Abstract Mn oxides are one of the most significant groups of substances which control the distribution of heavy metals in river sediments. This occurs because of their favourable structures, sizes and surface areas. In the Tyne, Tees and Yorkshire Ouse river basins in northeast England, heavy metal-bearing, X-ray amorphous Mn oxides are common (forming upto 15 modal % of heavy metal-bearing grains) though not always abundant phases in river channel and floodplain sediment. Manganese oxides, however, contain significantly more Pb (upto 23 wt.%) than do Fe oxides, and also contain Zn, Cd and Cu (up to 19 wt.%, 0.5 wt.% and 0.8 wt.%, respectively). Within floodplain alluvium, Mn oxides play a major role in controlling the post-depositional redistribution of heavy metals. This is shown by authigenic, Pb-, Zn-, Cd- and Cu-bearing Mn oxides in alluvial profiles at Blagill and Prudhoe in the Tyne basin, and overbank alluvial sediments at Myton-on-Swale and York in the Yorkshire Ouse basin containing multiple horizons of X-ray amorphous Mn-Ba oxides, some of which contain up to 1.0 wt.% Zn. The overbank alluvial sediments at Myton-on-Swale contain the Ba (-Mn) silicate verplanckite [Ba 2 (Mn,Fe,Ti)Si 2 O 6 (OH) 2 . 3H 2 O], although this contains negligible (<0.1 wt.%) amounts of Zn, Pb, Cr, Ni and Co. Manganese oxides play an environmentally significant role in sequestering heavy metals, as shown by contents of upto 39—74% of total sediment-borne Pb, and 10—35% of total Zn, held by Mn oxides in north-east England fluvial sediments. Lower proportions of readily removable Pb and Zn (0.8 — 18% of total Pb, and 3—26% of total Zn) under ambient conditions suggest that the Mn oxides may be long-term sinks for heavy metals in the fluvial environment.

Abstract The character of Quaternary deposits in Northern England is largely determined by its Palaeozoic rocks and by surrounding Mesozoic sedimentary basins in the Irish and North Seas. The region was strongly affected by ice from Scottish sources that crossed the offshore Mesozoic basins, passing onshore along the coasts of Lancashire, Cumbria, Northumbria and East Yorkshire and coalescing with local ice radiating outwards from the uplands of the Pennines, the Lake District and Northumbria. The stratigraphical record in Northern England comprises glacial deposits overlain by extensive marine, estuarine and inter-tidal sediments along the low coastal margins of Lancashire, Morecambe Bay, the Solway Lowlands and adjacent parts of the Irish Sea basin, and by lake sediments, lowland moss basins and blanket upland peats. The glacial deposits reflect either offshore or local ice sources but other than in the Isle of Man the chronostratigraphic relationship between them, and the nature of ice sheet coalescence and subsequent uncoupling during various glacial stages, is unclear.

Abstract Hatfield Moors and Hatfield West are two small gas fields with GIIP of 6.1 BCF and 2.4 BCF, respectively on adjacent licences PL161-3 and PL 162-2, east of Doncaster in South Yorkshire, England, operated and wholly owned by Edinburgh Oil & Gas plc. This paper describes the accidental discovery of the Hatfield Moors Gas Field and its subsequent development and eventual utilization for gas storage, the first such project onshore UK. The nearby Hatfield West Field is also described. The two fields are located on adjacent faulted anticlinal structures in the NW part of the Gainsborough half-graben. The reservoir for both fields is the Westphalian B Oaks Rock sandstone. Reservoir quality is excellent. A gas storage project was agreed with Scottish Power in 1998. Two horizontal wells, Hatfield Moors-5 (1998) and Hatfield Moors-5z (1999) have been drilled for the project by Edinburgh Oil & Gas plc using innovative drilling techniques. Since 1999 gas has been imported from the Transco network and exported from the reservoir according to market demands under the terms of the gas storage contract.