A HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND 
Bunter Sandstone, differs from the Penrith Sandstone not only in having 
been laid down almost entirely by water (instead of being deposited by 
the wind as desert sand-hills), but its general aspect is different in many 
respects, amongst which may be mentioned that it always contains flakes 
of mica, which is entirely absent from the Penrith Sandstone. It almost 
certainly overspread the whole of Cumberland and the greater part of 
Britain, as well as a large part of western Europe. 
The few organic remains tell us of the former presence of reptiles 
more or less like those whose footprints occur in the Penrith Sandstone. 
Evidently these animals also were very varied in both form and size ; 
and it is quite clear from the footprints they have left that they often 
wandered over the half-dried mud or waded in the shallows of the old 
lakes, where somehow they managed to pick up a scanty subsistence. 
Probably they were attracted to the shallows by the chance of meeting 
with more succulent vegetation than was to be found on the drier parts 
of the land. Some of them may have been carnivorous, but as we have 
only the footprints to judge by we cannot be at all sure upon this 
point. 
The St. Bees Sandstone, where fully developed, measures about 
1,800 feet, but it is only in a few places that anything like the original 
thickness has survived the many subsequent periods of denudation. 
(4) During the later part of the episode just noticed, the evidence 
seems to show that the old lakes were often completely dried up, and 
then the wind piled up sandhills, just as it did before. Soon after that 
it appears that there was again a somewhat abrupt lowering of the land, 
and a temporary return to more humid climatal conditions. Then 
followed a repetition of the conditions under which the Bunter Marl 
was formed, with the formation of rock-salt, gypsum, and dolomite, as 
before. It was under these conditions that the Keuper Marls were 
formed. The lower beds of these are well seen at Stanwix. They reach 
a thickness of a little over goo feet west of Carlisle, and between that and 
1,000 feet appears to be their normal thickness all over Britain. It is in 
the Keuper Marl that most of the Midland rock-salt and gypsum occurs. 
(‘) The rocks which were formed during the great continental 
phase above described are now usually referred to collectively as the 
New Red. The earlier-formed part may be conveniently classed as the 
Lower New Red, which comprises the Penrith Sandstone and its associ- 
ated breccias or ‘ brockrams,’ and the Plant Beds, and next above them 
the Magnesian Limestone. These three subdivisions are frequently re- 
ferred to collectively under the name of Dyas, though the older name 
just mentioned is better in many respects. The term ‘ Permian,’ at one 
time used for them, is unsuitable for many reasons, and many geologists 
are agreed that it had better be dropped. 
The whole of the Red Rocks above the Magnesian Limestone are 
best referred to under their old name of Upper New Red, a more suitable 
term than Trias. Their subdivisions are, at the base the Bunter Marl, 
next above that the St, Bees Sandstone, at the top of all the Keuper 
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