BRINE-SPRINGS AND SALIFEROUS MARLS. 251 
not always present ; they average 6 feet, sometimes being as much 
as 10 feet. Springs are always found here, and extend down 60-70 
feet into the marls. These springs are fresh, occasionaliy brackish. 
The real work of boring commences some 30 feet from the surface ; 
but away from the valley the Red Marls are much nearer to the 
top. The quicksands, it should be stated, occur also in Cheshire *. 
Section of most recent boring at the works of the Droitwich Salt 
Company. (Details supplied by the engineer and the man who 
actually assisted in the work.) 
15-20 feet. { Se eterek eo ager in thickness in different 
6 feet. Quicksands, with fresh springs. 
3 feet. Base of gravel, loose stones and sand. 
Fs 
(: ( Springs to 60-70 feet from surface. 
| Bands of gypsum occur irregularly. 
E (olticcn = Red Marls with traces of salt crystals. 
a 4 Irregular accumulations of rock-salt. 
= ; |uower marls, intermixed with sand of a harder 
{| texture. 
| 1-13 foot. Intensely hard crust of gypsum. 
\ 6-9 feet. Salt springs from a cavity. 
The Red Keuper Marls (an admirable section is exposed in the 
cutting at Rainbow Hill, Worcester station), through which the 
real boring-operations commence, are bright in colour, friable and 
regularly stratified ; some bands appear to be of an inferior sand- 
stone, shaly in character, and intermixed with thin bands of greyish 
or micaceous sandy beds, also shaly. As far as fresh springs are met 
with, salt appears to be absent. Bands of gypsum occur irregularly ; 
these are intermixed with red marls, having traces of salt crystals. 
Accumulations of rock-salt of several feet are met with in some 
borings. The lower marls become harder in texture and are mixed 
with sand and gypsum. At about 210 feet the hard crust above 
the brine occurs, a sure indication that the springs are reached. 
The steel bore rebounds again from its contact with this hard, 
gypseous bed, from 1 foot to 1 foot 6 inches thick. 
Immediately the hard band is pierced the steel rods fall through 
a cavity ; in the instance I inquired into, a drop of 9 feet. The 
* Section, Geol. Survey Report, vol. viii. Hull’s Trias, chap. ix. p. 110 (1864). 
