THE GLACIATION OF WHARFEDALE, YORKSHIRE

Abstract

Topography and Structure of the Valley. The area to be discussed in this paper is the valley and drainage area of the River Wharfe, from its source in the Oughtershaw Moss near Ribblehead, to the neighbourhood of Wetherby, a distance of approximately fifty miles; with its tributaries, the River Skirfare flowing from Penyghent and joining the Wharfe between Kettlewell and Kilnsey, and the Washburn, which drains the moors between the Wharfe and the Nidd, south-east of Greenhow Hill. These two are the only considerable tributaries of the Wharfe. From its source to Appletreewick, a little over twenty miles, the valley is cut entirely in rocks of the Yoredale Series of the Carboniferous, the rock types of the valley being restricted to limestones, shales, and thin sandstones plus the coarser sandstone of the Millstone Grit which caps the fells on both sides of the Dale. Near Appletreewick the Millstone Grit occurs at a much lower level, due to the influence of the Craven Faults which cross the Dale about Linton. The river for about three miles runs through a gorge-like cut in the Millstone Grit between Earls Seat on the east and Barden Moor on the west of the valley. Near Bolton Abbey the continuation of the Skipton anticlinal axis brings up the Yoredale Series of limestones and shales, and for about a mile the river again cuts through these rocks. On the west of the river the Yoredales in this anticline form the subsidiary valleys by Embsay and Draughton which ...