Yol. 65.] THE HOWGILL PELLS AND THEIR TOPOGRAPHY. 607 



The Dale Gill valley is wide and U-shaped, with a conchoidal 

 scoop on its western side and a vegetation-clad combe at its head. 

 West of this lie three very important valleys, namely Weasdale, 

 Bowderdale, and Langdale, the last-named having also two important 

 tributaries, Churn Gill and Uldale. 



The eastern feeder of Weasdale, called Great Swindale, rises 

 west of the top of Green Bell. The valley is V-shaped, but approx- 

 imates below to the U-outfine. It has a conchoidal scoop on its 

 eastern side, with truncated spurs above and below. The bottom 

 of the valley is occupied by alluvium nearly to the head. How far 

 this alluvium is fluvio-glacial in origin has not been determined, 

 though it is probable that, during the melting of the ice, the forma- 

 tion of alluvium in this and other valleys proceeded in a more 

 rapid manner than has ever been the case subsequently. 



At the head of Great Swindale we meet with a type of accu- 

 mulation which forms a marked feature of the heads of many of 

 the northward-flowing streams of the Howgill Fells : this requires 

 some notice. The semicircular head of Great Swindale is occupied 

 by loose material, which is being carved by rain-channels into 

 buttressed ridges that are very characteristic. The general aspect 

 of the accumulation at first sight suggests moraine, but a closer 

 examination at once shows that it is not of morainic origin. It is 

 composed of angular fragments of various sizes, and is clearly the 

 result of weathering action only. Similar material occurs on the 

 two sides of the valley some distance below the head, but is not there 

 so thick. On the eastern side this material (continuous with that 

 at the valley-head) covers the face of a conchoidal scoop produced 

 by ice-erosion : hence it must be of post-Glacial origin, and cannot 

 be due to pre-Glacial weathering. Its formation is still going on, 

 although its destruction by occasional stream-action indicates that 

 the formation is not now sufficiently rapid to replace the destroyed 

 material, and the total amount is therefore dwindling : the main 

 mass of it was probably formed by frost-action after the retreat of 

 the ice. 



The head of Weasdale proper is a large combe with similar 

 subangular accumulation. Here the material is formed from the 

 broken rock which fills the shatter-belt of the great fault. There 

 is little sign of glaciation at the extreme head of the valley, the over- 

 lapping spurs of which have not been completely destroyed ; but 

 lower down the valley rapidly becomes U-shaped, and has truncated 

 spurs. Between the points of entry of Great and Little Swindale 

 its western side shows a good example of a well-truncated spur ; and 

 below the point of entry of Little Swindale the eastern side exhibits 

 a similar phenomenon on the western face of High Knott. Little 

 Swindale is largely choked by a drift-delta introduced from Dale Gill. 



Little Beck, west of the lower part of Weasdale, is formed 

 by the junction of two streams — Simongill Sike on the east, and 

 Shawgill Sike on the west. The valley is short, and largely occupied 



Q. J. G. S. No. 260. 2 t 



