CXxiv PEOCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [May I906, 



VII. Effects of Meteoeological Conditions. 

 (1) Hill-Outlines. 



In a paper in the ' Geographical Journal ' l I briefly called 

 attention to the different slopes presented by our hills on the sides 

 facing south, west, or south-west, and north, east, or north-east re- 

 spectively, pointing out that those facing the former directions often 

 possessed a convex outline on the summit, becoming concave only 

 in the lower parts of the valley, while the slopes in the opposite 

 directions were often concave from valley-bottom to hill-summit, 

 or to a point not far below that summit ; and I argued that the 

 convex outline was the result of weathering on peat-covered ground 

 where stream-action was insignificant, while the concave sides 

 marked slopes where the rock was at the surface, and the outline 

 was the ordinary curve of water-erosion. Further observation 

 has convinced me of the frequency of this association, and the 

 few exceptions that occur are readily explicable by the geological 

 structure of the ground. 



To illustrate these remarks I would refer to fig. 9, facing p. cxviii, 

 which is a section to true scale drawn across the hills of the High- 

 Street, Kirkstone, and Helvellyn groups of fells from Kentmere to 

 the west side of Dunmail Raise, in a direction approximately from 

 east-south-east to west-north-west. J?he difference of contour has 

 nothing to do with the strike of the rocks, which cross the valleys 

 nearly at right angles. The valleys chiefly run in shatter-belts, 

 and are, as before described, straight and wide. 



The difference in the curvature of the two sides of the valleys is 

 very well marked, as may be readily seen on the ground from a 

 point west of Pull-Wyke Bay at the head of Windermere. 



It might be suggested that the difference was due to glaciers 

 having lingered for a longer period on the sides facing north, 

 north-east, or east, than on those facing south, south-west, or west, 

 but there is no sign of this in these valleys. Indeed the absence of 

 anything approaching combes in the greater number of the valley- 

 sides, and the directions of the striae, indicate that these valleys 

 were not occupied by lateral glaciers, but by ice moving along the 

 direction of the valleys, and there is no reason why this should 

 affect one side differently from the other. 



Whether my explanation be correct or no, the appearance is 

 significant, and requires elucidation. 



1 'The Origin of Moels & their Subseqiient Dissection' vol. xvii (1901) 

 pp. 63-69. 



