Aymestry Limestone | |
---|---|
Stratigraphic range: Silurian | |
Type | Formation |
Underlies | Upper Ludlow Shales Group |
Overlies | Lower Ludlow Shales Group |
Thickness | Up to 48 m (157 ft) |
Lithology | |
Primary | Limestone |
Other | Mudstone, sandstone |
Location | |
Region | Welsh Marches, West Midlands, Coalbrookdale & Malvern Hills |
Country | United Kingdom |
Type section | |
Named for | Aymestrey |
The Aymestry Limestone is a fossiliferous limestone of Gorstian age (Upper Silurian) deposited in a warm shallow sea near the eastern margin of the Iapetus Ocean. It occurs in England in the Ludlow Group, between the Upper and Lower Ludlow Shales. [1] It derives its name from Aymestrey (sic), Herefordshire, where it may be seen on both sides of the River Lugg. It is well developed in the neighbourhood of Ludlow (it is sometimes called the Ludlow limestone) and occupies a similar position in the Ludlow shales at Woolhope, the Abberley Hills, May Hill and the Malvern Hills. [2]
In lithological character, this limestone varies greatly; in one place it is a dark grey, somewhat crystalline limestone, elsewhere it passes into a flaggy, earthy or shaly condition, or even into a mere layer of nodules. When well developed it may reach 50 ft. in thickness in beds of from 1 to 5 ft.; in this condition it naturally forms a conspicuous feature in the landscape because it stands out by its superior hardness from the soft shales above and below. [2]
The most common fossil is Pentamerus knightii , which is extremely abundant in places. Other brachiopods, corals and trilobites are present, and are similar to those found in the Wenlock limestone. [2]
Dumfriesshire or the County of Dumfries or Shire of Dumfries is a historic county and registration county in southern Scotland. The Dumfries lieutenancy area covers a similar area to the historic county.
Wenlock may refer to:
Shropshire was established during the division of Saxon Mercia into shires in the 10th century. It is first mentioned in 1006. After the Norman Conquest it experienced significant development, following the granting of the principal estates of the county to eminent Normans, such as Roger De Montgomery and his son Robert de Bellême.
The geology of Shropshire is very diverse with a large number of periods being represented at outcrop. The bedrock consists principally of sedimentary rocks of Palaeozoic and Mesozoic age, surrounding restricted areas of Precambrian metasedimentary and metavolcanic rocks. The county hosts in its Quaternary deposits and landforms, a significant record of recent glaciation. The exploitation of the Coal Measures and other Carboniferous age strata in the Ironbridge area made it one of the birthplaces of the Industrial Revolution. There is also a large amount of mineral wealth in the county, including lead and baryte. Quarrying is still active, with limestone for cement manufacture and concrete aggregate, sandstone, greywacke and dolerite for road aggregate, and sand and gravel for aggregate and drainage filters. Groundwater is an equally important economic resource.
In geology, Caradoc Series is the name introduced by Roderick Murchison in 1839 for the sandstone series of Caer Caradoc in Shropshire, England. It is the fifth of the six subdivisions of the Ordovician System, comprising all those rocks deposited worldwide during the Caradocian Age.
The Wenlock Group (Wenlockian), in geology, is the middle series of strata in the Silurian of Great Britain. This group in the typical area in the Welsh border counties contains the following formations: Much Wenlock Limestone Formation, 90–300 ft.; Wenlock Shale, up to 1900 ft.; Woolhope or Barr Limestone and shale, 150 ft.
The geology of the Australian Capital Territory includes rocks dating from the Ordovician around 480 million years ago, whilst most rocks are from the Silurian. During the Ordovician period the region—along with most of eastern Australia—was part of the ocean floor. The area contains the Pittman Formation consisting largely of quartz-rich sandstone, siltstone and shale; the Adaminaby Beds and the Acton Shale.
The Ludlow Group are geologic formations deposited during the Ludlow epoch of the Silurian period in the British Isles, in areas of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales.
Wills Creek Formation is a mapped Silurian bedrock unit in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia.
Acastocephala is a genus of trilobite from the middle Silurian, known from the United Kingdom.
Mortimer Forest is a forest on the Shropshire/Herefordshire border in England, near the town of Ludlow. It covers hilly terrain, including the marilyn of High Vinnalls, rising to 375 metres (1,230 ft).
The geology of Monmouthshire in southeast Wales largely consists of a thick series of sedimentary rocks of different types originating in the Silurian, Devonian, Carboniferous, Triassic and Jurassic periods.
The Wenlock is the second epoch of the Silurian. It is preceded by the Llandovery Epoch and followed by the Ludlow Epoch. Radiometric dates constrain the Wenlockian between 433.4 and 427.4 million years ago.
The Harrodsburg Limestone is a geologic formation, a member of the Sanders Group of Indiana Limestone, of Mississippian age. It was named for Harrodsburg in southern Monroe County, Indiana by T. C. Hopkins and C. E. Siebenthal. It is made up primarily of calcarenite and calcirudite. It also may include some beds of dolomite and shale.
The Osgood Formation, also known as the Osgood Shale is a geologic formation in Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio. It preserves fossils dating back to the Silurian period.
The Waldron Shale is a geologic formation in Indiana. It preserves fossils dating back to the Silurian period. These fossils comprise at least three different benthic communities primarily living in the inter-reef, deep waters that were stable for much of the Wenlockian epoch. Many of these fossils are found most frequently around microbioherms constructed by small encrusting organisms which protected other species from the effects of storms.
The Buildwas Formation, formerly called Wenlock Shale and Buildwas Beds, is a geologic formation in Shropshire, England. It preserves fossils dating back to the Silurian period. The formation is the defining formation of the Sheinwoodian age of the Wenlock epoch, the Middle Silurian.
The Dent Group is a group of Upper Ordovician sedimentary and volcanic rocks in north-west England. It is the lowermost part of the Windermere Supergroup, which was deposited in the foreland basin formed during the collision between Laurentia and Avalonia. It lies unconformably on the Borrowdale Volcanic Group. This unit was previously known as the Coniston Limestone Group or Coniston Limestone Formation and should not be confused with the significantly younger Coniston Group.
The Black Country UNESCO Global Geopark is a geopark in the Black Country, a part of the West Midlands region of England. Having previously been an ‘aspiring Geopark’, it was awarded UNESCO Global Geopark status on 10 July 2020.
Coalbrookdale Formation, earlier known as Wenlock Shale or Wenlock Shale Formation and also referred to as Herefordshire Lagerstätte in palaeontology, is a fossil-rich deposit (Konservat-Lagerstätte) in Powys and Herefordshire at the England–Wales border in UK. It belongs to the Wenlock Series of the Silurian Period within the Homerian Age. It is known for its well-preserved fossils of various invertebrate animals many of which are in their three-dimensional structures. Some of the fossils are regarded as earliest evidences and evolutionary origin of some of the major groups of modern animals.