kisdon

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             A party of sixteen people from the Craven & Pendle, Northeastern, and O.U. Geologocal Societies assembled at the newly furbished Keld Resource and Heritage Centre in Keld, Swaledale. John Barber, Univ. of Leeds was the leader.
         The main purposes of the trip were to examine the evidence for the evolution of the isolated hill of Kisdon as well as looking at geomorphological features resulting from post-glacial readjustment of the landscape.
          A north - south valley is on the west side of Kisdon occupied by Skeb Skeugh Beck - a misfit stream, i.e. stream far too small to have eroded the valley which it occupies. In his paper J. Rose argues that the original course of the R. Swale was down Skeb Skeugh which then joined its present day course via the present day Muker Beck (also mapped as Straw Beck).

           From general valley patterns of the area it appears that the north-south valleys of East Gill and West Stonedale were originally tributaries of the pre-Devensian River Swale which then flowed down Skeb Skeugh then along Muker (Straw) Beck eventually to join its present course.
           Two main factors caused the Swale to change its course, viz. Structural weakness; a fault line runs from near Wain Wath Force to Hartlakes, and glaciation. During past ice ages, large glacial troughs were developed in Birkdale as well as on the east side of Kisdon where striations in the latter run parallel with the trough. Continuous glacial and glacifluvial erosion running from Birkdale to the east side of Kisdon in conjunction with the aforementioned structural weakness would eventually produce a route between Keld and Hartlakes that was low enough for the Swale to be diverted from Skeb Skeugh to its present day course.

The party did a circular tour around Kisdon starting from Keld through to Birk Hill (NY898007) then continuing along the high path running roughly parallel to the R. Swale then a westward route towards Thwaite ending with a traverse northwards along Skeb Skeugh back to Keld. Below are illustrations of some of the geomorphological features resulting from post-glacial readjustment of the landscape.

The above diagrams are from:
Rose, J. (1980): Landform development around Kisdon, Upper Swaledale, Yorkshire. Proc. Yorks. Geolsoc. Vol. 43, p. 205

Piedmont fan at mouth of Swinner Gill subsequently cut through.

River terrace in R. Swale near Hartlakes.

Meander scrolls on a floodplain near Hartlakes

Rotational (?) landslip, Hooker Mill Scar

Looking northerly at Skeb Skeugh abandoned valley. Kisdon to the right.

Looking southerly at Skeb Skeugh abandoned valley. Kisdon to the left.

Further reading: Rose, J. (1980): Landform development around Kisdon, Upper Swaledale, Yorkshire. Proc. Yorks. Geolsoc. Vol. 43, pp. 201-219

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A party of sixteen people from the Craven & Pendle, Northeastern, and O.U. Geologocal Societies assembled at the newly furbished Keld Resource and Heritage Centre in Keld, Swaledale. John Barber, Univ. of Leeds was the leader. The main purposes of the trip were to examine the evidence for the evolution of the isolated hill of Kisdon as well as looking at geomorphological features resulting from post-glacial readjustment of the landscape. A north - south valley is on the west side of Kisdon occupied by Skeb Skeugh Beck - a misfit stream, i.e. stream far too small to have eroded the valley which it occupies. In his paper J. Rose argues that the original course of the R. Swale was down Skeb Skeugh which then joined its present day course via the present day Muker Beck (also mapped as Straw Beck).
From general valley patterns of the area it appears that the north-south valleys of East Gill and West Stonedale were originally tributaries of the pre-Devensian River Swale which then flowed down Skeb Skeugh then along Muker (Straw) Beck eventually to join its present course. Two main factors caused the Swale to change its course, viz. Structural weakness; a fault line runs from near Wain Wath Force to Hartlakes, and glaciation. During past ice ages, large glacial troughs were developed in Birkdale as well as on the east side of Kisdon where striations in the latter run parallel with the trough. Continuous glacial and glacifluvial erosion running from Birkdale to the east side of Kisdon in conjunction with the aforementioned structural weakness would eventually produce a route between Keld and Hartlakes that was low enough for the Swale to be diverted from Skeb Skeugh to its present day course.
The party did a circular tour around Kisdon starting from Keld through to Birk Hill (NY898007) then continuing along the high path running roughly parallel to the R. Swale then a westward route towards Thwaite ending with a traverse northwards along Skeb Skeugh back to Keld. Below are illustrations of some of the geomorphological features resulting from post-glacial readjustment of the landscape.	The above diagrams are from: Rose, J. (1980): Landform development around Kisdon, Upper Swaledale, Yorkshire. Proc. Yorks. Geolsoc. Vol. 43, p. 205

Piedmont fan at mouth of Swinner Gill subsequently cut through.	River terrace in R. Swale near Hartlakes.

Meander scrolls on a floodplain near Hartlakes	Rotational (?) landslip, Hooker Mill Scar

Looking northerly at Skeb Skeugh abandoned valley. Kisdon to the right.	Looking southerly at Skeb Skeugh abandoned valley. Kisdon to the left.
Further reading: Rose, J. (1980): Landform development around Kisdon, Upper Swaledale, Yorkshire. Proc. Yorks. Geolsoc. Vol. 43, pp. 201-219