The Carboniferous Succession in the Slaidburn District, Yorkshire

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Abstract
I. Introduction The district which forms the subject of this paper covers an area of about 30 square miles in north-western Yorkshire, and comprises the north-eastern part of the region known as “Bolland” or “Bowland”. It lies almost entirely within the valley of the Hodder, a tributary of the Ribble, but the water-shed is crossed in the north-east, where the streams flow directly into the Ribble. The reservoir recently constructed by the Fylde Water Board is situated within the area, this part of the ground having been examined before submergence. The area is bounded on the north and west by the grit hills of Bowland Forest, which rise to altitudes of from 1400 to 1800 feet, and on the south-east by the grits of Easington, Newton, and Waddington Fells. The steep hillsides below the grit escarpments are occupied by the Bowland Shales, whilst the lower ground is usually Carboniferous Limestone with its associated shales; the harder rock sometimes forms prominent features, of which the more notable are knolls of reef-limestone. The stratigraphical sequence is as shown on the diagram (Pl. XXIV). It varies in detail from place to place as a result of facies changes and non-sequences, but is similar in a general way to that in the type area of Clitheroe-Pendle to the south-south-east. Figure 1 illustrates the variation in thickness and the positions of the non-sequences in different localities within the area to be described (Pendle being included for comparison). Bolland is noted geologically by reason of the