The Glacial Geology of East Lancashire

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Abstract
I. Introduction. The area dealt with in this paper comprises the western slopes of the Pennines from Boulsworth Hill to Blackstone Edge, together with the western offshoot from them, which separates the basin of the Ribble from that of the Mersey. Although the treatment of the distribution of the Drift is regarded as the primary object of the paper, I also intend to examine the whole Glacial history of the district, in order that it may be viewed in relation to the larger problem of the glaciation of the Irish-Sea basin. A brief outline of some of my conclusions was presented to the Southport meeting of the British Association in 1903. II. The Glacial Deposits. ( a ) General Appearance and Texture. The chief characteristic of the Glacial deposits—or, as they are usually termed, the Drift—of this region is their variability. Lenticular beds of sand and gravel alternate with clay, which generally includes boulders of different sizes. Frequently, several of these varieties of Drift occur together in the same section. By far the greater number of exposures, especially in the uplands, are of Boulder Clay, which consists of rounded, smoothed, and scratched stones enclosed without orderly arrangement in a matrix of clay, generally with an admixture of more or less sand. The texture of the Drift has had considerable influence upon the extent to which it has been altered by the action of the weather since its deposition. Tough blue clay, being impervious, weathers to yellow clay for only a little distance

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