502 MR, P. F. KENDALL ON A SYSTEM OF [ Aug. 1902, 
Pickering, some of which cut through the cover of the Oolites and 
produce singular inliers of Lias. These all le in the western half of 
the area, and are probably due to the flatness of the top of the Cleve- 
Jand anticline. Streams rising near the axis find difficulty in pene- 
trating the harder beds of the Oolite, and so take an uncertain course 
over the high flat moorland. Hence some stream-heads, as Mr. Fox- 
Strangways has pointed out, have been captured by the Esk with its 
shorter course to the sea, and consequent steeper fall. When these 
moorland-streams pass away from the anticlinal axis, the dip of the 
rock increases, the fall steepens, and the increased cutting-power 
so obtained enables them to carve through the hard Lower Estuarine 
Sandstone and make a slash in the underlying Lias. 
In the eastern region, the beds have not been thrust up so high, 
and the streams do not penetrate to the Lias. With the exception 
of the anomalous valleys near the coast, to which reference will be 
made in a later secticn of this paper (p. 535), these valleys are mainly 
cut in the Middle and Upper Oolites, and are of comparatively small 
dimensions. One, however, Newton Dale, has long been an object 
of interest to me and of wonderment: because of its immense depth, 
and the way in which it passes completely through the watershed. 
Reflecting upon these characters, with the light obtained by studies 
of Glacial overflows near Ripon and Knaresborough, I was brought 
to the conclusion that Newton Dale must be the overflow of a 
glacier-dammed lake in the Eskdale country. An inspection of a 
map showed that if the normal outlet of the Esk were closed, this 
would, by its altitude, be the outlet. This clue led to the unravel- 
ling of the whole chain. 
(2) Newton Dale. 
I have used this valley to illustrate so many features of overflow- 
valleys, that comparatively little remains to be said. From 
Pickering, where it debouches into the Vale of that name, it quickly 
assumes a gorge-like character, the very steep sides rising to 300 feet 
or more, according to the magnitude of the successive Oolitic escarp- 
ments which are cut through. Above Raindale, where the largest 
tributary valley enters, the Dale exhibits a series of bold windings, 
as already mentioned, which display the characters of the ordinary 
meanders of a stream, having steep outer curves and comparatively 
gentle inner curves. 
The amount of drainage passing down Newton Dale is very small, 
especially above Raindale, and for 23 miles at the upper end there 
is no continuous stream, but a bog, with an occasional strip of 
running water. For half a mile at the actual summit there is a 
great peat-bog, and no stream whatever except artificial drains. 
‘This final half-mile is the most significant part of the valley, and 
must therefore receive a rather detailed description. The water- 
shed is here cut completely through by Newton Dale as a broad, 
flat-floored trench, more than 50 feet deep, with steep sides. The 
peat is evidently of great depth. 1 spent some hours here, in 
