

 mountain we have a succession of the finest sections, exposing- all the groups 

 down to the twelve-fathom limestone. They are, perhaps, of as great a thick- 

 ness as at Baw Fell ; but in consequence of the degenerate form of the^rs^ mill- 

 stone grit (which is here an ordinary, open-grained, whitish sandstone), they 

 are not well defined. Subordinate to No. 14. is a bed of coal about eighteen 

 inches thick, which has been partially worked, but hitherto without profit. 



Descending from the crown of the hill, along the edge of its eastern escarp- 

 ment, to the level of the white grit beds representing the first millstone 

 (No. 13.), we cross (close to a place called Dolphin Sty) the line of a great 

 vein or fault, which throws all the beds on its north side about 150 feet below 

 their level. In consequence, the coal-bed (No. 14.) and the accompanying 

 grits and shales are once again repeated. This vein strikes the opposite hills 

 (producing the same northern downcast), and is prolonged into the mining 

 district of Swaledale. 



After reaching the level of the twelve-fathom limestone, we cross the bearings 

 of one or two other veins, which have partially deranged the position of the 

 groups. I have attempted to convey only a general notion of them in the 

 accompanying section, for the country is so much covered with alluvion that 

 their exact effects cannot be easily ascertained. 



Continuing to descend, we come upon the edges of the dislocated masses 

 thrown up by the great Craven fault. The horizontal beds of the great Scar 

 limestone lie far below the bottom of the neighbouring valley^: but the 

 broken ends of the whole mass have been torn up from the foundations of the 

 mountain, and jammed against the edges of the upper horizontal groups. 

 The vast force of elevation is indicated by the enormous extent and contor- 

 tions of the dislocated masses ; and the line of greatest stress is indicated by 

 an anticlinal axis, on the north side of which the Scar limestone, after many 

 breaks and undulations, gradually falls down to the level of the Eden, and is 

 buried under the conglomerates of the new red sandstone, where the longi- 

 tudinal section endsf. 



* The Mosdale Moor limestone (No. 7.) is, I believe, the lowest calcareous group to be seen in 

 the deep valley at the eastern base of Wildboar Fell. 



\ It deserves remark, that in some places near Kirkby Stephen the direction of the anticlinal 

 axis is traced by a small vein, which, here and there, has been worked for lead. This seems to 

 prove that, at least, some of the lead veins of the carboniferous chain originated in fissures pro- 

 duced by the great elevatory movements before the period of the new red sandstone. I believe, 

 partly on the evidence afforded by the details of this paper, that many of the lead veins of Arken- 

 dale and Swaledale had their origin during the same period. 



