Related Research Articles
The Old Red Sandstone is an assemblage of rocks in the North Atlantic region largely of Devonian age. It extends in the east across Great Britain, Ireland and Norway, and in the west along the northeastern seaboard of North America. It also extends northwards into Greenland and Svalbard. These areas were a part of the ancient continent of Euramerica/Laurussia. In Britain it is a lithostratigraphic unit to which stratigraphers accord supergroup status and which is of considerable importance to early paleontology. For convenience the short version of the term, ORS is often used in literature on the subject. The term was coined to distinguish the sequence from the younger New Red Sandstone which also occurs widely throughout Britain.
The Lias Group or Lias is a lithostratigraphic unit found in a large area of western Europe, including the British Isles, the North Sea, the Low Countries and the north of Germany. It consists of marine limestones, shales, marls and clays.
The Mercia Mudstone Group is an early Triassic lithostratigraphic group which is widespread in Britain, especially in the English Midlands – the name is derived from the ancient kingdom of Mercia which corresponds to that area. It is frequently encountered in older literature as the Keuper Marl or Keuper Marl Series.
The Caithness Flagstone Group is a Devonian lithostratigraphic group in northern Scotland. The name is derived from the traditional county of Caithness where the strata are well exposed, especially in coastal cliffs.
The Sherwood Sandstone Group is a Triassic lithostratigraphic group which is widespread in Britain, especially in the English Midlands. The name is derived from Sherwood Forest in Nottinghamshire which is underlain by rocks of this age. It has economic importance as the reservoir of the Morecambe Bay gas field, the second largest gas field in the UK.
The Aylesbeare Mudstone Group is an early Triassic lithostratigraphic group in southwest England. The name is derived from the village of Aylesbeare in east Devon. The Group comprises the Littleham Mudstone Formation, the Exmouth Mudstone and Sandstone Formation and the underlying Clyst St Lawrence Formation. The strata are exposed on the coast between Exmouth and Budleigh Salterton where the type section is defined. The rocks of the Aylesbeare Mudstone Group have also previously been known as the Aylesbeare Group and the Aylesbeare Mudstone Formation.
The geology of Lancashire in northwest England consists in the main of Carboniferous age rocks but with Triassic sandstones and mudstones at or near the surface of the lowlands bordering the Irish Sea though these are largely obscured by Quaternary deposits.
The Great Scar Limestone Group is a lithostratigraphical term referring to a succession of generally fossiliferous rock strata which occur in the Pennines in northern England and in the Isle of Man within the Tournaisian and Visean stages of the Carboniferous Period.
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 Holsworthy Group is a late Carboniferous lithostratigraphic group in north and east Cornwall and Devon in southwest England. The name is derived from the Devon town of Holsworthy. The Group comprises the Crackington, Bideford and Bude formations. In the Launceston area the group is represented by the Bealsmill Formation. It was formerly known as the Upper Culm Group.
The Exmoor Group is a late Devonian to early Carboniferous lithostratigraphic group in southwest England whose outcrop extends from Croyde in north Devon east across Exmoor to Minehead in west Somerset. The group comprises the following formations the:
The Bowland High Group is a lithostratigraphical term referring to the thick succession of limestone rock strata which occur in the Craven Basin of Lancashire and Yorkshire in northern England, United Kingdom from the Courceyan to the Chadian sub-Stage of the Carboniferous Period.
The Trawden Limestone Group is a lithostratigraphical term referring to the succession of limestone rock strata which occur in parts of Lancashire and neighbouring Yorkshire, northern England in the United Kingdom laid down within the Chadian to Brigantian sub-Stages of the Carboniferous Period.
Fossil Beach, in Sedbury, Gloucestershire, is beneath the Sedbury Cliffs by the River Severn and is known as a rich source of easily discovered fossils. It is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).
The Tyrone Group is a lithostratigraphical term coined to refer to a particular succession of rock strata which occur in Northern Ireland within the Visean Stage of the Carboniferous Period. It comprises a series of limestones, shales and sandstones which accumulated to a thickness of 2400m in the northwest Carboniferous basin of Ireland. The type areas for the group are the Clogher Valley of County Tyrone and the Fermanagh Highlands of nearby County Fermanagh. The rocks of the group sit unconformably on older rocks of the Shanmullagh Formation of the Fintona Group which are the local representatives of the Lower Old Red Sandstone. The top of the Dartry Limestone, the uppermost part of the group, is a disconformity, above which are the layered sandstones and shales of the Meenymore Formation of the Leitrim Group. The succession continues south and west across the border into the Republic of Ireland, though different names are typically applied.
The Leitrim Group is a lithostratigraphical term coined to refer to the succession of rock strata which occur in Northern Ireland within the Visean and Namurian stages of the Carboniferous Period. The group disconformably overlies the Dartry Limestone of the Tyrone Group.
The geology of Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park in the southwestern part of the Scottish Highlands consists largely of Neoproterozoic and Palaeozoic bedrock faulted and folded and subjected to low grade metamorphism during the Caledonian orogeny. These older rocks, assigned to the Dalradian Supergroup, lie to the northwest of the northeast – southwest aligned Highland Boundary Fault which defines the southern edge of the Highlands. A part of this mountainous park extends south of this major geological divide into an area characterised by younger Devonian rocks which are assigned to the Old Red Sandstone.
The geology of Exmoor National Park in south-west England contributes significantly to the character of a landscape which was designated as a national park in 1954. The bedrock of the area consists almost wholly of a suite of sedimentary rocks deposited during the Devonian, a period named for the English county of Devon in which the western half of the park sits. The eastern part lies within Somerset and it is within this part of the park that limited outcrops of Triassic and Jurassic age rocks are to be found.
The geology of the Yorkshire Dales National Park in northern England largely consists of a sequence of sedimentary rocks of Ordovician to Permian age. The core area of the Yorkshire Dales is formed from a layer-cake of limestones, sandstones and mudstones laid down during the Carboniferous period. It is noted for its karst landscape which includes extensive areas of limestone pavement and large numbers of caves including Britain's longest cave network.
The geology of the Peak District National Park in England is dominated by a thick succession of faulted and folded sedimentary rocks of Carboniferous age. The Peak District is often divided into a southerly White Peak where Carboniferous Limestone outcrops and a northerly Dark Peak where the overlying succession of sandstones and mudstones dominate the landscape. The scarp and dip slope landscape which characterises the Dark Peak also extends along the eastern and western margins of the park. Although older rocks are present at depth, the oldest rocks which are to be found at the surface in the national park are dolomitic limestones of the Woo Dale Limestone Formation seen where Woo Dale enters Wye Dale east of Buxton.
References
- ↑ http://www.bgs.ac.uk/Lexicon/lexicon.cfm?pub=CRAV BGS Lexicon of named rock units: Craven Gp
- ↑ British Geological Survey 1:625,000 scale geological map Bedrock geology: UK South (5th edn) BGS, Keyworth, Notts
