III.—Modern Denudation in North Wales

Extract

The subject of denudation is so important that I propose giving a few instances of denudation and of the transport of material that have actually come under my own observation or that of my friends. Where one sees the same familiar crags and pinnacles year after year, apparently quite unchanged, one may perchance fancy that denudation is at a standstill; but anyone who, in scrambling across the screes that clothe many a steep hillside, finds them moving beneath his feet, or perhaps has clattering about his ears a shower of stones dislodged by some wandering sheep, will at once perceive that it is not so: for it is obvious that if the mere tread of such a small beast as a sheep, shepherd or other pedestrian, can set scree rolling downhill, it must be in a very unstable state, and may be expected to move in a conspicuous manner under more potent forces than the tread of animals. Observation shows that this is the case. Not a year passes without some conspicuous fall of scree or of solid rock, owing chiefly to great downpours of rain. Leaving general statements, I will now give actual instances of the fall of rock or movement of scree that have recently taken place in the Snowdon district.