... -.>..,..

TECHNICAL REPORT WA/88/33 Geology and land-use planning: Morley-Rothwell-Castleford

1:lOOOO sheets SE22NE; SE32NW, NE, SE; and SE42NW: Part of 1:50000 sheet 78 (Wakefield) J R A Giles

BRITISH GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

TECHNICAL REPORT WA/88/33 Onshore Geology Series

Geology and land-use planning: Morley-Rothwell-Castleford

1:lOOOO sheets SE22NE; SE32NW, NE, SE; and SE42NW: Part of 1:50000 sheet 78 (Wakefield)

J R A Giles

Geographical index UK, England, West Yorkshire

Subject index Land-use planning, thematic maps, Quaternary, Carboniferous, Permian, resources, mining, engineering geology

This study was commissionedby the Departmentof the Environ- ment, but theviews expressed in it are not necessarily those of the Department

Bibliographic reference Giles, J R A. 1988. Geology and land-use planning: Morley- Rothwell-Castleford. British Geological Surwy Technical Report WAl88133.

61 Crown copyright 1988 Keyworth,Nottingham British GeologicalSurvey 1988 BRITISH GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

The full range of Survey publications is available through the Keyworth, Nottingham NG12 5GG Sales Desks at Keyworth and Murchison House, Edinburgh. e Plumtree (06077) 6111 Telex 378173 BGSKEY G Selected items can be bought at theBGS London Information Fax e 060 774602 Office, and orders are accepted here for all publications. The adjacent Geological Museum bookshop stocks the more popular Murchison House, West Mains Road, Edinburgh EH9 3LA books for sale over the counter. Most BGS books and reports e 031-667 1000 Telex 727343 SEISED G are listed in HMSO’s Sectional List 45, and canbe bought from Fax e 031468 2683 HMSO and through HMSO agents and retailers. Maps are listed in the BGS Map Catalogue and the Ordnance Survey’s London Information Office at the Geological Museum. Trade Catalogue, and canbe bought from Ordnance Survey Exhibition Road, South Kensington, London SW7 2DE agents as well as from BGS. 01-589 4090 Fax e 01-584 8270 The British Geological Survey carries out the geological survey e 01-938 9056157 of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (the latteras an agency service for the government of Northern Ireland), and of the surrounding continental shelfj as well as its basic research 64 Gray’s Inn Road, London WClX 8NG projects. It also undertakes programmes of British technical aid e 01-242 Telex2621994531 BGSCLR G in geology in developing countries as arranged by the Overseas Fax e 01-242 0835 Development Administration. 19 Grange Terrace, Edinburgh EH9 2LF The British Geological Survey is a component bodyof the s 031-667 1000 Telex727343 SEISED G Natural Environment Research Council. St Just,30 Pennsylvania Road, Exeter EX4 6BX Maps and diagrams in thisbook use topography based on s Exeter (0392) 78312 Ordnance Survey mapping Bryn Eithyn Hall, Llanfarian, Aberystwyth,Dyfed SY23 4BY s Aberystwyth(0970) 611038 Fax s 0970-624822

Windsor Court, Windsor Terrace, Newcastle upon Tyne NE2 4HB e 091-2817088Fax e 091-281 9016

Geological Survey of Northern Ireland, 20 College Gardens, Belfast BT9 6BS e Belfast (0232) 666595 and 666752

Maclean Building, Crowmarsh Gifford, Wallingford, Oxfordshire OX10 8BB s Wallingford(0491) 38800 Telex 849365 HYDROL G Fax 0491-32256

Parent Body Natural Environment Research Council Polaris House, North Star Avenue, Swindon, Wiltshire SN2 1EU z Swindon(0793) 411500 Telex 444293 EM‘RE G Fax e 0793-411501 PREFACE

This account describes the geology of the district to the south-east of Leeds covered by the 1:lO 000 sheets SE 22 NE, SE 32 NW, NEand SE and SE42 NW; thearea lies withinthe Wakefield districtcovered by 1:50 000 geologicalsheet 78. Thedistrict was first surveyed at the six-inch scale by W T Aveline, A H Green, T V Holmes, J Lucas, R Russelland J C Ward, andthe mapswere published between 1873 and 1878. The district was re-surveyed by W Edwards, G H Mitchell and D A Wray between 1924 and 1935; both surveys were published on maps of the County series. The present survey was commissioned by the Department of the Environment in order to provideup-to-date geologicalmaps forthe area and to identify the implications for land-use planning, development and re-development posed by the geology of the district. Particularattention was paidto sand andgravel resources, and underground mineral workings for both coal and sandstone. Mapping was carried out between 1982 and -1986 by I CBurgess, J R A Giles,C G Godwin, A J Wadge and I TWilliamson, with I C Burgess, J I Chisholm and A J Wadge as programme managers. The ready cooperation of landowners and tenants during the re-survey and the assistance of BritishCoal Deep Mines and Opencast Executive has been essential to the project. Similarlythe help of officials of the West YorkshireMetropolitan County Council and the Leeds and Wakefield Metropolitan District Councils is gratefully acknowledged.

F G Larminie, OBE, Director, British Geological Survey Keyworth Nottingham NG12 5GG October 1988 Limitations Data used preparingin this report and the associated maps Nationaltheheldarein Thisreport has beenproduced by the collation GeoscienceData Centre of theBritish Geological andinterpretation of geological, geotechnicaland Survey at Keyworth. relateddata from a wide variety of sources.The results of this work are contained in the maps and Notes reportslisted in Table 1 , eachgiving details of All National Gridreferences in this report lie in the various sources of the data. the 100 km square SE. Grid references to specific Thereport aims to provide a general description localitiesare given to eight figures (accurate to of thegeological factors relevant toland-use within 10 m); more general locations are given to planningand development. The data on which it six figures. is based arenot comprehensive and do varyin Eachborehole or shaft registered with BGS is quality,and this is inevitablyreflected in the identifiedfour-element a by code (e.g. report.Local features and conditions maynot be SE 42 NW 15). Thefirst two elements define the represented,and many boundaries shown maybe 10 km square (of the National Grid) in which the onlyapproximate. The dates of the geological borehole is situated; the third element defines the mapping are shown in Table 1 and no information quadrant of thatsquare, and the fourth is the subsequentto these dates has beentaken into accession number of theborehole. In thetext of account.For this reason:- thereport, boreholea orshaft is normally This report provides only general indications of referredto by thelast three elements alone (e.g. ground conditions and must not be relied upon as 42NW 15) a source ofdetailed information about specific areas, or asa substitute forsite investigations or ground surveys. Users must satisfy themselves, by seeking appropriate professional advice and by carrying out ground surveys and site investigations if necessary, that ground conditions are suitable for any particular land use or development. CONTENTS Executive Summary 1 Tables Introduction 3 1. Map and reports prepared during the project 4 Land Stability and Safety 5 2. Geological informationrelevant to Mining 5 Structure Planpolicies 4 Slope Stability 10 3. Worked coals arranged in stratigraphical order PoorlyConsolidated Ground 10 with the style of working shown 6 BuriedChannels 11 4. The location of known areas of bell-pit Mineral and Water Resources 11 mining7 MineralResources 1 1 5. Coals arrangedin stratigraphical order Water Resources 18 showing the minimum and maximum thickness recorded in boreholes and shafts in the Geology 22 district 30 Coal Measures22 6. The sand and gravel resources of the PermianRocks 32 district 48 Structure 34 SuperficialDeposits 35 Figures Conclusion and Recommendations 38 1. Sketchmap showing location of district References 39 facing I Glossary 14 2. Localitymap of thedistrict 12 3. Distribution of coalmining 14 Annex 1. Main Collieries 42 4. Distribution of sandmining 16 Annex 2. Opencast Coal 43 5. Distribution of madeground 18 6. Distribution of BC Opencastexploration Annex 3. Sand and Gravel Resources 45 areas 20 7. Simplifiedmap of solid geology 22 8. Simplifiedmap of drift geology 24 9. Generalisedvertical section 26 10. Generalised diagram illustrating the relationships of the major Westphalian depositionalenvironments 27 11. Thickness of drift deposits 28 12. Distribution of sand and gravel resources 29

Plates 1. Pillar-and-stallworking in the Sharlston Muck Coal, exposed in St Johns Opencast Coal Mine 17 2. Theeffect of subsidenceon a building caused by mine induced reactivation of a fault 17 3. Pillar and stall mine in Basal Permian Sand, (courtesy of John Hodgkins) 21 4. Sharlston Group of Coals exposed in Goose HillRailway Cutting. Figure is standingin shaft of old bell-pit 21

Cover photograph St JohnsOpencast Mine viewed from the southeast I I

I I 40 50 J

KEY

Motorway/Major Trunk Road

Principal River

Urban Area

0 5 10km 1

*-w Location of main figure

Figure 1. Sketch map showing ]cation of district Geology and land use planning, Morley-Rothwell-Castleford I

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY onextant records orplans, their presence is difficultto predict and in manycases, is only Thisreport embodies the result of studya provedby detailed site investigation. Inaddition between 1982 and 1986 funded by the Department theseto shallow mines, numerous abandoned of theEnvironment. The study has providedan shafts are recorded in the district, although many up-to-date geologicalmap andaccount of the more unrecorded ones almost certainly exist. solid andsuperficial geology of thestudy area, andidentified and reported on the implications In parts of the district the Basal Permian Sand has for land-useplanning. The study derived its beenmined. This mining has usually takenthe information from two main sources:- form of aditsdriven into the deposit from outcrop.The adits opened into pillar-and-stall a) archival materiala) comprising mine mines which extended for distances of up to seven abandonment opencastminingplans, hundredmetres. During the last two centuries completionplans, quarry plans, borehole and numeroussmall mines may have exploited the shaftrecords, tip plans anddata held inthe reserves, butonly a few plans of thelater and NationalGeoscience Data Centre at BGS, moreextensive mines survive. Evidence of the Keyworth. existence of minesoutside the areas of known b) thedetailed field geological survey by BGS mining is furnished by site investigation boreholes surveyors at the scale of 1: 10 000. andarchival sources. Therate atwhich old workingscollapse is veryvariable; it mustnot be There-survey has considerably improved the assumed that allsettlement from thesemines has detail of the geologicalmapping of the solid and ceased. The mining of thisdeposit was generally superficial deposits.Several minor coal seams are at veryshallow depthand there is ahistory of delimited for the first time and a denuded terrace surface collapses associated withthe abandoned of theAire and Calder valleys, lyingabove the workings. previoushighest terrace, is recorded.The detailed Westphalian stratigraphy of the district is Thelocation and treatment of disusedshafts and described in modern nomenclature. adits,whether from coal orsand mining, clearly affectsthe safety of proposeda development. Land stability and safety Openshafts are a safety hazard and the surface nearshafta maysubside or collapse.Various Thepresence and nature of miningand the poisonous and explosive gases maybe foundin accurateassessment of theengineering properties unventilatedold workings. Finally, old shafts of geologicalmaterials andnatural slopes are provideartificial channels allowingwater to pass importantconsiderations when assessing land fromone aquifer toanother. If oneaquifer stability and safety. becomes polluted,a shaft can act asa pathfor Although the effects of subsidence from coal and spreading the pollution to other aquifers. sandmining are considered separately, there are Slope movementscan cause furtherfoundation certainparts of thedistrict where both coal and problems. escarpmentThe of Lowerthe sand mining are within 30 m of the surface. MagnesianLimestone to the east of Ledston is Thereare twoactive collieries inthe district: camberedand open joints inthe bedrock are AllertonBywater and New Sharlston, however, alignedparallel to theedge of theescarpment. therewere many more mines in the past. Much Superficial deposits can also be subject to slippage of thedistrict has beenmined atdepth, the and down-slope mass-movement. principalseams being the Beeston, Middleton Head,a poorlyconsolidated sediment which is Main,Haigh Moor, Warren House and Stanley generally too thinto map, may bepresent in Main. substantialthicknesses andcan be ahazard to In shallow coal workings, earth pressures may not foundations.It is particularlythick along parts of be sufficientto cause immediate collapse. The the base of theLower Magnesian Limestone rate at which old workings collapse depends upon escarpment,north of theRiver Aire. In places theirdepth, the type of extractionpattern, the head may consist of severalmetres of poorly geological structure and the age of the mining. In sortedsilts and clays with sand and some gravel. addition, newdevelopments buildingsor can If thetoe of suchdeposita is excavatedthe increasethe surface loading and lead to sudden sediment may remobilisedbe moveand collapse. Since manyshallow workings datefrom down-slope. the earliest days of coal mining and are not shown 2 Geologyand land use planning, Morley-Rothwell-Castle ford

Some of thedrift deposits mayvary in lithology individualbeds arecommonly restricted by andthickness markedly. For example, the river faulting. Resources of waterare present in the terrace deposits may show differential compaction LowerMagnesian Limestone which has higha underloading, and compressiblebeds may occur secondarypermeability. Sand andgravels of in buried channels. fluvialorigin in the Aire and Calder valleys are occasionallyutilised as source a of water, Madeground andfill may also constrain principally for industrial supply, although much is development. The variedchemical content and derived by induced recharge from the rivers. compaction of thesematerials can be hazardous. Backfilled quarries can also give rise to problems; Geology particularly if theyare not recognised as former quarries during site investigations. The geology is illustratedinseriesa of five 1: 10 000 scale geologicalmaps (published Mineral and water resources separately).The solidgeological maps are summarisedin Figure 7 andan accompanying Inplanning future developments, it is important generalised geological sequence is shown in Figure to knowwhere the mineral resources are, so that 9. The generalised drift geology is shownin theyare not sterilized unnecessarily by building. Figure 8. The maingeological divisions arethe It may also bepossible to extractworkable Carboniferous Coal Measures,the Permian and minerals in advance of development. the Quaternary. Much of thedistrict is underlain by coal at The CoalMeasures sequence is dominated by shallow depth;amongst the most important seams claystones,mudstones and siltstones.Thick are the Haigh Moor, Warren House,Stanley Main sandstones,coal seams andrare marine deposits andthe Sharlston Top coals whichmay provide forming‘marine bands’, are also present.The primeopencast targets where they occur close to totalthickness of the Coal Measures in this the surface. district is about 1000 m. The succession is Overmuch of thedistrict Coal Measures dividedlithostratigraphically into Lower, Middle mudstones and claystones arequarried to supply and Upper Coal Measures and biostratigraphically raw materialraw for brick-making.Certain into Westphalian A, B and C. stratigraphical levels arefavoured by thebrick ThePermian rocks unconformably overlie the companies,such theas measures below the Coal Measures inthe east of thedistrict. The Swinton Pottery Coal around Normanton, although LowerMagnesian Limestone constitutes most of other Coal Measures mudstones and claystones can thesequence with the thin Basal Permian Sands provide satisfactory raw materials for the process. andLower Marls beneath and Middle Marls Inthe west of thedistrict the lower andmore above. The totalthickness in this district is some massive sandstone beds of the Thornhill Rock are 55 m. quarried for high quality building and ornamental TheQuaternary deposits are unconsolidated stone. sedimentsdominated by sandgravel,and Inthe east of thedistrict the Lower Magnesian principally of fluvialorigin. Clays, silts and peat Limestone has been used in the past as a building also occur. stone,and is exploitedat variouslocalities elsewhere in West Yorkshire for aggregate, Conclusions and recommendations although no extraction is currently taking place in Shallow mining, mainly for coal but also for sand the present district. andother minerals, is theprincipal cause of land Sand andgravel forms a significant resource in instability.specificA study is required to the valleys of the Aire and Calder and is currently investigateextentthe of mining-induced beingexploited north of Dunford House. instability,particularly thatrelated sand to Extensiveresources of sandand gravel remain, mining.Significant resources of energy minerals althoughmuch has been sterilised by colliery andindustrial minerals remain in the district but waste tipping. there is aneed for plannedextraction to avoid inadvertent sterilisation of one resource during the Theprincipal aquifers in the Coal Measures are extraction of another. themajor sandstones such as theThornhill Rock andthe Oaks Rock.However, theyshow considerablelateral and vertical variation and Geology and land use planning, Morley-Rothwell-Castleford 3

INTRODUCTION Thedistrict lies betweenthe cities of Leedsand This report was commissionedby the Department Wakefield andthe town of Castleford(Figure 1). of theEnvironment as one of aseries of studies About half thedistrict comprises the built-up to identify and report on the implications for land areas of Castleford,Morley, Normanton, Oulton use planning,development and redevelopment of andRothwell (Figure 2). Theremainder is rural the localsolid andsuperficial geology. The incharacter, being devoted largely to arable presentstudy is thefirst of threein thisregion, farming with somelivestock rearing. The M1 and to be followed by similarreportson M62 motorways andthe canals of theAire and Castleford-Pontefracttheto east andSouth Calder Navigation, as well as several railway lines Centralnorth.Leedsthe TheBritishto thatconverge Leeds,on cross thedistrict. GeologicalSurvey is undertaking thesestudies as Widespread coalmining since the late eighteenth part of its programme to maintain its coverage of century has left its markon the landscape in the 1: 10 000 geological maps of the UK. form of extensivewaste tips, reclaimed opencast sites andnumerous shafts. Two coal mines are Thestudy involved detailed field mapping at a stillactive theindistrict, Allerton Bywater scale of1: 10 000. This was supplementedby the Colliery and New Sharlston Colliery. collection andinterpretation of geological data fromwide avariety of sources. Boreholes The West YorkshireStructure Plan designates the providemuch of theinformation; thesecomprise areasaround Morley andRothwell as ‘areas of mineralexploration boreholes, either for coal or search majorfor residential developments’. sandand gravel, and site investigation boreholes. However,the district haslong a history of The total number of boreholes in the district runs exploitation of its natural resources by mining and into many thousands; records of these are held by quarrying,and most of thedistrict hasbeen theNational Geosciences Data Centre at BGS, underminedfrom near the surface to depths of Keyworth. Geological data also comes from many over640 m. Subsidencerelated to deepmining, hundreds of mineplans, mostly for coal, but also arbitrarily taken as greater than 30 my is normally

* forfireclay and Basal PermianSand, held by completed soon afterthe roof supportsare British Coal and the Health and Safety Executive. withdrawn,but mine workings at shallow depth In addition,information is held inthe form of may stand open for decades or even longer before maps andnotebooks, made by geologists during collapse. Thisproject hasdelineated areas where previousgeological surveys inthe 1870’s and shallowcoal mining (Figure 3) andsand mining 1930’s. (Figure 4) arelikely tohave occurred. The identification of such areas should help in the safe The results of the study are presented in the form and cost effective development and redevelopment of five geologicalmaps, SE 22 NE, SE 32 NW, of the district. SE,and NE and SE 42 NW. Eachmap is accompanied by a report and a series of thematic Mining is the principal cause of land instability in maps which highlight and illustrate aspects of the thedistrict but unstable ground can also arise geology. All of the maps areata scale of fromother causes. The thicknessand nature of 1:lO 000. Table 1 lists the geologicalmaps, thesuperficial deposits vary considerably across appliedmaps and reports produced during this thedistrict, and unconsolidated sediments in project. All the maps arereproduced by the excess of 16 mthick are recorded in someparts dyelineprocess andthe reports are heldon open of theAire and Calder valleys. Thefloodplains file. Copiesmay be obtained from BGS Sales of the valleys are commonly covered by clay and Desks at Keyworth, Edinburgh and London. siltwith interbedded peat;this last is variablein itscompressibility and can be hazard a to Mappedresults, of thetype presented inthis construction. reportand the contributory documents, can only help thein mostgeneral sense. They can Althoughthe mineral resources of thearea have contribute to draftingand evaluating structure been exploited for nearly 2000 years, considerable and localplan policies. Theycan alert planners resources of sand and gravel, coal, building stone, anddevelopers by highlightingparticular aspects brickclay and fireclay remain. The identification of the geology of thedistrict. But theycannot of theseresources during this project should help replacesite-specific studies aimed at evaluating safeguard them against inadvertent sterilisation. potential resources and hazards. Their object is to Past mineral workings have had an adverse effect make the geologicalimplications of planningand onthe landscape. Large spoil tips are associated development clear to the non-geologist. 4 Geologyand land use planning, Morley-Rothwell-Castleford

Table 1. Maps and reports prepared during the project.

N ational DateNational of Author(s) Thematic Maps Grid Geological of Report Quarter Mapping Quarter Sheet 1234567

SE 22 NE 1982 Burgess,C I X X xx SE 32 NW 1983 Williamson, I T. X xxx and Giles, J R A SE 32 NE 1984 Giles,and A J R xxxxxx Williamson, I T SE 32 SE SE 1985 Giles,and A J R X xxx Williamson, I T SE 42 NW 1986 Giles, J R A xxxxxxx

The types of thematic maps available are:- 1. Distribution of Drift Deposits 5. Underground and Opencast Coal Mining 2. Thickness of Drift Deposits 6. Sand and Gravel Resource Map 3. Distribution of Made Ground 7. Underground Sand Mining 4. Borehole Locations

Table 2. Geological information relevant to Structure Plan policies.

Structure Summary Relevant Plan of Geological Policy Policy Information H11 RothwellMorleyand to Geological map; thematic maps showing distribution expand for residential of sand and gravel, constructional materials, drift purposes distribution and thickness, distribution of made ground and location of underground and opencast coal mining. N1 Environmental Thematic map showing the extent and distribution improvement areas around of man-made ground Normanton and Castleford N26 Avoidance of damage from Thematic maps showing the distribution of shallow mining subsidence coal and sand mining N35 Where coal occurs in Geological map and thematic maps showing association with other distribution of sand and gravel and construction minerals, both should be materials worked N38 Proven mineral deposits Geological map showing distribution of rocks and will generally be protected thematic maps showing distribution of sand and and constructional materials N4 1 Theeffect of land-fill sites Geologicalmap showing probable paths of on ground- and pollution plumes mine-water Geology and land use planning, Morley-Rothwell-Castle ford 5 withthe sites of former collieries.Many disused entirely a product of the twentieth century. quarries are backfilled with the various man-made Each of these mining methods imposes constraints deposits,which make upmade ground. They are onthe development and re-development of the generallyvariable in theirchemical content and affectedareas. Table 3 lists the seams inthe state of compaction.Documentation ontheir districtin stratigraphical order and showswhich extentand nature is imprecise and incomplete. have been mined and by what method. As part of thissurvey, made ground was recorded,mapped and classified intoseveral In diggingbella pitor beehive pit, ashaft, categories. Some of theareas most adversely usually about 1 macross was sunkthrough the affectedderelictionby due to old mineral overlyingstrata to the coal at a maximum depth workingsand spoil tipping lie aroundthe towns of about 10 m. The coal was thenworked all of Normantonand Castleford. These areas are aroundthe shaft until the unsupported roof identified in the Structure Plan as ‘Environmental becameunsafe. Another pit was thensunk Improvement Priority areas’. adjacentto the first and the processrepeated. Theexcavated area of coal was roughlycircular Theimplementation of manyStructure Plan and 3 to6 m across. Although crude, the system policies is madeeasier by a better understanding recoveredahigh percentage of the seam with of the geology. Some examples are listed in Table carefulmanagement. Because of thedepth 2. limitation, only narrow strips close to the outcrop could be minedandthepotential reserves LAND STABILITY AND SAFETY available to the method were small. The consequences of mining,principally for coal Of the mining methods used in the present district andsand, upon land stability are considered bell pitmining affects the smallest area. Hardly below. Inaddition, the problemsassociated with any reliable plans of this type of working survive, slope stability, poorly consolidated ground and the butit seems thatit was confinedto onlya few presence of buried channels are discussed. seams(Table 4) andmore particularly is known fromonly fewa areas. cannotIt be safely Mining assumed thatancient bell-pit workings have TheCarboniferous and Permian strata of West collapsed andare satisfactorily compacted. In Yorkshirecontain several economically valuable manycases, bell pits were only partlybackfilled minerals, some of which have been quarried and a andthe present state of compaction is farfrom few of the mostvaluable have been mined. good. Taylor (1968) cited a case historyinvolving Mining has been mainly directed at coal but Basal thedifficulty of detectingpartially collapsed bell Permian Sand and Coal Measuressandstones, pits at Heath Estate, Leeds [SE 283 3081. ironstones and mudstone-seatearths have also been Duringthe fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the mined.The distribution of coal andsand mining pillar-and-stallmethod of mining was developed is illustrated in Figure 3 and 4. togain access to deeper reserves of coal. The systeminvolves drivingtwo sets of roadways Coal Mining whichmutually intersect at right angles. As the Coal has beenmined in West Yorkshiresince roadways runout from the shaft bottom or adit Roman times. Miningappears to have ceased into the seam, unmined pillars are left to support during the ‘Dark Ages’, as no mention is made of theroof. An example of pillar-and-stallworking it intheit Doomsday Book. By thethirteenth inthe SharlstonMuck Coal, exposed inthe St century,there is documentaryevidence of a JohnsOpencast Coal Mine, is shownin Plate 1. widespread,but very small-scale, coal industry. As thedepth increases, larger pillars arerequired Initially,mining was restrictedto ‘bell pits’; this to supporttheroof, and hence a smaller was succeeded theinfifteenth sixteenthor percentage of the coal is recovered. The method century by the‘pillar-and-stall’ system. Longwall is self-limitingsince, with increasing depth, the mining was developedinthe lateseventeenth mineeventually becomes uneconomic. In West centuryand is stillthe method employed today. Yorkshire,the economic limit to themethod It has becomeprogressively more mechanised, seems haveto been about 30 m, although particularlysince thenationalisation of the ventilation,pumping and transport may also have industry.A list of the maincollieries entrances set limits in some cases. formsAnnex 1. Large-scaleopencast mining is 6 Geologyand land use planning, Morley-Rothwell-Castleford

Table 3. Worked coals arranged in stratigraphical order with the style of working shown. The division between shallow and deep mining is taken at 30 m.

Seam Style of working British opencast shallow deep shallowCoal opencast seam mining mining long- mining mining seam wall index mining bell pillar- bell pit and-stall pit

Shaf ton BU X Sharlston Top BS X X X X Sharlston Muck BR X X X X Sharlston Low BQ X X X X Sharlston Yard BP X X Houghton Thin BN X X X Wheatworth BL X X Swinton Pottery BK X Newhill BJ X Meltonfield BH X X X Two Foot BG X Abdy BE X Stanley Main BBD X X X X Kent’s Thin BA X Kent’s Thick AZ X X X X Warren House AWY X X X X Low Barnsley AV X X X Dunsil AUX X Beck Bottom Stone AU X X 27 Yard AS X Swallow Wood AR X Haigh Moor APQ X X X X Lidget AN X Flockton Thick AK X X X X Flockton Thin AJ X X X 1st Brown Metal AH X X X 2nd Brown Metal AG X X X 3rd Brown Metal AF X X X Middleton Little AE X X Middleton Main ACD X X X Wheatley Lime AB X Middleton 11 Yard AA X X X Blocking Z X Top Beeston ux X X X Low Beeston T X Crow N X Black Bed M X Better Bed K X Geology and land use planning, Morley-Rothwell-Castleford 7

Table 4. The location of known areas of bell-pit mining. Other unknown areas probably exist. The NGR cited is the approximate centre of the affected area.

Seam Location NGR

Sharlston Top CommonWarmfield [378 2071 Sharlston Muck CommonWarmfield [378 2071 Sharlston Muck Goosehill [371 2191 Sharlston Low CommonWarmfield [378 2071 Sharlston Yard Streethouse [399 2111 Meltonfield Ledston [437 2831 Kent’s Thick Almshouse Wood [380 2711 Warren House Preston Great [404 2941 Warren House Moor Lee [345 2571 Haigh Moor Carlton [339 2661 Haigh Moor Carlton [346 2761 Flockton Thick Belle Isle [318 2961 Flockton Thick Haigh Rothwell [335 2961 Flockton Thick Hall Dean [251 2831 1st Brown Metal Middleton Wood [302 2901 2nd Brown Metal Middleton Wood [302 2901 3rd Brown Metal Middleton Wood [302 2901 Middleton Little BeestonSide Park [296 2921 Middleton Main BeestonSide Park [296 2921 Middleton Main House Gilead [254 2931 Blocking FarmHill Top [261 2941

Shallow pillar-and-stallworkings cause serious choke-filledwithdebris,some highlyor foundationproblems. Unlike deeper mine competentbed is reached.If the void reaches the workingsthey didnot collapsewhen mining surface,formsit crowna hole.Piggott and ceased,since theearth pressures atsuch shallow Eynon (1978) showedempirically thatthe depths werenot sufficient.The roof supports maximumheight of collapse Britishin Coal becomeweaker withtime, however, and loading measures is commonly up to 6 times the height of by newconstruction can lead to suddenfailure. themine void but may, exceptionally, exceed 10 Siteinvestigations may be only of limited use in times the height. identifying this type of working as much of the It is possible that the slow deterioration of pillars coal is leftundisturbed in pillars. If too few may takeplace aftermany years but generally boreholes aredrilled or if theyare drilled on a pillar failure is rarein shallowcoal working, regulargrid they may only find the solid coal in providedthat the original pillar geometry was pillars and miss the voids. sufficientto support the roof. Piggott andEynon Piggott andEynon (1978) notedthree principal (1978) commentedthat the pillars leftby aqcient mechanisms of failure of shallow mine workings:- mining were usually much greater in cross-&kction than was required to support the over-lying strata. i) collapse of roof bedsspanning adjacent pillars However, failure may occur where pillars are very ii) pillar failure small orhave been robbed at alater date. Pillars may also collapselong aftermining has ceased iii) squeeze of floor or roof strata when piles placehighly concentrated loads Suddencollapse of the beds spanningthe stalls is directlyonoldto pillars. It is essential to the major cause of ground instability problems in consider old shallowmine workings especially this district.The voidpropagates upwards under whendevelopments have deep foundations or the combinedthe influences of gravityand concentrated loadings. weathering,untilwholethe void becomes Piggott andEynon (1978) identifiedthe squeeze 8 Geologyand land use planning, Morley-Rothwell-Castleford of floor or roof strata as a major cause of failure siteswhich straddle faults. Generally, thefaults of shallowcoal workings. Insuch cases, the are not single fractures, but consist of a series of strength of thecoal pillars is suchthat the earth sub-parallelfractures forming complexa fault pressures are transferred to the floor or roof strata zone which may be tens of metres wide. andtheir bearing capacity becomescriticala Faultsmay also juxtapose lithologieswith factor. If thepillar is strongenough to carrythe differinggeotechnical properties and differential load, it willbe ‘punched’ into the roof orfloor compactionmay occur under high loads. Also, measures, particularly where former workings are rocks thathave been faulted may be internally floodedor low strengthseatearths underlie the fracturedand consequently weaker than where coal. unaffected by faults. The longwallmining method was developed duringthe late seventeenth century in Shropshire Sand Mining and is now thegeneral method of miningin the In parts of the present district, the Basal Permian UK. Two parallelheadings, typically about Sand hasbeen mined as foundrysand, glass sand 200 m apart, are driven from a main development andbuilding sand at various times since at least road.Between theseheadings the coal is thelate seventeenth century. This mining was excavated. As theface is advancedthe roof usuallyby means of adits driven into the deposit behind the working face is allowed to collapse. fromoutcrop, opening into pillar-and-stall mines Muchhas been published on subsidence induced atdepth (Plate 3). Extensivemining continued by longwallmining. Generally theamount of into the present century at the largest mine known subsidence is afunction of depth,the width of inthe district, Wheldale Sand Mine [4490 26401, thepanel mined and the thickness of strata which is estimated to have some 32 km of tunnels removed.Subsidence occurs rapidly after mining extendingfor 700 m fromthe mine mouths. The and is usuallycomplete about yeara after mining of thedeposit is thoughtto be restricted extraction,although asmall amount of residual to withinthirty metres of thesurface. During subsidence may occur over the next few years. two hundred years of sand mining numerous small mines may haveexploited the deposit, but only a In thetwentieth century, the development of few plans of thesesurvive. Plans of thelarger mechanicalearth-movers has madelarge-scale, workingssuch as the Wheldale andLedston have opencastmining practical. Theinitial sites beenpreserved. Evidence of theexistence of developedduring the early 1940s wereseldom minesoutside the areas of knownmining is excavateddeeper than 20 m,but since then the furnished by siteinvestigation boreholes and economiclimit toexcavation has increasedto indirectarchival references, but the extent of morethan 100 m. Alist of theopencast sites such workings is not accurately known. within the district is given in Annex 2. Therate and method of collapse of oldsand The sites former opencast mining are subject to of workingsdepends upon a number of factors,and aperiod of settlementafter backfilling. At the settlement cannot be assumed to have ceased, even end of thesettlement period, the site may be withthe most ancient of workings.There is a re-developed,but there maybe special problems history of subsidenceassociated withthe in building large structures or structures with high abandonedworkings certainin parts of the foundation loadings on such sites. districtprobably caused by the collapse of the Naturalmovements along faults, cancause roof bedsspanning the voids. Forexample, north subsidencebut such movements are extremely of Pannel Hill, above the old Ledston Sand Mine, rare; most faults were caused by earth movements numerouscircular depressions indicate where long ago. It is muchmore common forfaults to adjacent voids have collapsed. be reactivated by miningsubsidence, especially Subsidenceassociated with shallow sand mines is whencoal extraction has been limited to one side controlled by the size andspacing of the pillars of afault. In these cases,all the movements due leftduring mining and the strength of the roof to coal extraction beneath is taken up on the fault rock,which turn in is controlledtheby plane. Theeffect of suchsubsidence ona joint-spacing and the thickness of the beds in the building is shownin Plate 2. Suchsubsidence overlyingMagnesian Limestone. Inthe Redhill tends to be most intense when workings approach area of Castlefordcollapse of the roof rock thefault from the upthrow side. These effects spanningmine voids is amore common failure shouldbecarefully considered when planning mechanism thanpillar collapse (Baldwin and Geology and land use planning, Morley-Rothwell-Castleford 9

Newton 1987).These authorsnoted aseries of Other Mining hairline stressfractures along theedge of, and Inaddition coalto and sand, several other parallel to,roadways. These fractures,in some minerals have been mined locally on a small scale. cases,been opened bysolution but in general These include CoalMeasures sandstone, ironstone were tight and closed. andfireclay. The last was usedas a refractory The ground water conditions are also an important clay. Themethods used to mine these minerals factor. As the Lower MagnesianLimestone forms wereessentially those used tomine coal and, in a pronounced escarpment, the Basal Permian Sand many cases, they were mined in conjunction with isnormally above the water table over much of coal. Forexample, ironstone was minedat thedistrict. certainIn circumstances, local€y shallow depth in Middleton Park Wood from bell perchedwater tables may develop which allow pitswhilst the Thornhill Rock was minedin water to gather in old sand workings and weaken Rothwellfrom adits. Fireclay was deep-minedin the pillarsthe which support roof.theAny thisdistrict, probably by the longwall method, engineeringoperations which might create local and also extractedat a number of opencastcoal perchedwater tables, such as the use of agrout mines. curtain,should be carefully considered for their effects on the local ground water conditions. Shafts and Adits Figure 4 shows theoutcrop of the Basal Permian The location andtreatment of disusedshafts and Sand anddivides the area underlain byPermian aditsclearly affects the safety of proposeda deposits into: development.There are the following specific hazards: 1. thoseareas under which Basal Permian Sand is not likely to have been mined i) Afall into an old shaft almostalways causes injury or in many cases death. Death can also 2. thoseareas underwhich Basal PermianSand becaused by drowningin flooded workings, has possibly been mined. suffocation by carbon dioxide or poisoning by Theboundaries between the two areas is taken toxic gas. 700 m from the crop of the Basal PermianSand, ii) Thesurface near shafta maysubside or sincethis is the extent of the largestlocal mine, collapse. If theshaft lining has deteriorated, Wheldale Sand Mine. thecollapse may not be confined tothe The 700 m cautionary zone is divided into three: diameter of the shaft but may spread to form a crater.a The diameter of thecrater isa 1. Provensand mining: areas where mine plans function of the depth to competent strata and exist to show the extent and style of the sand theangle of repose of theincompetent strata mining. that collapses.Collapses may also occur 2. Suspected sand mining:areas where archival beneath competent strata in a shaft; these may evidencesuggests thatmining was formerly notimmediately affect the surface but the carried out, but the documents do not indicate collapse may reduce the load-bearing capacity theextent or style of mining.Such records of the ground around the shaft. include, for example, boreholes that encounter Old mineshafts maycollapse because of voids inthe Basal PermianSand, old trade changesinground water levels, additional directorieswhich give some indication of the surface loadings due tonew structures or activitiesof former mining companies and tipping,vibration fromtraffic, mining official returns from companies which indicate subsidenceor blasting. The collapse of one how many men they employed underground. shaft maycause nearbyshafts, linked by 3. Possiblesand mining: this category includes all underground workings, to become unstable. otherareas within the 700 mcautionary zone iii) Various gases maybe foundin unventilated inwhich mining isnot known or suspected. oldworkings. These include carbondioxide Inthe Red Hill area of Castleford,this zone andnitrogen, which may comprise an terminatesagainst a fault which throws down oxygen-deficientatmosphere and cause the Basal Permian Sand to depths below which asphyxiation,methane, which is explosive in mining is unlikely. mixtureswith air of between 5% and 15%, andfinally carbon monoxide and hydrogen sulphide, which are poisonous.-- IO Geology and land use planning, Morley-Rothwell-Castleford

Calder valleys, buried lenses of peatand organic Old shafts provide artificial channels allowing siltare commonly found within sand and gravel. waterto pass from oneaquifer to another. If Thecontrast in compressiblity of theadjacent one aquifer becomespolluted, a shaft can act sedimentsis very marked. Where structuresare asa pathfor spreading the pollution to other proposed ondrift deposits,site investigations aquifers. should assess thebearing capacity of the ground, particularly at pointswhere highly concentrated Slope stability foundation loads may occur. Slope movements,landslipseither as or .. Head covers much of the area mapped as exposed cambering,causecan foundation problems. solidstrata. It is normally thin but may thicken Landslipsare rare in the district as themajority markedly where it fills rockhead depressions. It is of natural slopes are wellbelow theirmaximum mapped only where it is particularly thick. Relict angle of repose and willprobably remain stable shearplanes inthe deposit can make it much unless artificiallyarethey oversteepened. weaker than- weatheredin situ material and site Landslipsareonly known theatfollowing investigations should test for these. localities: Madeground coversa considerable part of the 1. anarea of madeground [3148 25931 near area. The depositsvariableare their in Ardsley East composition,chemistry, compressibility and 2. an area of colliery waste [3580 29691 near the thickness,and detailed site investigations are former Rothwell Colliery necessarywhere development is proposedon them.Seven categories aredistinguished on 3. theat base of the MagnesianLimestone Figure 5. escarpment near Castleford [4446 26281 Landscaped Groundcomprises areas of 4. in Coal Measures mudstone at Gled Hill [3634 i) recreation,,recent housingdevelopment, 20501 schools andindustrial estates where the On thenorth side of theRiver Aire, between originalground surface has been modified by Kippax and Castleford, an unusually thick deposit earth-movingoperations. Such areas may of head(page 37) is presentat the base of the patchyhave a cover of madeground, MagnesianLimestone escarpment. It consists of generally less than 1.5m, andit is virtually several metres of poorly sorted silts and clays with impossibleto determineaccuratethe sand and some gravel. If the toe of the deposit is distribution of suchdeposits without a excavated, for example in aroad cutting, and comprehensive investigation. drainage of the sediment were seriouslyimpeded, ii) MadeGround, Undifferentiated includes thedeposit may become mobile andmove majorroadand railwayembankments, downslope. stockpiles of coalor sand and gravel, and Cambering is found on the sides of valleys where othergeneral constructional areas. Within any competent beds such as sandstone or limestone are developmentareasuch deposits canbe interbeddedwith, or overlie, incompetent beds widespread.Detailed site investigations may such as mudstone.The incompetent beds flow be neededto determine the extent of such outwardscausing the competent beds to warp deposits,since itis not alwayspractical to downthe valleyside. This occursalong the delineate them accurately by mapping. MagnesianLimestone escarpment east of Ledston iii) Back-filledQuarries areformer excavations where there are open joints aligned parallel to the for sandstone,clay, limestone andsand and edge of theescarpment. Cambering is also found gravelsubsequently filled Commonly,in. north of ElmFarm where thin sandstones in a there are no clear surface indications of their thicksequence of mudstoneare cambered at extentor, in a few cases, of their presence. outcrop. In mostinstances, archival material is availablegeneral,in but there is no Poorly consolidated ground informationthenatureon state or of Drift depositsmay show markedlateral variation compaction of material.fillthe Many intheir lithology andthickness and also intheir unlocatedback-filled quarries are probably compactionproperties underloading. For present, particularly beneath extensive areas of example, in the alluvial sediments of the Aire and made ground. Geology and land use planning, Morley-Rothwell-Castle ford 11

Oulton.steep-sidedThis depression was iv) Back-filledOpencast Coal Sites, landscaped originally a drainage channel formed during a past and restored, are numerous in the area (Figure glaciation,but is now entirelyfilled with till. 6). accuratelyTheyare recorded on Otherchannels mayoccur beneath glacial abandonment plans. sediments in other parts of the district. v) Colliery Waste Tipsare conspicuous features of thedistrict. They consistmainly of inert MINERAL AND WATER RESOURCES materialbut there maybeconsiderablea proportion of coal andpyritous sediments. Mineral resources The latter can behazardous during oxidation, Much of the past andpresent wealth of the sincethis reaction stronglyis exothermic. district hasbeen derivedfrom the underlying Unless thetips are carefully constructed to rocks whichrepresent a substantial natural asset allow theheat to dissipate, they can ignite and,carefullyif exploited, can continue to spontaneouslyand givetoxicoff gases. providewealth thein future. The economic Moderntips are generally built with this products which have been exploited in the past or hazard inmind. Some of thelarger tips have are being currently extracted, are described below. beenlandscaped and redeveloped; Whitwood Inaddition, briefa note on the hydrocarbon GolfCourse near Castleford is good a potential is included. example. The materialmay be locally unstable,and smallareas of landslippingon Coal coal tips have been noted. The production of coal continues in the district at vi) General Refuse Tips comprising domestic and two deepmines, Allerton Bywater and New industrialrefuse contain awide admixture of Sharlston. The larger of these is Allerton Bywater materialswhich may, upon burial, produce Collierywhich has substantialreserves of coal. problems of instabilityand emit methane gas. Activeopencast mining occurs at two sites, St Archivaldata have proved inadequate in Aidans Extension and St Johns. delimitingtheallwaste tipsand it is inevitable that some have not been located. Almost theentire district has beenmined underground at some stage in the search for coal. vii)ActiveOpencast Coal Workings and Waste Pillars of coalhave been leftbeneath some Tips: The St Aidans Extension Opencast Site is localitiessensitivesubsidence to such as workingtheattime of publication,and settlements,canals, rivers and shafts. Numerous mounds of discardand spoil surrounding the shafts,backfilled opencast coal sites, shallow sitecontain all the lithologies inthe sequence mines, deep mines and several large waste tips are downthetoDunsil Seam. Some alluvial a legacy of the exploitation of coal. depositsmay also beincorporated into the tips. By thenature of opencastoperations, Opencastmining has been very extensive inthe some of these tips may be temporary, whereas past. At itsbeginnings in the 1940’s, manyseams others may becomemore permanent features wereworked close - cropto beneath thin of the landscape. overburden. Progressiveimprovements thein methodsand scale of excavations now allow Buried channels working of deeper seams,beneath considerable thicknesses of overburden.Active opencast Thedrift depositsobscure the rockhead surface prospectingcontinues inthe district, with the and boreholesacross thedistrict show that possibility of further extraction. channelsand depressions in rockheadmay be completelymasked. For example, an old river Minestone channelto the north of Methleycontains more than 16 m of fluvialsediments. Closely spaced Extensiveareas of collieryspoil lie around the boreholesshow thatthe channel is asymmetrical, sites of active and former collieries. Some of this havingverya steep northern side. Such thick spoil is nowsold as ‘minestone’, whichcan be deposits may influence the design of foundations. processedto meet thespecifications for awide variety of uses includingthe construction of Theburied channels are not confined to the embankments,river andsea defences, land presentriver valleys. Forexample, channela reclamation and brick making. filled with glacial sediments crosses the interfluve betweenthe Aire and Calder valleys south of 12 Geology and land use planning, Morley-Rothwell-Castleford

SE 22 NE SE 32 NW 25 30 35

Fireclay and Pottery Clay Black Bed, Middleton Main, Middleton Little and FlocktonThick coals. The mudstones above the Fireclay is widelyused as arefractory material. Black Bed wereworked around Churwell and Someof themudstone-seatearths lying beneath Beeston forthe ironstone nodules they contained. coalshave been exploited as fireclay.a In Shallowpits Middletonin Park Wood were particular,the seatearth of theBetter Bedwas reputedlydug for ironstone at about the horizon formerlyworked overwide a area to the of the Middleton Little. Some working took place south-east of Leeds. The Better Bed Fireclay was at West Ardsley in the Shelly Ironstone, just above minedatMiddleton Broom Colliery,where a the Flockton Thick. variety of terra cotta and ceramics were made in thepottery that adjoined the colliery (Edwards Mudstone and Claystone andothers 1940). Themudstone-seatearth of the Stanley Main was worked at the Dungeon Lane I1 Almostall themudstones and claystones in the opencastsite. The seatearth of theSwinton Coal Measures can be used for brick-making and PotteryCoal has been widely used as arefactory thenumerous, small, disused brickworks across material as well as potterya clay. Former thedistrict testify to theirwidespread use inthe quarriesin this bed are found to the west ofconstructionalHowever, modernpast. Castlefordand active quarries are in production requirementsforstrong bricks of consistent around Normanton. chemicalcomposition have tended to concentrate brick-making into large pits. Ironstone Activebrick pits are confined to areas around Sideriticironstones are found above a number of Howley Park, quarrying the upper shaly facies of coal seams, and at one time were widely exploited theThornhill Rock, and to areas to the the west locally but ironstones of this type are too thin and of Normanton,working the measures above and impersistent,and contain too little iron, to be below theSwinton Pottery Coal. Former brick economicores at the present day. Of particular pits around Castleford also used these measures. importance were the ironstones associated with the Geology and land use planning, Morley-Rothwell-Castleford 13

SE 32 NE SE 42 NW

35 40 SE 32 SE

Figure 2. Locality map of the district

I4 Geology and land use planning, Morley-Rothwell-Castle ford

SE 22 NE SE 32 NW

Sandstone Limestone Most of thesubstantial sandstones in the Coal TheLower Magnesian Limestone is largely Measureshave been worked for local use as confinedtothe east of thedistrict and its buildingstone inthe past. The most widely thickness has been proved in only three boreholes. exploited is theThornhill Rock which was No commercialresource survey has been carried extensivelyquarried, and even locallymined, out, and no data are available concerning changes aroundMorley, Rothwell and Oulton. It is still in thicknessor variations in the mechanical and quarried south of Morley today. physical properties of the rock. With the limited data available, it is not practical Basal Permian Sand toattempt even an indicative assessment of the The sand was widely exploited in the past for use resource (Bureau of Mines and Geological Survey, as a mouldingsand for castingiron, as araw 1980). material for glass making and asa building sand. Thelimestone has beenused for twomain It was eitherquarried, in conjunction with the purposes: firstly, for agricultural lime, particularly overlyingLower Magnesian Limestone, or mined on the outliers of limestone at Pannel Hill and at by adits fromsurface.the Themining GreatPreston, and secondly, asa local building commencedbefore there was a statutory stone. Thereare manydisused quarries around requirementto record the nature and extent of Ledston nonecurrentlybutare working. undergroundworkings, so thereare onlymine Extensivemodern quarries are operating to the plans for the more recent mines, such as Wheldale east and north of the district. [4491 26401 and Ledston [4294 29491. Thesand is no longer used as itsquality is to low for most Gypsum modern industrial processes. A gypsumbed withinthe Permian Middle Marl was formerly quarried at Park Farm, probably for local use.

18 Geology and land use planning, Morley-Rothwell-Castle ford

SE 22 NE SE 32 NW 2! 3 30 35 30

25 25 30 35

Hydrocarbons A substantial resource of sand and gravel remains, estimated at about 86 million cubic metres. Speculative structure contour maps of the district, based onshafts, boreholes andmine-plan data, Water resources indicateseveral upfolds or anticlines of thekind whichmay serve as traps for oil or gas. Seismic Theprincipal aquifers of the CoalMeasures are surveyshaverecently beenconducted to the main sandstones such as the Thornhill Rock or investigatethese structures detailin and to Oaks Rock.They are normally fine-grained,and identifyfurther potential hydrocarbon traps at intergranularpermeabilities butlow, are depth. To date, no hydrocarbonprospecting movement of water is possiblealong joints, boreholes have been drilled, but to the east, early beddingplanes and faults. The mudstones have Westphalian andNamurian sandstones areknown very low permeabilites and act as aquicludes. to be hydrocarbon reservoir rocks. Thequality of groundwaterin CoalMeasures sandstonesvaries considerably, anddown-dip Sand and Gravel variation is oftendetectible. Atoutcrop it is Extensive sand and gravel resources are present in typically hard; down-gradient the sulphate content parts of thedistrict and were assessed as part of usuallyincreases watertheand becomes thepresent project (Annex 3). Thepotentially excessively hard,eventually grading into brackish workablesand and gravel is mainlyconfined to oreven saline water. The totaldissolved solids fluvialdeposits inthe major river valleys. Small content imposesrestrictions theon use of amounts of sandand gravel of glacialorigin are groundwaterforpublic supply, butsodium, also present. chloride,sulphate and iron concentrations may also be unacceptable.Infiltration is restricted to Extensivequarrying of theresource has already small surfaceoutcrop areas and groundwater occurred,particularly in the Calder Valley tothe storagelimitedis bylateral changes inthe east of Wakefield and continues at Dunford House thickness of sandstonesfaulting.and near Castleford. Consequently good yields may notbe sustained for long.

SE 22 NE SE 32 NW SE 32 NE SE 42 NW

- - 25 30 35 40 45 130

25 25 LiJ 3U 45

BC opencast exploration area

0 1 2 3 km

20 35 40 SE 32 SE

Figure 6. Distribution of BC Opencast exploration areas

Largevolumes of waterare abstracted in mine Coal measures drainage but are not generally used. The geology of the district is illustrated in Figures TheLower Magnesian Limestone has higha 7 and 8 and the geological sequence is summarised secondarypermeability and groundwater moves in Figure 9. The Westphalianstages A, B andC mainly throughfissures, although there, may also havebeen identifiedwithin the CoalMeasures be intergranular storage and movement within the sequence,the base of eachstage being a specific dolomites. The water is naturallyhard and marineband (Stubblefield and Trotter, 1957). deteriorates where the limestone is overlain by the The beds aremainly gently dipping and slightly MiddleMarls; the gypsum inthe Marlsgreatly folded, with steeper dips common near faults. To increases the sulphate content. alarge extentthe solidrocks areobscured by a Water fromthe alluvium and terrace deposits of mantle of soil, superficial deposits, including head the Aire and Calder is occasionally utilised where andfluvial sediments, made ground and waste it is partlyderived from induced recharge from tips. Thefew exposures of the CoalMeasures therivers. The quality of thewater varies whichremain are largely confined to disused considerablyand is proneto pollution. On the quarries and other artificial sections. floodplain,there is generallya layer of silt,clay Details of coalsections were given by Green and andpeat, about 3.5 mthick, which has a low others (1878) andEdwards and others (1940) and permeabilityand restricts groundwater recharge are notrepeated in this report. Throughout, the by rainwater. term ‘seam’ means the combined thickness of coal Generally,licensed abstractions of groundwater anddirt partings, whereas ‘leaf‘ refersto coal tend to be forindustrial use ratherthan public between dirt partings. supply. Lithology GEOLOGY Thesediments were deposited rangeina of Rocks of theCarboniferous CoalMeasures and deltaic,fluvial lacustrineand environments Permianrocks crop out in the district. They are subjectto sporadic marine incursions. A number overlain partin by superficial deposits of of faciescan be grouped into associations, which Quaternary age. interpretedare as representingmainthe

24 Geology and land use planning, Morley-Rothwell-Castleford

SE 22 NE SE 32NW 25 30 3c -v 00

I L" 25 30 35

depositionalenvironments of subaeriala delta range up tomany metres in thickness. They plain. These are distributaryare Theseplain.channels, includenamed sandstones such as the Thornhill interdistributary lakes,peat swamps and crevasse Rockand OaksRock. Thebedding varies from splays (Figure 10). In addition,marine incursions massive toflaggy. Sedimentary structures include resulted in shallow pmdelta marine environments. flatlaminations, ripple cross-lamination, trough cross-bedding,flaser and lenticular bedding. The mostcommon rock types are claystones, Bioturbationsoft-sedimentand deformation mudstones,silty muestones and siltstones. They structures are also common. Plant remains are the weatherrapidly on exposure, even when covered dominant fossil,occuring mainly in comminuted by drift.This is due thetooxidation of plantdebris on the bedding surface of themore fine-grained, disseminated pyrite contained in the micaceoussandstones. The oldmining terms rocks(Taylor 1988). Sedimentarystructures cank,freestone, galliard, post,rag andstone includeripple cross-lamination, wave ripple appear to be synonymous with sandstone. cross-laminationlenticularbedding;and bioturbationsoft-sedimentand deformation The seatearths include all grades of sediment from structuresare common.Ironstone nodules are claystone to sandstone, but are generally unbedded foundin association withthese lithologies. They mudstonescontaining rootlets. They normally lie aregenerally barren of bodyfossils except in directly beneath coals, but some are laterally more discrete bands. The termsclaystone and mudstone extensiveassociatedthethan seam.The havebeen takento besynonymous with old equivalentold mining terms are clunch, earth, mining terms such as bind, drub, blaes, metal and fireclay,ganister, spavin, stone clunch and stone shale.Likewise, siltstone is synonymous with spavin. stone bind, fakey blaes and slaty stone. Coal is formallydefined as a readily combustible The sandstones are normally fine-grained and are rockcontaining more than 50 percentby weight, greywhere fresh. However, weathering causes andmore than 70 percent by volume, of oxidation of thecontained iron turning the carbonaceousmaterial. Themain coals are sandstones brown. Coarsergrained lenses of laterallyextensive, although their thickness and intraformational breccias of angular mudstone and compositionchanges. The coals of the district are ironstoneclasts, are channel-lag deposits and bituminous,andgenerally increase in rank occurin the thicker sandstones. The sandstones southwards (Wandlass, 1960). --

Geology and land use planning, Morley-Rothwell-Castleford 27

Figure 10. Generalised diagram illustrating the relationships of the major Westphalian depositional environments

30 Geologyand land use planning, Morley-Rothwell-Castleford

Table 5. Coals arranged in stratigraphical order showing the minimum and maximum thickness recorded in boreholes and shafts in the district.

Seam British Seam thickness Coal (including dirt partings) seam minimum maximumindex minimum

Shaf ton BU 0.9 1.3 Sharlston Top BS 0.5 1.1 Sharlston Muck BR 0.4 1.7 Sharlston Low BQ 0.8 1.1 Sharlston Yard BP 0.5 1 .o Houghton Thin BN 0.4 1.4 Wheatworth BL absent 1.6 Swinton Pottery BK 0.2 1.o Newhill BJ absent 1.4 Meltonfield BH 0.3 2.7 Two Foot BG 0.4 1.1 Abdy BE 0.6 1.4 Stanley Main BBD 1.2 5 .O Kent’s Thin BA 0.3 0.8 Kent’s Thick AZ absent 3.5 Warren House AWY 0.7 2.5 Low Barnsley AV absent 1.9 Dunsil AUX absent 2.1 Beck Bottom Stone AU 0.1 0.8 27 Yard AS 0.1 1.3 Swallow Wood AR 0.1 0.9 Haigh Moor APQ 0.8 3.5 Lidget AN absent 1.3 Flockton Thick AK absent 2.2 Flockton Thin AJ 0.3 4.2 1st Brown Metal AH absent 2.4 2nd Brown Metal AG 0.3 0.8 3rd Brown Metal AF 0.2 0.6 Middleton Little AE absent 3.5 Middleton Main ACD 0.9 3 .o Wheatley Lime AB absent 1.2 Middleton 11 Yard AA absent 2.0 Blocking Z 0.2 2.1 Top Beeston ux 0.7 1.6 Low Beeston T 0.4 2.1 Crow N 0.1 1.o Black Bed M 0.2 0.8 Better Bed K 0.1 0.3 Geology and land use planning, Morley-Rothwell-Castle ford 31

Tonsteins are dense mudstones, usually less than 6 coals, the Black Bed andCrow have also been centimetresthick, containing kaolinite aggregates mined.Immediately above the former is the and crystals.Although rare,they are laterally sideritic Black Bed Ironstonewhich was also extensiveand isochronous. They are considered mined. to be kaolinised ash-fall tuff or reworked volcanic The Beeston (also known as theChurwell in the detritus (Williamson, 1970). west of thedistrict) consist of twomain leaves, A few limestones arepresent, but they are thin the Top and Low, which may be separated by up anddiscontinuous. Eagar and Rayner (1952) to 12.8 m of sandstoneand claystone. The Top recordeda 0.15 m ‘shelly limestone’(probably an Beeston is between 0.7 m and 1.6 mthick and impurebio-sparite) from the former Westgate mined under much of the district. Brick Works [3140 20401. Trueman (1954, pp 27) The Beeston and Middleton Main are separated by commented that, ‘slabs of mussel bands contain so 70 m of claystone,mudstone and siltstone with much carbonate of lime, with varying amounts of sandstoneand coal. About 35 abovem the carbonate of iron(chalybite), that they form Beeston is the Low Estheria Band which has been limestone-like masses’. Suchlimestones, locally identifiedin St John’s No 2 Underground called ‘cank’, are recorded in a number of colliery Borehole [3666 19441. Two economicallyvaluable shaftssuch as NewSharlston, Parkhill and Glass coals, the Blocking andMiddleton Eleven Yard, Houghton. arefound in the measuresabove theEstheria Ironstone,mainly in the form of impuresiderite, Band andboth are very variable in thickness. is ubiquitous.It mostlyoccurs as nodules,bands The Slack Bank Rock lies between the Middleton and lenses of clayironstone within mudstones. ElevenYard and Middleton Main. It is absent Some beds,such as the Black Bed Ironstone, from much of the district but where it is present contain sufficient iron to have been worked as an it has a channel form (Giles and Williamson 1985; iron ore in the past. Figure 3). Ooliticironstones also occur.Dean (1935) records TheMiddleton Main, also knownas the West a variable oolitic ironstone, up to 0.25 m thick in YorkshireSilkstone, varies’inthickness from Robin Hood Quarry at the horizon of the Swallow 0.9 tom 3.0 m. It consists of two leaves Wood Coal. separatedby thina dirt parting but may be dividedinto three or four leaves. It has been Stratigraphy mined over much of the district. Coal seams ofWest Yorkshirerange in thickness The measuresbetween theMiddleton Main Coal up to fivemetres, including dirt partings. The theVanderbeckei Marine Band are 94m thick. seamsvary inthickness laterally, the minimum This monotonous sequence of claystone, mudstone andmaximum thicknesses of thenamed seams and siltstone is brokenonly by coals andand a being shown in Table 5. sandstone. The main feature of the lower part of The base of the LowerCoal Measures is defined these strata is thecomplex pattern of the Brown by the Subcrenatumtheby Marine Band.These Metal/MiddletonLittle coals as theysplit and measures areexposed inthe north-west of the rejoin.Over much of thearea they are thin and district around Beeston and Churwell. impersistentbut where several are united the combinedseam has beenmined. A tonstein is In this district little is knownabout the measures recorded inthe roof of the2nd Brown Metal. betweenthe subcrenatum Marine Band and the The Flockton Thin and Thick coals lie above them Better Bed Coal,although furthernorth where andare separated by up to 12 m of stratawhich they consist of two main units; the Ganister Coals containtheEmley Rock. crops It out in andthe Elland Flags,together comprising 180 to MiddletonPark Woods whereit is apale brown, 200 m in thickness. To thesouth of thedistrict cross-bedded,medium- tofine-grained inSouth Kirby No 1Borehole [4546 10921, the sandstone. equivalent beds are about 300 m thick. A total of 370 m of Middle Coal Measures strata Between the Better Bed and the Beeston, there are arerecorded in this district. The base is defined 90 m90 of stratadominated by claystones, by theVanderbeckei Marine Band, but this has mudstonesand siltstone with coals andironstone. notbeen identified in this district, although its T he BetterThe Bed is underlain by a horizon can be readily determined within the local mudstone-seatearthwhich was mined as a succession. refractory clayalong with the coal.Two other 32 Geology and land use planning, Morley-Rothwell-Castle ford

neither of exceed 1.4 m in thickness. Between theMarine Bandthis andthe Haigh Moor thereare 62 m of measures,including the TheMaltby Marine Band was identifiedin the ThornhillRock which isa distributarychannel roofmeasures of theTwo Foot Coal at Welbeck sandstone.Where it is presentit is up to 45 m Lane Borehole [3585 21 591 and comprised 0.58 m thickbut it is absentin parts of thedistrict. It of black, silty mudstone with Lingula. consists of coarse,a massive orcross-bedded Four coals are found in the measures between the sandstonethat isquarried as buildinga stone MaltbyMarine Band and the Aegiranum Marine south of Morley.It has an erosivebase which Band: Meltonfield,Newhill, Swinton Pottery and cuts down through the Vanderbeckei Marine Band Wheatworth. Theyare vary variable in thickness intothe Lower CoalMeasures stratabeneath. and only small areas of each have been mined. A Where theThornhill Rock doesnot reach its mudstone-seatearthbeneath the Swinton Pottery maximum thickness or is absent the Lidget Coal is Coalhas been quarried asa refractoryclay, and developed.This seam has been mined from New themudstones above and below this seam have Sharlston Colliery. beenused forbrick making. The Woolley Edge The Haigh Moor Coal consists of two main leaves Rock is the only majorsandstone. It liesabove thatare separated by up to 14.6 m of mudrock theMeltonfield except where its erosive base has butthey may join to form a seam up to 3.5 m removed the coal and some of the strata beneath. thick.The seamis washed out by theoverlying Therock is up to 30 mthick and normally HaighMoor Rockin a number of places. The consists of afine-grained, trough cross-bedded seam has been extensively mined. sandstone.The Houghton Marine Bandis found inthe roof of theSwinton Pottery Coal. It The Haigh Moor and Warren House are separated consists of a 2.4 m of darkgrey toblack by 62 mand contain two distributary channel mudstone with Lingula. sandstones, theHaigh Moor Rock and the HorburyRock. The former is upto 16 mthick TheAegiranum Marine Band crops out near and erosively cutsdown at its base and causes Kirkthorpe [3695 21011. It consists of 1.9 m of wash-outs inthe Haigh Moor. Asequence of darkgrey, fossiliferous mudstone interbedded claystone andmudstone with three thin, laterally with 0.4 m of fossilerous siltstone. persistent,coals separates the two sandstones. Up Above theAegiranum Marine Band there are a to 37 m of fine- to medium-grained cross-bedded series of claystones, mudstones and siltstones with sandstone forms the Horbury Rock. It crop out at two thick sandstones and the Houghton Thin Coal, ArdsleyEast and east of Ouzlewell Greenbut is Sharlston Group of Coals andthe Shafton Coal. absent from the area south and east of Oulton. In The Sharlston Group of Coals (Plate 4) consists of this area two local seams develop, the Dunsil and theYard, Low, Muck and Top. In this district the Low Barnsley, both of which are mined at St theLow and Muck areunited to form a single Aidans’ Opencast Site. seamwhich contains atonstein. The Yardand The WarrenHouse varies from 0.7 to 2.5 min Low seams are separated by the Warmfield Rock, thicknessand has between 2 and 7 leaves. It is afine-grained, medium-bedded sandstone up to exposed inthe cutting just north of theformer 30 m thick. Above the Top is the Upper Estheria KippaxRailway Station [4050 29641 whereit is Bandwhich is a coalfield-wide fossil band. The 2.3 mthick and contains two dirt partings 0.13 Shaftonconsists of asingle leaf between 0.9 and and 0.48 m thick. 1.3 mthick. It is overlain by a sandstone up to 25 mthick which is inturn overlain bythe Between the WarrenHouse andtheMaltby Shafton Marine Band. MarineBand are 100 m of claystones,mudstones andsiltstones with five coal seams. No thick Permian sandstonesarepresent thein sequence. The Permian rocks form a bold escarpment in the east lowesttwo coals, the Kent’s Thickand Kent’s of thedistrict where they unconformably overlie Thin,join in the area between the Oulton and Middle Coal Measures. A total of some 55 metres Water Haighfaults to form the Methley Park of Permianstrata crop out in the district. The Coal. TheStanley Main Coalis best developed bedshave a gentle regional dip of twoto three near Normanton, where it was extensively mined, degreesto the east-north-east, exceptwhere the butsouthward the increasing thickness of dirt strataare affected by faults.Part of the exposed partingsmake it less valuable.The Abdy and area is mantled by drift deposits such as remanie TwoFoot are both laterally persistent seams, till and head. Geology and land use planning, Morley-Rothwell-Gastleford 33

rock-fragments,transported primarily by wind, The generalised section (Figure 9, depositedandlow-lying the in either as a illustratesthe sequence of Permianrocks proved sandsheet or in the form of dunes.The Sand inthe district. Many details of thePermian rocks may have been subsequently reworked during the of the region are published in Edwards and others marinetransgression theZechstein Sea, so the (1 940). final deposition may have been in shallow marine water(Edwards and others 1940; Pryor 1971; Classification Smith 1974a). Aclassification forthe the Permian rocks of the The Basal PermianSand is absentlocally, and British Isles was proposedby Smith andothers ranges up to 5.41 m in thickness. It is exposed at (1974). Smith(1974a) described indetail the anumber of localities inthe district. The best application of thisproposed British classification arein roadcuttings which cross the Permian to the Yorkshire region. The classification that he escarpment atRed Hill. Here 1.90 m of soft, suggested for central Yorkshire has been followed verypale orange, thickly beddedsandstone rest inmapping the Castleford district. Subsequently directlyon the Glass Houghton Rock. A section Smithand others (1986) havepublished a revised in the back garden of a private house [4468 26381, nomenclature forthe Upper Permian strata of exposed 0.50 m of sandstone.In Kippax Park eastern England. 1.00 m of verypaleorange, fine- to medium-grained,friable sandstone was noted. Palaeo-geography Exposureswere formerly more numerous, many Between depositionthe of the youngest of whichare recorded in Edwards and others Carboniferousand oldest Permian deposits of the (1940, p 132). district,there was aperiod of widespreaduplift. The extensivemining of the Basal Permian Sand Theearth movements which caused theuplift is discussed inthe Land Stability and Safety probablyoccurred in the late Westphalian and Section of this report. possibly Stephanianthe stages of the Carboniferous. By thelatter part of Lower Lower Marls A number of boreholes record a thin Permian times subaerial erosion had reduced many calcareousmudstone that rests directlyon the areas to agently rolling peneplain. Smith (1974a) Basal Permian Sands and is in turn overlain by the commentsthat the sub-Permian surface is almost LowerMagnesian Limestone. The maximum planar where it cuts across Coal Measures and that recorded thickness in this district was in Ledsham it lay close to sea-level that at time. No 16 Borehole [4427 30381, consisting of2.58 m Palaeo-latitudedeterminations of Permianrocks of grey, calcareousmudstones andthin, muddy show that the British Isles were then situated close limestones. The beds arenot exposed atthe to theequator. The environment during this surface.Smith (1974a)noted thatthe Lower extended period of subaerial erosion was that of a Marlscommonly contain numerous fragments of semi-arid desert. comminuted plant debris and suggested deposition in a restricted marine shelf environment in a few Atthe start of theUpper Permian there was a metres of water. majormarine transgression. TheZechstein Sea, anepicontinental sea, flooded much of eastern LowerMagnesian Limestone LowerThe Englandincluding the Castleford district. Smith MagnesianLimestone (theCadeby Formation of (1970) describesthepalaeogeography of the Smithand others 1986) consists of buff-coloured, BritishZechstein in terms of seriesa of five sparselymoderately to fossiliferous, oolitic sedimentarycycles, EZ1 - EZ5.Each cycle dolomitewith scattered bryozoan-algal patch commences witha shelf carbonatedeposit which reefs. Where the base is exposed as atKippax grades upinto evaporites. Only strata of the Parkand Wheldon Road,the limestoneswhich lowest EZl cycleare found exposed thein directlyoverlie the Basal PermianSand are very Castleford district. sandy forup to 1.90 m. Smith(1974a) suggested that the formation was deposited on a broad open Stratigraphy shelf in no morethan afew metres of water. BasalPermian Sand Inthe district the Basal Bryozoan-algalpatchreefs flankingwith PermianSand forms an almost continuous deposit calcareous sediments were formed in deeper water whichrests unconformablyupon the underlying (Smith 198 1).Harwood (1986) notedthat much Coal Measuresrocks. The Sandconsists of of theoriginal detail has beenobliterated by well-roundedgrains of andquartz dolomitisation. 34 Geologyand land use planning, Morley-Rothwell-Castleford

decreaserapidly laterally. Forexample, the The Limestoneforms a bold escarpment inthe Methley Junction Fault has a throw of 118 metres east of thedistrict and is widelyexposed and at LowCommon, but 5 km to the north-east it recorded in numerousboreholes. Only three diesout. Some faultsin the district form pairs. boreholes penetratethe full thickness of the As one fault dies out, another fault develops with LowerMagnesian Limestone inthe Castleford the same trend but offset from the first by about area: Sheepcote Wood No 1A Borehole (37.21 m), one kilometre. LedshamNo 16 Borehole (45.65 m)and Ledsham No 35 Borehole (55.14 m). Themajor faults comprise narrow zones of sub-parallelfractures, proved siteas by MiddleMads ThesebedsEdlington(the investigationsand seen during quarrying and Formation of Smithand others 1986) occurin a opencast coal mining. small area around Park Farm and to the north of ForestPlain; theiroutcrop is markedby greyish Asecond faultset, with minor throws normally red soil. Edwardsand others (1940, pp 135) less than 2 m, have a north-westtrend and are recordedsectiona atPlaster Pits [4458 29591 much less extensivevertically andlaterally. where 6.0 m of stiffred marl with pure white, Because of theirimpersistence and variability, massive gypsum was formerly exposed. AtPark these minor faults have not been projected to the Farman oldwell recorded 9.14 m of ‘red clay’ surfacefrom mine workings unlessthey are overlyinglimestone. The Middle Marls were not provedindependently, for example by opencast exposed in the district during the resurvey and no prospecting. borehole penetrated the full thickness. Folding is usuallyin theform of broadopen Smith (1974a) suggesteddeposition in broada structures, such as the Normanton Anticline. coastalplain with an extensive shallowsea to the There is an angularunconformity between the east. Coal Measures andthe Permian strata. Some of Structure themajor faults, which havelarge throws in the Coal Measures, either do not fault the Permian or Thedip of thestrata is normally less thanthree onlyhave throws of one to twometres. The degrees although minor folds and flexures steepen MethleyJunction Fault has athrow of 25 min thedip near faults. There is no overalldirection the Coal Measures west of Ledston, whereasthe of dip across thedistrict, the direction varying throw is less than twometres in the Permian. fromone fault-block to another. The direction Locally thePermian is faultedand folded. For and value of dip also change vertically, especially example,to the east of ParkFarm there is a wherethe dip is so low thatthe effects of NE-trending fault which throws down 10 to 20 m differentialcompaction of thesediments become to thenorth-west and hascomplementarya significant. monoclinal fold. Theprincipal structure of thedistrict is the Jointsare common and are best developedin the Morley-Campsall Fault Belt which is part of the *. thickersandstones of the Coal Measures andthe northernboundary fault of theGainsborough limestones of thePermian. They are normally Trough.It is west-north-west a trending very steep or vertical, and generally comprise two structure with an overall downthrow to the south, or more conjugatesets anyat one locality. butthere hasprobably significantbeen a Regionally,however, these vary considerably in strike-slipcomponent along it. Within thefault trendand no general pattern can bediscerned belt,dips are highly variable and there is much fromthe sparse data available. Thejoints near minor faulting and folding. thesurface may openintofissures where Arcuatefaults, such as theNormanton Station undermined, as has been recorded at a number of Fault,branch off Morley-CampsallFault Belt. siteswhichhave beencleared prior to Near the fault belt these have throws in the order development. of 100 mbut their throws decrease rapidly away Cambering has beenrecorded at some localities from the Fault Belt. wherecompetent beds of sandstoneor limestone NE-trendingfaults, that includes the Oulton, cap hills or form pronounced breaks in slope. For Water Haigh,Methley Savile andMethley example,there are open joints inthe Lower Junctionfaults, also branchoff the Fault Belt. MagnesianLimestone aligned parallel to theedge Thesefaults throw down to the south-east, with of the escarpment to the east of Ledston. throwsupto 120 metres. Thethrows may Geology and land use planning, Morley-Rothwell-Castleford 35

dales, re-sortingdales,re-depositing and the Superfical deposits fluvio-glacial deposits. TheQuaternary drift depositscomprise Till, GlacialSand and Gravel, River Terrace Deposits, Till Alluvium,Peat and Head. Half of thearea is The tilloccurs in isolatedpatches across the covered by mappable drift deposits. The most district. The thickest deposits are found along the extensiveareas of driftare located thein watershedbetween AireCalder,and the Aire/Caldervalley.Figure 8 shows the particularlyaround Rothwell and to the south of distribution of drift deposits andFigure 11 gives Oulton.Here a number of ditchsections show a isopachytes orcontours of drift thicknessacross yellowish brown,slightly sandy, silty clay with the district. pebbles andsporadic cobbles. The clasts are dominated by locally derived sandstone with lesser Regional Setting amounts of chertand ironstone. Boreholes in this West Yorkshire was affected by severalcold vicinityshow the till to be upto 13.4 meters episodes duringthe Quaternary. Prior to the thick.Elsewhere, only very poor sections were Ipswichianthe region was covered by iceon at seen duringthe resurvey, but these consistently least occasion.one Deposits belonging to showa yellowish brown to a pale reddish brown, pre-Ipswichianglaciation show no constructional pebblyclay. The clastsvary across thedistrict features,are usuallyextensively weathered and from a Carboniferous-dominated suite in the west decalcifiedand are only preserved as eroded andcentre of thedistrict to Magnesian a remnants on the interfluves. Limestone-dominated suite in the east. Ipswichianinter-glacial deposits poorlyare Glacial Sand and Gravel known. Bones of twoadults and one juvenile Glacialsand and gravel is foundin close Hippopotamuswere found in the terrace deposits associationwith till between the Aire and Calder. of theAire (Denny, 1854),although the precise The deposit contains an abundance of pebbles and location of these finds is not known. cobbles of locally derived Carboniferous sandstone Inthe glaciation during the Dimlington Stadia1 andgrits, with lesser amounts of ironstone, (Rose, 1985) ice advanced down the Vale of York siltstone, chert, quartz and limestone.Particle size briefly as far south as Doncaster but the moraines analysis shows the deposit contains between 4 and at York andEscrick represent a more persistent 24 percent fines, with a mean of 12 percent, mean southernadvance.the limit to Ice also gradings for boththe sand and gravel are 44 accumulated on the Pennines producing substantial percent. valley glacierswhich flowed down themain River Terrace Deposits Pennine dales. Much of thedrift-covered area comprises the It is probable that the present district was free of fluvial deposits of theAire and Calder. Two ice formuch of theDevensian as themajor mainriver terraces have been recognised;they ice-sheetsterminated farther to the north and varymarkedly in lithology, both vertically and west. Fluvio-glacialdeposits were laid down horizontally,ranging from laminated clays underperiglacial conditions in the major dales throughsilts and sands to coarsegravel. They during the advance and subsequent retreat, of the werelaid downcomplexin fluvial and glaciers. Atthe time of maximumglaciation and fluvio-lacustrineenvironments. Near Methley and for perioda during the retreat substantiala around Ledston, a higher sand and gravel deposit pro-glaciallake, LakeHumber, covered much of of uncertain origin has been classified as ‘Terrace the Vale of York.The initial level of Lake Deposits, undifferentiated’. Humber, was aboutat 30 A.O.D. (Edwards, 1936), andthis is markedby isolated patched of Forexample, at Rothwell Haigh, north-west of shoreline gravels along the edge of thePennines Wood EndFarm, sandandgravel with and along theYork-Escrick Moraines. The level subordinate clayisexposed above thegeneral of Lake Humber subsequently dropped to between level of theAlluvium; its relationship tothe 7 and 8 m A.O.D. Second RiverTerrace is uncertain because it is largelyobscured by collieryspoil. Gradings show Following the climatic improvements at the end of thatthe material is a’very clayey’ sandygravel the Devensian and the draining of Lake Humber, with a composition essentially similar to the other meandering rivers systems developed in the major river terrace deposits. 36 Geologyand land use planning, Morley-Rothwell-Castleford

Mickletown. Opencast coal exploration boreholes in the vicinity of MethleyPark and Ledston haveproved a FirstRiver Terrace Deposits arefound along the deposit of sand and gravel above the level of the course of Sheffieldthe Beck and its Second RiverTerrace. It has no constructional north-westwardsextension, Kippax Beck. Much featuresbut drapes a south-facing slopebetween depositthe has beeneither removed as 20 and 30 m A.O.D. Glacialsediments in this overburdenduring opencast coalmining or position would have been removed by solifluction coveredby made ground. At some time prior to duringthe Devensian. Although itsorigin is thepublication of thefirst Ordnance Survey unclear it is possiblyrelated to the .deposits that 1:10560 map in 1850 the course of Sheffield Beck, Edwards (1936) attributed to the high level strand east of BrigshawLane, was divertedto the south line of Lake Humber. ontothe First Terrace. Just to the north of the ‘Playing Fields’ on Brigshaw Lane there is a small Small isolatedpatches of thisdeposit are also exposure of thisdeposit comprising ‘clayey’ sand recorded in Swillington Park and south of Methley and ‘clayey’ pebblysand. The dominant pebbles Junction. in the gravel are ironstone. Deposits of thesecond River Terrace are widespreadat the confluence of theRivers Aire Alluvium andCalder, tothe east of Mickletown.The Alluvialdeposits occur along themargins of the terracesurface, which was originallyplanar, is RiverAire and River Calder forming spreads now gentlyrolling due to mining subsidence. The hundred of metreswide. They were formed depositscomprise sandand pebbly sand, which comparativelyrecently by depositionin may be ‘clayey’or ‘very clayey’, and sandy gravel. meanderingchannels. The alluvium is being Thegravel fraction is dominantly composed of quarriedfor sand and gravel north and west of Carboniferoussandstone with lesser amounts of Dunford House.A typical section of thequarry ironstone,shale, limestone and traces of igneous face shows that the alluvium is composed of sandy rocks andquartz. The sand and gravel is gravelwhich may belocally ‘clayey’. Borehole normally overlain by thin deposits of silt and clay evidencefrom elsewhere in the district records beneath soil. Some beds of clayoccur within the similarsediments. Ninety percent of the gravel sandand gravel, but these are normally thinand fraction is composed of sub-rounded to discontinuous. The sand and gravel normallyrests well-roundedCarboniferous sandstone. The directlyon the bedrock. Despite complications remainderconsists of ironstone,quartz, coal and causedby subsidence,the terrace can betraced some volcanic and igneous clasts. The deposit is over a considerable area at a maximum height of crudelybedded, with widespread imbrication of 5 to 6 m above the level of the alluvium. tabularclasts. Theimbrication locallypicks out A mammoth tusk found at the base of the Second tabularcross bedding, with sets less than a 0.3 m Terrace gravels at the Oxbow Opencast site, to the thick. Occasionallytree trunks havebeen north-west of thepresent district, yieldsa recovered from the gravel. radio-carbon date of 38,600 +1720 to -1420 years The floodplain of the Calder, above its confluence BeforePresent (Gaunt and others 1970). The withthe Aire shows numbera of abandoned deposition of the Second andFirst terraces is meanders.These may havebeen artificially therefore later than this date. abandonedwhen the river was straightened to TheFirst River Terrace Deposits are ,far less improve it asa navigable waterway. Other,older extensivethan the Second,being confined to a naturallyabandoned meanders have been located small area to the north of Mickletown and isolated inboreholes andin the quarry near Dunford remnants south of Allerton Bywater, around Fleet House.One section of thequarry showsa Lock and to the west of NewtonFarm. Although sequence of siltyclays with interbedded peat. anumber of boreholesrecord the thicknesses of The peat is richin woodymaterial and contains thedeposit, only one describes the nature of the identifiablefragments of birch trees. The silty sediment.This single record describes the sand clay and peats fill a cut-off meander channel. andgravel as a ‘clayey’ pebblysand. The Thealluvium has also been affected by composition of thegravel fraction is essentially subsidence.Large areas of alluviumhave been the same as that of the SecondTerrace. floodedto formpermanent shallowlakes known Subsidencehas affectedthis terrace, flooding a locally as ‘Ings’. considerablearea of outcrop to thenorth of Geology and land use planning, Morley-Rothwell-Castleford 37

Small strips of alluviumoccur along minor streams such as Oulton or Sheffield Beck.

Peat Inthis districtpeat is normallyassociated with alluvium.It is recordedin the quarry north of Dunford House informer courses of abandoned meanders.Other such occurrences should be expectedwithin the alluvial deposits. Peat has formedinenclosed hollows createdartificially eitherby subsidence or engineering works. An example is atArdsley Junction where the M62 motorway crosses theDolphin Beck. No dataare availableon the thicknesses of theseminor deposits.

Head Head is theterm applied to deposits formed by the slow downslopemovement of materialunder periglacialconditions of alternatefreezing and thawing; some of the material may still be moving today under the action of weathering. Deposits of Head are especially thickthefootat of pronouncedescarpments, such as thePermian escarpmentthein east of thedistrict; they comprise a mixture of soft clay, sands and angular rockfragments. Similar deposits are found in the bottom of dry valleys onthe outcrop of the MagnesianLimestone. One such deposit has been separately mapped at in Horselock Dale. Head is also presentover much of the Coal Measures outcropwhere it is commonlya yellow sandyclay lacking in cohesion and stability. It tendsto be thickerin hollows andagainst obstructions or slopes. Thehead is generally less than 2 m thick,but may exceedthis atthe base of thePermian escarpment.It is not possible to indicateits completedistribution due to itsthinness and its lack of distinguishingcharacteristics. Head shouldbeassumed to bepresent everywhere unless proved otherwise. 38 Geologyand land use planning, Morley-Rothwell-Castleford

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS It is concluded that: We recommend that: 1. Themain cause of landinstability is the 1. Landstability problems associated with the existence of former shallow mine workings for mining of the Basal PermianSand should be coal,sand and,more rarely, other minerals. moreextensively investigated torefine the Where coal was workeddepth,at it is categories established in this report. reasonable to assume that most of the subsidenceoccurred shorta time after the 2. Otherminerals found in associationwith roof supportswere withdrawn. But this workable opencast coal reserves should also be unlikely to be true of shallow mining. workedwhere appropriate, ifnecessary by phasedextraction involving different public 2. Landinstability may also occuron slopes bodies andprivate companies. Theobject of which are subject to cambering where ground this recommendation is to prevent the wastage is underlainby poorlyconsolidated natural of finite natural resources. sedimentsuch head.as or peat Unconsolidated deposits up to 16 m thick have 3. The resources of BrickClay andLower beenrecorded in buried rockhead channels Magnesian Limestone should be assessed. beneaththe fluvial sediments inthe river 4. The results of thestudy should betaken into valleys. accountin the planning of land use andin 3. Madeground and fill have a varied chemical considering development of land in the area. contentand their state of consolidation is commonlyunknown. Old quarries that have been backfilled and restored can also give rise toconstruction problems, particularly if they are not recognised during site investigations. 4. Inadvertentsterilisation of mineralresources can be avoidedby referencea to modern geological and thematic maps, from which the distribution of mineralscan be deduced. The principalminerals inthe district are coal, minestone,fireclay, ironstone, brick clay, sandstone,limestone,sand,gypsum, hydrocarbonsand sand and gravel. Thesand and gravel resources have been assessed and it is estimated that about 86 million cubic metres are available. 5. Theprincipal aquifers majorthe are sandstonesin the Coal Measures.Occasionally water from the fluvial sand and gravel of the Aireand Calder valleys has beenutilised. This is partlyderived by induced recharge from the rivers. Geology and land use planning, Morley-Rothwell-Castleford 39

REFERENCES Duff, P Mcl D, Hallam, A. and Walton, E K. Archer,A A. 1969. Backgroundand problems 1967. Cyclicsedimentation. (Amsterdam: of the assessment of sand and gravel resources in Elsevier). the United Kingdom. Proceedings of the 9th Eagar, R M C and Rayner, D H. 1952. A Commonwealth Mining & Metallurgical Congress, non-marine shelly limestone and other faunal 1969, Vol. 2: Miningand petroleum geology, horizons from the Coal Measures near Wakefield. 495-508. Transactions of the Leeds Geologists Association Baldwin,M J andNewton, M A. 1987. Basal Vol 6, 188-209. Permian sand mines and associated surface Edwards, W. 1936. A Pleistocene strand line in the movements in the Castleford and Pontefract area Vale of York. Proceedings of the Yorkshire of West Yorkshire. In: Engineering Geology of Geological Society Vol. 23, 103-1 18. Underground Movements. Preprints of papers for the 23rd Annual Conference of the Engineering Edwards, W, Wray, DA and Mitchell, G H. Group of the Geological Society. (Ed. Bell, F G, 1940. Geology of the Country around Culshaw, M G and Cripps, J C) (London: Wakefield.Memoir of the Geological Survey of G. Geological Society) 469-48 1. B., Sheet 78. Broadhurst, F Mand Loring, D H. 1970. Fielding,C R. 1984a. Upper delta plain Rates of sedimentation in the Upper lacustrine and fluviolacustrine facies from the Carboniferous of Britain. Lethaia, Vol. 3, 1-9. Westphalian of the Durham coalfield, NE England. Sedimentology Vol 31, 547-567. Broadhurst, F M, Simpson, I M and Hardy, P G. 1980. Seasonal sedimentation in the Upper Fielding,C R. 1984b.A coal depositional model Carboniferous of England. Journal of Geology for the Durham Coal Measures of NE England. Vol. 88, 639-651. Journel of the Geological Society of London Vol 141, 919-931. Bureau of Mines and GeologicalSurvey. 1980. Principles of a Resource/Reserve Classification Gaunt,G D, Coope, G Rand Franks, J W.

For Minerals. U.S. GeologicalSurvey Circular 1970. Quaternary deposits at Oxbow Opencast ~ 831. (Washington DC:U.S. GeologicalSurvey). Coal Site in the Aire Valley, Yorkshire. Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society Buringh, P. 1970. Introduction to the study of Vol. 38, 175-200. soils in tropical and subtropical regions. (Netherlands: Wageningen centre for Agricultural Giles, J R A. 1982. The sand and gravel Publishing and Documentation) resources of the country around Bedale, North Yorkshire: description of 1:25 000 resources sheet Burgess, I C. 1982. Geologicalnotes and local SE 28. Mineral Assessment Report of the Institute details for 1:lO 000 sheets: sheet SE 22 NW of Geological Sciences, No. 119. (Morley) (Keyworth: British Geological Survey). Giles, J R A. 1987. Geological notes and local Coleman, J M and Prior, D B. 1980 DeltaicSand details for 1:lO 000 sheets: sheet SE 42 NW Bodies. American Association of Petroleum (Castleford) (Keyworth: British Geological Geologists: Short Course Notes No. 5, 161-187. Survey). Dean,T. 1935. Some ooliticironstones from the Giles,J R A and Williamson, I T. 1985. Coal Measures of Yorkshire. Transactions of the Geological notes and local details for 1:lO 000 Leeds Geologists Association Vol. 5, 161-187. sheets: sheet SE32 NE (Oulton) (Keyworth: Denny, H. 1854. Onthe discovery of British Geological Survey). hippopotamic and other remains in the Giles, J R A and Williamson, I T. 1986. neighbourhood of Leeds.Proceedings of the Geological notes and local details for 1:lO 000 Yorkshire Geological and Polytechnic Society Vol. sheets: sheet SE 32 SE (Normanton) (Keyworth: 3,321-326. British Geological Survey). Duff, PMcl D and Walton, E K. 1962. Green,A H, Russell, R, Dakyns, J R, Ward, Statistical basis for cyclothems: A quantitative J C, Fox-Strangways, C, Dalton, W H and study of sedimentary successions in the ease Holmes, T V. 1878. Geolgy of the Yorkshire Penninecoalfield. Sedimentology, Vol 1, Coalfield. Memoir Geological Survey 235-255. 40 Geology andland use planning, Morley-Rothwell-Castleford

Harris, P M, Thurrell, R G, Healing, R A and Smith,D B. 1974a. Permian. In: The Geology Archer, A A. 1974. Aggregates in Britain. and Mineral resources of Yorkshire, 115- 144. Proceedings of the Royal Society, Ser. A, Vol. Rayner, D H andHemingway, JE. (Editors). 339, 329-353. (Leeds: Yorkshire Geological Society). Harwood, G M. 1981. Controls of Smith,D B. 1974b. The stratigraphy and mineralization in the Cadeby Formation (Lower sedimentology of Permian rocks at outcrop in MagnesianLimestone). Unpublished PhD thesis, North Yorkshire. Journal of Earth Sciences Vol. 8, Open University. 365-386. Harwood, J. 1986. The diagenetic history of the Smith, D B and others 1974. Correlation of the Cadeby Formation carbonate (EZ1 Ca), Upper Permian rocks of the British Isles. Special Report Permian England. In: The English Zechstein and of the Geological Society London, No. 5. RelatedTopics. Harwood, G M andSmith, D B. (Editors).Geological Society Special Publication Smith, D B, Harwood, J, Pattison, J and NO. 22, 75-86. Pettigrew, T H. 1986. A revised nomenclature for the Upper Permian strata in Eastern England. In: Haszeldine,R S. 1983. Fluvialbars reconstructed The English Zechstein and Related Topics. from a deep,straight channel, Upper Harwood,G M and Smith, D B (Editors). Carboniferous Coalfield of Northeast England. GeologicalSociety Special Publication No. 22, ' Journal of Sedimentary Petrology. Vol 53, 9-17. 233-1247. Stach,E. 1982. CoalPetrology. 3rd ed. Translated Haszeldine, R S. 1984. Muddy deltas in freshwater by D G Murchison. (Berlin: Gebruder lakes and tectonism in the Upper Carboniferous Borntraeger). Coalfield of NE England. Sedimentology Vol. 31 81 1-822. Stubblefield, C J and Trotter, F M. 1957. Divisions of the Coal Measures on the Geological Haszeldine, R S and Anderton, R. 1980. A Survey Maps of England and Wales. Bulletin of braidplain facies model for the Westphalian B the Geological Survey of G. B. No 13, 1-5. Coal Measures of Northeast England. Nature Vol 284, 51-53. Taylor,R K. 1968. Siteinvestigations in coalfields: the problem of shallow mine Piggott, R J and Eynon, P. 1978. Ground workings..Quarterly Journal of Engineering movements arising from the presence of shallow Geology,London. vol. 1, 115- 133. abandonedmine workings. In: Largeground movements and structures. Proceedings of the Taylor,R K. 1988. Coal Measuresmudrocks: Conference held at the University of Wales composition, classification and weathering. Institute of Science 'and Technology, (Ed. Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology, Geddes, J D) Cardiff 1977. Pentech Press London. vol. 21,85-99. London, 749-780. Thurrell, R G. 197 1. The assessment of mineral Pryor, W A. 197 1. Petrology of the Permian resources with particular reference to sand and Yellow Sands of Northeastern England and their gravel.Quarry Managers' Journal, Vol. 55, 19-25. North Sea Basin equivalents. Sedimentary Geology Thurrell, R G. 197 1. Quarry resources: the Vol. 6, 221-254. identification of bulk mineral resources: the Rose, J. 1985. The Dimlington Stadial/Dimlington contribution of the Institute of Geological Chronozone; a proposal for naming the main Sciences. Quarry Management, for March 1981, glacial episode of the late-Devensian in Britain. 181-193. Boreas Vol. 14, 225-230. Trueman, A E. 1954. Thecoalfields of Great Scott,A C. 1978. Sedimentology and ecological Britain. (London: Edward Arnold) control of Westphalian B plant assemblages from Wandless, AM. 1960. Thecoalfields of Great West Yorkshire. Proceedings of the Yorkshire Britain, variation in the rank of coal. [ 19 maps Geological Society Vol. 41, 461 -508. withintroductory notes, Folio]. (London: Smith,D B. 1970. The palaeogeography of the National Coal Board, Scientific Department Coal English Zechstein, 20-23. In: Third symposium on Survey). salt Vol.1. Rau, J L and Dellwig, L F (Editors). Westoll, T S. 1968. SedimentaryRhythms in (Cleveland: NorthernOhio GeologicalSociety). Geology and land use planning, Morley-Rothwell-Castle ford 41

Coal-bearing Strata. In: Coal and Coal Bearing Devensian Strata. Ed. Murchison, D T G and Westoll, T S. ISOCHRONOUSBelonging to the sametime, (Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd). being of the same age Williamson, I T and Giles, J R A. 1984. ISOPACHYTESLines of equalthickness of Geological notes and local details for 1:lO 000 sediment sheets: sheet SE 32 NW (Rothwell) (Keyworth: British Geological Survey). LACUSTRINE Relating to lakes Williamson, I A. 1970. Tonsteins- Their nature, LENTICULARBEDDINGsedimentary A origins and use. Mining Magazine Vol. 122, structurein which lenses of onesediment are 119-126. enclosed in another sediment OOLITEAsubspherical particle commonly of GLOSSARY calciumcarbonate, that has grownby accretion ALLUVIUMSediments deposited by a rivers or around a nucleus streams,during relatively recent geological time RANK A system of classifying coal based on the and deposited on the flood-plain energy released during combustion BIOTURBATIONThe disturbance ofa sediment REMANIETILL Theremains of now a by living organisms extensivelyweathered and eroded which are only BRITISHCOAL SEAM INDEX A nation-wide preserved in isolated patches or marked by erratic codingsystem for seamsdeveloped by British pebbles in the soil Coalused in the report as a short hand for seam RESERVESThe economically exploitable part of names a resource CLAST Rock fragment or pebble in a sedimentary RESOURCEThe total amount of potentially rock workable mineral CROSS-BEDDING The internal layering of a bed SOLIFLUCTIONAprocess where sediment is of sediment, characterised by inclined minor beds transporteddown slope under the influence of disposed at various angles to the principle bedding alternate freezing and thawing planes. STADIALA term usedto referto geologically DEVENSIANThe part of theQuaternary during short cold periods during the Quaternary which the Britain last glaciated TILLSediment deposited byglacier; commonly a DIRTA collective name for non-coalmaterial stiff clay foundbetween leaves ofcoal within seam,a usually a mudstone or mudstone-seatearth. UNCONFORMITY A surface between two groups of rocks which marks a period of non-deposition DISTRICT The area covered by this report. or erosion DRIFTUnconsolidated sediments deposited during the Quaternary DOLOMITIC A term usedto describelimestones containing more than 15% magnesian carbonate FACIESThe combined total of thefeatures of a rock includingsuch things as lithology,fossil content, sedimentary structures etc HEADUnconsolidated sediment produced by a mixture of mass-movement processes including solifluctionandslope wash, andcommonly characterised by weak shear strengths INTERFLUVESHigh ground between stream or rivers of the same drainage basin IPSWICHIAN Thetemparate period prior to the 42 Geology and land use planning, Morley-Rothwell-Castle ford

ANNEX 1: MAIN COLLIERIES

Colliery Grid Seams worked reference(British seamCoal index) of mine entrance

Aberford Road [3589 24881 APQ, AWY Allerton Bywater* [4215 27881 UX, ACD, AE, APQ Allerton Main [3979 28971 M, UX, AA, ACD, AE, AWY Allerton West [3875 28261 APQ Beeston Manor [2830 28701 My T, UX Bruntcliffe [2503 27311 My T, UX, Z, ACD, AE, AH, AK Churwell [2692 29821 M, T, UX Dean Hall [2583 28421 ACB, AE, AG, AH, AJ Dartmouth [2724 28891 T East Ardsley [3056 25861 UX, AA, -4B, ACD, AE, AJ Ebor [3 146 29261 ACD Fleakingley Beck [3898 29431 UX, ACD, Foxhole [3748 25401 APQ, Glass Houghton [4307 24381 UX, ACD, AK, APQ, AWY, BBD Glasshouse [2987 27451 ACD Great Preston [4004 29701 APQ Goodhope [3977 23221 ACD, BBD Harthill [2535 29321 K, T, ACD, AE, AJ Howley Park [2504 25471 T, UX, AB, ACD, AE, AH, AJ, AK Kippax [4126 28681 APQ, Ledston Luck [4293 30821 AJ, AK, Lingwell Gate [3175 25361 APQ Lofthouse [3252 24741 UX, Z, AA, ACD, AE, AJ Lofthouse Park [3332 25131 BBD Lowther [4058 28561 APQ Methley Junction [3963 25651 UX, ACD, Methley Savile [3923 27301 UX, AA, ACD, AE, AK, APQ Middleton [3082 29091 K, My N, UX, Z, ACD, AE, AG, AH, AJ Mill Shaw [2786 30121 M Morley Main E2703 28031 UX, ACD, AE, AJ, AK New Hall [3189 28841 UX, AA, ACD, AE Newmarket Silkstone [3620 25671 UX, Z, AA, ACD, AE, AJ, APQ, AWY, AK, BE Newmarket Spencer [3504 26 161 APQ, AWY Newmarket Swithens [3463 26941 APQ New Sharkton" [3839 20201 UX, Z, ACD, AN, APQ, AWY, AZ, BBD, BE Newton [4494 27771 AWY, BBD Newton Abbey [4500 27331 BBD Park Hill [3516 21781 ACD, APQ, AV, AWY, AZ, BBD, BE Philadelphia [2593 29531 ux Geology and land use planning, Morley-Rothwell-Castleford 43

~~ Colliery Grid Seams worked reference(British Coal seam index) of mine entrance

Primrose Hill [3874 29721 M, N, UX, AA, ACD, AE Red Hill [4435 25151 BN Robin Hood [3241 27221 AE, UX, AA, ACD, AE, AJ Rothwell [3474 29821 M, N, T, UX, Z, AA, ACD, AE, AJ, APQ St. John’s [3742 22171 Z, UX, AA, ACD, APQ, BBD, BE, BG Stanley Ferry [3515 23011 BBD Street House [3980 20181 BBD, BE Snydale [4079 20171 APQ, AWY, BBD, BE Swillington Park [3811 28921 APQ Tanhouse [2727 30041 UX, T Water Haigh [3731 28291 Z, UX, AA, AB, ACD, AE, AK West Ardsley [2786 26631 UX, AA, AB, ACD, AJ, AK West End ux West Riding [3894 24171 M, UX, AA, ACD, AJ, APQ, AWY, BE, BBD Wheldale [44 13 26261 UX, ACD, AE, AK, APQ, AWY, unamed Whitwood [4059 24851 UX, ACD, AA, AE, AH, AK, APQ, AWY, BBD Woodlesford [3607 29861 UX, ACD

ANNEX 2: OPENCAST COAL SITES

Tablesshowing the Opencast Coal Mines,British Coal sitenumber, National Grid Reference (NGR) and coal seams worked. The * indicates that the site was active on 1st January 1988.

Site Site NGR workedCoal seams number

Astley and Extension 67 1A/678A [388 2831 Kent’s Thick Bell Hill 780A [328 2991 Flockton Thick, Flockton Thin Birkwood Common Unnumbered Coney Warren 108 11347 2621 Kent’s Thick, Warren House Dungeon Lane 612 [355 2701 Stanley Main Gap Lane 72 1 [374 2061 Sharlston Yard, Houghton Thin Great Preston 253 [405 2981 Warren House, Dunsil Healdfield Unnumbered [439 2601 Wheatworth Hill Top Farm Unnumbered [366 2321 Stanley Main Hungate 639/639A [381 2671 Kent’s Thick Lockwood 948 [301 2991 Middleton Main, Middleton 11 Yd Lofthouse Park 056 [340 2511 Stanley Main 44 Geology and land use planning, Morley-Rothwell-Castle ford

Site NGR Site seams Coal worked number

Lowther North and 829/829A [403 2821 Kent’s Thick, Extension Warren House, Low Barnsley, Dunsil Methley Park 514/514A [377 2721 Kent’s Thick Millshaw 049 [282 2991 Beeston Nabs End 51 1 [293 2771 Flockton Thick Newmarket Farm Unnumbered [356 2541 Kent’s Thick Newton Lane 730/730A [435 2821 Meltonfield Oulton Hall 575A [360 2731 Kent’s Thick Oulton Park Unnumbered [353 2781 Haigh Moor Ouzlewell Green 289A [343 2701 Swallow Wood, Haigh Moor Owl Wood 637A/738A [418 2921 Kent’s Thick, Warren House, Beck Bottom Stone, 27 Yard, Swallow Wood, Haigh Moor Red Lane 337 [400 2061 Sharlston Muck, Sharlston Low Roman Station Farm 092/092A [355 2551 Kent’s Thick Royds Green and 033 [347 2641 Kent’s Thick Extension Royds Hall Unnumbered [357 2591 Kent’s Thick Snydale 217 [395 2101 Sharlston Top, Sharlston Muck, Sharlston Low, Sharlston Yard, Houghton Thin St. Aidans and 181 [390 2901 Kent’s Thick, Extension * Warren House, Low Barnsley, Dunsil St Johns * 949 [371 2191 Sharlston Top, Sharlston Muck, Sharlston Low, Watkinson Terrace 520/520A [404 2941 Warren House Geology and land use planning, Morley-Rothwell-Castle ford 45

ANNEX 3: SAND AND GRAVEL RESOURCE 4. Thedeposit should lie within 25 m of the ASSESSMENT surface,thisbeing taken as thelikely maximumworking depthunder most As part of the present project, the local sand and circumstances.followsIt fromthe second graveldeposits have been thesubject of a criterionthat boreholes aredrilled no deeper resourceassessment, as describedbelow. This is than 18 mif no sand and gravel has been concerned with the estimation of resources, which proved. include deposits that are not currently exploitable buthave a foreseeable use, ratherthan reserves, Adeposit of sandand gravel that broadly meets which can only be assessed in the light of current, these criteria is regarded as ‘potentially workable’ locally prevailing,economic considerations. and is describedand assessed as ‘mineral’ in this Clearly,neither the economicnor the social report. factors usedto decidewhether adeposit may be Pre-Pleistoceneusuallyrocks,whichare workable in the future can be predicted; they are consolidatedand devoid of potentiallyworkable likely to change with time. Deposits not currently sandand gravel, are referred to as ‘bedrock’; economicallyworkable may be exploited as ‘waste’ isany material other than bedrock or demandincreases, as higher-gradealternative mineral; ‘overburden’ is waste that occurs between materialbecomes improved scarce,as or the surface and an underlying body of mineral. processingtechniques areapplied to them.The improvedknowledge of mainthe physical Forthe particular needs of assessing sandand properties of theresource and their variability, gravelresources, a grain-size classification based whichthis survey seeks to provide, will add onthe geometric scale 1/16 mm, 1/4 mm, 1 mm, significantlytothe factual background against 4mm, 16 mm, 64 mm has been adopted. The whichplanning policies can be decided (Archer, boundaries between fines (that is, the clay and silt 1969; Thurrell, 197 1, 198 1; Harrisand others, fractions)and sand, and sand and gravel grade 1974). material,are placed at 1/16mm and 4 mm respectively (Giles, 1982, Appendix C). The survey provides information at the ‘indicated’ level.‘Indicated’ assessments ‘are computed partly The volume andother characteristics of the from specificfrommeasurements, samples or mineralare assessed withinresource blocks, each productiondata and partly from projection for a of which, ideallycontains approximately ten reasonabledistance on geologicevidence. The squarekilometres of sand and gravel. No account sitesavailable for inspection,measurement, and is taken of any factors, for example roads, villages sampling are too widely or otherwisewidely samplingortoo are orland of highagricultural or landscape value, inappropriatelyspaced to permitthemineral which might stand in the way of sand and gravel bodiesto be outlinedcompletely or the grade beingexploited, although towns are excluded. establishedthroughout’. (Bureau of Mines and Theestimated total volume therefore bears no Geological Survey 1980). simplerelationship to the amount that could be extracted in practice. It follows thatthe whereabouts of reservesmust stillbe established and their size and quality It must be emphasised that the assessment applies provedby the customary detailed exploration and to the resource blockwhole; aas valid evaluationundertaken by industry.However, the conclusionscannot bedrawn about mineralin informationprovided by thissurvey should assist parts of a block, except in the immediate vicinity inthe selection of possiblesites suitable, in of the actual sample points. geologicalterms, forfurther investigation. The The geology of the solid anddrift depositsare followingarbitrary physical criteriahave been describedin the stratigraphical section of this adopted: report. 1. Thedeposit should average at least lmin Composition of the sand and gravel resources thickness. Theunconsolidated aggregate resources of the 2. Theratio of overburdento sand and gravel district consist of glacial andfluvial sand and should be no more than 3:l. gravel.Details of boreholes andgradings from 3. Theproportion of fines(particles passing a these deposits are presented in Giles & Williamson 0.625 mm B. S. sieve)should not exceed 40 (1985) orare commercially confidential but the percent. information has been collated and interpreted, and is presented below in general terms. 46 Geologyand land use planning, Morley-Rothwell-Castleford

Survey, Keyworth, Nottingham. Glacial Sand and Gravel Themineral-bearing ground inthe district is Potentiallyworkable glacial sand and gravel has dividedintoresource blocks(Giles 1982, an overallmean grading of 12% fines, 44% sand Appendix A). Within eachresource block the and 44% gravel.However, the deposit exhibits mineral is subdividedinto areas where it is considerablevariation: borehole and section mean exposed, thatis, where the overburden averages gradings range from ‘very clayey’ sandygravel to less than 1m in thickness,and areas where it is gravel. presentcontinuousin (oralmost continuous) spreads beneath overburden. Thegravel fractions are mainly coarse andthe clasts arepredominantly rounded angular.to Areaswhere bedrock crops out, where boreholes Carboniferoussandstone commonlyaccounts for indicatethe absence of sandand gravel beneath over 90% of thegravel, but cherts and ironstone cover, and where sand and gravel beneath cover is may be significant components: subordinate notthought to potentiallybe workable are constituentsinclude siltstone, mudstone and unornamentedon the map. In such cases, it has quartz.Aggregate impact values BS 812 (British been assumed that the mineral is absent except in Standards Institution, 1975) for composite samples infrequentand relatively minor patches that can yielded an average value of 41. The sand fraction neitherbe outlined nor assessed quantitativelyin is mainlymedium with subordinate amounts of thecontext of thissurvey. Areas of unassessed fine and coarse. The sand is generallysubangular sandand gravel, for examplein built-up areas, torounded quartz with lithic grains, the latter are indicated by a stipple. dominatingthe coarse grades.Fines consist of Thearea of mineral-bearingground is measured, yellowish brown silt and clay. wherepossible, fromthemapped geological boundarylines. The whole of thearea is Fluvial Sand and Gravel consideredasmineral-bearing, even though it River Terrace Deposits (Undifferentiated), Second may include small areas where sand and gravel is RiverTerrace Deposits, First River Terrace not present or is not potentially workable. Deposits andAlluvium are considered under this heading. The potentially workable fluvial deposits Results range from ‘very clayey’ pebblysand to gravel. Thestatistical results aresummarised in Table 6. Themean grading forthe deposits is 12% fines, The statistical methods used are outlined in Giles 55% sandand 33% gravel. Thefines are (1982, Appendix B). composed of silts and clays. Thesand is composed of angular to rounded quartz with lithic Forthe three resource blocks, assessed atthe grains,the latter of whichcomprise greatera indicative level, the accuracy of the results at the percentage of the coarse fraction.The modal 95percent probability level (that is, on average sand grade is medium with significant amounts of nineteenout of everytwenty sets of limits coarse. The gravel is normally fine and composed constructed in this way contain the true value for of rounded to subangular Carboniferous sandstone the volume of mineral) is between 15 and 53 whichcommonly forms more than 90% of the percent.However, the true volume is morelikely clasts. Minoramounts of siltstone,mudstone, to be nearerthe figure estimated than either of chert, quartz, ironstone and coal together form the the limits.Moreover, it is probablethat roughly remaining 10%. AggregateImpact Values for the samepercentage limits would apply forthe composite samples range between 40 and 42. statisticalestimate of mineralvolume within a verymuch smaller parcel of ground (say 100 Mineral Resource In formation hectares)containing similar sand and gravel deposits, if the results fromthe same number of Thesummary sand and gravel resource map samplepoints were used inthe calculation. Thus, presentedin Figure 12 is areduced composite of if closerlimits areneeded for aquotation of theoriginal 1: 10 000 scale Thematic Geology reserves, datafrom more sample points wouldbe Maps preparedby Giles and Williamson (1985) required,even if thearea were quite small. It andGiles (1987). Site-specificdata is notshown must be emphasised thatthe quoted volume of onFigure 12since the scale of thefigure is too mineral has no simplerelationship to the amount small. Thenon-confidential data may be thatcould extractedbe practice,in as no examinedapplicationby National the to allowance has beenmade inthe calculation for Geoscience DataCentre, British Geological Geology and land use planning, Morley-Rothwell-Castle ford 47 anyrestraints (such as existingbuildings and roads) onthe use of theland for mineral Block B workings. The resources in this block comprise only a small fraction of themineral on the resource sheet. Notes on the resource block However,they are geologically distinctand are Geological criteriahave been used todesignate treatedseparately. The glacial sandand gravel is theboundaries of theresource blocks. Blocks A closely associated withthe till. Togetherthey and C includeall the fluvial sand and gravel of form spreads on the interfluves between the Aire thevarious river terrace deposits and alluvium, andCalder, masking theformer topography. whilst Block Bcontains the glacial sand and Qpencast prospecting boreholes suggested that the gravel. glacial sandand gravel extends beneath the till. Twoboreholes (Giles and Williamson 1985) were Severallarge colliery spoil tips rest directly on drilledto see if this is so. Bothboreholes proved fluvialsand and gravel in Blocks A and C. The thicktill which was, inpart, very pebbly, which additionalthickness of material, if treated as could have been interpreted as sand and gravel, in overburden,may render the sand and gravel thereturns from ashell and auger rig, by an beneathas not ‘potentially workable’. However, inexperienced operator. thecolliery spoil tips may be considered as a minestone resource, although no formal minestone Theresource has beenexploited in a number of resourcestudy has been published. Arbitrary localitiesby small-scale quarriesfor local use. In decisions have been made during the present work addition,several opencast siteshave removed as to whether the sand and gravel beneath a spoil glacial sand and gravel, as overburden. tip was includedin the resource assessment. This The resources are estimated using results from the dependedprimarily upon the size of thedeposit twoboreholes drilledfor the purpose, seven and the nature of the spoil. collectedsections and a number of confidential boreholesincludingopencast prospecting Block A boreholes.These record meana thickness of The assessment of thisblock uses information 2.4 m of sandand gravel. However, as none of from twoboreholes specially drilled forthe the collectedsections recorded thefull thickness purpose(Giles and Williamson 1985), three of thedeposit, this is aconservative estimate. records of naturalsections and information from The volume of sand and gravel is 2.2 million m3 & 19borehole records inthe BGS archives; 12 of 53%. Thelarge confidence limits reflect the which areheld commercially confidence.in degree of uncertainty in assessing thisblock. The Thesedata record arange of mineralthicknesses meangrading is 12% fines, 55% sandand 33% between 0.8 m and 13.4 m, with a mean value of gravel. 4.3 m. Infive records the total mineral thickness was notproved. Consequently any estimate of Block C sandand gravel resources based onthis dataset Geological criteriahave been usedto designate will beconservative. The meangrading forthe theboundary of theresource block. The block is block is 12% fines, 44% sand and 44% gravel. composed entirely of fluvialsand and gravel of Thereareseveral small,largely overgrown, the various riverterrace deposits and alluvium. quarrieswhich formerly exploited the fluvial The assessment of the blockused information deposits for local use and havemade no from BGS archives.includedThis site significantinroads intothe resource. No investigationboreholes, several resource surveys commercialsand and gravel extraction from of thedeposits bycommercial concerns and withinthe resource block is known,although selectedBritish Coalopencast exploration substantialareas have been extracted, largely as boreholes. A total of 71 boreholes were used. overburden,during opencast coalmining. St Onelarge quarrycurrently exploits the resources. AidansExtension Opencast coal site is currently Othermuch smaller quarries mayhave extracted removinglarge areas of fluvialsand and gravel smallareas of sandand gravel for local use, but south of the former hamlet of Astley. no recordsexist of theirformer extent or depth. The volume of potentiallyworkable sand and BritishCoalopencast siteshaveremoved gravel resources of this block is 40.8 million m3 f significantareas of sandand gravel during 3 1yo. excavations for coal, for example atthe Lowther 48 Geology and land use planning, Morley-Rothwell-Castleford

Table 6. The sand and gravel resources of the district: statistical assessment.

BlockThicknessVolumeMean Area theof at Limits sand and 95% probability gravel level

Block Mineral Overburden Mineral

km 2 km2 km2 m m m3x1 o6 rn3x 1o6

4.3 4.3 40.8 31 40.8A 9.8 4.3 9.5 4.3 2.2 0.9 2.4 0.9 B 2.2 2.4 2.2 53 8.5 8.5 2.5 5.1 2.5 8.5 C 8.5 43.4 15

North and Extension Site. In addition, large areas partingsare recorded in a number ofboreholes of thisresource block are underlain by potential andthese range in thickness from 0.1 5m to opencastcoal resources, several areas of which 2.89 m, and are normally composed of soft clay or have been prospected in the past. silts. Thesand and gravel has amean thickness of5.1 mand arange of between 0.30 mand Severallarge colliery spoil tips rest on alluvium. 14.63 m. Severalboreholes in the resource block These areas have been excluded from the resource recordpeat, silt and clay instead of sand and block andhave not been assessed. However,the gravel. situation could change if parts of thesetips were used as minestone in the future. Thevolume ofpotentially workable sand and gravelresources inthis block is 43.4 million Themean overburden thickness is 2.5 mwith a metres3 15 percent. range of between 0.15 mand 6.70m.Waste f