The Valley of the Douglas Water, Strathclyde Description of 1 :25 000 Resource Sheet NS83 and Parts of NS82, 92 and 93
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i INSTITUTE OF GEOLOGICAL SCIENCES MineralAssessment Report 63 I NaturalEnvironment Research Council I The sand and gravel resources of the valley of the Douglas Water, Strathclyde Description of 1 :25 000 resource sheet NS83 and parts of NS82, 92 and 93 A. J. Shaw and E. F. P. Nickless Contributors I. B. Cameron and M. D. lssaias 0 Crown copyright 1981 ISBN 0 11 884150 5* London Her Majesty’s Stationery Office 1981 PREFACE The first twelve reports on the assessmentof British National resources of many industrial minerals may sand and gravel resources appeared in the Report seem so large that stock-taking appears unnecessary, series of the Institute of Geological Sciences as a but the demand for minerals and for land forall subseries. Report 13 and subsequent reports appear purposes is intensifying and it has become as Mineral Assessment Reports of the Institute. increasingly clear in recent years that regional assessments of the resources of these minerals should Details of published reports appear at the end of this be undertaken. The publication of information about Report. the quantity and qualityof deposits over large areas is Any enquiries concerning this report may be intended to provide a comprehensive factual addressed to Officer-in-Charge, Industrial Minerals background against which planning decisions can be Assessment Unit, Institute of Geological Sciences, made. Murchison House, West Mains Road, Edinburgh Sand and gravel, considered together as naturally EH9 3LA. occurring aggregate, was selected as thebulk mineral demanding most urgent attention, initially in the The asterisk on the cover indicates that partsof south-east of England, where about half the national sheets adjacent to the one cited are described in this output is won and very few sources of alternative report. aggregates are available. In 1968, following a short feasibility study initiated in 1966 by the Ministry of Land and National Resources the Industrial Minerals Assessment Unit (formerly the Mineral Assessment Unit) began systematic surveys which have been extended progressively through central and northern England. Work in Scotland, which began in 1975 in the Darvel area of Strathclyde Region, is being financed by the Department of the Environment, acting through the Scottish Development Department and is being undertaken with the co-operation of the Sand and Gravel Associationof Great Britain. This report describes the resourcesof sand and gravel of 143 km2 of country in and around the valley of the Douglas Water, Strathclyde Region, shown on the accompanying resource map. The survey, conducted by A. J. Shaw, assisted in the drilling and sampling programme by M. D. Issaias, was controlled from the sub-unit in Edinburgh and supervised by E. F. P. Nickless (Officer-in-Charge). The work is based on the one-inchgeological surveys of Sheets 15 and 23, published respectively in 1870 and 1872 and the revision surveys published in 1937 and 1927 respectively. The geological lines, now presented at the 1:25 0oO scale, include a re-appraisal of the drift geology by I. B. Cameron based on field surveys during 1976. The section of the report on thegeology of the area was prepared by I. B. Cameron. J. D. Burnell, ISO, FRICS, (Land Agent) has been responsible for negotiating access to land for drilling. The ready co-operation of land owners and tenants and the assistance of officials of Lanark District is gratefully acknowledged. G. M. Brown Institute of Geological Sciences Director Exhibition Road London SW7 2DE 4 February 1980 11 CONTENTS Summary 1 MAP Introduction 1 The sand and gravel resources of sheet NS 83 and parts of NS 82, 92 and 93 pocket Description of the resource sheet 2 in General2 TABLES Topography2 1Mean grading of deposits 8 Geology2 2 Source and classification of aggregate-test Composition of the mineral deposits 7 samples 11 The map 16 3 Composition analyses of aggregate-test Results 16 samples 12 Noteson resource blocks 17 4 Results of mechanical and physical tests Appendix A: Fieldand laboratory procedures 22 (BS 812:1975) 14 Appendix B: Statisticalprocedure 23 5 Summary of statisticalassessments 16 Appendix C: Classification and description of sand 6 Block A: data from assessment boreholes - all andgravel 23 deposits 18 7 Block B: data from assessment boreholes and Appendix D: Explanation of the assessment sections - all deposits except mineral till 19 records 26 8 Classification of gravel,sand and fines 24 Appendix E: List of boreholes, sections and shallow pits used in the assessment of resources 28 Appendix F: Industrial Minerals Assessment Unit borehole, section and shallow pit records 30 Appendix G: Conversiontable - metresto feet 94 References 95 PLATES 1 Riversection, Glespin 5 2 Valley of theDouglas Water, Gateside 6 3 Esker,Sandilands 6 4 Valley of theDouglas Water, near Sandilands 7 FIGURES 1 Sketch-map showing the location of the resource sheet 3 2 Sketch-map of the solid geology 4 3 Grading characteristics of resources in the alluvium 8 4 Grading characteristics of resources in the glacial sandand gravel 9 5 Grading characteristics of resources in the fluvioglacialsand and gravel 9 6 Grading characteristics of resources in the glaciolacustrinedeposits 9 7 Grading characteristics of resources in the till 10 8 Comparison of the mean particle size of mineral deposits 15 9 Grading characteristics of resources in block A 18 10 Grading characteristics of resources in block B 21 11 Example of resource block assessment: calculationsand results 22 12 Example of resource block assessment: map of fictitiousblock 25 13 Diagram showing the descriptive categories used in the classification of sand and gravel 25 ... 111 The sand and gravel resources of the valley of the Douglas Water, Strathclyde Region Description of 1:25 000 sheet NS 83 and parts of NS 82,92 and 93 A. J. SHAW AND E. F. P. NICKLESS SUMMARY INTRODUCTION The geological maps of the Institute of Geological Thesurvey is concerned with theestimation of Sciences, pre-existing borehole information, resources,which include deposits that are not thirty-five boreholes and thirty shallow pits sunk for currently exploitable but have a forseeable use, rather the Industrial Minerals Assessment Unit, together than reserves, which can only be assessed in the light with data from eight sections, form the basis of the of current, locally prevailing,economic assessment of sand and gravel resources in and considerations.Clearly, both the economic and the around the valley of the Douglas Water, Strathclyde social factors used to decide whether a deposit may Region. be workable in the future cannot be predicted; they All deposits in the area which might be potentially are likely to change with time. Deposits not currently workable for sand and gravel have been investigated economically workable may be exploited as demand and a simple statistical method used to estimate the increases,as higher grade or alternative materials volume. The reliability of the volume estimates is become scarce, or as improved processing techniques given at the symmetrical95 per cent probability level. are applied to them. The improved knowledge of the The 1:25000 map is divided into two resource main physicalproperties of theresource and their blocks both of which are assessed statistically and variabilitywhich this surveyseeks to provide, will contain 5.1 and 9.8 km2of potentially workable sand addsignificantly to the factual background against and gravel. The geology of the deposits is described which planning policies canbe decided (Archer, 1969; and the mineral-bearing area, the mean thickness of Thurrell, 1971; Harris and others, 1974). overburden and mineral, and the mean gradingof the The survey provides information at the ‘indicated’ various types of deposit are stated. Detailed level ‘forwhich tonnage and grade are computed borehole, pit and section data are given. Thegeology partlyfrom specific measurements, samples or and the outlines of the resource blocks, the position productiondata andpartly from projection for a of boreholes and sections considered in the reasonable distance on geologic evidence. The sites assessment are shown on the accompanying available for inspection, measurement, and sampling 1:25000 scale resource map. are too widely or otherwise inappropriately spaced to permit the mineral bodies to be outlined completely orthe grade established throughout’ (Bureau of Motes Mines and Geological Survey, 1948, p. 15). National grid references are given in square brackets. It follows that the whereabouts of reserves must In this publication all lie within the 100 km square still be established and their size and quality proved NS. by the customary detailed exploration and evaluation Only the sites of IMAU boreholes, sections and undertaken by the industry. However, the informa- pits are shown on the resource sheet. The grid tionprovided by thissurvey should assist in the reference and abbreviatedlog of other boreholes used selection of the best targets for such further work. in the assessment aregiven at the endof Appendix E. The following arbitrary physical criteria have been adopted: a The deposit should average at least 1 m in thickness. b The ratio of overburden to sand and gravel should Bibliographical reference be no more than 3 :1. SHAW,A. J. and NICKLESS,E. F. P. 1981. The c The proportion of fines (particles passing the No. sand and gravel resources of the valley of the 240 mesh BS sieve, about Amm) should not Douglas Water, Strathclyde Region: description of exceed 40 per cent. 1:25 OOO sheet NS83 and parts of NS 82, 92 and d The deposit must lie within 25 m of the surface, 93. Miner. Assess. Rep. Inst. Geol. Sei., No. 63. this being taken as the likely maximum working depth under most circumstances. It follows from Authors and contributors the second criterion that boreholes are drilled no A. J. Shaw, BSc deeper than 18 m if no sand and gravel has been E. F.