are approached, when, as we have just mentioned, they begin to turn
more and more to the east. Thus it becomes evident that the denuding
agent, whatever it was, that gave rise to these ridges and scratched
rock-surfaces must have pressed outwards from all the dominant
watersheds, and, sweeping down through the great undulating strath that
lies between the Cheviots and the Lammermuirs, must have gradually
turned away to the east and south as it rounded the northern spurs of
the former range, so as to pass south-east over the contiguous maritime
districts of Northumberland.
A few words now as to the character of the superficial deposits which
enter so largely into the composition of the long parallel banks and
ridges in the low-grounds of Roxburghshire, Berwickshire, and the
northern part of Northumberland. The most conspicuous and noteworthy
deposit is a hard tough tenacious clay, which is always more or
less well-charged with blunted and sub-angular stones and boulders,
scattered pell-mell through the mass. This clay is as a rule quite
unstratified--it shows no lines of bedding, and although here and
there it contains irregular patches and beds of gravel and sand, yet
it evidently does not owe its origin to the action of water. Its
colour in the upper part of Teviotdale and the Cheviots is generally a
drab-brown, or pale grey and sometimes yellow, while here and there,
as in the upper reaches of the Jed valley, it is a dark dingy bluish
grey. In the lower parts of Teviotdale and in the Tweed district it
is generally red or reddish brown. The stones in the clay have all
been derived from the rocks of the region in which it occurs. Thus
in Teviotdale we find that in the higher reaches of the dale which
are Silurian the stones and boulders consist of various kinds of
greywacké, etc. In the lower reaches, however, when we pass into the
Red Sandstone area, we note that the clay begins to contain fragments
of red sandstone, while the clay itself takes on a reddish tinge, until
we get down to the vale of the Tweed, where not only is the clay very
decidedly red, but its sandstone boulders also are very numerous.
The same appearances present themselves in passing outwards from the
Cheviots. At first the clay contains only stones that have been derived
from the upper parts of the hills, but by-and-by, as we near the
low-grounds, other kinds begin to make their appearance, so that by the
time we reach the Tweed we may obtain from the clay specimens of every
kind of rock that occurs within the drainage-area of the Teviot and the
lower reaches of the River Tweed.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account