S. H. HOLLINGWORTH ON A PEAT BED AT OLDHAM. 



713 



44. Description of a Peat Bed interstratified tuith the Boulder- 

 Drift at Oldham. By Geo. H. Hollingworth, Esq., F.G.S. 

 (Read June 22, 1881.) 



In the early part of September last Mr. James Nield, of Oldham, 

 called my attention to a bed of peat which he had discovered on the 

 site of the railway-extensions then being made by the London and 

 North- Western Railway Co., at Rhodes Bank, Oldham. 



The length of the section exposed to view was 53 feet in a north- 

 to-south direction, and the maximum depth 14 feet ; but the depth 

 of the drift, as proved at the colliery about 100 yards to the west, 

 is 34| feet. 



Section of Boidcler-clay with interstratified Peat, near Rhodes Bank, 

 Oldham. (Scale about 14 feet to 1 inch.) 



a. Soil. b. Boulder-clay. c. Fine blue clay. 



d. Peat. e. Sand. /. Ochre. 



The following is the description of the beds, proceeding down- 

 wards : — 

 No. 



1. Soil 8 to 10 in. 



2. Boulcler-clay, sometimes sandy, with beds and 1 «», 



strings of peat J 



3. Main bed of peat containing mosses, exogenous \ 



stems, and beetles. At one point there was en- I 2 in. to 1 ft. 9 in. 

 closed in the peat a deposit of iron ochre (/) about j Average 15 in. 

 6 inches in maximum thickness and 6 feet long... J 



4. Blue clay, mostly very fine, but stony where j ^ m to 1 ft 



thickest, forms the floor clay or soil ..J 



5. Current-bedded coarse sand and fine gravel, red- \ , . q ^ 2 ft 



and yellow-coloured J 



6. Boulder-clay, proved 6 ft. 



The deposit is situate in the valley of the Medlock, about 25 feet 

 above its present level ; but it has not beeen exposed by that brook, 

 at this point, where there is from 2 to 6 feet of the upper clay still 

 resting upon the peat. The upper clay, peat, and lower clay have 

 probably been denuded by the action of the brook some yards to the 



Q.J.G.S. No. 148. 3 b 



