The BGS Lexicon of Named Rock Units — Result Details

Ashow Formation

Computer Code: AW Preferred Map Code: AW
Status Code: Full
Age range: Cisuralian Epoch (PLC) — Cisuralian Epoch (PLC)
Lithological Description: Red-brown mudstone with subordinate, but locally thick, beds of red-brown and grey-green, fine- to medium-grained sandstone.
Definition of Lower Boundary: Taken at the incoming of a thick succession of red mudstone (50 to 65m thick) above the Kenilworth Sandstone Formation.
Definition of Upper Boundary: Taken at the base of the unconformable Bromsgrove Sandstone Formation (Triassic) in the type area.
Thickness: Up to 250m in Sandy Lane and Barford boreholes.
Geographical Limits: Southern part of the Warwickshire Coalfield.
Parent Unit: Warwickshire Group (WAWK)
Previous Name(s): Ashow Group [Obsolete Name and Code: Use AW] (-3184)
Alternative Name(s): none recorded or not applicable
Stratotypes:
Type Area  Warwick and the southern part of the Warwickshire Coalfield. The upper part of the formation around Warwick is poorly exposed, and occurs in fault-bounded inliers; as a result details of the succession and thickness are uncertain. 
Reference Section  Cherry Orchard Brickworks, Kenilworth (Richardson and Fleet, 1926; Shotton, 1929; Old et al., 1987); lower part of formation. 
Reference Section  (c). Guys Cliffe Chapel pit; upper part of formation. 
Reference Section  (d). Tachbrook Mallory Borehole (Richardson, 1928).(SP 36 SW/13). 
Reference Section  (e). Sandy Lane Borehole (SP 36 NW/82); from surface to base of formation at 253.8m. 
Reference Section  (a). Whitemoor Brickworks, Kenilworth (Richardson and Fleet, 1926; Shotton, 1929; Old et al.,1987); lower part of formation. 
Reference Section  (b). Chesford Bridge (Old et al., 1987); sandstones in middle part of formation. 
Reference(s):
Bridge, D McC, Carney, J N, Lawley, R S and Rushton, A W A. 1998. Geology of the country around Coventry and Nuneaton. Memoir of the British Geological Survey, Sheet 169 (England and Wales). 
Richardson, L. 1928. The wells and springs of Warwickshire. Memoir of the Geological Survey of Great Britain. 
Eastwood, T, Gibson, W, Cantrill, T C, and Whitehead, T H. 1923. The geology of country around Coventry, including an account of the Carboniferous rocks of the Warwickshire Coalfield. Memoir of the Geological Survey of Great Britain, Sheet 169. (England and Wales). 
Powell, J H, Chisholm, JI, Bridge, D M, Rees, J G, Glover, B W and Besly, B M. 2000. Stratigraphical framework for Westphalian to Early Permian red-bed successions of the Pennine Basin. British Geological Survey Technical Report WA/99/10. 
Old, R A, Sumbler, M G and Ambrose, K, 1987. Geology of the country around Warwick. Memoir of the British Geological Survey, Sheet 184 (England and Wales). 
Old, R A, Bridge, D M and Rees, J G, 1990. Geology of the Coventry area. British Geological Survey Technical Report, WA/89/29 
Richardson, L and Fleet, W F. 1926. On sandstones with breccias below the Trias at Stratford-upon-Avon and elsewhere in south Warwickshire. Proceedings of the Geologists' Association, Vol.37, 283-305. 
Shotton, F W, 1929. The geology of the country around Kenilworth (Warwickshire). Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London, Vol.28, 167 - 222. 
1:50K maps on which the lithostratigraphical unit is found, and map code used:
E184