bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Lithostratigraphical nomenclature of the Lias Group in the Yorkshire Basin
Authors: Powell J. H.
Published: December 2009

The lithostratigraphical nomenclature of the Lias Group in the Yorkshire Basin is revised; two new formations, the Redcar Mudstone Formation and the Whitby Mudstone Formation, respectively replace ‘Lower’ and ‘Upper’ Lias (as used in a lithostratigraphical sense). This revised classification can be applied throughout the basin, including the Hambleton Hills, where the Felixkirk Borehole, recently drilled, has provided a cored sequence through the Lias.
Antimony mineralisation at Wet Swine Gill, Caldbeck Fells, Cumbria
Authors: Fortey N. J. , Ingham J. D. , Skilton B. R. H. , Young B. , Shepherd T. J.
Published: December 2009

A previously unrecorded quartz-antimony vein is described from Wet Swine Gill, a tributary of the River Caldew in the northern Lake District. Deposition of quartz gangue preceded that of metalliferous minerals, which include an early stibnite-berthierite assemblage, zinckenite and later-formed fülöppite and semseyite. Weathering products include bindheimite and stibiconite. The high antimony content in arsenopyrite (up to 7% Sb by weight) supports fluid inclusion data and a comparison with antimony deposits in the Massif Central, France, in pointing to deposition of the early assemblage at relatively high temperatures (above 200°C), and it is inferred that the vein is an expression of the nearby Early Devonian Carrock W-As deposit. The Pb-sulphantimonides may have formed by redeposition of antimony involving lead-bearing fluids during the Early Carboniferous.
Subsidence and sedimentation in the Northumberland Trough
Authors: Johnson G. A. L.
Published: December 2009

The Northumberland Trough has been recognised as a major east-west structural unit across northern England for almost a hundred years. Lying between the Northern Pennine Block to the south and the Southern Uplands of Scotland ridge to the north, the Trough stretches across Britain from the North Sea to the Solway Firth. Two basins have been described within the Trough – the Northumberland Basin in the east and the Solway Basin in the west. The basins are believed to be separated by a shelf, with shallow basement running northwards and continuing the line of the Pennine ridge across north-east Cumbria. The Bewcastle anticline is regarded as a drape over this basement high. The oldest deposits proved in the basins are Chadian (Lower Carboniferous), with no confirmed record of the lowest Courceyan Stage. A complete sequence of more than 3 km of Dinantian and Silesian sediments is known, ranging up to late Westphalian D. Strong differential subsidence in the Northumberland Basin came to an end in the Namurian, and the Westphalian was laid down under conditions of uniform epeirogenic downwarping that effected the marginal blocks in the same way as the Trough. The Solway Basin had very similar Dinantian deposition, but subsidence was more variable in the Silesian and persisted longer, at least until the late Westphalian. Shallow marine and deltaic sedimentation characterise deposition in both basins, with subsidence and rate of deposition having been approximately equal. Marine transgressions and deltaic regressions were a major feature of deposition and caused the development of well-ordered sedimentary cycles of coalbelt type. Four phases of trough filling can be recognised: 1. Progressive marine transgression. 2. Gradual marine regression. 3. Upper delta plain sedimentation. 4. Emergence, with lacustrine sedimentation.
Contoured patterns of the throw and hade of normal faults in the Coal Measures (Westphalian) of north-east Derbyshire
Authors: RIPPON J. H.
Published: December 2009

Good documentation of uncomplicated tectonic faulting in the Coal Measures of north-east Derbyshire has enabled fault planes and zones to be isolated for detailed study, both laterally and vertically. Systematic variations in throw and hade are revealed by contouring the fault planes for these properties, and typical patterns are described. The individuality shown by faults is emphasised.
Crinoid arms from Salthill Quarry, Clitheroe, Lancashire
Authors: Donovan S. K. , Sevastopulo G. D.
Published: December 2009

Inadunates dominate the Chadian crinoid fauna of Salthill Quarry, Clitheroe, Lancashire, despite the apparent prevalence of camerates. Well-preserved arms of a crinoid, which have swollen axillaries and an ornament of tubercles, are derived from a new taxon of inadunate crinoid. The arms are pinnulate and branching is heterotomous at the secundaxils (except in the A-ray, which does not divide at this level). Dissociated brachials and radials of this species are common.
The distribution of barytocalcite and alstonite in the Northern Pennine Orefield
Authors: YOUNG B.
Published: December 2009

The rare minerals barytocalcite and alstonite, the dimorphs of barium calcium carbonate, are shown to be of widespread occurrence in the barium-bearing deposits of the outer zone of the Northern Pennine Orefield where they generally accompany witherite. Barytocalcite in particular is present in much greater abundance than hitherto supposed and in several deposits is shown to be the dominant barium mineral. Both minerals are abundant only in deposits within a limestone wall rock and are considered to be the products of reaction between late-stage mineralising fluids and the wall rock.
Sphalerite mineralogy and trace element geochemistry in the South Pennine Orefield
Authors: MOSTAGHEL M. A.
Published: December 2009

Sphalerite has a restricted distribution mainly along the eastern margin of the South Pennine Orefield. The main microscopic inclusions in sphalerite are pyrite, chalcopyrite, galena and calcite. Alteration of sphalerite to smithsonite is generally extensive and is usually accompanied by formation of covellite and goethite as copper and iron are released from the sphalerite lattice. Sphalerite, like galena and pyrite, has a very strong preference for association with calcite in the South Pennine Orefield. The low concentrations of iron and silver in the analysed sphalerites indicate a low formation temperature. Bivariate and multivariate analyses of sphalerite analytical data show that, although complex relationships exist among the trace elements in sphalerite, there are only five factors that account for all the variance in the distribution of the trace elements. The co-existence of galena and sphalerite in the orefield does not have any apparent effect on the partition of the trace elements.
Asturoceras
and other dimorphoceratid ammonoids from the Namurian (E
2
) of Lancashire
Authors: Riley N. J.
Published: December 2009

The discovery of
Asturoceras romanum
sp nov. from E
2b1
strata (Sabden Shales) in the Arnsbergian of north-west England represents the first record of this previously monotypic genus outside Spain. The sequence at the type locality also provides data on the position of the
Eumorphoceras yatesae
(E
2a3
) and
Cravenoceras cowlingense
(E
2a1
) marine bands in the local succession.
Lithostratigraphy of the Staithes Sandstone and Cleveland Ironstone formations (Lower Jurassic) of north-east Yorkshire
Authors: HOWARD A. S.
Published: December 2009

The lithostratigraphy of the Staithes Sandstone and Cleveland Ironstone formations in North Yorkshire and Cleveland is reviewed and redefined; two new subdivisions, the Penny Nab and Kettleness members, are proposed for the Cleveland Ironstone Formation. Both formations and members are recognisable throughout the Cleveland Basin, but only the Kettleness Member continues southwards over the Market Weighton High, where it undergoes lateral facies change into the Marlstone Rock Bed. The latter, together with a finer grained representative of the Staithes Sandstone Formation, can be tentatively identified in the southern North Sea area.
Palaeobotany and petrology of a Middle Jurassic ironstone bed at Wrack Hills, North Yorkshire
Authors: HILL C. R. , MOORE D. T. , GREENSMITH J. T. , WILLIAMS R.
Published: December 2009

The palaeobotany and petrology are outlined of a recently discovered Middle Jurassic (Saltwick Formation) ironstone bed at Wrack Hills, a locality near Runswick Bay, North Yorkshire. The plant fossils are remarkable for their excellent preservation in three dimensions. Similar material was much collected in the last century, including specimens from Runswick Bay, but after 1910 the localities were thought to have been entirely lost. The species diversity at the new or perhaps newly available old locality considerably exceeds that obtained by the old collectors, including about five new species out of the total of 31 collected.
Androstrobus
cones preserved in three dimensions and with well-preserved pollen
in situ
are reported; new material of
Williamsonia gigas
is discussed and a revised reconstruction of its mature ‘flower’ proposed; and three-dimensionally preserved leaves of
Solenites
are recorded. These prove to be circular in transverse sectional outline rather than elliptical as previously reconstructed.

There is an intimate association of clay minerals with the plant remains in such siderite-rich ironstone beds. The clays (kaolinite and dickite) were evidently deposited within voids in the organic material during diagenesis and the temperatures required for their recrystallisation indicate former burial of the sediments to a depth of some 2 km. The three-dimensional preservation of the plant organs despite this burial indicates that the ironstone became lithified early in diagenesis.
The Scalby Formation (Middle Jurassic, Ravenscar Group) of Yorkshire: reassessment of age and depositional environment
Authors: Fisher M. J. , Hancock N. J.
Published: December 2009

Re-examination of the Scalby Formation of the Middle Jurassic Ravenscar Group in Yorkshire, using integrated sedimentology and palynofacies techniques, has led to a re-interpretation of the depositional environments. Overlying the marine Scarborough Formation, the Moor Grit Member appears to represent a deltaic distributary system. Where overbank deposits are preserved, they are found to reflect saline interdistributary bay environments. Similar saline-influenced delta plain deposition persisted throughout sedimentation of the overlying Long Nab member, interrupted by smaller distributary channels of varying sinuosity, some of which may have been partly tidal.

Palynological evidence indicates that at least part of the Long Nab Member is no younger than late Bajocian in age.
The Stockdale (Yarlside) Rhyolite - a rheomorphic ignimbrite?
Authors: MILLWARD D. , LAWRENCE D. J. D.
Published: December 2009

The Stockdale Rhyolite Member of the Coniston Limestone Formation is exposed discontinuously for 13 km from Kentmere to Shap in the eastern Lake District. It occurs within marine sedimentary rocks of Cautleyan age (Ashgill Series). The member consists of a maximum of 185 m of pink to pale grey, massive to intensely fractured, platy-jointed, flow-banded and flow-folded rocks of rhyolitic composition, locally underlain and overlain by impersistent beds of clastic rocks composed largely of pumice and felsic fragments. The Stockdale ‘Rhyolite’ has previously been interpreted as a line of coeval lava flows, but outcrop length to thickness ratios, textural characteristics and associated sedimentary rocks are more diagnostic of it being a rheomorphic ignimbrite.
Some Dinantian chonopectinid productaceans (Brachiopoda) from the British Isles
Authors: Brunton C. H. C. , Mundy D. J. C.
Published: December 2009

The occurrence of Dinantian Chonopectinae in the British Isles is discussed.
Productus carringtoniana
Davidson is removed from the genus
Chonetipustula
and designated the type-species of a new genus
Carringtonia.
A newly discovered chonopectinid
Palmerhytis stebdenensis
gen. et sp. nov. is described from the Craven Reef Belt of North Yorkshire and a formerly unnamed chonopectinid,
P. bunnahonensis
sp. nov., from Co. Fermanagh, Ireland is referred to the same genus.
The Carboniferous cystoporate bryozoan
Eridopora macrostoma
Ulrich from the north of England
Authors: Bancroft A. J.
Published: December 2009

The encrusting fistuliporid cystoporate bryozoan
Eridopora macrostoma
Ulrich, hitherto known only from the Bangor, Glen Dean and Golconda Limestones (Pendleian) in Alabama, Kentucky and Indiana, U.S.A., is described from the Ashfell Sandstone (Upper Arundian), at Ashfell Edge Cumbria and from shales above the Main Limestone (Pendleian), at Hurst, North Yorkshire.
E. macrostoma
is only the second fistuliporid recorded from British Carboniferous strata, and its occurrence here increases the palaeogeographical distribution of the genus, previously recorded only from the U.S.A., Canada, Iran and the U.S.S.R.
Late Caledonian subvolcanic vents and associated dykes in the Kirkcudbright area, Galloway, south-west Scotland
Authors: Rock N. M. S. , Cooper C. , Gaskarth J. W.
Published: December 2009

Two small (<400 × 150m) ‘Lower Carboniferous’ vents were previously recorded near Kirkcudbright. Six vents actually exist, and are of
Late Caledonian
(Siluro-Devonian: 400 – 418Ma) age, forming a cluster unique in southern Scotland. They comprise vughy, greywacke/mudstone agglomerate with a highly altered, lamprophyric -basaltic to non-igneous (silica-rich) matrix. Petrographically similar breccia dykes (up to 200m long) represent arrested stages in the formation of vents. Vent activity accompanied calc-alkaline porphyrite, lamprophyre and basalt dyke-swarms (D
1
intrusions of the Black Stockarton Moor subvolcanic complex). Vents and dykes both predate the 397Ma Criffel granitic pluton. The best exposed vent, on Kirkcudbright Bay, shows five intrusive phases: (1) vent agglomerate; (2) a basaltic vent intrusion (c.30 × 15m); (3) kersantite dykes and smaller vent intrusions; (4) explosion-breccia, tuffisite and basalt veins, sheets and dykes; (5) late veins. These vents represent explosive, deep-seated, K-rich magmatism during the closing stages of the Caledonian igneous cycle, strikingly analogous to magmatism in the Appin-Lome area of the Scottish Highlands.
The saltern mounds of north-east Lincolnshire
Authors: Pattison J. , Williamson I. T.
Published: December 2009

Mapping of the waste mounds left by the old coastal salt industry in north-east Lincolnshire has shown that they cover about 8.4 km
2
between Humberston and Saltfleet. They are located close to the line of the medieval sea-wall and associated storm beaches of sand and shingle, but mostly appear to rest directly on marine and estuarine clays and silts.
The Flandrian (Quaternary) Caerwys Tufa, North Wales: an ancient barrage tufa deposit
Authors: Pedley H. M.
Published: December 2009

An extensive deposit of tufa, including organic build-ups, oncoid facies and micrite facies, extends as a lobate deposit downslope from a Carboniferous Limestone scarp near Caerwys, North Wales. The deposit contains terrestrial and freshwater molluscs, ostracods and plant remains, the latter now preserved as moulds and casts. Collectively, the carbonates caused blockage of a pre-existing valley, by a combination of CaCO
3
precipitation associated with oscillatoriacaen “algae” and the growth of higher plants. Oncoid and detrital facies accumulated upstream of the tufa barriers in small standing pools and marshes.

Carbonate precipitation, brought about by both physical and organic processes, produced freshwater isopachous fringe cement and micrite; peliods associated with the tufa appear to be related genetically to these. The tufa build-ups (phytoherms) within the Caerwys deposit are associated with contemporaneous living vegetation such as reed and willow, although mosses and liverworts are most common. The plants were bonded during life by freshwater isopachous fringe cements and were colonized by cyanobacteria and animals. The phytoherms had positive relief and effected local changes in water flow, sedimentation rates and ecology. Collectively, the deposit illustrates many of the typical features of barrage tufa deposits and serves as a useful model for ancient deposits.
The magnetostratigraphy of cave sediments in Masson Hill, Derbyshire
Authors: Noel M.
Published: December 2009

The directions of remanent magnetisation in 152 samples of cave silt and clay from Masson Mine, Derbyshire, have been examined. In the Clay Shaft, Old Jants Mine, a 4m sequence of alternating clay, silt and sand provides the first detailed British record of a geomagnetic polarity transition (reversed to normal). Alternating geomagnetic polarity is recorded in sediments from the Clay Cavern. Measurements of magnetic susceptibility anisotropy suggest that during sedimentation phreatic flow was in a NW to SE direction towards the Derwent Gorge.
The stratigraphy of the Carboniferous rocks around Castletown, Isle of Man
Authors: Dickson J. A. D. , Ford T. D. , Swift A.
Published: December 2009

A revised lithostratigraphic subdivision of the Dinantian rocks at the southern end of the Isle of Man is presented. Resting on the Cambro-Ordovician Manx Slate Group is the Langness Conglomerate, representing a locally-derived alluvial fan deposit. The succeeding Derbyhaven and Castletown Formations are both thinly-bedded, fine-grained dark limestones with variable amounts of shale partings; the Derbyhaven Formation has yielded fossils suggesting an early Arundian to Holkerian age, whilst the Castletown Formation appears to be mostly of early Asbian age. The latter is diachronously overlain by the thick Balladoole Formation, composed of lime-mud mounds, of Asbian age. The Poyllvaaish Formation is of similar mudmounds and beds, with original depositional dips of up to 20° and yielding late Asbian to early Brigantian faunas. The penecontemporary Close-ny-Chollagh Formation consists of black limestones and shales enclosing an unusual complex of slipped and foundered blocks from the upper Poyllvaaish limestones, with considerable distortion of the black beds around the blocks. The Scarlett Volcanic Formation consists of subaqueous volcanic breccias, vesicular and pillow basaltic lavas and fine-grained tuffs, with local intercalations of black limestones of early to mid-Brigantian age. Disruption surfaces and contortions, previously thought to be due to thrust-faulting, are now regarded as contemporary mass-flow and eruptive disturbances.
Two new species of
Siphonodendron
(Rugosa) from the Viséan of the British Isles
Authors: Nudds J. R. , Somerville I. D.
Published: December 2009

Two new species of
Siphonodendron
have been discovered in the Viséan of Great Britain and Ireland.
S. scaleberense
sp. nov., recorded from the Holkerian and Asbian of northern England, North Wales and Ireland, is the largest
Siphonodendron
known in western Europe.
S. multiradiale
sp. nov., recorded from the ?Holkerian/Asbian of South Wales, has the highest number of septa known in this genus.
New seismic refraction evidence on the origin of the Bouguer anomaly low near Hunstanton, Norfolk
Authors: Chroston P. N. , Allsop J. M. , Cornwell J. D.
Published: December 2009

Possible geological explanations for the negative Bouguer gravity anomaly between Hunstanton and King’s Lynn in north-west Norfolk include a thickening of the Mesozoic succession, a concealed basin filled with Carboniferous sediments, or an acid igneous intrusion into the sub-Mesozoic basement. In order to constrain the interpretation, a seismic refraction experiment was carried out to determine the configuration and seismic velocities of the basement. Five reversed seismic lines were shot between the Hunstanton and Wiggenhall boreholes and were interpreted using both the plane-layer and ‘plus-minus’ methods. The results indicate that the sub-Mesozoic basement surface at the centre of the anomaly lies at a depth of approximately 650 m and has a consistently low apparent dip of 0.5 degrees towards the north. P-wave velocities in the basement range from 5.1 km s
−1
to 5.8 km s
−1
. Consequently a low-density granitic intrusion seems the most likely explanation of the anomaly.
Pennine mineralisation in depth
Authors: Dunham K. C.
Published: December 2009

The factual geological background to the mineral deposits of the Northern Pennines is summarised and it is shown that the most favourable workings have been carried down to no more than about 0.4km below the present land surface. A few cases where lead—zinc—fluorine — barium mineralisation persists to over 1.5km are known in North America and suitable metalliferous brines are known to exist at over 3km depth. In this paper, the chances of finding further orebodies in depth in the present area are assessed from the tectono-stratigraphic and mineralogical-geochemical points of view.
Boreholes in the Wolstonian Basement Till at Easington, Holderness, July 1985
Authors: Catt J. A. , Digby P. G. N.
Published: December 2009

Ten boreholes drilled to a maximum depth of −27 m O.D. on the foreshore north of Easington (Holderness), North Humberside, showed that the Basement Till, which forms the lowest lithostratigraphic unit visible in the cliffs, extends almost to the base of the Pleistocene succession with only a slight change in mineralogical composition. The mineralogical similarity of samples from the boreholes to the Basement Till in the cliffs and dissimilarities from other Holderness tills are demonstrated by principal coordinate analysis and canonical variate analysis. The absence of older glacial deposits at Easington is attributed to early Wolstonian marine erosion.
New records of the Westbury Formation (Penarth Group, Rhaetian) in North Yorkshire, England
Authors: Benfield A. C. , Warrington G.
Published: December 2009

The subdrift outcrop of the late Triassic Penarth Group has recently been continuously traced along the eastern side of the Vale of York between Thirsk and Stillington, principally from borehole data. Two new occurrences within this outcrop, a road-cutting near Thirsk and a shallow borehole at Crayke, are recorded. At both, dark-coloured mudstones occur and have yielded palynomorphs and sporadic macrofossils which indicate deposition in a marine environment during latest Triassic (Rhaetian) times. These beds are correlated with the Westbury Formation of the Penarth Group.
Calcitization and compaction in the Upper Permian Concretionary Limestone and Seaham formations of North-east England
Authors: Braithwaite C. J. R.
Published: December 2009

Bizarre calcitic concretions occur within the Upper Permian Concretionary Limestone and Seaham Formations on the north-east coast of England. They include fine-grained spherical cannon-balls, with concentric and radial structures, spherical clusters of radiating crystals, and fine-grained pelletal and linear, rod-like, concretions, some of which also occur as radiating groups. They formed by the replacement of a fine-grained, organic-rich, carbonate sediment. Contrary to earlier assertions, there is no evidence that any of the structures present are pseudomorphs of previous replacements by sulphates.

Some concretions may have grown relatively early in diagenesis but size, numbers and density were controlled by the nature of pore fluids. The differing balances between composition, saturation with respect to particular ions, and temperature of fluids, and growth rates of crystals are responsible both for the varying sizes of component crystals and the overall shapes of the concentrations themselves. Irrespective of morphology and stratigraphic position, the formation of concretions was followed by dissolution which removed residual unaltered sediment and corroded exposed surfaces. The concomittant loss of strength of the rock led to localized collapse and compaction of concretions with evidence of mechanical failure, internal strain and pressure dissolution of margins. Since this history is common to all concretion occurrences it must reflect a major diagenetic event such as the emergence of the sequence in Triassic or later times.

Calcite cements and internal sediments (including detrital quartz) which have been introduced subsequently have generally failed to occlude porosity.
The Market Weighton gravity anomaly — granite or graben?
Authors: Bott M. H. P.
Published: December 2009

The local negative gravity anomaly and associated magnetic anomalies around Market Weighton were recently interpreted by Bott, Robinson and Kohnstamm in terms of an underlying unexposed granite penetrating pre-Carboniferous basement. This interpretation was based on objective features of the anomalies which are better explained by a granite than a sedimentary basin, notably the high curvature in the minimum region and the inferred shallow magnetic basement. The graben hypothesis, revived by Arveschoug, is re-examined to test its feasibility. A central profile from NW to SE can be reproduced by such a model graben, but the total Carboniferous thickness needs to be nearly 10 km for a maximum likely density contrast of 150 kg m
−3
and the Carboniferous floor needs to be relatively shallow at about 2 km depth in the adjacent regions to NW and SE. Even with this model there is some difficulty in reproducing the high observed curvature in the central region unless unknown spurious shallow effects contribute, and the magnetic anomalies would need to be explained by volcanics. Thus the graben hypothesis requires an exceptionally deep feature of unusual shape. On the basis of available evidence a granite remains the preferred hypothesis.
Strophalosiacean and aulostegacean productoids (Brachiopoda) from the Craven Reef Belt (late Viséan) of North Yorkshire
Authors: Brunton C. H. C. , Mundy D. J. C.
Published: December 2009

Brachiopods belonging to the Strophalosiacea and Aulostegacea from the reef faunas of the Craven Reef Belt, North Yorkshire, are described with emphasis upon their functional morphology and attachment characteristics; all are specialized for living on hard surfaces, principally within reef framework facies. Two new aulostegacean genera are described:
Limbifera
, with type species
L. griffithiana
(de Koninck), and
Retroplexus
, with type species
R. parkhousensis
sp. nov. from Derbyshire and
R. cravenensis
sp. nov. from North Yorkshire. In addition,
Stipulina tiddemani
sp. nov. and
Sinuatella johnsoni
sp. nov. are described from North Yorkshire and from younger (Pendleian) strata in Northumberland respectively.
Faunal and floral assemblages from Bingley Bog, West Yorkshire, and their significance for late Devensian and early Flandrian environmental changes
Authors: Keen D. H. , Jones R. L. , Evans R. A. , Robinson J. E.
Published: December 2009

Late Devensian and early Flandrian, mollusc-, ostracod- and pollen-bearing deposits from Bingley Bog, West Yorkshire are described. The sequence of environmental changes began with a rapid climatic amelioration which allowed the establishment of a diverse molluscan and ostracod fauna. This was followed by a short, less temperate episode that is registered by both the animal and the plant fossils. The Mollusca in particular imply that while a partial climatic recovery was made after this episode, environmental conditions were in overall decline. This decline culminated in a short, severe climatic phase which was probably responsible for the extinction of the fauna, and for a significant change in the flora. Birch woodland was replaced by tundra-like vegetation. The initial climatic amelioration most probably corresponds to the onset of temperate conditions at the start of the Windermere (Allerød) Interstadial. A subsequent worsening of climate, to cool temperate conditions, is tentatively correlated with the Older Dryas episode. The final cold phase would thus represent the Younger Dryas (Loch Lomond) Stadial. Both plant and animal records indicate the establishment of temperate conditions subsequent to Younger Dryas time. The early Flandrian fauna exhibited a rapid increase in both numbers and diversity, and woodland developed widely during the period.
Structure and phylogenetic significance of
Trachyteuthis
(Coleoidea) from the Kimmeridge Clay of England
Authors: Hewitt R. A. , Wignall P. B.
Published: December 2009

The large and rare coleoid cephalopod
Trachyteuthis
is found within the lithographic limestones of the German Lower Tithonian and the contemporaneous bituminous shales of the Kimmeridge Clay Formation. Complete shells are apparently confined to the more anoxic facies. The occurrence of francolitic
Trachyteuthis
and
Actinosepia
with aragonitic molluscan shells in the Kimmeridge Clay (Upper Jurassic) and Pierre Shale Formations (Upper Cretaceous), underlines the lack of biological affinity between the Mesozoic Trachyteuthididae and their homeomorphs the Tertiary cuttlebones (
Sepia
and
Belosepia
).
A new species of
Sychnoelasma
(Rugosa) from the Dinantian of the British Isles: its phylogeny and biostratigraphical significance
Authors: Mitchell M. , Somerville I. D.
Published: December 2009

Re-examination of Dinantian coral assemblages from the lowest beds exposed in the mid-1930’s in Haw Bank Quarries, and in Holywell Bridge railway cutting, Skipton, West Yorkshire, indicates that they are of late Courceyan age. Correlations with coral assemblages from the South-Western Province and from Ireland are suggested.
Sychnoelasma hawbankense
sp. nov., a solitary rugose coral, is described from Haw Bank Quarry and other localities in the Skipton Anticline, as well as from Bristol, the Mendip Hills, Gower, and the Dublin Basin, Ireland. The records show that this species has a limited stratigraphical range from late Courceyan to Chadian. A phylogenetic sequence for some species of
Sychnoelasma
is proposed.
The sedimentology and geochemistry of the sub-Clowne cycle (Westphalian B) of north-east Derbyshire, U.K.
Authors: Rippon J. H. , Spears D. A.
Published: December 2009

The upper part of the cycle between the Manton “
Estheria
” Band and the Clowne Marine Band horizon (upper Westphalian B of the British Pennine Basin) contains a variety of noteworthy features, including a local ankerite/dolomite, an acid tonstein, and a seatearth which varies regionally and locally in colour and grain size. The relationships of these are examined, together with coal thickness variations and contemporary channels; variations in the tonstein’s gamma-ray anomaly are assessed in relation to sediment grade and proximity to channels. The geochemistry of the carbonate, tonstein, and seatearth are described; the combination of geochemical analysis and detailed study of field relationships provides a picture of water-table fluctuations in the Clowne sequence, probably eustatically controlled.
Magnetic, chemical, petrographic and isotopic age studies of the Windy Knowe Tertiary dyke. Borders Region, Scotland
Authors: Titman C. W. , Wilkinson I. , Mitchell J. G. , Ineson P. R.
Published: December 2009

Magnetic surveying around the Windy Knowe exposure of the Tertiary Deadwater north dyke, Borders Region, Scotland demonstrates that the dyke strikes to the south of the line indicated on existing geological maps. An apparent displacement across the Liddel Water Fault is probably due to the presence of a second near-parallel dyke, as is observed in the Deadwater valley to the south-east. Geochemical and isotopic age studies confirm the dyke to be a tholeiite whose K-Ar age is 58.7 ± 0.9 (1
σ
) Ma.
Mid-Flandrian (Atlantic) landslide activity in the South Pennines
Authors: Redda A. , Hansom J. D.
Published: December 2009

Investigation of the Coldside landslide in the Vale of Edale, Derbyshire, has revealed fresh evidence of landslide activity during late Atlantic time. The toe of the landslide overlies a brown loam rich in charcoal fragments which have been radiocarbon-dated to 5860 ± 120 years BP. A radiocarbon date of 5560 ± 80 years BP obtained from basal peat in a slump depression near the top of the landslide tends to confirm pollen evidence that the likely period of landslide activity was during the late Atlantic between approximately 6000 and 5500 years BP. This coincides with the time that Mesolithic peoples had deliberately used fire for forest clearance and hunting, and the occurrence of charcoal fragments trapped beneath the landslide raises the possibility of inadvertent landscape modification by human activity in the Mesolithic.
Dolerite-pegmatites from the Whin Sill near Barrasford, Northumberland
Authors: Randall B. A. O.
Published: December 2009

Four varieties of dolerite-pegmatite occurring in the Whin Sill at Barrasford are described. They are (1) normal pegmatite (NP) which is similar to the dolerite-pegmatites of Teesdale occurring as concordant lenticular lenses parallel to the sill’s upper surface and confined to the upper portion of the sill; (2) intrusive pegmatite (IP) a discordant vein containing autoliths of dolerite; (3) pegmatite (QP) below partially filled vesicles containing quartz and calcite and (4) pegmatite (PP) below amygdales completely filled with pectolite. QP and PP only occur below the amygdales and have the form of basal layers about 10mm thick. The pegmatites developed at an early stage in the consolidation of the sill and QP and PP had vesicular space above them. The filling of the vesicles took place later at lower temperature in two separate hydrothermal episodes yet there is an invarient relationship between pegmatite composition and amygdale fill. A chemical study of the four pegmatites, the normal dolerite (ND), intrusive basalt (IB) and aplite veins (IA) and their component minerals shows that all the rocks except PP lie on the normal differentiation trend of the Whin Sill.

Final consolidation temperatures as indicated by feldspar geothermometry are:- ND 1025°C; NP 713°C; IP 748°C; QP 572°C and IP 590°C. A temperature of feldspar equilibration of 460°C for PP supports the conclusion that PP is the metasomatic product of QP, altered by the solutions that deposited the pectolite. Some of the pectolite has been subsequently replaced by stevensite which has X-ray characteristics of heat treated (400°C) stevensite.
The biostratigraphic age of the Ordovician Skiddaw Group in the Black Combe Inlier, English Lake District
Authors: Rushton A. W. A. , Molyneux S.G.
Published: December 2009

Graptolites and acritarchs from several localities on the NW side of the Whicham Valley, Black Combe, show that the beds there (the Whicham Blue Slates of Helm 1970) are of late Arenig
Didymograptus hirundo
Biozone age. Acritarch floras show that the beds underlying the Borrowdale Volcanic Group on the SE side of the Whicham Valley are of latest Arenig age. Probable latest Arenig acritarchs have also been recorded from a tuffite at the base of the volcanic sequence of Millom Park. The possible age of this tuffite is discussed.
A ‘North-west Passage’ to the southern Zechstein Basin of the UK North Sea
Authors: Smith D. B. , Taylor J. C. M.
Published: December 2009

Sedimentary structures and variations of facies in late Permian marine carbonate rocks of the Raisby, Ford and Concretionary Limestone formations of Northumberland and Durham suggest that these rocks were formed on subaqueous slopes along the western margin of water at least 100m and perhaps more than 200m deep. This conflicts with the view expressed in some earlier works that Northumbria faced central parts of the Mid North Sea High, over which the later Permian marine strata were thought to be mainly of shallow water facies, and leads us to postulate the former existence of a north-south passage or channel across the high in late Permian time. The facies distribution of early Permian desert deposits is also consistent with the existence of a low-lying area here. The western margin of the postulated passage probably lay close to the present coastline and the scanty geophysical and borehole evidence suggests that its eastern margin may have lain perhaps 15 to 25 kilometres farther east. At least one other passage across the high has been identified previously.
Permo-Carboniferous mylonite formation in the Walls Boundary Fault system, Shetland
Authors: Roddom D. S. , Miller J. A. , Flinn D.
Published: December 2009

The Walls Boundary Fault system of Shetland is a major zone of transcurrent faulting which has been active on more than one occasion. It may include a northward extension of the Great Glen Fault. Evidence suggests that the latest major episode of movement, which resulted in the formation of a gouge filled fracture, is of Lower Jurassic age. Earlier movements suggested by lithological offsets across the fault are supported by the presence of bands and slices of mylonite within the fault zone. A mineralogical investigation of the mylonites shows that growth and recrystallisation of K-feldspar and white mica occurred during mylonitisation, and is responsible for partial overprinting of the potassium-argon age of the host rock.
40
Ar/
39
Ar stepheating spectra from two samples suggest that the phase of movement associated with the development of the observed ductile mylonites occurred during the latest Carboniferous or early Permian, although earlier movements are not ruled out.
Palynostratigraphy of the Scalby Formation (Middle Jurassic) of the Cleveland Basin, north-east Yorkshire
Authors: Riding J.B. , Wright J.K.
Published: December 2009

The precise age, Bajocian or Bathonian, of the Middle Jurassic Scalby Formation has proved controversial; a review of previous stratigraphical research on the Moor Grit Member and the overlying Long Nab Member is presented.

Palynofloras from the uppermost Long Nab Member of Newtondale, North Yorkshire, indicate a Bathonian age. Two palynomorph assemblages from the lowermost Long Nab Member from coastal exposures north of Scarborough have been re-examined and are suggestive of a late Bajocian to Bathonian age.
Přídolí graptolites from the Humevale Formation at Ghin Ghin and Cheviot, Victoria, Australia
Authors: Rickards R. B. , Garratt M. J.
Published: December 2009

Recent collecting has revealed three new graptolite-rich localities in the Humevale Formation above the Rice’s Hill Sandstone Member. Each indicates a Přídolí age for this part of the Humevale Formation, and reinforces earlier work by the authors attributing these
Baragwanathia
- yielding strata to the uppermost Silurian series. Two of the new localities, at Ghin Ghin (locs. B4 and B1A), have numerous specimens of
Monograptus
cf.
prognatus
Koren’ and
M
aff.
uniformis parangustidens
Jackson & Lenz respectively, whilst the locality at Cheviot (T2) contains abundant
M.
cf.
pridoliensis
Přibyl. Forms in any way referable to the last two species have not yet been recorded from the Australian continent before.
Lateral and vertical variations in pedogenesis and other early diagenetic phenomena, Middle Jurassic Ravenscar Group, Yorkshire
Authors: Kantorowicz J. D.
Published: December 2009

The effects of early diagenetic processes are widespread in shallow marine and non-marine (deltaic) sediments of the Ravenscar Group. These can be related to both lateral variations in ground water chemistry within the original depositional environment on the lower coastal plain, and to the introduction of sea water into the non-marine sediments and of fresh water into the marine sediments.

In the non-marine sediments lateral (catena) variations in soil profiles can be related to floodplain aggradation and abandonment. Near the major channel sands in the Saltwick Formation at Whitby West Cliff, a ganister and seatearth formed in elevated and well drained sediments that were frequently flushed with fresh water. In more distal floodplain areas, ground-waters were influenced by fresh water, but remained generally suboxic, as a result of which siderite cementation occurred. The influence of meteoric water is indicated by the isotopic composition of the cements that formed (
δ
13
C PDB −3.7 to −9.6 ‰,
δ
18
O PDB −6.0 to −8.5 ‰). Rhombic siderite cemented the sands, and siderite nodules formed in both sands and shales. Siderite spheruliths formed within more distal soil horizons (such as the Long Nab Member at Crook Ness) where bacterial processes dominated the supply of bicarbonate into the ground water, and in non-marine sediments on abandoned and subsiding delta lobes. Bacterial influence is reflected in the more negative carbon isotopic composition relative to that of the nodules (
δ
13
C PDB −16.2 ‰,
δ
18
O PDB −3.5 ‰). Sea water was introduced onto the floodplain locally, providing sulphate ions that were reduced and incorporated into the pyrite that precipitated in the siderite soil horizons.

In the marine Millepore Bed sediments at Yons Nab early diagenetic, possibly aragonite, fringes formed on bioclasts and ooliths. These were subsequently deformed by the weight of overburden following renewed progradation. Grain-to-grain contact dissolution and kaolinite precipitation occurred as the fresh groundwater invaded these marine carbonates from the prograding delta above.
Enigmatic boulders and syn-sedimentary faulting in the Carboniferous Limestone of the Isle of Man
Authors: Quirk D. G. , Ford T. D. , King J. A. , Roberts I. L. , Postance R. B. , Odell I.
Published: December 2009

A small area of Lower Carboniferous (early Brigantian) Limestone in a coastal inlet in the south of the Isle of Man contains boulders of pale bioclastic limestone lying upon and overlain by thin undulating beds of dark calcareous mudstone. It is shown that during deposition of this facies the sea bed dipped towards a syn-sedimentary fault on the north side of the inlet where approximately 3m of normal movement occurred prior to its deposition. 50m to the south, a limebank developed above the crest of a small rollover anticline in the hanging wall of the fault. Instability of this structure led to an episode of sediment collapse. A density flow, containing blocks and boulders of pale limestone, slid northwards over black muddy sediments that were accumulating in the deeper water close to the fault. Both lithologies also show evidence of soft sediment deformation. This study shows that carbonate boulder beds and other fault-related structures can be extremely local in nature.
A revised lithostratigraphy for the Lower and Middle Lias (Lower Jurassic) east of Nottingham, England
Authors: Brandon A. , Sumbler M. G. , Ivimey-Cook H. C.
Published: December 2009

Recent geological mapping by the British Geological Survey (BGS) of an area near Fulbeck, north of Grantham, together with examination of cored site investigation boreholes, has revealed the detailed stratigraphy of the lower part of the Lias Group (“Lower and Middle Lias”) in the region east of Nottingham for the first time. The stratigraphical classification used by previous authors is inadequate in several ways, and a new scheme is proposed. Under this new scheme, the beds between the base of the Lias Group and the base of the Marlstone Rock Bed are formally divided into two formations of approximately equal thickness. The Scunthorpe Mudstone Formation, forming the lower part of the sequence, is divided into five members for which Borehole F/B5, sunk on Fulbeck Airfield, is defined as the type section; the cores are held by BGS. These members consist alternately of mudstone with numerous limestone beds, and mudstone with few limestone beds. Many widespread limestone beds have been mapped and informally named. The overlying Brant Mudstone Formation consists of mudstone with common nodule beds. It has not been formally subdivided, although several marker beds have been mapped. Geophysical borehole log correlation and limited fieldwork show that the sequence extends virtually unchanged into the Vale of Belvoir to the south-west. Farther afield, the two formations and some component members and even some beds can be recognized throughout the area of the East Midlands Shelf.
The Fossil Sandstone — a shallow marine sand wave complex in the Namurian of Cumbria and North Yorkshire, England
Authors: Brenner R. L. , Martinsen O. J.
Published: December 2009

The Fossil Sandstone represents marine sand deposition during the Namurian E2
a(ii)
marine cycle on the Askrigg Block in northern England. Sand was shaped into sand waves in an offshore setting at least 10 km from the synchronous shoreline. These sands and associated muds are preserved in five lithofacies: 1) shale, 2) interstratified sandstone and shale, 3) wavy-laminated sandstone, 4) tabular cross-bedded sandstone, and 5) mottled sandstone. Delta progradation followed by transgressive submergence was the most likely primary basinward sand-moving mechanism. Wavy-laminated sandstone and interstratified sandstone and shale represent a sand buildup that formed as a result of marine reworking of deltaic sands. Periodic increases in current intensity caused the formation and eastward migration of sand waves on the higher portions of the sand buildup. Sand waves are represented by cross-bedded sandstone with easterly-dipping tabular foresets separated by gently dipping to nearly horizontal erosional surfaces. These foreset beds contain crinoid and brachiopod fragments and the lowermost erosional surface at each locality is overlain by a thin shale-chip and fossil hash lag. Bioturbated surfaces represent upper portions of sand bodies subject to biogenic activity between high-energy storm events or as the bodies became moribund.

The Fossil Sandstone is an example of sand deposition in a mud-dominated marine shelf setting. In some, but not all aspects, it is similar to some of the Upper Jurassic and Upper Cretaceous sandstones in the Western Interior of North America.
Stratigraphy of the Worston Shale Group (Dinantian), Craven Basin, north-west England
Authors: Riley N. J.
Published: December 2009

The Worston Shale Group of Earp
et al.
(1961) is made up of four formations: the Clitheroe Limestone, Hodder Mudstone, Hodderense Limestone and Pendleside Limestone. Within these formations fifteen members are defined: the Thornton Limestone, Coplow Limestone, Peach Quarry Limestone, Bellman Limestone, Limekiln Wood Limestone. Phynis Mudstone, Whitemore Limestone, Hetton Beck Limestone, Leagram Mudstone, Buckbanks Sandstone, Embsay Limestone, Rain Gill Limestone, Chaigley Limestone, Twiston Sandstone and Rad Brook Mudstone. A particular bed within the Hodder Mudstone Formation, the Dunbarella Bed, is also recognised. Four unconformities are recognised. The most widespread is at the base of the Hodder Mudstone Formation; the others, which are more restricted, occur at the base of the Embsay Limestone Member (and equivalents), at the base of the Twiston Sandstone Member and at the base of the Pendleside Limestone Formation. Diagnostic Viséan foraminifera and conodonts first enter within the basal part of the Hodder Mudstone Formation, suggesting that the Tournaisian-Viséan boundary lies much higher than previously supposed. All the Dinantian stage boundaries in the Arundian to Asbian interval have been re-correlated. The Craven Basin is thought to have been underlain by an asymmetric graben within the pre-Carboniferous basement and the depositional history of the basin to have resulted from a combination of both syndepositional tectonics and eustatic processes. Consequently, the basinal sediments portray a transition from carbonate shelf to slope (Gawthorpe 1987), involving a change during deposition of the Clitheroe Limestone and Hodder Mudstone formations from shallow-water carbonates, generated within the basin, to deep-water hemi-pelagic sediments with limestone turbidites fed from the surrounding carbonate shelves and platforms. Intermittent supply into the basin of terrigenous sand and reworked faunas is related to the emergence and erosion of the surrounding areas.
Depositional environments and palaeogeography of the Station Quarry Beds (Brigantian), Derbyshire, England
Authors: Gutteridge P.
Published: December 2009

The Station Quarry Beds were deposited during a transgressive episode at the beginning of the Brigantian in a structurally controlled basin on the Derbyshire carbonate platform. The initial flooding of this basin was marked by the deposition of sediment reworked from subtidal, shoreface and back barrier intertidal sediments on the karstified and calcretised surface of the Bee Low Limestones. As sea level continued to rise, low energy, sub-wave-base conditions, interrupted by occasional storms, were established within the intrashelf basin. The generally low-energy environment is attributed to the sheltered setting of the intra-shelf basin rather than water depth. The near normal to fully marine salinity, together with the well-oxygenated conditions of deposition, suggest that the intra-shelf basin was probably connected to a larger body of fully marine water.