Mawddach Group | |
---|---|
Stratigraphic range: mid to late Cambrian | |
Type | Group |
Sub-units | Dol-cyn-Afon Formation, Dolgellau Formation, Ffestiniog Flags Formation, Maentwrog Formation, Clogau Formation |
Overlies | Harlech Grits Group |
Thickness | about 2,400 m (7,900 ft) |
Lithology | |
Primary | mudstones |
Other | sandstones, siltstones |
Location | |
Region | northwest Wales |
Country | United Kingdom |
Type section | |
Named for | Afon Mawddach (river) |
The Mawddach Group is a middle to upper Cambrian lithostratigraphic group (a sequence of rock strata) in Gwynedd, Wales. The name is derived from the river known as the Afon Mawddach.
The rocks are exposed across the Harlech Dome and southern Snowdonia. [1]
The Group comprises around 2400m thickness of mudstones, sandstones and siltstones laid down in the marine Welsh Basin during the middle to late Cambrian period. The Group comprises (in descending order i.e. oldest last) the Dol-cyn-Afon Formation, the Dolgellau Formation, the Ffestiniog Flags Formation, the Maentwrog Formation and the Clogau Formation. [2]
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 Coal Measures Group is a lithostratigraphical term coined to refer to the coal-bearing succession of rock strata which occur in the United Kingdom within the Westphalian Stage of the Carboniferous Period. Other than in Northern Ireland the term is now obsolete in formal use and is replaced by the Pennine Coal Measures Group, Scottish Coal Measures Group and the South Wales Coal Measures Group for the three distinct depositional provinces of the British mainland.
For the Skiddaw group of hills, see Skiddaw Group
The Drefach Group is an Ordovician lithostratigraphic group in west Wales. The name is derived from the village of Drefach near Meidrim in Carmarthenshire. The Group comprises the Mydrim Shales Formation, the Mydrim Limestone Formation, the Hendre Shales Formation, Asaphus Ash Formation and at its base, the underlying Felin-wen Formation.
The Cwmystwyth Grits Group is a Silurian lithostratigraphic group in mid Wales. The name is derived from the village of Cwmystwyth near Devil's Bridge in Ceredigion. The Group comprises the Blaen Myherin Mudstones Formation, the Glanyrafon Formation, the Caerau Mudstones Formation, the Rhuddnant Grits Formation and the Pysgotwr Grits Formation.
The Harlech Grits Group is a lower to middle Cambrian lithostratigraphic group in northwest Wales. The name is derived from the town of Harlech in Gwynedd.
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 Pennine Coal Measures Group is a lithostratigraphical term referring to the coal-bearing succession of rock strata which occur in the United Kingdom within the Westphalian Stage of the Carboniferous Period. In formal use, the term replaces the Coal Measures Group as applied to the succession of coal-bearing strata within the Pennine Basin which includes all of the coalfields of northern England and the English Midlands. It includes the largely concealed Canonbie Coalfield of southern Scotland and the coalfields of northeast Wales and the minor Anglesey coalfield. The sequence consists in the main of mudstones and siltstones together with numerous sandstones, the more significant ones of which are individually named. Some are laterally extensive, others are more restricted in their range. There are numerous coal seams, again with some being more laterally continuous than others. Those which were economically valuable were named though any individual seam may have attracted different names in different pits and different districts. Marine bands preserving distinctive and dateable marine fossils such as goniatites and brachiopods are widespread within the sequence and enable correlation to be made between sequences in one part of the basin and another and with other basins
The South Wales Coal Measures Group is a lithostratigraphical term referring to the coal-bearing succession of rock strata which occur in South Wales within the Westphalian Stage of the Carboniferous Period. The Group name is also applied to rocks of similar age across southern England from the Bristol Coalfield east to the concealed Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Kent Coalfields. In formal use, the term replaces the earlier Coal Measures Group The Group comprises the:
The Gwna Group is a late Precambrian (Ediacaran) / Cambrian lithostratigraphic group in northwest Wales. The name is derived from the Afon Gwna, a river near Bodorgan on Anglesey where the strata are exposed. This rock sequence is also commonly referred to as the Gwna Mélange.
The Solva Group is a Cambrian lithostratigraphic group in west Wales. The name is derived from Solva on the west coast of Pembrokeshire where the strata are well exposed in coastal cliffs. This rock succession was formerly known as the Solva Series and ascribed to the British regional stratigraphic unit ‘’St David’s Epoch’’, though these terms are now obsolete.
The Caerfai Group is a Cambrian lithostratigraphic group in west Wales. The name is derived from Caerfai Bay on the north coast of St Brides Bay on the Pembrokeshire coast where the strata are well exposed in coastal cliffs. This rock succession has previously been known variously as the Caerfai Series, Caerfai Formation and Caerfai Beds and largely ascribed to the British regional stratigraphic unit Comley Epoch, though these terms are now obsolete.
The Teign Valley Group is a late Devonian to late/middle Carboniferous lithostratigraphic group in north Cornwall through Devon and into west Somerset in southwest England. The name is derived from the valley of the River Teign. The Group comprises the Barras Nose, Trambley Cove, Teign Chert and Dowhills Mudstone formations. It also includes the Brendon and St Mellion formations whose stratigraphical context is unclear since all known boundaries of these two unit are tectonic. The Brendon Formation slates extend from Tavistock west to Bodmin Moor. The St Mellion Formation sandstones, siltsones and mudstones are found from Holne northeastwards. The Teign Valley Group was formerly known as the Lower Culm Group or Lower Culm Measures.
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:
This article describes the geology of the Broads, an area of East Anglia in eastern England characterised by rivers, marshes and shallow lakes (‘broads’). The Broads is designated as a protected landscape with ‘status equivalent to a national park’.
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 geology of Snowdonia National Park in North Wales is dominated by sedimentary and volcanic rocks from the Cambrian and Ordovician periods with intrusions of Ordovician and Silurian age. There are Silurian and Cenozoic sedimentary rocks on the park's margins. The succession was intensely faulted and folded during the Caledonian Orogeny. The region was uplifted as the North Atlantic Ocean opened during the Cenozoic. The current mountainous landscape arises from repeated glaciations during the Quaternary period.
The geology of the North York Moors National Park in northern England is provided largely by a thick southerly dipping sequence of sedimentary rocks deposited in the Cleveland Basin during the Jurassic Period. A series of ice ages during the Quaternary period has left a variety of glacial deposits, particularly around the margins of the National Park.