Excavations in the vicinity of the Water of Leith, chiefly in material filling its periglacial valley. (Communicated by permission of the Director of H.M. Geological Survey.)
David S. Tait · Transactions of the Edinburgh Geological Society · 1930
Introductory. Excavations near each other in the western part of the city have been selected for description in this communication. Old records which throw light on the new ones are included. The localities are close to the Water of Leith and have connection with its present and preglacial history. Special mention is made of the boulder-clay ridge which extends from Corstorphine Hill to the centre of the city. (1) Saughton Excavations. Excavations were made in 1927 for laying a sewage pipe for the drainage system of Stenhouse and Saughton housing scheme. They extended from The Stank, at a point about 400 yards south-west of Pinkhill railway station, south-south-eastwards for a distance of about half a mile. The depth averaged 10 to 12 feet. Southwards from The Stank for a distance of 100 yards the excavations were in lake material, and for a few yards farther on in boulder clay. From this point, and for nearly all the remaining distance (see Fig. 2), solid rock was met with in the bottom of the trench. The rocks have a fairly steady dip southwards at from 15° to 20°. The trench cuts nearly across the strike of the beds all the way, so that a considerable thickness of strata was exposed, though only a small portion at a time, and that only for a day or two as the work progressed. Close to the north side of the railway line there were indications of a fault with a west-north-west direction, and a downthrow