THE 



aEOLOGICAL MAGAZINE. 



NEW SERIES. DECADE IV. VOL. IV. 



No. II.— FEBRUARY, 1897. 



I. — Geology of the London Extension of the Manchester, 



SHEFFrELD, AND LINCOLNSHIRE EaILWAY. PaRT I : AnnESLET 



to Eugbt. 



By C. Fox-Strangwats, F.G.S. 

 (Communicated by permission of the Director-General of the Geological Survey.) 

 ri^HIS portion of the new trunk line to London covers a distance 

 X of about fifty miles, and runs nearly due south, crossing the 

 towns of Nottingliam, Loughborough, Leicester, Lutterworth, and 

 Eugby. Throughout the greater part of this distance the railway 

 IS on the Trias, except the northern portion, which is on the 

 Permian, and the southern, which is on the Lias. There are also 

 great thicknesses of Drift met with near Leicester and between 

 that town and Eugby, but very little in the northern part on either 

 side of Nottingham. 



Commencing at Annesley, the first section, which is just east of 

 the Midland station, shows the lower sandstones of the Trias 

 overlain by a little sand and gravel. This sandstone is not here 

 of any great thickness, as in the shallow depressions on either side 

 the Permian Marls crop out and may be followed along the next 

 cutting to the south. At the south end of this cutting^a fault is 

 crossed_ which brings in the Magnesian Limestone. The railway 

 is continued over this formation for some distance beyond Linby, 

 but being carried on a high embankment the rock is only exposed 

 here and there in the ditch along the side. The sections, however, 

 show that there is not much superficial covering over this com- 

 paratively flat ground. 



As we approach Hucknall Torkard there is a marl cutting, but 

 the limestone soon rises up from below. This latter is much dis- 

 turbed by a fault or sharp roll near the bridges at the north end 

 of the town, some of the beds being quite vertical. The same 

 disturbance was noted in the culvert over the brook a little to the 

 south. A drawing of this was made by Mr. Allen, the resident 

 engineer of this portion of the line.i 



1 I am greatly indebted to Mr. Edward Parry and the resident engineers of the 

 diiierent sections of the line for much information as to the nature and thickness of 

 the strata met with in the excavations for bridges and other structures, which were 

 covered up before the time of my visit. , t xc 



DBCADB IT. VOL. IV. NO. II. 



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