PROCEEDINGS OF THE COTTESWOLD CLUB 93 



The evidence as to the occurrence of saHne waters in 

 the vicinity of Swindon is not however new, and the 

 Swindon Well was confirmation of the fact, w^here at the 

 depth of 112 feet the water from the Forest Marble 

 contained 144 grains of saHne matter per imperial gallon, 

 and at the greatest depth (736 feet) over 2000 grains per 

 imperial gallon. This deep boring confirmed the fact of 

 the great thickness of the Oxford Clay, south of the 

 outcrop of the Cornbrash, extending between South 

 Cerney, or Somerford Keynes, Cricklade, and Swindon, a 

 distance of 12 miles, and in the direction of its true dip it 

 was found 570 feet thick in the Swindon sinking * 



At Melksham also mineral springs have been met with 

 during sinking in search of coal. The water here 

 contained 552 grains of saHne matter per gallon, chiefly 

 sodium calcium. Other localities may be mentioned, but 

 important evidence of saline water was furnished by an 

 Artesian well made at Oxford in 1832, where the well was 

 carried to a depth of 420 feet, through Oxford Clay 265 feet, 

 and to the Great Oolite below. 



" The conclusions drawn from these records are that in 

 certain localities, as at Melksham and Trowbridge, Swindon 

 and Oxford, where the Great Oolite series have been 

 reached, the prevalent salt is chloride of sodium — and that 

 while saline water has been found at higher levels in the 

 Corallian beds, the water obtained is less sahne, and the 

 prevalent salt is in several cases sulphate of soda." 



"The saline waters, however, found in the district vary 

 considerably, so that if the mineral matter be originally 

 derived from Triassic rocks below, the water must be 

 diluted and modified by other waters with which it has 

 come in contact, in rising towards the surface." 



It is important here to notice the presence and position 

 of the Triassic Rocks (the New Red Marls and Sandstones) 



*H. B. Woodward, Q. Jour. Geol. Soc, Vol. 42. Account of a well sinking, 

 G. W. Railway Co. Swindon. 



