The limestone and dolomite resources of the country around Wirksworth, Derbyshire : description of parts of 1:25,000 sheets SK 25 and 35

The study of samples specially collected from 18 cored boreholes, 29 major exposures and 193 scattered localities, together with information from the records and geological maps of the Institute of Geological Sciences, form the basis of the assessment of limestone and dolomite resources in the Wirksworth area, Derbyshire. Fourteen boreholes were drilled under contract for the Industrial Minerals Assessment Unit and in addition, members of the Unit drilled sixteen shallow cored boreholes using a small portable drilling; machine. Cores from four boreholes, chemical analyses and many borehole logs were made available by the industry. The limestones have been classified on the basis of their calcium carbonate content, and the accompanying 1 :25 000 resource map shows the distribution of the recognised categories of limestones in the uppermost 10 m of strata, for which most information is available. Horizontal sections constructed from the borehole data and from knowledge of the regional geology, indicate the categories likely to be encountered below this depth. Eight resource blocks have been outlined, and for each, the geology, categories of limestones and occurrences of other rocks are described. The results of investigations of chemical and mechanical properties are presented with outline borehole logs; the data have been statistically analysed for the stratigraphical units described.