104. 
THE GEOLOGIST. 
as that of the rarboniferons rocks, which, as a general rule, is one in ten, 
or an angle of 5° rising S.W. and dipping X.E. In some places the angle 
is greater, as on Hardendale Fell and iXab, while in others they are almost 
horizontal, showing that agencies have been at work, irregularly heaving 
and lowering, throughout the long period of their formation. As a general 
rule, deposits made by water are laid horizontally ; whence then the in- 
clined angle at which these rocks now lie ? There is no certain evidence 
of any upheaving power having caused it on the west side, but the disturb- 
ance is to be found on the east. Crossing over the basin in which is the 
New Red Sandstone, we come to another series of carboniferous rocks, 
similar to those enumerated, in being made up of limestones, sandstones, 
with coal seams, and clay shales, but with this difference, that they form a 
high mountain-range, knov^ n as the Orossfell Eange. If we examine these 
in the lower series, we find first the Silurian as the lowest or Skiddaw 
slates traceable, with few exceptions, for many miles. Above it is a con- 
glomerate of quartz, pebbles, and coarse grit, near Knock Pike, which on 
Ivoman Fell is the true Old Red Sandstone ; next in ascending order are the 
carboniferous rocks, the lowest a limestone of a reddish colour, then a 
thick shale, followed by a sandstone, to be seen near Howgill Castle ; 
this is again superimposed by a limestone, measuring 120 feet in thick- 
ness, and in many respects similar to the before-mentioned Morland lime- 
stone. This is traceable up to the middle of Crossfell, and immediately 
upon it rest the varied strata of millstone grit. To the south, how- 
ever, along the same range, it is followed by a series of limestones, sand- 
stones, coal, etc., and in one case a layer of basalt twenty-four yards thick, 
which has been overlaid. These are in the Dufton mining-district, where 
the Morland limestone is the chief lead-bearing stratum. From the top 
of this range, in the direction of Alston, may be crossed the strike of many 
different rocks, up to the last of the true coal-measures in Durham. A fter 
the formation of the last limestone in the valley, we see that the laws of 
nature have still gone on, raising and lowering the land, while the sea has 
continued to deposit other series of rocks, one upon another, each in its 
turn becoming dry land, and so on till the last of the coal-formationa. 
Then comes a great convulsion, when a mighty crack has rent the hard 
surface of the earth from north to south, manj' miles in length, and now 
known to geologists as the Crossfell Fault ; the effect of which has been to 
raise the east side into the high mountain-range of Crossfell ; and to lower 
the west side, and form the rich basin of the Vale of Eden. So much has 
been done, between raising one side and lowering the other, that the Silu- 
rian and Old Red, which are found at Shap Wells and on Raftland, have 
been brought to light, the distance between these, from the formations in 
situ at Shap, to the fault at Crossfell, being about ten miles direct ; and 
the dip being about one in ten, these strata at present would be about a 
mile deep ; so the upheaval on the one hand, and depression on the other, 
may be probable causes of the dip we now find. 
'* The volcanic rocks causing this disturbance, may be found, at the 
bottom of Knock Pike, as a granite, pushing up a cone of greenstone ; also 
Dufton Pike as a micaceous porphyry ; and Murton Pike similarly. At the 
time of this great disturbance, as the level of the one side was lowered, the 
New Red Sandstone sea rushed over the sunken country, from the north, 
tearing and rushing m ith a mighty force ; breaking up into fragments the 
old-deposited limestone, and mingling with the heterogeneous mass a 
matrix of red sand, etc., in Avhich way we may, in all probability, account 
for the immense masses of breccias resting upon the older strata, in the 
southern extremity of the New Red basin. The red sand brought by this 
