A journal of and notes on a bore for water at Messrs. Bartholomew’s Works, Duncan Street, Edinburgh

Abstract

In 1933 a bore for water was put down at Messrs Bartholomew’s Works in Duncan Street. The firm has kindly given permission for the publication of this account of it. The rocks which underlie Duncan Street are shown on the Geological Survey Map as of Upper Old Red Sandstone age. They are mapped as occurring not far below the base of the Carboniferous. Supply of Water Obtained. As drilling proceeded tests were made to find out the amount of water obtainable. The superficial materials, about forty feet in thickness, and the upper part of the solid rocks were practically dry. At 346 feet the yield was 1300 gallons per hour. At 450 feet it was 1800 to 2000 gallons per hour, and at 500 feet it had increased to 3100 gallons per hour. This supply is considered ample for the purposes for which the bore was put down. The pump has been permanently installed at a depth of 190 feet from the surface. I am indebted to the late Dr Clerk Ranken for the following analysis of water from the bore:— Horizon of Beds Passed Through. The grey sandstones and shales, with thin bands of unfossiliferous cementstones down to 36 fathoms 5 feet, indicate a cementstone horizon. In the grey shales and fakes at 36 fathoms there was collected the plant Alcicornopteris convoluta Kidst .1 This is a type of plant which is almost confined to the Cementstone Group of rocks. Below this point practically no grey rocks occur. The sandstones