Fell Sandstone Research Articles

Using numerical modelling to test the geological and groundwater conceptual understanding of a complex, layered aquifer: a case study from the Fell Sandstone, Northumbria

Groundwater abstractions from the Carboniferous Fell Sandstone, Northumbria, NE England, provide water supply to the Berwick-upon-Tweed area. Management of these abstractions, totalling 6.5 Ml/day, by the water company along with the regulator for sustainability issues is required. Groundwater abstraction takes place from different sandstone units, which are separated by mudstones, with monitored groundwater heads showing variable responses to system stresses. To improve understanding of this complex system, various activities have been undertaken. Geological mapping and interpretation have been conducted to characterize the nature, geometry and interconnection of the sandstone units, along with the superficial deposits. Recharge modelling helped to quantify inputs to the system and to understand the long-term water balance. A time-variant model has been implemented to simulate groundwater flow in the sandstone units and to quantify the groundwater balance. The work confirms that the Fell Sandstone can be split into seven discrete sandstone units, separated by low-permeability mudstones, with variable laterally connectivity not necessarily laterally connected. There is a range of timescales of groundwater response to recharge events from slow (6 months) to very rapid ( c. 1 day). These findings confirm the complexity of this groundwater system and are transferable to similar sandstone systems in the UK and worldwide. Thematic collection: This article is part of the Hydrogeology of Sandstone collection available at: https://www.lyellcollection.org/cc/hydrogeology-of-sandstone

Repurposing a Geothermal Exploration Well as a Deep Borehole Heat Exchanger: Understanding Long-Term Effects of Lithological Layering, Flow Direction, and Circulation Flow Rate

In the drive to achieve net-zero carbon emissions, decarbonisation of heating is essential. This can be facilitated by geothermal energy, but drilling geothermal wells is associated with high risks and costs. The use of preexisting wells (e.g., exhausted hydrocarbon wells or failed geothermal exploration boreholes) offsets this cost while potentially turning liabilities into assets. The Newcastle Science Central Deep Geothermal Borehole (NSCDGB) is a geothermal exploration well that was drilled to target the Carboniferous Fell Sandstone Formation at 1418.5 to 1795 m depth. However, low hydraulic conductivities prevented the development as a conventional “wet” geothermal abstraction well; therefore, new alternative methods of development are being explored. This work investigates the repurposing of the NSCDGB as a deep borehole heat exchanger (DBHE), focusing on the sustainable operation of the system in the long term by employing a constant heat load designed to contribute to local buildings or a heat network. Numerical modelling was undertaken by using OpenGeoSys software to analyse the thermal and hydraulic performance of the system. Both homogeneous and heterogeneous models were developed to compare the influence of lithological layering in contrast to a homogeneous (nonstratified) subsurface geological model. Results from homogeneous simulations modelling the DBHE to a depth of 922 m show that a 50-kW heat load can be supported for a lifetime of 25 years. This corresponds to a 65-kW building load when coupled to a heat pump with a coefficient of performance of 4.33. Thus, the DBHE could meet up to 72% of the heat demand of the adjacent urban sciences building. Rather than being a purely hypothetical case study, this work considers a real existing borehole, adjacent to a building cluster which could make use of the geothermal heat. Heterogeneity, which has been considered for the first time at the NSCDGB site, exhibits a minor impact in comparison to homogeneous simulation results. Flow direction and mass flow rate also exhibited small effects on the system performance, whereas if the exploration well could be repurposed to increased depths, the heat load could be increased. This is the first study of a coaxial DBHE at the NSCDGB site considering long-term effects of mass flow rate, heterogeneity, and flow direction. The study evaluates the feasibility of repurposing an exploratory geothermal well in the UK as a DBHE that can be used as a low-carbon heat source for space heating, thus converting liabilities into potential “green energy” assets.

A revised hydrogeological conceptual model of the Fell Sandstone aquifer, Northumberland and its impact on the interpretation of long-term nitrate trends

Northumbrian Water abstract groundwater from the Fell Sandstone Formation (part of the Carboniferous Border Group) in north Northumberland, which is a groundwater-only water resource zone providing drinking water to Berwick-upon-Tweed and the surrounding area. Groundwater in observation and abstraction boreholes shows significant rising nitrate levels derived from agricultural land use, and are predicted to have an impact on groundwater quality by 2030. Northumbrian Water policy is to use catchment management techniques to mitigate rising nitrate levels through influencing land-use practices and reducing nitrate concentration in groundwater recharge. This paper demonstrates how a detailed geological and hydrogeological understanding of the area has been used to identify specific areas where appropriate catchment management techniques may be most effectively applied. Northumbrian Water and the Environment Agency jointly funded the British Geological Survey to develop a numerical groundwater model of the Fell Sandstone aquifer and to undertake a review of the geology of the Fell Sandstone Formation as part of a Water Industry National Environment Programme (WINEP). Combining the results of these two studies, supported by spatial and temporal field measurements of groundwater nitrate levels, an improved understanding of the potential fate and transport of nitrate in the Fell Sandstone aquifer has emerged. This allows a better prediction of the spatial and temporal impacts of nitrate losses from the soil zone to the aquifer in support of a catchment management approach to mitigating rising nitrate levels. Thematic collection: This article is part of the Hydrogeology of Sandstone collection available at: https://www.lyellcollection.org/cc/hydrogeology-of-sandstone

‘Block and basin’ style rift basins: sedimentological insights from the Mississippian Fell Sandstone Formation

The block and basin tectonostratigraphic framework for the northern Pennine (rift) Basin, within which buoyant granite intrusions core intra-basin fault-bounded blocks, has long held traction. However, many of the elements of this framework are rooted in primitive tectonic models and, perhaps unsurprisingly, corresponding depositional models often reflect this. Using sedimentological and sedimentary provenance approaches, the synrift (Mississippian) fluvio-deltaic Fell Sandstone Formation and age-equivalent strata within the northern Pennine Basin are examined. Highlighted divergences from classically depicted models relate to occurrences of pre-Carboniferous basement domes or monoclines, which are unbounded by major vertically displacing (>100 m) fault systems. Such structures in the northern Pennine Basin are all granite-cored and their origins are associated with their buoyancy and flexural isostatic processes. One such basement dome, the Cheviot Block, confined and deflected the Fell Sandstone fluvio-deltaic system from the west, causing locally elevated net sand content and variations in the dominant palaeodrainage direction. Central parts of the Alston Block, which forms a regional monocline along an east–west axis, were comparatively uplifted because of flexural isostatic responses to granite intrusions. The findings presented are at variance not only with classically depicted depositional models for the region, but also with more general depictions of dominantly normal fault-driven rift basin systems. Supplementary material: Tables of data locations with derivation, trace element data and major element (oxide) data are available at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.5733257

Breaching-related turbidites in fluvial and estuarine channels: Examples from outcrop and core and implications to reservoir models

An understanding of the paleoenvironment and the main sedimentary processes behind preserved deposits is crucial to correctly interpret and represent lithofacies and facies associations in geomodels that are used in the hydrocarbon industry, particularly when a limited dataset of cores is available. In this paper a fairly common facies association is discussed containing massive sands - here defined as thick (>0.5 m) structureless sand beds devoid of primary sedimentary structures, or with some faint lamination - deposited by mass failures of channel banks in deep fluvial and estuarine channels. Amongst geologists it is generally accepted that liquefaction is the main trigger of large bank failures in sandy subaqueous slopes. However, evidence is mounting that for sand deposits a slow, retrogressive failure mechanism of a steep subaqueous slope, known as breaching, is the dominant process. A model of breaching-induced turbidity current erosion and sedimentation is presented that explains the presence of sheet-like massive sands and channel-like massive sands and the sedimentary structures of the related deposits. Sheet-like packages of spaced planar lamination that are found together with massive sand bodies in deposits of these environments are identified as proximal depositional elements of breach failure events. The model, acquired from sedimentary structures in deposits in the Eocene estuarine Vlierzele Sands, Belgium, is applied to outcrops of the Dinantian fluvial Fell Sandstone, England, and cores of the Tilje and Nansen fms (Lower Jurassic, Norwegian Continental Shelf). The possible breach failure origin of some other massive sands described in literature from various ancient shallow water environments is discussed. Breach failure generated massive sands possibly also form in deep marine settings. The potentially thick and homogeneous, well-sorted sand deposits bear good properties for hydrocarbon flow when found in such an environment. However, in case of deposition in an estuarine or fluvial channel, these sand bodies are spatially constricted and careful facies interpretation is key to identifying this. When constructing a static reservoir model, this needs to be considered both for in-place volume calculations as well as drainage strategies.

Geothermal exploration in the Fell Sandstone Formation (Mississippian) beneath the city centre of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK: the Newcastle Science Central Deep Geothermal Borehole

The postulate that geothermal energy might be recoverable from strata laterally equivalent to the Fell Sandstone Formation (Carboniferous: Mississippian) beneath Newcastle upon Tyne has been examined by the drilling and testing of the 1821 m deep Newcastle Science Central Deep Geothermal Borehole. This proved 376.5 m of Fell Sandstone Formation below 1400 m, much of which resembled braided river deposits found at outcrop, although some lower portions were reddened and yielded grains of aeolian affinity. Downhole logging after attainment of thermal equilibrium proved a temperature of 73°C at 1740 m, and allowed estimation of heat flow at about 88 mW m −2 . This relatively high value probably reflects deep convective transfer of heat over a distance of >8 km from the North Pennine Batholith, along the Ninety Fathom Fault. The Fell Sandstone traversed by the borehole proved to be of low hydraulic conductivity ( c . 7 × 10 −5 m d −1 ). The water that entered the well was highly saline, with a Na–(Ca)–Cl signature similar to other warm waters encountered in the region. It remains for future directional drilling to establish whether sufficient natural fracture permeability can be encountered, or wells stimulated, to support commercial heat production.

Reservoirs of the Dinantian (Lower Carboniferous) play of the Southern North Sea

Critical to the successful exploitation of the northern margin of the Southern Gas Basin is the development of the Lower Carboniferous (Dinantian, Viséan) play. Whilst the exploration for intra-Carboniferous traps has been unsuccessful, the presence of large Base Permian evaporite sealed closures still holds opportunities. The discovery of hydrocarbons within one of these closures on the edge of the traditional gas basin suggests that migration of gas from Westphalian and Namurian coals and shales has occurred. Thus in this area, the primary remaining risk is the presence and distribution of reservoir. Two potential reservoirs are examined in the subsurface, the Fell Sandstone Formation and the Whitby Member. Onshore analogue data has been combined with the sparse offshore data to explore the distribution of these sandstones. The Fell Sandstone Formation was deposited at a time of high sediment supply resulting in a thick (300 m) succession of fluvial sandstones whose distribution is closely linked to the accommodation space developed in the hanging walls of contemporaneous faults. The Whitby Member (thickness 30 m) was deposited at a time of lower sediment supply which enabled relative sea-level changes to control the vertical distribution of sandstone bodies. It demonstrates some of the features which suggest it could infill a palaeovalley. If active faulting continued throughout this time then a similar hanging wall concentration of sandbodies, as is seen in the Fell Sandstone Formation, could be expected.

Marine ostracods in the Lower Carboniferous fluviatile Fell Sandstone Group: evidence for base level change and marine flooding of the central graben, Northumberland Basin

SUMMARY Seven species of ostracod have been identified from the coarser, more silty laminae within a thin shaly siltstone interval within the Lower Carboniferous Fell Sandstone Group in the eastern part of the Northumberland Basin, all of which indicate a quiet, nearshore, shallow water marine environment. This is the first documented occurrence of marine ostracods from the Fell Sandstone which has always been regarded as entirely of non-marine origin, with any marine influences confined to the westernmost part of the basin. The shaly siltstone was proved in the Alnwick Borehole drilled through the upper section of the Fell Sandstone in an otherwise sandstone-dominated succession. The presence of marine influenced conditions more than 60 km inland from the coeval shoreline reflects contemporaneous intrabasinal tectonics and the location of the Alnwick Borehole at the northeastern end of the central graben within the Northumberland Basin. Marginal fault activity, contemporaneous with Fell Sandstone deposition, caused gentle tilting of the graben floor, thus allowing marine conditions to penetrate farther inland than previously known. The ostracod-bearing marine shaly siltstone, which lies above and below braided river sandstones, provides a key sequence stratigraphic surface across this part of the basin. The base of the unit is a transgressive surface with the shale itself equivalent to a maximum flooding to truncated shale prone early high stand. The immediately overlying erosion surface records low stand incision, facies tract dislocation and the development of a possible sequence boundary, with the overlying stacked, cross-bedded, coarse pebbly braided channel sandbodies referred to the lower and middle parts of a transgressive systems tract that spans the boundary between the Fell Sandstone and succeeding, more marine influenced Scremerston Coal Group. The lower, finer-grained, fluvial succession beneath the transgressive surface is tentatively assigned to part of an incompletely exposed transgressive systems tract.

Fell Sandstone lithostratigraphy south-west of Berwick-upon-Tweed: implications for the regional development of the Fell Sandstone

SUMMARY The Fell Sandstone Group in north-east England forms part of a fluvio-deltaic Lower Carboniferous Visean sequence that was deposited within the Northumberland Basin and the smaller Tweed Basin following their initiation by rifting and subsidence in the late Devonian/early Carboniferous. The Fell Sandstone was deposited by a large braided-river complex which drained westwards into a shallow, low-energy tideless sea. Outcrop studies have indicated that the Fell Sandstone Group is composed almost entirely of sandstone with a paucity of overbank fines (less than 20%). However, a number of boreholes drilled for a hydrogeological study in the Tweed Basin indicate that in this region the Fell Sandstone Group may contain 50 to 60% mudstone. Seven mappable sandstone units have been identified within the field area, separated by laterally persistent mudstone units. Pumping test data indicate that many of the sandstone units are in good communication, whereas others are in isolation. Thickness variations between wells indicate that many of the sand units have a lenticular geometry. Regional compilation of borehole data through the Fell Sandstone across the Northumberland Basin highlights a number of lateral facies changes which cannot be assigned simply to a relationship of distance from source. In the early Carboniferous a number of faults within the Northumberland Basin were active during the deposition of the Fell Sandstone. Local variations in facies and sandstone thickness within the Fell Sandstone Group can be explained using simple tilted fault-block models. Where a particular fault changes polarity of throw local thickness and extent of

Channel formation and migration by mass‐flow processes in the Lower Carboniferous fluviatile Fell Sandstone Group, NE England

Channel formation and migration by mass‐flow processes in the Lower Carboniferous fluviatile Fell Sandstone Group, NE England

Channel formation and migration by mass‐flow processes in the Lower Carboniferous fluviatile Fell Sandstone Group, northeast England

ABSTRACTSmall, steep‐sided narrow channels, locally developed within the braided fluviatile Lower Carboniferous Fell Sandstone of northeast England, are attributed to mass‐flow processes initiated by channel‐bank slumping. The channels have sharp undisturbed margins and are filled with moderately well‐sorted medium to coarse sandstone identical to the sandstone which they cut. Most channel‐fills are structureless, but a few show diffuse concentric marginal laminations. Laminations also occur towards the top of channel fills, but they are less regular and show low‐amplitude trough‐like undulations. Channel margin inclinations range from 13° to 55°, and channel depths vary between 1·7 m and 2·5 m. The channels, which are only seen in profile, are orientated perpendicular to the local and regional palaeocurrent trend, and cut through structureless sandstone and planar cross‐stratified sandstone characterized by compound and compound‐complex bar bedforms. Only one channel has both margins preserved; and of the remainder (seven) only one has its northern margin preserved.Undercutting and retrogressive slumping of the sandy channel bank is thought to have initiated a subaqueous sediment gravity flow, which moved across the main channel along a transverse scour at the base of the slip face of a large composite bar bedform. Such scours have strong asymmetric profiles with the steeper slope along the base of the active slip face (northern side) and the lower slope on the downstream (southern) side of the scour. Thus, the northern channel margin was steeper, less stable and more prone to collapse than the southern margin, and is almost never preserved. Flow reconstruction indicates that on entering the channel a hydraulic jump developed at the change in slope, and the flow became more turbulent and erosive. Scoured sand incorporated into the flow increased concentration and shearing along the boundaries. Reverse shear was also exerted by the overlying current, on top of the flow, but the central part remained relatively unaffected. The presence or absence of marginal laminations is probably related to marginal shearing and flow dilution. Deposition occurred in response to deceleration and frictional freezing of the sand flow.

Petrographical factors relating to porosity and permeability in the fell sandstone

Samples of Fell Sandstone were taken from approximately every 3 m from the core material left at Shirlawhope Well, Longframlington, Northumberland. Most of the core remains and it extends to a depth of 94 m. Various analyses were made at each 3 m depth interval. These included a modal analysis, particular attention being given to the cement and matrix material, as well as the void space; and a petrographic analysis of grain packing. Grain size analyses were also carried out at each depth to determine the individual median size and sorting coefficients. The absolute and effective porosities were obtained for each depth interval, together with permeabilities of intact specimens. The results of the individual parameters were compared statistically by means of correlation coefficients and Student's t tests in order to evaluate the significance of their relationships. Porosity and permeability were shown to be influenced by void percentage and grain packing. Particle size distribution, however, does not influence porosity, although it has some influence on permeability. Cement-matrix content has little influence on porosity. A highly significant relationship was found to exist between effective porosity and permeability. Both porosity and permeability decrease with increasing depth from the surface.

BRAIDED RIVER BEDFORMS AND RELATED SEDIMENTARY STRUCTURES IN THE FELL SANDSTONE GROUP (LOWER CARBONIFEROUS) OF NORTH NORTHUMBERLAND

SUMMARY The Lower Carboniferous Fell Sandstone Group in northern Northumberland is composed of lenticular or sheet-like bodies of cross-stratified quartz arenites which alternate with shales and ripple-laminated siltstones. Although correlation is difficult due to the lack of fossils or marker horizons, those exposures described can be fixed stratigraphically by reference to the overlying Scremerston Coal Group. The sedimentary structures and bedforms developed in the sandstones include unimodal trough and tabular cross-stratification, channel fills with penecontemporaneous deformation structures, and dunes complete forms of which are preserved in some cases. These features are characteristic of deposition at and near the boundary between the lower and upper flow regimes, where small fluctuations in gradient, flow stage and discharge migration may radically alter the style and type of deposition. The depositional environment is interpreted as alternating between low-gradient meandering and higher-gradient braided perennial rivers, with variable discharge, in channel systems several kilometres wide. The relatively low variation in lithology, sedimentary structures and palaeoenvironments of the Fell Sandstone, compared to groups above and below, indicates relatively stable depositional conditions. Lower formations show meandering fluvio-lacustrine deposition, while coals and marine transgressive deposits above reflect the infilling of the Northumberland Basin. A comprehensive study of the whole basin is urged.

The physical and mechanical properties of the fell sandstones, Northumberland, England

Fell Sandstone samples, from approximately three-metre depth intervals, from the cores from Shirlawhope Well, Northumberland, were first subjected to petrographic examination which included modal and packing analysis, as well as size analysis. Secondly, their physical and mechanical properties, that is, their densities, porosities, strengths, hardnesses and elastic properties were also determined at the same depth intervals. These various measures were then correlated to see what influence, if any, one property had on another. Those properties which had the most significant influence upon others were considered the most useful index properties as far as sandstones were concerned and could perhaps be used as a basis of an engineering classification of such rocks.

An investigation of the aquifer potential of the Fell Sandstone of Northumberland

Summary The results of this preliminary investigation indicate that the Fell Sandstone is the best aquifer in Northumberland, and that the groundwater potential is largely undeveloped. The formation has an outcrop of 118 square miles (305 km 2 ), of which 65 square miles (168 km 2 ) are drift free. The attractive qualities of the sandstone are the friable, granular nature, the good sorting and the commonly occurring fissures and joints. The storage capacity of the formation is of the order of 10 12 Imperial gallons (4·55 × 10 12 litres). Analysis of precipitation data and water balance calculations suggest an average recharge of between 40 and 70 mgd, (182 × 10 6 l/d–319 × 10 6 1/d). Determinations of porosity and laboratory permeability give mean values of 13·8 percent and 6·4gpd/ft 2 , (314 1/d/m 2 ) respectively; the transmissibility could be considerably greater than the mean value of 5300 gpd/ft (7900 1/d/m) calculated by pumping the existing boreholes. The results of chemical analyses show that the water quality is good. There seems little doubt that further water supplies required for commercial development on Tweedside and in south-east Northumberland could be developed from the Fell Sandstone aquifer. Proposals for the economic development and future study of the aquifer are outlined.

THE IDENTIFICATION OF ANCIENT BEACH SANDS BY THE COMBINATION OF SIZE ANALYSIS AND ELECTRON MICROSCOPY

SUMMARYThe combined use of size analysis and electron microscopy has indicated the presence of beach sands within the Lower Carboniferous Fell Sandstone of southeast Scotland and northern England.Environmental interpretations are based on a comparison of the statistical parameters summarizing the size distributions of the Fell Sandstone specimens with similar data from modern sediments. The spread of standard‐deviation values (sorting coefficients) indicates the presence of littoral, alluvial, and possibly offshore marine environments within the Fell Sandstone. These environments are further defined by plotting standard deviation against skewness on a scatter diagram.Electron micrographs (E.M.G.'s) of the quartz grain surface textures of selected Fell Sandstone specimens corroborate the interpretations based on the size analysis.E.M.G.'s of the Fell Sandstone beach specimens show all the diagnostic surface features developed on modern quartz beach sand grains.

A preliminary study of sandstone sedimentation in the Lower Carboniferous of the Tweed Basin

Synopsis The sedimentology of the sandstones is used, together with the available stratigraphic information, to demonstrate the changes in depositional environment which take place in the Tweed Basin during Lower Carboniferous times. The characters of the sandstones of the Cementstone Group indicate deposition in a dominantly fluvial environment, the Fell Sandstone is interpreted as a thick widespread shallow marine deposit and the sandstones of the Scremerston Coal Group are mainly of fluvial origin. An attempt is made to fit these observations into a regional palaeogeographic pattern.

VII.— The Lower Carboniferous Outlier of Kirkbean, Kirkcudbrightshire

1. Introduction The Lower Carboniferous outlier of the Kirkbean district lies some 11 miles due south of Dumfries on the south-east flank of the Criffel granite, and covers an area of about ten square miles (Fig. 1). The strata are well exposed on the shore between Carsethorn and Southerness for a distance of nearly four miles, but, apart from sections in streams flowing off Criffel, inland exposures are few. The area lies athwart the boundary of the one-inch Geological Survey Sheets 5 and 6 (published in 1879, second edition Sheet 5 in 1927) and the first detailed account of the geology is contained in the Explanation to Sheet 5 (1896), in which Horne recognised four divisions of the strata on the shore, assigning them to the Calciferous Sandstone Series: In the Regional Geology handbook for the South of Scotland (1935, 2nd edition 1948), Pringle, adopting Horne’s division of the shore strata, correlated the basal beds with the upper part of the Cambeck Series of North Cumberland, and the Coralline Limestones with the Lawston Linn and Lewisburn Coal Group of the Eskdale-Liddesdale district. The Thirlstane Sandstone was taken as the equivalent of the Fell Sandstone of Liddesdale. The succession now established by the present writer for the Kirkbean outlier is shown below:— Early accounts of the geology of the district are to be found in Jameson This 250-word extract was created in the absence of an abstract The writer wishes to express his indebtedness to Professor T. Neville George and Professor Arthur Holmes for reading the manuscript of his paper. Acknowledgments are also due to Dr. A. E. M. Nairn for a pre-publication copy of his paper on the Lower Carboniferous Rocks between the Rivers Esk and Annan, and to Dr. E. D. Currie for the identification of a goniatite from Arbigland Bay.

The Lower Carboniferous Outliers of the Colvend and Rerrick Shores, Kirkcudbrightshire

AbstractThe rocks are coarse-grained deposits of Cementstone and Fell Sandstone age. The succession in the Rerrick outlier consists of the Wall Hill sandstones (900 ft.) unconformable on Silurian, followed by the Orroland Limestone Beds (80ft. +) yielding fossils indicative of Cambeck age. The succeeding coarse red Barlocco conglomerate (210 ft. +) is capped by the Rascarrel beds, some 1,200 ft. of felspathic sandstones and arkoses, with coarse conglomerates. The rocks of the three outliers to the east are of Barlocco-Rascarrel facies. All four outliers are downfaulted against Silurian and have a regional dip to the south-east.

The rocks between Leith and Granton, with historical notes on the working of the Wardie Coal

The chief object of this paper is to record notes on some journals of bores in Leith, which were recently given to the Geological Survey, and to bring together some historical facts about the working of the coal seam at Wardie and at Caroline Park to the west of Granton. The rocks at Leith and Granton belong to the Calciferous Sandstone Series of the Carboniferous System, and to its smaller sub-divisions known as the Wardie Shales and Granton Sandstones. These horizons are below all the coals that are at present worked in Scotland. Coals on the Wardie Shale horizon, however, were once worked in East Fife, and at the present time are being worked near Berwick-on-Tweed at Spittal and Scremerston. The Scremerston Coals, as they are called, overlie a thick sandstone known as the Fell Sandstone which is correlated with the Granton Sandstones underlying the Wardie Shales. The bores were put down for water supply at Leith Roperie, Bath Street, on the north side of Leith Links. They are within a few yards of each other. One was put down in 1860 and is 68 fathoms deep; the other was made in 1895 and goes to a depth of 113 fathoms. The latter only will be dealt with as it seems the better journal and goes to a greater depth; the water it yields comes in great part from the superficial material. This bore starts 15 feet above ordnance datum and passes through 27 feet of sand and 59 feet