The Water Supply of Lincolnshire from Underground Sources: with Records of Sinkings and Borings
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6^0 MEMOIRS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. ENGLAND AND WALES THE WATER SUPPLY OF LINCOLNSHIRE FROM UNDERGROUND SOURCES: WITH RECORDS OF SINKINGS AND BORINGS. EDITED BY HORACE B. WOODWARD, RR.S., WITH CONTRIBUTIONS BY WILLIAM WHITAKER, B.A., F.RS, il FRANKLIN PARSONS, M.D, F.G.S., HUGH ROBERT MILL, D. Sc, LL.D., AND HENRY PRESTON, F.G.S. PUBL13HBD BY ORI>ER OF THli LORDS COMMISSIONERS OP HIS MAJESTI'S TRHASUEr^ LONDON : PRINTED FOR HIS MAJESTY'S STATIONERY OFFICE, BY WYxMAN AND SONS, LIMITED, FETTER LANE, E.G. And to be purchased from E. STANFORD, 12, 13, and 14, LONG Acre, London ; JOHN MENZIES and CO., Rose Street, Edinburgh ; HODGES, FIGGIS, and CO., 104, Grafton Street, Dublin; of or From any Agent for the sale Ordnance Survey Maps ; througli any Bookseller from the Ordnance Survey Office, Southampton. 1904. Frice \s. 6d "^ \3T ro 1^ L 5 W A t!^ LTtC^ Ill PREFACE. This is the third of the County Memoirs dealing especially with Water Supply, but it must not be forgotten that Mr. Whitaker, who has been a pioneer in the matter of recording details of well sinkings and borings, prepared for us a volume of the well sections near London. Although this work is intended to act as a geological guide for the water-bearing strata of Lincolnshire, it has been deemed advisable to include records of all borings made in the county for whatever purpose, as they are all helpful with regard to the local thicknesses and characters of the strata. In gathering together the records, those issued in the several Memoirs illustrating the Geological Survey Sheets have formed a substantial nucleus for of them we were indebted to ; many Mr. Whitaker, while others were collected during the survey of the county by Messrs Reid, Strahan, Ussher, a.nd Jukes-Browne. When the present work was planned, Mr. Henry Preston, who had been consulted, generously placed his MSS. containing many records of wells and borings at our disposal, while Dr. H. F. Parsons, whose personal acquaintance with the northern part of the county led him to take particular interest in the volume, has us given much information, and, through his kind offices, the Local Government Board have supphed us with particulars of numerous analyses of waters. We are indebted to Dr. Alfred Ashby, Mr. James Baynes and Mr. Otto Hehner for permission to publish analyses made by them. Mr. J. Stuart Bogg has sent us particulars of a recent boring at Benniworth, together with copies of analyses of Kimeridge Clay. We are likewise indebted to various engineers, well- sinkers, and others, whose names are mentioned in the text, for records of borings, given generally in return for information supplied at the Geological Survey Office. The records thus received have been annotated by Mr. H. B. Woodward, who has arranged all the other materials, and has written the intro- ductory notes. The records are published as they have been received, but care every has been taken to define the geological horizons as indicated by the terms used by well-sinkers. It should, how- ever, be remembered that these terms are sometimes inaccurate, " " ^s, for instance, when gravel is used for broken rock, and "sandstone" for oolite. (Seep. 58.) 7696. 500.—Wt. 20571. 12/04. Wy. &- S. 2085r. a 2 313029 IV In order to illustrate the subject as fully as possible, Dr. H. R. Mill, whose services we were fortunately able to secure, has con- tributed a report on the rainfall. Details of the levels of water in wells at different seasons, would have been of much interest and value, but observations on these matters do not come within the province of the Geological Survey, and it has not been possible to collect the information. J. J. H. TEALL, Director. Geological Survey Office, 28, Jermyn Street, London. 23rd November, 1904. CONTENTS PAGE Pbbpace by the Directob iii Introduction : Outline of the Geology as far as relates to Water Supply 1 The Rainfall of Lincolnshire 21 Well Sinkings and Borings in Lincolnshire - - - - - 29 Analyses of Waters - - 194 Analyses of Kimeridge Clay - - 217 : 1. Bibliography Geological Survey Publications on Lincolnshire ; 2. Reports of Medical Inspectors of Privy Council and Local Government Board on Lincolnshire^ 3. Other books and Papers on Wells and Borings in Lincolnshire 210 Index 223 ?696. VI ILLUSTRATIONS. Page. Plate. Rainfall Map of Lincolnshire at end of vol. - Fig. 1. Diagram -section of the Oohte plain south of Lincoln - 8 2. the of in the Alluvial of ,, Map showing positions Borings deposits the Rivers Witham and Till, near Lincoln - - - - 127 „ 3. Section across the Alluvium of the River Witham, half a mile east of the G.N.R. Station, Lincoln. 127 THE WATER SUPPLY OF LINCOLNSHIRE FROM UNDERGROUND SOURCES. Outline of the Geology as fae as relates to Water- SUPPLY. INTRODUCTION. The geological formations known to occur in Lincolnshire range from the Carboniferous to the Chalk, and include also Pleistocene and Recent deposits. The formations which occupy the surface are naturally divided into three great groups : — (1) The Triassic, Liassic and Oolitic series, which extend through the western half of the county, overlie one another in regular sequence, with a gentle easterly inclination, and thus outcrop in successive belts from west to east, with a northerly and southerly strike. (2) The Cretaceous rocks, which in the north-eastern portion of the county stretch obliquely across the outcrops of the higher Oolitic strata, with an inclination to the north-east and a general strike to north-west and south-east. They comprise a lower sandy and division and an division of which the clayey ; upper Chalk, forms Wolds and overlaps the sandy and clayey beds in the northern part of the county. (3) The Glacial Drifts and other superficial deposits, which occur as great sheets and outlying patches, resting irregularly on any of the older formations in various parts of the county, and entirely concealing them in the south-eastern part. Strata older than any of those just mentioned have been proved in certain deep borings. These include tli^. Carboniferous and Permian, but as they cannot be regarded as sources of water supply, a brief reference to the rocks will be sufficient. On the whole the structure of the country as represented by the Triassic and newer strata is fairly simple, and the general easterly and north-easterly dips are subject to but little modification. A gentle anticline is, indicated by the inliers of Cornbrash and Great Oolite between Sleaford and a more Bourn, Folkingham and ; important flexure occurs between Alford and Claxby, where the Lower Cretaceous strata have been proved from well-borings to rise in 7696. A 2 Geology of Lincolnshire. an anticline and to directly underlie the Drifts. To the east of Alford and Willoughby the Chalk is again present beneath the superficial deposits, and it extends below ground to the coast a little south of Skegness. In the Geological Survey Map a probable line of fault was originally marked between Claxby and Skegness. A fault, with a considerable downthrow to the north had been proved at Claxby, but its prolongation to the south-east in order to account for the Chalk below Skegness need not now be assumed in view of the anticlinal structure.* Other faults have been met with here and there in various parts of the county, and these are indicated on the Geological Survey map. None appear to be of any great magnitude, but they may be of sufl^cient importance to influence local supplies of water. It is probable that the whole of the Fenland south of Bardney and Wainfleet is directly underlain by the Oxford, Corallian and Kime- ridge Clays. Beneath this group of clays, or the lower part of them, the Great Oolite series and the Lincolnshire Limestone have been proved in certain places, as at Woodhall Spa and further south. The Great Oolite series, judging from the record supplied by Mr. H. Preston of the well at Crowland, shows considerable modification, the Great Oolite Limestone being absent as limestone, though probably represented by clayey strata. The Lincolnshire Lime- stone also undergoes attenuation beneath the Fenland. The principal water-bearing strata, if we exclude the superficial deposits, are the Triassic Sandstones, the Lincolnshire Limestone, the Great Oolite Limestone, the Spilsby Sandstone, and the Chalk. Shallow wells in any of these formations may be liable to pollution, but in the deeper wells, the supply when obtained from beneath an impervious covering, has had to travel for some distance under- ground, and is usually of excellent quality. In some cases, however, the deeper wells and also the shallow wells, are impregnated with mineral matter to an extent that renders the water useless for drink- ing purposes. This more usually hapj^ens when the water is derived from strata at a considerable distance from their outcrop. The—following are the geological formations represented in Lincoln- shire : Sand. KECENT-p (Blown ^ Alluvium—Fen Bed?. Valley Gravel and Loam. Pleistocene Bouldcr-clay \ qi^^^j^i j^^.^^^ Glacial Sand and Gravelj Upper Chalk (with flitits). Upper Middle Chalk (with flints). Cretaceous Lower Chalk Red Chalk. —Selbornian * Jukca-Browno, Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc, vol. xlix., pp. 474, etc. Table of Formations. Carstone. Tealby Limestone and Roach (ironstone, &c.). xjOWER Cretaceous Tealby Clay. Claxby Ironstone. ^Spilsby Sandstone. ''Kimeridge Clay. Corallian Clay. Oxford Clay. Kellaways Beds (sandstone, sand, and clay). Combrash (limestone). Great Oolite Great Clay ^ Great Oolite Limestone J-Oolite] Jurassic , Upper Estuarine Series (clays and sand) I Series. \ Lincolnshire Limestone \ Inferior Lower Estuarine Series (clays and sand) lOohte Northampton Sand (Dogger) ISeries Lias (clay).