/ 



386 report— 1878. 



These red beds are absent at Meux's brewery, where beneath 160 

 feet of gault occurs the well-known Ammonite interruptus zone, six 

 inches ; limestone, 4 feet 6 inches ; lower Greensand, 66 feet, under- 

 laid by mottled red and green argillaceous and micaceous shales of 

 Devonian age, extending from 1070 to 1144 feet from the surface, or 

 74 feet where the boring was discontinued. 



Boring at Messrs. Meux's, Tottenham Court Road : — 



Feet. 



Gravel 21 



London clay 63£ 



Woolwich beds 51 



Thanet sand 21 



Chalk, with flints 347£ 



Chalk, without flints 305 



Upper Greensand 28 



Gault 160 



Lower greensand 67 



Mottled bed, and purple, green, argillaceous and 



micaceous shales, Devonian fossils 80 



1144 



In Leicestershire Mr. Plant reports : — 



1. That the Lower Lias beds of the Midland districts do not give any 

 constant supply of water. The small quantity found at some places is 

 very hard, and is generally contaminated with sulphuretted hydrogen, 

 arising from the decomposition of the iron pyrites that occur so fre- 

 quently in these Lower Lias'shales. 



2. The Rhcetic beds and Upper Keuper marls (where the Upper 

 Gypsum bed has been penetrated) yield a good supply of hard water, con- 

 taining, besides carbonate of lime, sulphate of lime to the extent of 

 100 grains to the imperial gallon. The water is very transparent and very 

 palatable, and is admirably adapted for brewing the fine kinds of beer, 

 when diluted so as to reduce the proportion of sulphate of lime to about 

 forty to fifty grains per gallon. 



3. When the Upper Keuper sandstone is penetrated below the Gypsum 

 beds — from which it is separated by a considerable thickness of marl 

 (chocolate colour) impervious to water — from these sandstones a great 

 supply of water is found, in some places free of lime altogether, either 

 carbonate or sulphate, but in others it is still too hard for the profitable 

 generation of steam. The water in this sandstone depends upon the 

 " outcrop " at various places of the bed, where they have a dip of about 5° 

 to 8° south-east. 



4. When the thick beds of red and gray marls lying between the 

 Upper and Lower Keuper sandstone (Waterstones) are bored through, 

 they are generally found quite dry, and free from water ; but as soon as 

 the Lower Keuper sandstone is penetrated to any depth, water is always 

 found in great abundance and purity. The extraordinary supply in this 

 Sandstone is well shown in the Report on the Ellistown Shaft, the beds 

 there delivering (at 300 ft. deep) 60,000 gallons per hour for weeks 

 together, while the shaft was being sunk, and before the tubbing could 

 be put in. 



In another instance, these Waterstones yielded a column of pure limpid 

 water from a depth of 670 ft., the column rising 20 ft. above the surface, 

 a total of 690 ft. 



■^> 



