401 
SOME OBSERVATIONS ON THE GLACIAL GEOLOGY 
OF FURNESS. 
By George Grace, B.Sc, A.R.C.Sc, and Frederick Howard 
Smith, B.Sc. 
(Read on March 29th, 1922.) 
For the purposes of this paper Furness may be taken as that 
portion of the Lake District which is bounded on the west by the 
River Duddon, on the north by the Little Langdale, and on the east 
by Windermere and the River Leven. Within this area the soHd 
geology, so far as it affects the glacial geology, is very simple. If a 
line be drawn from Duddon Bridge in a north-easterly direction through 
Coniston and forward, it will cut off a north-westerly portion composed 
of Ordovician volcanic rocks of the Borrowdale series, and leave a 
south-eastern area chiefly made of Silurian slates and grits. Although 
there are minor variations in the dip and strike of these rocks, they may 
be regarded as having a general strike parallel to the dividing line 
mentioned, and a dip towards the south-east. 
The volcanic area consists of a mountainous massif, culminating 
in the Coniston Old Man (2633 ft.), and running to the south-west until 
it is cut off by the Duddon estuary. The south-east area is divided 
naturally into a hilly portion in the north, reaching in several places to 
1000 feet, and a much flatter area, south of Ulverston, generally 
known as Low Furness, much of which is below the 50 feet contour. 
Very little attention appears to have been given to the glacial 
geology of Furness for many years. Clifton Ward* published details 
of the glaciation of the southern Lake District in 1875, but stopped at 
the northern boundary of Furness, and no one appears to have con- 
tinued his work. We have failed to find any systematic description 
of the glaciers of High Furness, although their general courses seem to 
have been conmion knowledge, and are referred to by many writers, 
notably by Prof. Marr in his " Geology of the Lake District." Most 
of the details we give in the following paper appear to be quite new. 
The drifts of Low Furness and, to a certain extent, of High Furness, 
were dealt with by Mackintosh,"!" who gives a full and accurate account 
* Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc.y Vol. XXXI. (1875), pp. 152-165. 
t Quart. Journ. Geol Soc, Vol. XXV. (1869), pp. 407-431 ; Vol. 
XXIX. (1873), pp. 351-359 ; and Vol. XXX. (1874), pp. 174-179. 
