Technical Report WA/92/33 A geological background for planning and development in the ‘Black Country’ J H Powell, B W Glover and C N Waters BRITISH GEOLOGICAL SURVEY TECHNICAL REPORTWA/92/33 Offshore Geology Series A geological background for Cover illustrations planning and development in the Front Cover View of the Dudley Canal and Cobb’s Pit, Warrens Hill Park, Dudley. ‘Black Country’ BackCover Top;Severn Sister’s Cavern, Wren’s Nest Nature Reserve (SSSI). Galleries and roof- supporting pillarsin workmgs of the J H Powell, B W Glover and C N Waters steeply dipping Much Wenlock Limestone (Lower Quarried Limestone). Contributors Bottom; Basal Coal Measures conglomerate resting Engineering geology A Forster unconformably on, and Hydrogeology S W Fletcher, E L Parry and C A Thomas overstepping steeply dipping Silurian strata. The Hayes; archival (National Rivers Authority) photograph, 1921. Planning B R Marker Geographical index UK, Central England, West Midlands Subject index Geology, planning, thematic maps, mineral resources, hydrogeology, mining, engineering geology. Production of this report was partly funded by the Departmentof the Environment, but the views expressed in it are not necessarily those of the Department Maps and diagrams use topography based on Ordnance Survey mapping Bibliographic reference POWELL,J H , GLOVER,B W, and WATERS,C N. 1992. A geologi- cal background for planning and development in the ‘Black Country’. British Geological Survey Technical ReportWAl92133. 0NERC copyright 1992 Keyworth,Nottingham British Geological Survey1992 BRITISH GEOLOGICAL SURVEY The full range of Survey publications is available through Keyworth, Nottingham NG12 5GG the Sales Desks at Keyworth and at Murchison House, a 0602363100378173Telex BGSKEY G Edinburgh, and in the BGS London Information Office in Fax0602363200 the Natural History Museum Earth Galleries. The adjacent bookshop stocks the more popular books for sale over the Murchison House, West Mains Road, Edinburgh EH93LA counter. Most BGS books and reports are listed in HMSO’s Sectional List 45, and can be bought HMSOfrom and 48 031-6671000Telex727343 SEISED G through HMSO agents and retailers. Maps are listed in the Fax031-6682683 BGS Map Catalogue, and can be bought from Ordnance Survey agents as well as from BGS. London Information Office at the Natural History Museum, Earth Galleries, Exhibition Road, South Kensington, The British Geological Survey carries out the geological London SW7 2DE survey of Great Britain and Northern Ireland(the latter as %Fax071-5848270 071-5894090 an agency servicefor the governmentof Northern Ireland), s 071-938 9056/57 and of the surrounding continental sheKas well as its basic research projects.It also undertakes programmesof 19 Grange Terrace, Edinburgh EH9 2LF British technical aid in geology in developing countries as e 031-6671000Telex727343 SEISED G arranged by the Overseas Development Administration. St Just, 30 Pennsylvania Road, Exeter EX4 6BX The British Geological Surveyis a component body of the Natural Environment Research Council. 78312a (0392) Fax0392437505 Bryn Eithyn Hall, Llanfarian, Aberystwyth, Dyfed SY23 4BY .a Aberystwyth (0970) 61 1038 Fax 0970-624822 Windsor Court, Windsor Terrace, Newcastle upon Tyne NE2 4HB a 091-2817088 1-28Fax09 1690 1 Geological Survey of Northern Ireland, 20 College Gardens, Belfast BT9 6BS a- Belfast(0232) 666595 Fax0232-662835 Maclean Building, Crowmarsh Gifford, Wallingford, Oxfordshire OX 10 8BB % Wallingford(0491) 38800 Telex 849365 HYDROL G Fax0491-25338 Parent Body Natural Environment Research Council Polaris House, North Star Avenue, Swindon, Wiltshire SN2 1EU a Swindon(0793) 41 1500 Telex 444293 ENVRE G Fax0793411501 Printed by J EC Potters & Sons Ltd, Stamford, Lincolnshire CONTENTS FIGURES ExecutiveSummary 1 1. Sketch map showing the regionalsetting of the study area 1 Limitations 3 2. Published BGS geological mapsof the Black Country area4 Introduction 5 3. Map of the Black Country study area showingthe Objectives 5 borough boundaries, component BGS1 : 10 000-scale Sources of information 5 and 150 000-scale maps and the boundaryof the exposed coalfield 7 The Thematic Geological Maps 6 4. Generalised bedrock geological mapof the Black Country18 GeographicalBackground 9 5. Generalised vertical section of the strata 21 6. Generalisedhorizontal cross-sections 22 PlanningBackground 10 7. Schematic diagram showing the generalised Introduction10 stratigraphical relationships of the Carboniferous ThePlanning System 10 rocks in the Black Country 23 DevelopmentPlans 10 8. Comparative vertical sections through the Coal Control of Development10 Measures26 Informationrequirements 11 9. Generalised structural map of the Black Country Strategic planning issues 12 showing the major faults and folds 29 10. Generalised distribuition of superficial Drift Key Issues for which geological informationis deposits in the area 32 required 14 11. Cartoon showingthe relationship of Drift deposits in Housing, construction and infrastructure 14 theBlack Country 33 Derelictland 14 12. Generalised distribution of Made Ground and Worked Minerals15 Ground36 Waterresources 15 13. Mineral resources of the Black Country 39 Wastedisposal 16 14. Historical trends of mining reflected in the Conclusion16 distribution of working mines. A, 1861: B, 1902: C, 194540 Geologicalbackground 17 15. Summary of various types of mining methods 41 Bedrock geology and structure 17 16. Generalised distribution of the engineering Superficial (drift) deposits 33 geological categoriesof superficial (drift) Made Ground, fill and worked ground 35 deposits50 17. Generalised distribution of broad engineering Geological Resources and Constraints Relevant to geological categoriesof the bedrock in the Black Planningand Development 38 Country 58 Introduction , 38 18. Generalised developmentof general subsidence due Geologicalresources 38 to collapse of disused workings 66 Mineralresources 38 19. Diagramatic developmentof mining voids and crown Groundwaterresources 45 holes68 Additionalresources 45 Geological constraints 48 Properties and stability of bedrock and superficial TABLES resources48 Groundwater: potential for contamination andrising 1. Main sources of archival information 5 groundwater levels 65 2. Summary of previous Geological Survey/BGS Human activities affecting ground conditions 65 geologicalmapping 6 3. Publication of small-scale (1 inchto 1 mile) Glossary 7 1 geological maps covering the Black Country 6 4. DevelopmentPlans 11 Acknowledgements 72 5. Selected documents giving planning advice and guidance 12 TechnicalAppendices 73 6. Amount of derelict land justifying reclamation at Appendix 1. Datasources 73 1 April 1988, by type, in the metropolitan boroughsof Appendix 2. List of mineral industry operators 74 the BlackCountry 14 Appendix 3. List of statutory bodies relevantto planning 7. Amounts of derelict land reclaimed betweenApril, anddevelopment 74 1982 and March 1988in the metropolitan boroughs Appendix 4. List of 1: 10 000-scale geological maps and of the Black Country 15 accompanyingTechnical Reports 75 8. Present bedrock geological nomenclature comparedto theprevious schemes 19 References 76 9. Principal bedrock geologicalunits in the Black Country area and their economic uses 20 10. Subdivisions of the Much Wenlock Limestonein the BlackCountry 24 11. Carboniferous rocks present inthe Black Country PLATES and their economic importance 28 12. Approximate thicknessof the principal coal seams 1. Warren’s Hall Park, Dudley. Viewof the Dudley in the South Staffordshire coalfield 28 Canal (lookingnorth-east) near the entrance of the 13. Details of the Superficial (Drift) Deposits in the Black Netherton Tunnel. Cobb’s EnginePit and two pit Country34 mounds are relics of coal workings at Windmill End 14. Types of former quarries andpits in the Black Colliery. The high ground representsthe dolerite Country area andthe constraints that they may outcrops at Rowley Regis and TansleyHill. The present to development46 steep slope inthe vicinity of Cobb’s EnginePit 15. Mineral extraction and waste disposalpossibilities in marks the line of the Russell’s Hall Fault 9 theBlack Country 47 16. Geological Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) 2. Exhumed ‘pillar and stall’ workings in the in the Black Country area 48 Stinking Coal; Dibdale Road opencast site 25 17. Major geological constraints to development and their possible risks 49 3. The Thick Coal at Dibdale Road opencast site 25 18. Engineeringgeological categories 52 19. Coefficient of volume compressibility, Mv 53 4. Volcaniclastic tuff and brickclay; Tansey Green 20. Coefficient of consolidation, Cv 53 Quarry 27 21. Sulphates in soil and groundwater 53 22. Summary geotechnical data forthe superficial 5. Palaeosols in the Etruria Formation; Tansey Green materials 54-55 Quarry 27 23. Summary geotechnical data for the bedrock materials 56-57 6. The Wednesbury-Coseley Fault; Patent Shaft 24. Categories of slope 63 opencast site 31 25. Summary of types and methodsof coal mining and associated problems for land use 67 7. The unconformity betweenthe Etruria Formation and 26. Index of Silurian limestone mines (from Ove Arup& overlying Halesowen Formation; Ketley Quarry 3 1 Partners, 1983) 69 8. Dolerite workingsat Hailstone Quarry, Rowley Regis 62 PREFACE This report and the accompanying thematic geological maps result from a study, carried out between 1989 and 1992, which was commissioned by the Department of the Environment andjointly funded by the Department and the British