VOI.. XIX. (i) EXCURSION— TETBXTRY W.\TERWORKS 
27 
being penetrated by burrowing organisms, which liavc left no other traces 
of their former presence in the now indurated deposit, than the irregular lines 
of weakness caused by their burrows. These have been subsequently acted 
upon both superficially and underground, by acidulated waters.”’ Mr 
Richardson did not consider that any of these suggestions satisfactorily 
explained the phenomena. He did not think the irregular cavities were 
formed by boring organisms. As they had seen in the piece of the bed drawn 
from deep down in the Tetbury bore-hole, the rock was similar to the pieces 
found at or near the surface with the exception that the cavities were filled 
with the yellow ochreous material, and had not been enlarged nor their sides 
worn by percolating waters. He was inclined to attribute the nature of the 
stone to its formation under certain special conditions which required further 
consideration. 
From the causeway leading into Yeizey’s Quarry the ‘‘ dry ” valley 
and site of the well sunk in search of water were pointed out. Mr Richardson 
said that when the Club visited the spot last year he had told them of the 
Rev. E. C. Spicer’s views with respect to the origin of ‘‘ dry ” valleys in the 
(ilyme .\rea of Oxfordshire.’ Spicer suggested that the dry valleys in that 
area were due to solution ” — to underground waters gradually dissolving 
the superincumbent limestone. As the limestone in the neighbourhood of 
the subterranean waters was slowly dissolved, settlement of superincumbent 
rock would gradually take place, and eventually the once subterranean stream 
would appear growing headwards. He found that the water was very hard, 
and that carbonate of lime had been deposited abundantly from it round roots, 
and, after flooding, upon the herbage. 
.\pplying this theory here, Mr Richardson said they might have expected 
an underground stream, and that as the valley was excavated some depth in 
the Great Oolite, the Fullers’ Earth woidd be reached by a well less deep than 
one .sunk on the neighbouring higher ground, whereas — at the bore-hole — 
the Forest Marble and the whole of the Great Oolite had to be penetrated before 
the Fullers’ Earth was reached. 
A well was accordingly sunk near the causeway and the black shale, grey, 
and often indurated marls and impure limestones of the ” Passage Beds,” 
such as commence at 133 feet down in the bore-hole were reached at 56 feet 
below ground-level (369 feet above ordnance-datum). The details of the 
beds passed through by this well are as follows : — 
WELL SUNK AT VEIZEY’S QUARRY IN I915. 
Ground-level : 369 feet above ordnance-datum. Thickness in 
ft. ins. 
f Reddish clayey soil, with numerous frag- 
boil -j ments of Forest Marble and Great-Oolite 
[limestone : about 
^Limestone, yellowish, oolitic. Very little 
Great I part water comes out of the rock, the most from 
Oolite I of a horizon- about 16 feet above the base 
o 
‘ ‘ Passage 
Beds.” 
lower 
part 
of 
22 ‘* 
and 
23 
of the 
P.-Beds 
24. 
25 
Top of 
26 
47 
Limestone, hard, bluish-grey, with con- 
spicuous (and in places irregularly-scattered) 
oolite-granules 
TMarls, grey, indurated, slightly sandy in 
\ places ; Pseudomonotis echinata (Sow.) . . 
f Limestone, hard, grey, very fine-grained, 
-{ slightly sandy : occasional crinoid-ossicles : 
14 
seen 
2 o 
1 “ Jurassic Rocks of Britain,*’ vol. iv. — “ Lower Oolitic Rocks of Britain,” 1804, pp. 286-287. 
2 Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc., vol. Ixiv (1908), pp. 335-344- 
3 Of this amount, the lowest 7 feet belongs to the ‘‘ Passage Beds.” 
4 These numbers connect the beds with their equivalents in the Tetbury Bore-hole. 
