and that the non-glaciated rocks in the rear have been sheltered by the
rocks in front? It is for this reason that in the mountainous regions
of northern Europe the striated and smoothed rock-surfaces invariably
look up the valleys, while the broken and unworn rock-ledges face in
the opposite direction.
Once more, note the manner in which the sub-glacial rock-rubbish,
consisting of clay, sand, grit, stones, and boulders, has been amassed.
In places where the ice must have moved more or less rapidly, as on
considerable slopes, no accumulation took place, while in the rear
of projecting crags and knobs of rock, sub-glacial materials often
gathered deeply. Again, over low-lying tracts, where the motion of
the ice would necessarily be retarded, clay, sand, and stones tended
to collect. And this particularly appears to have been the case in
those regions where the slow-creeping and gradually thinning ice-sheet
approached its terminal line. Hence it is that we encounter such thick
and wide-spread sheets of sub-glacial detritus upon the undulating
low-grounds and plains of southern Sweden, Denmark, Schleswig-Holstein,
Holland, northern Germany, Poland, and Russia.
The sub-glacial débris to which I specially refer is known as _Till_
or _Boulder-clay_ in this country, as _Krosstenslera_ in Sweden, as
_Geschiebelehm_ or _Geschiebemergel_ in Germany, and as _Grundmoräne_
or _Moraine profonde_ in Switzerland. Its general characters are too
well known to require more than the briefest summary. In general this
peculiar accumulation is an unstratified clay, containing, scattered
higgledy-piggledy through it, stones and boulders of all shapes and
sizes. Many of these rock-fragments are smoothed and striated, and
even the smallest particles, when viewed under the microscope, often
show delicate scratches. Frequently, too, the clay is excessively hard
and tough, and in many places it shows a kind of pseudo-lamination,
which is generally more or less crumpled, and often highly involved.
These appearances prove that the clay has not only been subjected to
intense pressure, but has actually been rolled over upon itself. I
need only refer to the plentiful occurrence of "slickensides" in such
clays--the joints by which the clay is often traversed showing such
polishing clearly on their faces. These, and many other facts which
time forbids me to mention, have received an explanation which has now
been generally adopted by European glacialists. The boulder-clay or
till is considered by them to represent the ground- or bottom-moraine
of glacier-ice. There used to be a notion prevalent amongst geologists
in our country that this clay was almost peculiar to these islands.
It occurs, however, in most countries of Europe. Vast regions in the
north are more or less continuously covered by it, and we meet with
it abundantly also upon the low-grounds of Switzerland, from which it
may be followed far down the great valley of the Rhone into the sunny
plains of France.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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