Water Supply: the Present Practice of Sinking and Boring Wells: With Geological Considerations and Examples of Wells Executed — John Shaqi
Water Supply: the Present Practice of Sinking and Boring Wells: With Geological Considerations and Examples of Wells ExecutedSpon, Ernest
Science
Water Supply: the Present Practice of Sinking and Boring Wells: With Geological Considerations and Examples of Wells Executed
Spon, Ernest
Boring; Water-supply; Wells
There is also, probably, another line of disturbance running between
some points north and south and intersecting the first line at Deptford.
It passes apparently near Beckenham and Lewisham, and then, crossing the
Thames near Deptford, continues up a part, if not along the whole length
of the valley of the Lea towards Hoddesdon. This disturbance appears in
some places to have resulted in a fracture or a fault in the strata,
placing the beds on the east of it on a higher level than those on the
west; and at other places merely to have produced a curvature in the
strata. Prestwich states that he was unable to give its exact course,
but its effect, at all events upon the water supply of London, is
important, as, in conjunction with the first or Thames valley
disturbance, it cuts off the supplies from the whole of Kent, and
interferes most materially with the supply from Essex; for in its course
up the valley of the Lea it either brings up the Lower Tertiary strata
to the surface, as at Stratford and Bow, or else, as farther up the
valley, it raises them to within 40 or 60 feet of the surface.
The Tertiary district thus appears, on a general view, to be divided
naturally into four portions by lines running nearly north and south,
the former line passing immediately south, and the latter east of
London, which stands at the south-east corner of the north-western
division, and consequently it must not be viewed as the centre of one
large and unbroken area, so far as the Tertiary strata are concerned.
CHAPTER II.
THE NEW RED SANDSTONE.
This formation has been already alluded to at pp. 5 and 8; it is, next
to the chalk and lower greensand, the most extensive source of water
supply from wells we have in England, and although the two formations
mentioned occupy a larger area, yet, owing to geographical position, the
new red sandstone receives a more considerable quantity of rainfall,
and, owing to the comparative scarceness of carbonate of lime, yields
softer water.
The new red sandstone is called on the Continent "the Trias," as in
Germany and parts of France it presents a distinct threefold division.
Although the names of each of the divisions are commonly used, they are
in themselves local and unessential, as the same exact relations between
them do not occur in other remote parts of Europe or in England, and are
not to be looked for in distant continents. The names of the divisions
and their English equivalents are:
1. Keuper, or red marls.
2. Muschelkalk, or shell limestones (not found in this country).
3. Bunter sandstone, or variegated sandstone.
The strata consist in general of red, mottled, purple, or yellowish
sandstones and marls, with beds of rock-salt, gypsum pebbles, and
conglomerate.
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