Manchester Memoirs, Vol. Ixii. (1918), No. 11. 



XI. The Superficial Geology of Manchester. 



By Margaret Colley March, M.Sc. 



{Geological Department, The University, Manchester.) 

 {Read May j th, 1918. Received for publication July gt/i, 1918.) 



While much has been written concerning isolated exposures of 

 the Glacial and alluvial deposits in and around Manchester, no general 

 account of them has been attempted since the early descriptions by 

 the late Mr. E. W. Binney and Mr. Hull. A precise knowledge of 

 these surface deposits is of exceptional importance in a great city, 

 in connection with building, municipal and general engineering 

 operations, and questions of water supply and drainage. The 

 opportunity has therefore been taken, in connection with a general 

 investigation of the geology of the district for coal-mining purposes, 

 to collect all the data available concerning the superficial deposits 

 and to give a general account of them. 



The present account is based on an examination of all the pub- 

 lished evidence (see Bibliography) supplemented by many sections 

 of cuttings and bore-holes kindly supplied by the Manchester City 

 Surveyor, together with large numbers of well sections supplied by 

 Messrs. Mather & Piatt, Mr. Charles Chapman and Mr. A. Timmins ; 

 by information supplied by the Chief Engineer of the Manchester 

 Ship Canal, and by field observation. Mr. J. W. Jackson, of the 

 Manchester Museum, has also contributed his personal records and 

 allowed the use of observations left in manuscript by the late Mr. 

 Charles Roeder. 



In the latter portion of the paper some discussion will be given of 

 the relation of the Drift deposits to the present surface configuration 

 of Manchester, and of the form of the pre-Glacial surface. 



The distribution of the Drift in the Manchester area was first 

 worked out by Mr. E. W. Binney, who published a description, illus- 

 trated by a map of the district, in the Memoirs of this Society in 1848. 

 Since his time a great deal of the Drift formerly exposed has been 

 covered up, but, on the other hand, numerous fresh borings and 

 sewer sections have been made in it, disclosing its vertical and hori- 

 zontal distribution. The new evidence does not appear to require 

 any great modification of Binney's map other than a rather wider 

 extension of the river gravels than he allowed. 



The superficial deposits are of three kinds, each of which occupies 

 a distinct area : 



1. River Gravels. — These deposits vary considerably. They in- 

 clude true river gravels and sands, consisting mainly of re-sorted Drift 

 materials, which are often difficult to distinguish from true Glacial 



