I'm off up to the north-east tomorrow, and have a whole day on Saturday to lazilly make my way back to Wales. Thought that Swinner Gill might be interesting for a look. I've done Gunnerside before, so am looking for just a nice meander around Swinner Gill. Firstly, I presume it's best done from Keld rather than ?Mucker? Any interesting stuff I need to look out for?

Cheers,

Robin

It's a nicer walk over from Keld as you go past Crackpot Mine. There are a few levels there, Crackpot is the longest one though I think.
There are a few interesting things to look for - Parkes Level is very enticing but I have not been in - too wet.
And you can go into Swinnergill Mine which is surprisingly extensive.
And you can't miss the smelt mill either.

And for the geographer - the terminal moraine at the bottom of Swinnergill is amazing. Although I suspect most people don't even realise what it is.

Chris.

Cheers Chris,

Will keep an eye out for those.

Robin

ChrisJC said:

And for the geographer - the terminal moraine at the bottom of Swinnergill is amazing. Although I suspect most people don't even realise what it

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Wouldn't that be a recessional moraine?  Or maybe even a lateral morraine formed by the main valley across the bottom of a subsidary valley.

I haven't seen it and I'm not a geographer so I'm just asking.

zzzzzzed said:

I haven't seen it and I'm not a geographer so I'm just asking.

Click to expand...

Me neither!, but to me it looks like material that has been pushed down Swinnergill at the head of a small glacier, which just made it to the main valley before receding back up the valley. So it marks the bottom limit of that glacier.

But I could be completely wrong about that.

I am fairly sure Robin will know exactly what it is though and report back.

Chris.

ChrisJC said:

I am fairly sure Robin will know exactly what it is though and report back.

Click to expand...

Pressure on then.

I did O level geography 40 years ago so I?m no expert but have always been interested in this stuff.

My understanding is that glaciation reached the south of England so terminal moraines would be found down there.  As the glaciers retreated they paused at various places forming recessional moraines.  Although, having looked at Swinner Gill on a map, it appears to be V shaped so probably not formed by a glacier.

I was just googling it to see if I could find out any more and discovered this... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kisdon

Kisdon, the hill opposite the mouth of Swinner Gill has deep valleys running either side of it.  The original route of the River Swale was to the west  but that was blocked by a recessional moraine forming a large lake upstream.  This cut through the hill to the north of Muker forming a deep V shaped canyon and changing the course of the river.  So the section from Muker, past the mouth of Swinner Gill to Kisdon Force is all water formed.

I wonder if the moraine you mention was formed by the river washing debris up into Swinner Gill as it went around the bend in the valley.

As you can probably tell, I?ve got a bit too much time on my hands today 

I knew about the diversion around Kisdon Hill - and the gorge at Keld being a recent feature.

I would certainly be interested to hear an expert opinion on the moraine for sure!

Chris.

MG11_4_1989_275_Rose&Mitchell-Excursion_Quaternary of upper Swaledale & adjoining areas.pdf reckons it's a terrace...

Well, what a pleasant walk that was. Lots of interesting geological features. The gorge below Keld was very impressive, going through a scar of what I assumed must have been the Great Limestone, but looking at the BGS map, appears to the the Alston Formation?

With regard to the moraine, it appears to consist mainly of dark clays - I guess from rotten shale, so that surely must have come down the gill rather than from the Swale. I wonder if the gill started off as a glacial overspill feature from some glacial basin that existed above it? It's quite V-ish.

Yes, I agree that the valley containing Swinner Gill doesn't appear to have been modified much by glaciation.

Did you spot the very karst like features by the bridge at the mine? I can't quite remember what they are though, maybe very small caves or something?

Chris.