bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Stratigraphy and depositional environments of the Woo Dale Limestones Formation (Dinantian), Derbyshire
Authors: Schofield K. , Adams A. E.
Published: December 2009

The Woo Dale Limestones Formation is the oldest of the exposed shelf limestone units on the Derbyshire Block. It occurs in four inliers: Peak Forest, Wye Valley, Hartington and Alstonfield. Three members are recognised; the lowest, the Vincent House Member, is present throughout the area and consists of packstones and grainstones with a diverse bioclast assemblage. It represents deposition in a shallow open shelf environment. The Topley Pike Member comprises principally mudstones and wackestones with a restricted fauna. Fenstrate fabrics, desiccation cracks and pseudoanticlines indicate deposition and early diagenesis in a tidal flat environment. The uppermost member, the Dam Dale Member consists of dark-coloured packstones and grainstones with a bioclast assemblage intermediate in diversity between the Topley Pike and Vincent House Members. It represents deposition in a partially restricted lagoon. Tidal flat deposits occur higher in the sequence to the south (Wye Valley, Hartington) than in the north (Peak Forest). This is thought to indicate that tidal flats migrated roughly southwards with time as a result of progradation. The contact of the Woo Dale Limestones with the overlying Bee Low Limestones appears conformable at Peak Forest but unconformable at Wye Valley and Hartington. The relationship at Alstonfield is uncertain.
An Arundian fauna from the Dyserth area, North Wales and its correlation within the British Isles
Authors: Somerville I. D. , Mitchell M. , Strank A. R. E.
Published: December 2009

A rich fauna of Arundian (early Viséan) age has been identified from dark grey well bedded limestones in the Dyserth area of North Wales. Hitherto, this fauna has been considered to be of Asbian or Brigantian age (late Viséan), but additional sampling, together with re-examination of specimens from the British Geological Survey Collection and figured material of Neaverson (1929), has established the Arundian age. The coral/brachiopod assemblages are described and compared with the Dinantian of south Cumbria (Arnside Fauna) and the Northern, Central and South-Western Provinces of Britain and Ireland.
The mineralogy and petrology of the ‘Coprolite Bed’ phosphorite deposit (Lower Cretaceous) at Speeton, North Yorkshire
Authors: Scott P. W. , Middleton R. , Kimyongur N.
Published: December 2009

The ‘Coprolite’ Bed (Basal Bed or E Bed of the Speeton Clay, Berriasian) rests on Kimmeridge Clay. It is made up of phosphatic pebbles, some of which are internal moulds of bivalves, brachiopods and fragmented ammonites. Recognisable vertebrate remains are almost entirely restricted to occasional microscopic teeth and bone fragments. The pebbles are made of francolite (72–85% carbonate fluorapatite) intimately mixed with microcrystalline quartz, clay minerals, pyrite and organic matter. Some pebbles have been bored and re-phosphatised. Some francolite (with a peloidal structure), glauconite and detrital quartz occur in the matrix, but partially phosphatised calcite is the main interstitial phase. The pebbles are probably derived from already lithified and phosphatised Upper Kimmeridgian material, which may have been present as individual nodules or phosphatised hardground. The unweathered bed contains 21.6 to 25.2% P
2
O
5
, whereas individual pebbles have 26.2 to 30.5% P
2
O
5
. The carbonate fluorapatite has minor Na and Mg substitution for Ca, and approximately one sixth substitution of CO
3
for PO
4
. Approximately 1.7 atoms of F are also present in the structure. The glauconite has an overall ordered structure. The bed is very thin and, although its extent is unknown, the nature of the Kimmeridge Clay/Lower Cretaceous unconformity in this area makes it unlikely that a thicker and economically workable deposit occurs.
A limulid trace fossil from the Scarborough Formation (Jurassic) of Yorkshire; its occurrence, taxonomy and interpretation
Authors: Romano M. , Whyte M. A.
Published: December 2009

A new trace fossil,
Selenichnus hundalensis,
is described and figured from a sandstone in the Middle Jurassic Scarborough Formation of the Yorkshire coast. The trace is preserved as a shallow, sub-oval, positive hypichnion, wider than long, with a rounded anterior margin and paired convex lunate lobes directed anterolaterally. It is considered to have been made by a limulid during shallow burrowing but because of its morphology it cannot be accommodated in the existing ichnogenera
Kouphichnium
or
Limulicubichnus.
The ichnospecies
Kouphichnium rossendalensis
and
K. cordiformis
are reassigned to this new ichnogenus. Principles of ichnotaxonomy of arthropod burrows are discussed and the trace fossil interpreted by analogy with the burrowing behaviour of living
Limulus polyphemus.
This is the first record of such a trace fossil from the Jurassic rocks of Britain.
Late Caledonian (Acadian) transpression in north-west England: timing, geometry and geotectonic significance
Authors: Soper N. J. , Webb B. C. , Woodcock N. H.
Published: December 2009

The late Caledonian structure of the Lower Palaeozoic slate belts which lie to the south of the Iapetus suture in Britain is not ‘Caledonoid’ (NE-SW) but characterised by arcuate trends. The significance of the major cleavage arc of northern England is the subject of this paper. Its exposed part, in the Lake District and adjacent inliers, is described and its regional extent inferred from the control exerted by Caledonian basement trends on early Carboniferous sedimentation patterns. The arc is shown to be a major feature of the orogen, marking a change from a NE-SW ‘Appalachian’ trend to the ESE-WNW ‘Tornquist’ trend of northern Germany and Poland.

Evidence for the age of deformation in the British slate belts is reviewed. It is shown that the deformation was not ‘end-Silurian’ as previously supposed, but of early Devonian age, climaxing in the Emsian and approximately synchronous with the Acadian orogeny of Canada.

The systematic variation in cleavage/fold transection angles around the arc is described and interpreted in terms of transpressive strains associated with the northward movement of a basement block, the Midlands Massif, which acted as a rigid indenter during accretion of the southern British terrane (Eastern Avalonia) onto the Laurentian margin. These new data on the timing and geometry of the Acadian accretion event in Britain go some way to resolving the current controversy concerning late Ordovician vs. Devonian closure of Iapetus.
Upper Oxfordian and Lower Kimmeridgian ostracods from the South Ferriby Quarry, South Humberside
Authors: Ahmed S. T.
Published: December 2009

The ostracods from the Upper Oxfordian and Lower Kimmeridgian (Upper Jurassic) of South Ferriby Quarry section were examined. Three new species of
Macrodentina (Polydentina)
namely
M. (P) ferribyensis, M. (P) parva
and
M. (P.) oxfordiana
were found and are described herein.
Duftite from the Northern Pennine Orefield
Authors: Starkey R.E.
Published: December 2009

The rare supergene mineral duftite, PbCu (AsO
4
) (OH), has been identified in partly oxidised galena – tennantite ore at Stennerskeugh Clouds, Kirkby Stephen, Cumbria. This is the first record of the mineral from the Pennines and only the third reported British occurrence.
Tectonism and sedimentation in the Flamborough Head region of north-east England
Authors: Kirby G. A. , Swallow P. W.
Published: December 2009

Interpretation of a composite seismic reflection traverse across Flamborough Head reveals a complex structural history. An east-west trending graben and small associated faults developed in late Jurassic times. During the early Cretaceous, however, a southward-throwing listric normal fault developed, across which Lower Cretaceous strata are interpreted as increasing in thickness approximately tenfold. Major extensional faulting ceased at the end of the early Cretaceous. The Bempton Shatter Zone is thought to result from post-Cretaceous reactivation of part of the listric fault during inversion of the Cleveland Basin.
Patterns of late Caledonian intrusive activity in eastern and northern England from geophysics, radiometric dating and basement geology
Authors: Allsop J. M.
Published: December 2009

Consideration of the petrological relationships and the physical properties of the concealed igneous rocks in eastern England, together with isotopic dating results and seismic refraction data, reveals a migrating three-phase sequence of Caledonian igneous activity culminating in a period of granitic intrusion during early Devonian times in the Wash and north Norfolk areas. Comparisons between the geophysical characteristics of these eastern England features and those of other known Caledonian granitic intrusions confirms their interpretation as granite batholiths. Since eastern England was isolated from the complex tectonic activity of the Caledonian orogeny, it is only in the Lake District that a similar sequence of intrusion can be recognised, with gradual increase in acidity of the intrusions during the Lower Palaeozoic.

The Pennine and Lake District granites are linked to the eastern England batholith by a north-west to south-east trending belt of magnetic basement. On the margins of this belt are located two further, but as yet unsampled, features with which are associated large negative gravity anomalies with characteristics similar to those of the granites of northern England and of the postulated granites in eastern England, which lie more to the centre of the magnetic belt. Late Caledonian acid intrusions may therefore be more widespread than previously thought.
The occurrence of the Lower Carboniferous linoproductinid brachiopod
Vitiliproductus
Jin & Liao in Asia, the British Isles and Australia
Authors: Brunton C. H. C. , Mundy D. J. C.
Published: December 2009

The mid to late Viséan genus
Vitiliproductus,
with type species
V. groeberi
(Krenkel), is known from south and north-west China, with poorly established occurrences in Kazakhstan. We describe new species from the Craven Reef Belt of North Yorkshire,
V. wedberensis,
and from north-western Australia,
V. robertsi,
together with an example from Western Ireland,
V.
sp. aff.
wedberensis.
The genus probably originated in south China and migrated both to Europe and Australia during the Holkerian and Asbian stages. Growth of the distinctive cross-rugation is described and thought to have contributed to the stability of this quasi-infaunal productoid on a soft substrate.
New data on Carboniferous (Dinantian) trilobites from the Peak District, Derbyshire, England
Authors: Tilsley J. W.
Published: December 2009

The stratigraphical distribution of trilobites in the Dinantian succession of the Peak District is summarised. Six new species of early Carboniferous trilobites:
Bollandia columba, Bollandia rugiceps, Cummingella sampsoni, Griffithides whitewatsoni, Namuropyge glaphyra
and
Piltonia paucita
are described.
Biostratigraphy of Viséan (Dinantian) rugose coral faunas from Britain
Authors: Mitchell M.
Published: December 2009

The history of research on British Dinantian corals is briefly outlined and the biostratigraphy of the Viséan rugose coral faunas reviewed. The distributions recorded are based only on the evidence of the author’s own determinations, made over a period of some 30 years, the results of which are published in numerous contributions to British Geological Survey memoirs and bulletins. The ranges of species are discussed using the regional stages (Chadian, Arundian, Holkerian, Asbian and Brigantian) proposed for the correlation of British Dinantian rocks. Systematic notes have been prepared, but are limited to the original designations and important revisions, sufficient to indicate the author’s understanding of the listed species; comments are added where necessary.
Late Ryazanian black shales in the Southern North Sea Basin and their lithostratigraphical significance
Authors: Lott G. K. , Thomas J. E. , Riding J. B. , Davey R. J. , Butler N.
Published: December 2009

The basal beds of the Speeton Clay Formation in Yorkshire and BGS Offshore Borehole 81/43, Beds E and D8 of late Ryazanian age, are in poorly fossiliferous, carbonate-free, organic-rich Kimmeridge Clay type facies. Above Bed D8 there is a rapid transition to carbonate-rich sediments with a lower organic carbon content and increasingly diverse faunal and palynofloral assemblages. In the Northern and Central North Sea basins similar coeval facies changes are represented by the Kimmeridge Clay Formation/Valhall Formation boundary.
The origin and significance of the distribution of shelly macrofauna in late Dinantian carbonate mud mounds of Derbyshire
Authors: Gutteridge P.
Published: December 2009

The majority of macrofauna found in carbonate mud mounds of the late Brigantian Eyam Limestones Formation is preserved in isolated pockets. These pockets represent erosional hollows present during growth on the surface of the carbonate mud mound which were colonised by brachiopods and bivalves in preference to other areas. Reworking caused disarticulation and stacking of shells and winnowing of small shells and the carbonate mud. The macrofauna preserved in each pocket probably also includes some shells which were washed in. The substrate relationships of the macrofauna and the diagenetic fabrics within the core facies show that the surface of the core facies within these pockets was unlithified but consolidated. The presence of steep-sided erosional hollows on the surface of the core facies is interpreted as circumstantial evidence for the former presence of a sediment-binding community which may have contributed to carbonate mud production and stabilisation of the carbonate mud mound.
Tooth structure and phylogeny of the Upper Permian echinoidMiocidaris keyserlingi
Authors: Smith A. B. , Hollingworth N. T. J.
Published: December 2009

Miocidaris keyserlingiis found in the Upper Permian Ford Formation, Zechstein Cycle 1, of the Sunderland district. It is confined to reef core and fore-reef talus slope facies and is absent from higher energy reef-crest and reef-flat habitats. Well preserved material permits the description of stereom microstructure and tooth construction.M. keyserlingihas teeth identical in structure to those of Recent cidarids and this contrasts with tooth structure in both the Carboniferous archaeocidarids and the early Jurassic euechinoids. Hemipyramid morphology and perignathic girdle structure also demonstrate the close relationship betweenM. keyserlingiand Recent cidaroids. Euechinoids and cidaroids must have diverged prior to the Upper Permian and at least two separate lineages of echinoids passed across the Permo-Triassic boundary.
New methods of fault projection for coalmine planning
Authors: Walsh J. J. , Watterson J.
Published: December 2009

Modern coal-winning techniques require identification of panels of coal in which seam geometry irregularities are minimal. The locations and throws of faults in unworked ground can often be determined by the projection of faults recorded in earlier workings. Successful projection requires a knowledge of the systematic geometry of faults in respect of throw variation on the fault surface and of the shape and dip of the fault surface. A simple geometrical model of an ideal single normal fault is described in which the throw varies systematically from a maximum at the centre of the elliptical fault surface to zero at the tip-line, or edge, of the fault surface. A fault surface ellipticity of 2, with a horizontal major axis, and a dip of 70° are recommended as approximations when no other data are available. Successful lateral projection of faults within a seam, or vertical projection from higher or lower seams, depends on the amount and type of data available from earlier workings and also on the accuracy of recorded throw values which are sometimes less than the total throw.

Retrospective studies of vertical projection of faults using a Throw Profile Plot, at Royston colliery, Yorkshire, and of lateral projection of a fault at Markham colliery, Derbyshire, are described. Discontinuous fault traces are common and represent a systematic departure from the ideal single fault model. Discontinuous fault trace arrays can be treated as single faults if the throws on overlapping segments are summed. Examples of the summing of throws on overlapping fault trace segments are described from Nook colliery, Lancashire, and Cotgrave colliery, Nottinghamshire.

The new projection methods are intended to increase the probability of successfully delineating economically workable panels of coal before significant development costs are incurred.
Gastropods from the Upper Permian Zechstein (Cycle 1) reef of north-east England
Authors: Hollingworth N. T. J. , Barker M. J.
Published: December 2009

Gastropods belonging the Pleurotomariacea, Neritacea, Anomphalacea, Pyramidellacea, and Loxonematacea are described from the Ford Formation reef. These gastropods are better preserved than any other Zechstein faunas described in the literature. The majority of gastropods are only found within the main reef complex and are inferred as algal grazers confined to lithified substrates. One new genus,
Tunstallia,
is described, with the type species
T. helicina
(Schlotheim). Lectotypes have been selected where necessary and compared with equivalent Zechstein biotas from Germany. The world-wide distribution of each genus is also recorded.
Developments in industrial mineralogy: I. The mineralogy of brick-making
Authors: Dunham A. C.
Published: December 2009

Fuels, metals and non-metallic rocks and minerals have all contributed to the wealth of the United Kingdom, though in different proportions during different periods of history. Statistical returns show the very low level of metal production, and a waning production and value of all types of fuel at the present time. Only the exploitation of industrial rocks and minerals shows continuous growth. The transformation of clay to bricks is used to show how the application of “pure” mineralogical techniques can describe and explain the changes on firing, and lead to improved industrial firing procedures. Chemical and mineralogical analyses of brick-clays demonstrate a wide range of composition, with quartz and smectite decreasing with age and illite and chlorite increasing. Bricks reflect this variation in the mineral assemblages found after firing. The effect of the length of the firing cycle on the final mineral assemblage is discussed using pure kaolinite as an example.
The stratigraphy of the Upper Cretaceous Flamborough Chalk Formation north of the Humber, north-east England
Authors: Whitham F.
Published: December 2009

The considerable thickness (approximately 215m) of the Flamborough Chalk Formation exposed on land about equals the combined total for the underlying Ferriby, Welton and Burnham chalk formations. The sequence is described here, with detailed lithological logs and ranges of all the main macrofaunal elements. The macrofauna is closely related to that of north Germany. The stratotype section is a coastal exposure from High Stacks to Sewerby. There broad lithological changes in the chalk succession allow the formation to be divided into three new members, the South Landing, Danes Dyke and Sewerby members. Several marl-band marker horizons are formally named. Macrofaunal evidence suggests that the highest chalk exposed at the present time (
Discoscaphites binodosus
Subzone) is of late Early Campanian age. Younger beds are known from boreholes near Hornsea, south of Flamborough Head, and extend eastwards beneath the North Sea. Late Campanian to Early Maastrichtian fossils derived from these occur in glacial erratics along the coast and inland.
Fell Sandstone lithostratigraphy south-west of Berwick-upon-Tweed: implications for the regional development of the Fell Sandstone
Authors: Turner B. R. , Younger P. L. , Fordham C. E.
Published: December 2009

The Fell Sandstone Group in north-east England forms part of a fluvio-deltaic Lower Carboniferous Visean sequence that was deposited within the Northumberland Basin and the smaller Tweed Basin following their initiation by rifting and subsidence in the late Devonian/early Carboniferous. The Fell Sandstone was deposited by a large braided-river complex which drained westwards into a shallow, low-energy tideless sea. Outcrop studies have indicated that the Fell Sandstone Group is composed almost entirely of sandstone with a paucity of overbank fines (less than 20%). However, a number of boreholes drilled for a hydrogeological study in the Tweed Basin indicate that in this region the Fell Sandstone Group may contain 50 to 60% mudstone. Seven mappable sandstone units have been identified within the field area, separated by laterally persistent mudstone units. Pumping test data indicate that many of the sandstone units are in good communication, whereas others are in isolation. Thickness variations between wells indicate that many of the sand units have a lenticular geometry.

Regional compilation of borehole data through the Fell Sandstone across the Northumberland Basin highlights a number of lateral facies changes which cannot be assigned simply to a relationship of distance from source. In the early Carboniferous a number of faults within the Northumberland Basin were active during the deposition of the Fell Sandstone. Local variations in facies and sandstone thickness within the Fell Sandstone Group can be explained using simple tilted fault-block models. Where a particular fault changes polarity of throw local thickness and extent of
Cadiospora crypta
sp. nov.; a new species of miospore from the Namurian of the central Pennine Basin, England
Authors: Turner N.
Published: December 2009

A new species of miospore,
Cadiospora crypta,
is described from Alportian strata exposed in Pot Bank Quarry, near Mow Cop, Staffordshire, England. Preliminary studies indicate that
C. crypta
is restricted to beds of late Chokierian–earliest Langsettian age in the central Pennine Basin, England.
A palaeomagnetic and mineral magnetic study of the Speeton Shell Bed, North Yorkshire
Authors: Thistlewood L. , Whyte M. A.
Published: December 2009

A palaeomagnetic and mineral study of the estuarine sands of the upper exposure of the Speeton Shell Bed (late Pleistocene, pre-Devensian) provides independent evidence that the bed is not
in situ
and has undergone a rotation consistent with the effects of ice push. Variation in magnetic susceptibility also supports suggestions that the upper parts of the Speeton Shell Bed have been weathered. A previously unrecorded shrinkage crack horizon indicates that the depositional history of the Speeton Shell Bed may have been more complex than previously thought.
The Dinantian rocks of the Sellafield area, west Cumbria
Authors: Barclay W. J. , Riley N. J. , Strong G. E.
Published: December 2009

This paper presents a summary of the present state of knowledge of the Dinantian (Carboniferous Limestone) rocks of the Sellafield area as a result of drilling investigations for UK NIREX Ltd. An easterly thinning wedge, formed as a result of pre-Permian erosion has a maximum onshore thickness of 300 m north of Sellafield and a feather edge about 1 km east of the Sellafield site. The Dinantian rocks rest unconformably on the Ordovician Borrowdale Volcanic Group and are overlain unconformably by Permian breccias and conglomerates, known locally as ‘Brockram’. The Basal Beds comprise a thin, impersistent succession of siliciclastic beds overlying the sub-Carboniferous unconformity. A maximum thickness of 149 m of Dinantian strata was proved in Sellafield Borehole 3. A thin development of beds of late Chadian age, the Martin Limestone, is overlain by 100m of peritidal to shallow inner ramp limestones of the Frizington Limestone (new name), of Holkerian age, and 42 m of cyclic, platform carbonates of the Urswick Limestone of late Asbian age.
New data on the biostratigraphy of the Flamborough Chalk Formation (Santonian, Upper Cretaceous) between South Landing and Danes Dyke, North Yorkshire
Authors: Mitchell S. F.
Published: December 2009

A revision of the distribution of the biostratigraphically important macrofossil taxa (the crinoids
Uintacrinus socialis
and
Marsupites testudinarius
, the echinoid
Hagenowia anterior
and the belemnite
Gonioteuthis
) in the coastal section of the Flamborough Chalk Formation (Santonian, Upper Cretaceous) between South Landing and Danes Dyke (North Yorkshire) is presented.
U. socialis
first appears 4.3m below West Nook Marl 1, while
M. testudinarius
appears 0.7m below Maidlands Upper Marl 1. This indicates a thickness of 39m for the
U. socialis
Zone, 10m more than previously stated. The crinoid
Uintacrinus anglicus
is recorded from the 9 m of chalk above the
M. testudinarius
Zone, and a zone of
U. anglicus
is introduced for this interval.
H. anterior
occurs at discrete horizons in the succession. Biometrical analysis confirms earlier observations that the
Gonioteuthis
populations appear to be phylogenetically retrograde compared with coeval populations in Germany. Five new lithostratigraphical marker horizons are formally established.
A new productoid brachiopod from the late Visean Craven Reef Belt of North Yorkshire
Authors: Brunton C. H. C. , Mundy D. J. C.
Published: December 2009

A rare constituent of late Visean flank subfacies of Cracoean buildups in northern England is an attached productoid brachiopod described here as
Tenaspinus smarti
gen. et sp. nov.; it is classified within our provisionally diagnosed Leioproductinae within the Productidae.
The Blea Wyke Sandstone Formation (Jurassic, Toarcian) of Rosedale, North Yorkshire, UK
Authors: Young T. P.
Published: December 2009

Revision of the stratigraphy and field relationships of the late Toarcian succession of Rosedale in general, and of Hollins Mines in particular, has clarified the stratigraphy of the Blea Wyke Formation and given new evidence for the nature of the pre-Dogger Formation deformation. Four new members of the Blea Wyke Sandstone Formation are introduced for the succession in Rosedale: the Yew Grain Member, the High House Ironstone Member, the Low Baring Member and the Rosedale Ironstone Member. The Yew Grain Member comprises a coarsening-up succession, dominated by siltstones, but with bioturbated sandstones at its top. The siltstones yield ammonites indicative of a
fallaciosum
Subzone age. The ironstones of the High House Ironstone Member are bioturbated silty berthierine ooidal mud- and wacke-ironstones, with abundant sideritic and phosphatic concretions, and are of
dispansum
Subzone age. The Low Baring Member comprises bioturbated fine-grained sandstones and siltstones of
dispansum
Subzone age, and is largely equivalent to the ‘Serpula Sandstone’ of previous authors. The Rosedale Ironstone Member is characterized by ooidal grain-ironstones, with berthieroidal ooids and a siderite cement. The Rosedale Ironstone Member is of uncertain age, constrained by the
dispansum
Subzone age of the Low Baring Member below and the probable
opalinum
Biozone age of the unconformable base of the Dogger Formation above. The magnetitic ironstones of the Hollins Mines are referred to the Rosedale Ironstone Member. Their different mineralogy reflects a different diagenetic evolution. The magnetitic ironstones are locally more than 25 m thick and are not channel-fills, as previously believed, but are contained within truncated synclines, probably roll-overs associated with extensional growth faulting. East of a north–south line passing just east of Hollins Mines the lowest part of the Dogger Formation is the Glaisdale Ironstone Member (of Aalenian,
opalinum
Biozone age). West of this line the Low House Sandstone Member is the lowest element of the Dogger Formation. The Low House Sandstone Member and the western part of the outcrop of the Glaisdale Ironstone Member are overlain by the ‘Blakey Series’, forming the upper part of the Dogger Formation (of Aalenian age,
murchisonae
Biozone), which also contains ooidal grain ironstones in its upper part in the south-east of Rosedale. These were also worked, although on a smaller scale, in the area of Hollins Mines and a little to the north near Abbey Bank.
Carbonate spheroids in Permo-Triassic sandstones of the Sellafield area, Cumbria
Authors: Strong G. E. , Pearce J. M.
Published: December 2009

Spheroidal structures composed typically of radial-fibrous dolomite or calcite are described from the St Bees Sandstone and Calder Sandstone formations of the Triassic of the Sellafield area, Cumbria. Etching of the spheroids in some sandstones, probably by present-day groundwaters, has revealed intricate internal structures composed of ferruginous clay, forming near-concentric bands and radial spokes. The spheroids are interpreted as early diagenetic groundwater precipitates. They typically occur in non-compacted fabrics where cementation prior to burial compaction has preserved a generally uncompacted grain fabric. It is unclear whether they are inorganic nodules or biologically mediated precipitates.
Landforms associated with a Loch Lomond Stadial glacier at Cronkley Scar, Teesdale, northern Pennines
Authors: Wilson Peter , Clark Richard
Published: December 2009

Based on its location, morphology and lithological composition the large depositional ridge (Tarn Rigg) at Cronkley Scar in upper Teesdale is interpreted as the end moraine of an escarpment glacier rather than a lateral moraine of a much larger valley glacier in Teesdale as previous researchers had thought. Ridge dimensions indicate that the glacier had stable margins for a considerable period of time and was probably in an equilibrium condition. Estimates of the equilibrium line altitude and July palaeotemperature suggest that significant inputs of wind-blown snow from adjacent high ground to the south-west were critical for glacier development at this site. This additional snow constituted
c.
60% of total glacier accumulation. Glacier development was favoured also by the north-east orientation of the site which provided shading from direct solar radiation during the ablation season. In addition to the moraine ridge, a range of smaller depositional landforms exists along the talus foot. These features are younger than the end moraine, but demonstrate that coarse rock debris continued to be produced and transported downslope both during, and after, glacier decay. The escarpment glacier is probably Loch Lomond Stadial in age.
Rocks of the Late Triassic and Early Jurassic age in the Carlisle Basin, Cumbria (north-west England)
Authors: Ivimey-Cook H. C. , Warrington G. , Worley N. E. , Holloway S. , Young B.
Published: December 2009

The thickness and nature of the rocks of Late Triassic (Penarth and Lias groups) and Early Jurassic (Lias Group) age in a poorly exposed outlier west of Carlisle, Cumbria, have been proved in two recent boreholes. A third borehole proved that the Mercia Mudstone Group (Triassic) crops out, beneath superficial deposits, within an area previously mapped as Lias. Cores from the lower part of the Lias Group have yielded biostratigraphical evidence for the position of the base of the
Psiloceras planorbis
Zone and, consequently, of the Hettangian Stage and the Jurassic System. Almost 70 m of Lias Group rocks were penetrated above 13–14 m of rocks of the Penarth Group which is proved for the first time in this area. The borehole data, combined with seismic reflection data, suggest that the outlier is both more extensive and is located further west than was previously envisaged, and that it is fault bounded to the west, to the south, and to the north and north-east. However, to the east, the Penarth Group-Lias Group succession may crop out beneath superficial deposits.
A note on karst surfaces that bound Middle Jurassic (Ravenscar Group) sandstones on the North Yorkshire Moors
Authors: Rizzi Giancarlo , Younger Paul , Soulsby Christopher
Published: December 2009

We present an account of previously undescribed karst surfaces that bound Middle Jurassic sandstones in North Yorkshire. Three morphologies have been recognized: solution pits, solution runnels and decantation flutings. All three features were produced by subaerial drainage across the outcrop of sandstone which leached framework feldspars. Archaeological monuments, themselves consisting of Ravenscar Group sandstones and erected within the last 1400 years, also display the same type of karst features. This suggests that the dissolution features that bound adjacent natural sandstone outcrops are Holocene in age. Subaerial dissolution is therefore believed to be amongst the latest weathering events to have affected Ravenscar Group sandstones on the North Yorkshire Moors.
The Palaeozoic corals, I: origins and relationships
Authors: Scrutton Colin T.
Published: December 2009

The status, origins and relationships of the various groups of Palaeozoic corals are reviewed. Five orders are currently recognized: Rugosa, Tabulata, Heterocorallia, Cothoniida and Kilbuchophyllida, to which I add the Tabulaconida and Numidiaphyllida. The Rugosa and Tabulata are considered to be broadly monophyletic clades, and the Tabulata are confirmed as zoantharian corals. Morphological features, particularly aspects of septal insertion in both groups, are discussed as clues to their likely origins and relationships. They are not considered to have had a skeletonized common ancestor, but they may have arisen as separate skeletonization events from the same broad group of anemones, represented by the living Zoanthiniaria. The Rugosa are not considered to be ancestral to the Scleractinia. The latter, together with the Permian Numidiaphyllida, are considered to have evolved through skeletonization events among a group of anemones derived from the Actiniaria/Corallimorpharia, a member of which also gave rise to the Kilbuchophyllida in the Ordovician. The pattern of septal insertion in the Heterocorallia is controversial and the relationship of these corals to contemporary coral groups remains uncertain. The increasingly important record of Cambrian coralomorphs is assessed, and considered to include several genera of zoantharian corals. However, although similarities are apparent, none is regarded as directly ancestral to the post-Cambrian coral clades. The history of diversification and extinction of corals through the Palaeozoic is briefly reviewed.
Cardioceratid ammonites from the Middle Oxfordian Vertebrale Subzone of North Yorkshire and Dorset
Authors: Wright J. K.
Published: December 2009

Eight species of Middle Oxfordian ammonite belonging to the genera
Cardioceras
and
Goliathiceras
are described. The specimens were collected from beds close to the junction of the Hambleton Oolite and the Middle Calcareous Grit in Yorkshire, and from the Preston Grit in Dorset. The two faunas appear to come from the same, contemporaneous horizon within the Vertebrale Subzone. The range in variation of ammonite morphology within this narrow time span is discussed. One new species,
Cardioceras (Subvertebriceras) yedmandalensis,
is described and figured.
Holocene alluvial sedimentation and valley floor development: the River Swale, Catterick, North Yorkshire, UK
Authors: Taylor M. P. , Macklin M. G.
Published: December 2009

Holocene river channel and floodplain response to environmental change is examined using field and laboratory data collected from the valley of the River Swale at Catterick. Multiple methods including the study of archaeological evidence, EDM survey, geochemical analysis, geomorphological mapping, ground penetrating radar (GPR), logging of cut-bank exposures and trenches, and
14
C dating have been employed to date alluvial units. Archaeological excavations of the 12th century St Giles Hospital on the bank of the Swale at Catterick reveal sedimentary sequences dating from the late Neolithic – early Bronze Age overlain by fine-grained alluvium, colluvium and an Iron Age palaeosol. A series of terraces and multiple palaeochannels inset below the St Giles hospital, show the channel has been laterally and vertically active in the post Roman period. GPR images across these lower gravel terraces reveal a series of broad channels (up to 100 m wide) into which a series of smaller channels (c.50–70 m wide) have been cut. Charcoal from fine sandy deposits overlying one of these channels has been
14
C dated to the 15th century. In addition, geochemical analysis of fine-grained sediment demonstrates variations in heavy metal concentrations, in particular Pb, which can be related to metalliferous mining upstream in Swaledale. Much of the lower Yorkshire Ouse basin has aggraded primarily as a consequence of Holocene sea-level rise and an increased fine sediment supply. In contrast, the River Swale at Catterick remains confined between Late Pleistocene bluffs, has coarser bed-load, and a steeper channel gradient than downstream reaches. Consequently, the river has continued to rework and incise its valley floor, depositing alluvial sequences which are predominantly of late Holocene age.
Hydrostratigraphy and hydrogeochemistry of the Vale of Eden, Cumbria, UK
Authors: Younger P. L. , Milne C. A.
Published: December 2009

The nature and extent of the hydrostratigraphic units in the Vale of Eden, Cumbria, has been established by an appraisal of existing lithostratigraphical information. The Penrith and St Bees sandstones are the most important aquifiers; drift geology strongly influences recharge processes. Regional recharge and discharge areas are apparent from existing piezometric data; the principal drain for groundwater in the Vale is the River Eden and its tributaries. The quality of groundwater in the Vale is generally good, and conforms to Ca–HCO
3
facies. Local trends towards Ca–SO
4
facies are found adjacent to the Eden Shales, but salinities are not excessive. Nitrates are generally low, but in at least one shallow unconfined portion of the Penrith Sandstones, a rising trend is discernible. The Penrith Sandstone waters are poorly buffered, and in some cases, pH is below 5.5. It is considered that this may locally be due to nitrification of ammoniacal fertilizers where the sandstone is unconfined. Groundwaters in the Vale are undersaturated with respect to the major carbonate minerals, but saturated with respect to silica (amorphous or as quartz) and massively super-saturated with respect to hematite. This suggests that the characteristic cements of the Penrith Sandstone may still be precipitating today. Priorities for further research include delineation of aquifer geometry and intensified hydrochemical monitoring.
Schackoina moliniensis
Reichel from the Lower Cenomanian of north-east England and its stratigraphical significance
Authors: Mitchell S. F. , Veltkamp C. J.
Published: December 2009

The planktic foraminiferan
Schackoina moliniensis
Reichel is recorded and described for the first time from the Hunstanton Formation (Red Chalk) of north-east England. Its distribution in two sections is presented: the upper part of the Red Cliff Hole Member of the Hunstanton Formation at Speeton in the Cleveland Basin; and from a
Thalassinoides
burrow beneath the erosion surface near the top of the Hunstanton Formation at South Ferriby on the East Midlands Shelf. This horizon, with
S. moliniensis
, represents an important, easily recognizable, planktic foraminiferal marker horizon in the lower part of the Lower Cenomanian of north-east England, and enables the extent of the non-sequence at the Albian-Cenomanian boundary on the East Midlands Shelf to be assessed.
Isotopic variation in fossils and matrix of the Cretaceous Red Chalk at Speeton and South Ferriby, Yorkshire, England
Authors: Price G. D.
Published: December 2009

Macro- and micro-fossils (belemnites, planktonic and benthonic foraminifera) and coccolithic matrix from the middle Cretaceous Red Chalk of Yorkshire, UK, have been examined using petrographic, isotopic, and chemical methods to investigate the conditions within which they were formed or altered. Only the belemnites (
Neohibilites sp.)
attain the petrographic and geochemical criteria for being well preserved. In contrast, the foraminifera and matrix reveal evidence of diagenetic alteration. Mean belemnite δ
18
O values are −0.97‰ (PDB) from South Ferriby and −1.28‰ (PDB) from Speeton. Assuming a sea water SMOW value of −1.0‰, mean palaeotemperatures calculated from the oxygen isotopic compositions are 15.9°C and 16.8°C respectively. The range of isotopic values provided by the belemnites in this study suggests that the isotopic values obtained from early studies of the Chalk, that used only petrographic and/or hand specimen descriptions to screen for diagenetic alteration, could largely represent unaltered values. The palaeotemperatures interpreted from the belemnites are comparable to recent estimates of middle Cretaceous temperature from general circulation model predictions.
Interpretation of structural domains in discontinuity data from Nirex deep boreholes at Sellafield
Authors: Barnes R. P. , Dee S. J. , Sanderson D. J. , Bowden R. A.
Published: December 2009

Knowledge of the fracture network is fundamental to the fluid transport and geotechnical modelling necessary to assess the suitability of a rock mass to host a potential underground repository for the disposal of radioactive waste. However, in the early stages of a site investigation programme, site-specific fracture data are frequently available only from boreholes. This was the case at Sellafield, where characterization of borehole fracture data presented a number of inter-related problems including the volume of data, two data sets for each borehole and borehole sampling effects. A solution to the presentation and interpretation of such data was found in simple graphical display which allows rapid appraisal of a range of fracture attributes in relation to depth, lithostratigraphy and structure or in any other context.

The succession sampled by the boreholes in the immediate vicinity of the proposed repository at Sellafield comprises three major units. The Borrowdale Volcanic Group, of Ordovician age, is unconformably overlain by a Permo-Triassic cover sequence comprising up to 100 m of sedimentary breccia (Brockram) succeeded by
c.
450 m of the fluvial St Bees Sandstone to rockhead. Fracture data from these are available from logging of the borehole core and from interpretation of resistivity and acoustic images of the borehole wall, providing accurate frequency and orientation information respectively. These show that the discontinuity character of each of the major units is distinctive, indicating overall lithological control on the fracture network. Fracture frequency in the sedimentary cover rocks is relatively low, especially in the Brockram, and orientation patterns are dominated by bedding. The fracture frequency in the volcanic rocks is generally high and orientation typically very variable in the volumetrically dominant welded ignimbrites. However, interbedded units of non-welded lapilli tuff and breccia have lower fracture frequency and simpler orientation patterns. In all units, variations in fracture frequency and orientation character on a scale of a few metres to 100 m can be correlated with fault intersections indicating a structural overprint.

Borehole sampling effects are illustrated by comparison of data from differently orientated boreholes and the underlying causes reviewed. Orientation bias is a well known problem usually addressed by weighting according to the probability of the borehole intersecting a planar feature in a particular orientation. However, data from borehole wall imagery are subject to additional sampling effects which reduce the effectiveness of such weighting. A different approach is suggested, using the probability density function of the population from non-censored parts of the sample.
Evolution of the Ludlow (Silurian) graptolite genus
Bohemograptus
Přibyl 1936
Authors: Rickards R. B. , Wright A. J.
Published: December 2009

The characteristic and long-ranging Ludlow graptoloid

Bohemograptus

Přibyl, 1967 is considered to have originated from

Lobograptus progenitor cudalensis

through

B. urbaneki

or

Monograptus idoneus

Keren’, 1992. The

Bohemograptus

stem lineage gave rise to

B. b. tenuis

as a temporal subspecies near the base of the Ludfordian Stage; there followed immediately a considerable diversification into a number
of

Bohemograptus

species

(B. praecornutus

Urbanek, 1970,

B. cornutus

Urbanek, 1970,
B.
n. spp. A. & B. Rickards & Wright, in press); and several genera
(

Korenea,

Rickards
et al.,
1995;

Polonograptus

Tsegelnuk, 1976;

Egregiograptus

Rickards & Wright, 1997a;

Neolobograptus

Urbanek, 1970; and

Neocucullograptus

Urbanek, 1970. The bizarre gracile species

Monograptus proegregius

Urbanek, 1970 is made the type species of a monotypic new genus,

Urbanekia,

derived in the

parascanicus

Biozone from an unknown lobograptid; and

Lenzia lenzi

gen. et sp. nov. is established for cladia-bearing neolobograptids.

Egregiograptus pribyli

sp. nov. is described.

Bohemograptus

n. spp. A & B are interpreted as examples of heraldic evolution.
New sauropod dinosaur prints from the Saltwick Formation (Middle Jurassic) of the Cleveland Basin, Yorkshire
Authors: Romano M. , Whyte M. A. , Manning P. L.
Published: December 2009

Undoubted sauropod prints are recorded for the first time from the Aalenian, Middle Jurassic, of the Cleveland Basin. This is only the third site known from which sauropod prints of this age have been reported. Eight pes and manus prints from the Saltwick Formation, near Whitby, Yorkshire are described and interpreted, and include prints up to nearly 1 m in length. The prints show features in common with those of the ichnospecies of
Brontopodus
and
Breviparopus.
The Saltwick Formation is a coastal plain deposit and indicates the print producers inhabited a humid, subtropical environment.
The karstification of the Permian strata east of Leeds
Authors: Murphy Phillip James
Published: December 2009

The outcrop of Permian strata to the east of Leeds exhibits a variety of karstic and palaeokarstic features. The area is crossed by an extensive network of dry valley systems and lacks surface water. Two different karst types are recognized: dolomite and dolomitic limestone karst, and gypsum karst. Dolomite and dolomitic limestone karst is characterized by small isolated dolines whereas gypsum karst is characterized by large-scale dolines, many occurring in groups. An appreciation of the karstic nature of parts of the Permian outcrop is becoming increasingly important because of pressure from development and waste disposal.
Magnetic survey of the Holy Island Dyke on Holy Island, Northumberland
Authors: Goulty N. R. , Peirce C. , Flatman T. D. , Home M. , Richardson J. H.
Published: December 2009

The Holy Island Dyke on Holy Island, Northumberland strikes E-W along the south coast of the island. It intrudes Lower Carboniferous rocks and crops out as five discrete segments of dolerite. Flat tops on the two largest segments, benches on the southern flanks of three segments, and flat surfaces with amygdales at several locations on the outcrop have all been cited as evidence that the exposures represent the original top surface of the dyke, where it terminated within the country rocks. The results of a magnetic survey of the dyke show that the principal outcrops are connected to the northern edge of a sill whose top surface lies within 10 m of the present ground surface. The sill is exposed on the foreshore adjacent to St Cuthbert’s Isle in the west, where it forms an outcrop near the low water mark that has not previously been reported. The sill is about 100 m wide in the N-S direction and, at its southern edge, is connected to a subsurface dyke that extends downwards. Thus the dolerite outcrops appear to be part of a step-and-stair transgression of bedding. This interpretation accounts for all the features previously cited as evidence of the upward termination of the Holy Island Dyke within the sedimentary succession.