158 J. C. WARD ON THE GLACIAL ORIGIN OF THE 



a. Wastwater. — The depth and contour of this lake is given upon 

 a true scale in PI. VII. A — fig. 1 being a section along its length, and 

 figs. 4-10 transverse sections (see dotted lines on the plan, fig. 11). 

 In fig. 1 the mountains on the north side of the valley are shown 

 with their true heights, and their bases are supposed to be visible 

 through the glacier ice. There is no doubt that the lake once 

 extended as far as Wastdale Head ; and this I have indicated by 

 a dotted line (fig. 1). Thus the basin commenced at the junction 

 of Mosedale and Wastdale; and its present deepest part occurs 

 just opposite the point at which the only other tributary valleys 

 (those in which Over Beck and Nether Beck run) join the main 

 one. 



I see no reason to suppose that the lake runs along the course of 

 any fault or fissure, although it is possible that a tongue of granite 

 runs from the Eskdale mass at the foot of the lake, beneath the water 

 and alluvium, to unite with that of Wastdale Head. The rocks, 

 however, on either side of the lake, consist of highly metamorphosed 

 volcanic ash traversed by numerous dykes, with the exception of 

 about a mile of the north-western shore at the foot, which is occu- 

 pied by syenite. 



Since the surface of the water is 204 feet above the sea, and the 

 lake is 251 feet deep*, it follows that the bottom is 47 feet beneath 

 sea-level. The soundings show also that for a distance of fully a 

 mile and a quarter the bed of the lake thus lies beneath the sea- 

 level. In the map, PI. VII. C, a dotted line is drawn along the lake 

 through the points of greatest depth ; this line makes two decided 

 curves — one approaching nearest to the north-west shore, at the foot 

 of Bell Bib, Yewbarrow (43), and the other very nearly approaching 

 the steep cliffs of the Screes some little way below the mouths of 

 Over Beck and Nether Beck. This, then, is the contour of the basin, 

 preeminently a rock-basin ; how has it been formed ? 



As several authors have written upon Wastwater, it will be neces- 

 sary, first of all, to state briefly their views. In 1861, Professor 

 Hull, in some " Notes on the Glacial Phenomena of Wastdale " f, 

 gave it as his opinion that the lake was due to the presence of a 

 terminal moraine, which he describes as "forming the embank- 

 ment for the lake," " nearly 500 yards in length, with a breadth 



varying up to 100 yards, and a height of 60 feet above the 

 surface of the lake." Now, with all deference to such an au- 

 thority, I must be allowed to question the full existence of this 

 large moraine. The hill in question (Low Wood) presents scarcely 

 any sections, being thickly covered with wood ; and although it may 

 be seen in parts to be " composed of gravel and subangular or 

 rounded pebbles in a clayey matrix, also enclosing large blocks of 

 porphyry and other rocks,", the sections are only skin-deep; and 

 from the first I had a strong suspicion that the low hill, like so 



* I was unable to take any deeper sounding than 251 feet, though popular 

 opinion gives a greater depth, and the opinion of the country-folk is that the 

 lake is untathomable. 



f Geologist, vol iv. p. 478. 



