Baseline Report Series: 20. The Permo-Triassic Sandstone Aquifer of Shropshire Groundwater Systems and Water Quality Commissioned Report CR/05/061N Environment Agency Science Group Technical Report NC/99/74/20 The Natural Quality of Groundwater in England and Wales A joint programme of research by the British Geological Survey and the Environment Agency BRITISH GEOLOGICAL SURVEY Commissioned Report CR/05/061N ENVIRONMENT AGENCY Science Group: Air, Land & Water Technical Report NC/99/74/20 This report is the result of a study jointly funded by the British Geological Baseline Report Series: Survey’s National Groundwater Survey and the Environment Agency’s Science 20. The Permo-Triassic Sandstone Group. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or Aquifer of Shropshire by any means, or stored in a retrieval system of any nature, without the prior permission of the copyright proprietors. All rights are reserved by the copyright P L Smedley, I Neumann and S Brown* proprietors. Disclaimer Contributors The officers, servants or agents of both R Hargreaves (GIS), C J Milne (databasing) the British Geological Survey and the Environment Agency accept no liability whatsoever for loss or damage arising from the interpretation or use of the information, or reliance on the views contained herein. *Environment Agency Environment Agency Dissemination status Internal: Release to Regions External: Public Domain ISBN: 978-1-84432-645-7 Product code: SCHO0207BLYR-E-P ©Environment Agency, 2005 Statement of use This document forms one of a series of reports describing the baseline chemistry of selected reference aquifers in England and Wales. Cover illustration Outcrop of the Kidderminster Sandstone at Grindleforge [SJ 753 034] Environment Agency Project Manager: (©NERC 2005). Dr Rob Ward / Jonathan Smith / Dr Sean Burke Key words Science Group: Air, Land & Water Baseline, Permo-Triassic Sandstone, groundwater quality, hydrogeochemistry, British Geological Survey Project Manager: UK aquifer. Bibliographic Reference Dr Paul Shand Smedley, P.L., Neumann I. and Brown, Groundwater Systems & Water Quality Programme S. 2005 Baseline Report Series 20: The Permo-Triassic Sandstone Aquifer of Shropshire. British Geological Survey Commissioned Environment Agency Science Group, Solihull 2005 Report No. CR/05/061N British Geological Survey, Keyworth, Nottingham 2005 ©Environment Agency 2005 ©NERC 2005 BRITISH GEOLOGICAL SURVEY ENVIRONMENT AGENCY The full range of Survey publications is available from BGS The Environment Agency is the leading public body protecting Sales Desk at the Survey headquarters, Keyworth, Nottingham. and improving the environment in England and Wales. 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Kingfisher House, Goldhay Way, Orton Goldhay, Peterborough PE2 5ZR Keyworth, Nottingham NG12 5GG Tel 01733 371811 Fax 01733 231840 0115 936 3100 Telex 378173 BGSKEY G Fax 0115 936 3200 Midlands e-mail: [email protected] www.bgs.ac.uk Sapphire East, 550 Streetsbrook Road, Solihull, West Midlands B91 1QT Murchison House, West Mains Road, Edinburgh, EH9 3LA Tel 0121 711 2324 Fax 0121 711 5824 0131 667 1000 Telex 727343 SEISED G Fax 0131 668 2683 North East Rivers House, 21 Park Square South, Leeds LS1 2QG London Information Office at the Natural History Museum, Tel 0113 244 0191 Fax 0113 246 1889 Earth Galleries, Exhibition Road, South Kensington, London, SW7 2DE North West 0207 589 4090 Fax 0207 584 8270 Richard Fairclough House, Knutsford Road, Warrington WA4 1HG 0207 938 9056/57 Tel 01925 653999 Fax 01925 415961 St Just, 30 Pennsylvania Road, Exeter EX4 6BX South West 01392 278312 Fax 01392 437505 Manley House, Kestrel Way, Exeter EX2 7LQ Tel 01392 444000 Fax 01392 444238 Geological Survey of Northern Ireland, 20 College Gardens, Belfast BT9 6BS Southern 01232 666595 Fax 01232 662835 Guildbourne House, Chatsworth Rd, Worthing, Sussex BN11 1LD Tel 01903 832000 Fax 01903 821832 Maclean Building, Crowmarsh Gifford, Wallingford, Oxfordshire OX10 8BB Thames 01491 838800 Fax 01491 692345 Kings Meadow House, Kings Meadow Road, Reading RG1 8DQ email: [email protected] Tel 0118 953 5000 Fax 0118 950 0388 Parent Body Environment Agency Wales Natural Environment Research Council 29 Newport Road, Cardiff CF24 0TP Polaris House, North Star Avenue, Swindon, Wiltshire Tel 01222 770088 Fax 01222 798555 SN2 1EU 01793 411500 Telex 444293 ENVRE G Fax 01793 411501 Contents FOREWORD v BACKGROUND TO THE BASELINE PROJECT vii 1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1 2. PERSPECTIVE 3 2.1 Study area 3 2.2 Current issues in groundwater quality 5 3. BACKGROUND TO UNDERSTANDING BASELINE QUALITY 8 3.1 Introduction 8 3.2 Geology 8 3.3 Hydrogeology 14 3.4 Mineralogy and mineral chemistry 19 3.5 Rainfall chemistry 21 3.6 Land use 22 4. DATA AND INTERPRETATION 23 4.1 Data sources 23 4.2 Data quality and handling 23 5. HYDROCHEMICAL CHARACTERISTICS 25 5.1 Introduction 25 5.2 Major constituents 27 5.3 Trace elements 29 5.4 Organic compounds 30 6. GEOCHEMICAL CONTROLS AND REGIONAL CHARACTERISTICS 32 6.1 Introduction 32 6.2 Geochemical controls 32 6.3 Regional trends 44 6.4 Groundwater dating 45 6.5 Temporal variations 46 6.6 Depth variations 48 7. BASELINE CHEMISTRY OF THE AQUIFER 50 8. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 51 9. REFERENCES 52 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 55 i List of Figures Figure 2.1. Map of the study area in Shropshire showing the location of the Permo-Triassic Sandstone aquifer outcrop.............................................................................................3 Figure 2.2. Rolling hills of the Shropshire Permo-Triassic Sandstone looking east towards the Coalbrookdale power station [SJ 655 038] (photograph: I. Neumann).........................4 Figure 2.3. The River Severn at Shrewsbury [SJ 496 122] (photograph: S. Brown). ....................4 Figure 2.4. View of a large meander in the River Severn near Leighton with rolling hills formed by the Permo-Triassic Sandstone [SJ 620 045] (photograph: I. Neumann)..................5 Figure 3.1 Geological map of Shropshire showing the area of outcrop of the Permo-Triassic Sandstone. .....................................................................................................................9 Figure 3.2 Geological cross-section of the Permo-Triassic Sandstone extending along the course of the River Tern (see Figure 2.1) (from Bridge et al., 2002). ....................................10 Figure 3.3. View of quarry face in the Permo-Triassic Sandstone near Grindleforge [SJ 753 035] (photograph: I. Neumann)...........................................................................................10 Figure 3.4. Outcrop of the Sherwood Sandstone showing the typical red-bed lithology with cross- bedding and local yellow mottling [SJ 753 035] (photograph: I. Neumann)..............11 Figure 3.5. Map of the distribution of Drift deposits in the study area. ........................................12 Figure 3.6. Outcrop showing detail of dune-bedded Bridgnorth Sandstone cross-bedded with fluvial Kidderminster Conglomerate [SO 733 959] (photograph: S. Brown).............13 Figure 3.7. Detail of cross-bedding in the Sherwood Sandstone showing variation in iron-oxide concentration and possibly redox condition (red/yellow coloration) from a stone wall, Beckbury Church [SJ 764 016] (photograph: I. Neumann). .......................................13 Figure 3.8. Simplified map of land use in the study area showing location of landfill sites. Land- use data are from Land Cover Map 1990, supplied courtesy of the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, ©NERC................................................................................................22