Upper 

 Mottled 

 Sandstone. 



ON THE CIRCULATION OF UNDERGBODND WATERS. 91 



Ormskirk belong to the Upper Mottled Sandstone, but occupy a lower 

 horizon in it than the more compact sandstones faulted in west of the 

 railroad, in which the principal well-borings of the Southport Waterworks 

 have been carried. But the soft beds aflPord the water-bearing horizon, in 

 the wells of the Widness Local Board, at Stocks wells and Netherley. 



For similar facilities I have to thank Mr. Beck, of Dallam Lane Forge, 

 Warrington, for a boring made at that place. From an inspection of the 

 cores, in company vnth my colleague, Mr. Strahan, we constructed the 

 following journal : — • 



feet. X 



1. Boulder clay and drift 30 



2. Red and pale yellow, soft rock . . . HSO 



3. Red and white ditto, .slickensides . 

 384 feet. Fault. 



r Flaggy micaceous sandstone ... .1 i 



4. < Red sandstone and thin shale bands . . • 218 

 600 „ |_ Micaceous flags and slickensides . . . j 



5. Red and white sandstone . . . . 1 50 

 752 „ Fault. 



r Pebble 



6. Red Sandstone with pebbles .... 58 i , -. 



r Lower 



887 „ 7. Soft Red Sandstone 70s Mottled 



L Sandstone. 

 The water pumped was found to be salt : — 



At a depth of 227 feet from surface 40 gTains of salt per gal. 

 „ o4o „ „ 1(0 ,, ,, 



390 „ „ 300 



„ 445 „ „ 750 



500 „ „ 1246 



600 „ „ 1575 



68(1 „ „ 3100 



7o(; „ „ 4000 



818 .. • „ 4.500 



At Dallam Lane Forge boring, as stated above, distinct traces of a 

 fault occur at 384 feet, and at 752 feet, and Mr. Beck found the beds 

 in his opinion turned on end in the former. That one fault occurs 

 ranging up from the south side of the river is undoubted, and I was 

 inclined with others to attribute the brine spring met with to the action 

 of this fault, leading the brine from the salt district in the Keiiper 

 Marls to the south. But during the past year, after careful study of the 

 action of faults on the passage of water, I have given up this position as 

 untenable. 



Where two porous permeable rocks are thrown against each other by a 

 fault, the dislocation offers little resistance to the passage of water through 

 the faults, and affords no facilities for its passage along its length, either 

 between its walls or along the face of the upcast slope. 



Where two impermeable beds of shale or clay are thrown against each 

 other, the fissure of the fault is narrow, so that it seldom includes foreign 

 material, and water can neither pass through nor along it. 



Where permeable formations are thrown against impermeable rocks, 

 by faults, the district is divided into watertight compartments ; water 

 flowing down the dip planes of the strata, ponding up on the dip side, 

 travels along the face of the fault, and rises until it escapes where the porous 

 rock crops to the surface, and is cut off by the fault, the course of which is 

 marked by a line of springs. h 



