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As a result of the drainage contest between the Weaver headstreams and the headstreams of the Trent the west facing edge of the Potteries coalfield has been breached in a number of places, in particular at Kidsgrove. During the last retreat of the ice the Kidsgrove breach came ultimately to act as a spillway for the large lake contained between the ice and the coalfield. Before the breach was uncovered, however, a number of spillways were cut further east.
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E. M. Yates (1955) studied this question.
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