On the Phenomena of the Glacial Drift of Scotland
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a^M. i^\ % ON THE PHENOMENA OF THE GLACIAL DRIFT OF SCOTLAND BY AECHIBALD GEIKIE, F.RS.E. F.O.S. CiEOLOGIST OF THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF GREAT BRITAIN. HONORARY MEMBER OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETIES OF EDINBURGH AND GLASGOW, ETC. EXTRACTED FROM THE TRANSACTIONS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. Vol. T. Part II. GLASGOW: JOHN GRAY, 99, HUTCHESON STKEET. 18G3. i ON THE PHENOMENA OF THE GLACIAL DRIFT OF SCOTLAND BY ARCHIBALD GEIKIE, F.R.S.E. F.G.S. GKOLOGIST OF THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF GREAT BRITAIN, HONORARY MEMBER OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETIES OF EDINBURGH AND GLASGOW, ETC. EXTRACTED FROM THE TRANSACTIONS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF GLASGOW, Vol. I. Part II. GLASGOW: JOHX GRAY, 99, HUTCHESOX STREET. 18G3. KDINBURfiH ; T. CONSTABLK, riilNTKH To THK (^UKEN, AND TO THE UNIVEFSITY. PREFATORY NOTE. A FEW words of explanation may be offered here regarding the origin and purport of the following fresh contribution to the already ample literature of the Glacial phenomena of Scot- land. In the autimin of 1859, during the course of a geological ramble in Fife, my old friend and colleague, the President of the Geological Society, first led me to inquire more narrowly into the received theories respecting the cause of the dressed rock -surfaces, and the accumulations of boulder-clay. In com- pany with nearly every geologist in this country, I was in the habit of regarding the striations on the hills of the opener parts of the country, as for instance in the valley of the Forth, as due to the abrading force of icebergs, by whose operations also the boulder-clay was held to have been transported over the surface of the submerged land. So thoroughly had I accepted this ex- planation, that the rejection of it became a matter of no little time and labour. It was not until the summer of 1861 that I finally al)andoned the attempt to explain the origin of the rock- dressings and the boulder- clay by the action of icebergs. Professor Piamsay, who had in the meantime been studying evidences of ice-action in different parts of this country, as well as on the Continent, and comparing them with those which he had previously examined in Canada, had come to a similar conclusion. It appeared to us that iceberg-action was wholly inadequate to explain the origin either of the moulded and striated rock -surfaces, or of the boulder- clay. These pheno- mena seemed only expliealtle on the supposition that the whole IV I'KEFATulJY NdTK. uf this c-ouutiT was covered with ice and siiuw, like large tracts of Greenland at the present day ; and that, hy tlie constant downward and seaward movement of this icy covering, the rocks were gioimd down, and the lioulder-clay was produced. Towards the close of 1861, being now fully satisfied of the untenableness of the currently-received hypotliesis, I set myself to collect and read over all tlie papers which bore upon this branch of Scottish geology. The task proved somewhat more difficult than seemed at first likely ; for though I was already familiar with a considerable number of papers on this subject, I did not imagine that there existed such a goodly array as that given in the subjoined Appendix, which is even itself confess- edly imperfect. One result of this course of reading was to convince me that a more useful service could hardly be ren- dered to the cause of geology in Scotland than l)y collecting together the facts scattered through scores of papers, memoirs, and notices in various scientific pulilications, and gTouping them in such a way as to convey as clear an impression as might be of the character of the phenomena from which the history of the Glacial Period is to lie compiled. This object is partly attempted in the following pages. AVhere the facts had often been described, and lay open to the daily inspection of every one, as, for instance, in the case of the aspect of the rock-dressings, and the structure of the l>oulder-clay, I ha^"e, for the most part, written from my own o1)servation, a\ ithout the affectation of quoting previous writers. But in all other circumstances, in justice both to other observeis and to myself, I have made it my duty to add lull references to authorities. In addition, however, to a collation of the work of others, 1 have included the I'csults of my own lalumrs in this department of geology during the last six or seven years, more especially in the elucidation of the history of the boulder-clay ; and unless where references to authors are given, the facts and arguments are stated as the results of my own obsen'ations. Sjiortlv after the commenrenienl of lliis Menioii', \ i/., ni I'lJEFAToKV N(_)'J'K. V -laiiuaiy 18G2, in a course of lectures at the Museum, Jcriiiyii Street, Loudon, I explained at some length the reasons which induced me to reject the theory of icebergs as explanatory of the Drift, and to substitute for it the theory of land-ice. In February following, Professor Eamsay and myself had the satis faction to hear these views ably confirmed by the independent observations of Mr. T. F. Jamieson, in a paper read before the (.ireological Society. Sir Charles Lyell has adopted the same explanation ; and doubtless it will, ere long, come to be uni- A'ersally accepted in this country, as it ought to have been fully twenty years ago, when its first outlines were sketched by Agassiz. Strengthened by the independent testimony of these geolo gists, I carried on the preparation of this Memoir in the inter- vals of other duties during the summer and autumn of last year (1862), and read it in abstract to the Geological Society of Glasgow on the 20tli of November. Its passage through the press has been unhappily retarded in a way which I could neither anticipate nor prevent. It is now offered to geological students in Scotland, in the hope that it may prove of service in making them acquainted with the present state of the sub ject, and pointing out to them into what paths they may most usefully direct tlieir steps. I have added a map on which are marked a few of the leading features of the Glacial phenomena of Scotland. It makes no pretension to be more than merely a first outline. The beginning of the Appendix contains an expression of acknowledgment to several friends from whom, in studying the fossils of the Drift, I have received much valuable assist ance. I cannot close this note without again expressing my obligations to my old friend, the Eev. A. Macbride of Ardmory, Bute, who not only placed his collection at my disposal, Ijut by accompanying me to many localities where he had himself studied the structure and contents of the Glacial clays of the Clyde, gave me an .acijuaintance with those beds greatly more VI I'KEFAToKV NciTE. extensive than it could otherwise have l)een. His kindness has made my rambles in that district among the most delightful I ever enjoyed. To the Rev. H. W. Crosskey of Glasgow, also, I must again make my best acknowledgments. The trouble he has taken in assisting me in the catalogue of the mollusca of the Clyde beds, no one who does not know the terrors of zoohj- gical sjTionymy can in any measure appreciate. Dr. Scouler, too, has been ever ready with his valuable information and advice. Ut Ajjrll 1863. CONTENTS. Introduction, ..... Subdivisions of the Drift, [. The Old or General (tLaciation of the Country. I. Rounded and striated rocks, . Roches moufonnees or dressed rocks. Universality of striatioii. Direction of striation, Conformity of the .striatinns to the form of surface on whicl tliey occur, .... " Crag and Tail," .... Contorted and broken rocks under the Drift, •2. Boulder-clay or Till. .... Its composition, .... Its local character, .... Striation of its boulders. Its unstratified character, Its thickness and position on the ground. Direction of its transjjort. Insertion of Boulder-clay among older strata. Ancient river-courses underneath the Till, . Stratified beds at the bottom of the Boulder-clay, Stratified beds in the Boulder-clay, Striated pavements of the Boulder-clay, Fossils of the Boulder-clay, 3. Theory of the origin of tlie rock .striations, and of tli Boulder-clay, .... Inadmissibility of great debacles, Untenableness of the Iceberg hypothesis. Conditions of the jjroblem, . Land-ice, ..... Present asjiect of Greenland similar to that of Scotland during eai-Her part of Drift Period, Ancient land-ice of Scotland, Origin of lakes, .... Boulder-clay vicM'ed as the production of land-ice. Stratified beds in the Till mark periods of lessened severity of climate, ..... Scotland ]irol,ably subsiding during formation of Till II. Re-elevation of the Countky—Origin of the .Stratifikd D KM) Difficulty of arranging the Stratified Drift chronologically, ](»•_' Its relations with the Boulder-clay, 104 Mainly derived from the waste of the Boulder-claj', 10.-) Its sporadic character, ..... IOC) 1. Stratified Drift of the Interior, 107 Its composition, ..... Kill Kames, ...... Brick-clays, .... 117 Contorted bedding, ..... ll.S Erratic blocks, ..... 1-20 Origin of the Sandy and Gravelly Drift, 12o '1. Stratified Drift of the Maritime Districts, l-JS Shelly clays of the Clyde and West Coast, 1-28 Shelly clays of Aberdeenshire and the East Coast, . i;{7 Probable extension of these strata under both the Atlantic and German Oceans, .... 14-2 3. Inferences dediicible from the Stratified Drift, III. Local Glaciers—Final Disappearance of the Ice, Diminution of the great ice-sheet into local Glaciers aftu the re-elevation of the country, (irouping of glaciers in Scotland, Roches moutonnees and Jdocs perchf-y, as illustrated by th CuchuUin hills, ....