6 March, The Superficial Geology of Manchester. 



higher parts of Harpurhey and Blackley, Clifton, Kearsley and 

 Little Lever. 



In considering the evidence bearing on these classifications it is 

 important to remember that the sands often contain lenticular beds 

 of clay of fair thickness (10-15 feet) which are merely local features, 

 dying out in all directions. The same applies to sand " pockets " 

 in the clay. This fact was noted by Binney. 1 



Distribution of the Glacial Sands 



The thick Glacial sands, called the " Middle Sands " by Hull, 

 occupy the country in the north of Manchester from Boggart Hole 

 Go ugh to Pendleton. In the centre of this area, in Kersall Moor 

 and Higher Blackley, they have been reckoned to be over 200 feet 

 thick. The boring on the east side of the lake in Heaton Park shows 

 106 feet of sands. One sunk near the Prestwich Asylum passed 

 through 99 feet of sands containing a 31 -foot clay-bed without 

 reaching rock, and the shaft of Hugh o' th' Wood Colliery in 

 Prestwich Clough gives 154 feet of alternating sands and clays. 



If the sands are followed south from Boggart Hole Clough they 

 are seen to be 42 feet thick at Crumpsall Old Workhouse. To the 

 south of the workhouse a line of sewer sections along the Rochdale 

 Road (Fig. 2, PI. III.) shows these sands thinning out entirely in less 

 than a mile. 



Farther to the west the Glacial sands are well exposed in Alms 

 Hill, where extensive excavations are being made. Just to the south 

 of Alms Hill come the Queen's Road Clay Pits : here there is clay 

 only. This complete change takes place in under a half-a-mile. 



On the south side, therefore, the Glacial sands die out, and are 

 replaced by clays. 



To the east of Crumpsall Old Workhouse, and the south-east of 

 Boggart Hole Clough, a similar replacement occurs, for in the Moston 

 Collieries the sections show that the Drift is largely clay, with sand 

 bands in it, the thickest of which is only 22 feet, while in the Fails- 

 worth area the section at Failsworth Pole proves clay with a 19-foot 

 sand-bed, and one at Lymeditch shows nothing but clay. The two 

 sections in the Prestwich area have alternating beds of clays and 

 sands of almost equal thickness. 



To the north of the Glacial sands, at Alkrington Colliery, 

 which is about 2 \ miles from Heaton Park, the section is very 

 similar to those at Moston, being clay with two sand bands, the 

 thickest of which is 23 feet. 



To the west of the typical sand area the section of the Whitefield 

 Incline Pit has an n-foot sand-bed. 



In the North Pendleton district the sands are well shown in the 

 Light Oaks Road — here a bore-hole was put down which proved 20 

 feet of sands without reaching rock. In Weaste, however, in the 

 sandstone quarries overlooking the Irwell valley, the rock is covered 



1 Mem. Lit. and Phil., II., Series 3, p. 464. 



