The BGS Lexicon of Named Rock Units — Result Details
Hunstanton Formation
| Computer Code: | HUCK | Preferred Map Code: | HuCk |
|---|---|---|---|
| Status Code: | Full | ||
| Age range: | Albian Age (KA) — Cenomanian Age (KE) | ||
| Lithological Description: | Rubbly to massive chalks with marl bands; typically pink to brick-red (due to disseminated haematite), but locally the upper part is grey due to secondary alteration of the iron minerals. The lower part of the formation is commonly weakly sandy. No formal subdivisions. The Hunstanton Formation as defined by Mitchell (1995), describing the thick succession at Speeton in the Cleveland Basin, is divided into five members. These are in ascending order the Queens Rocks Member, Speeton Beck Member, Dulcey Dock Member, Weather Castle Member and the Red Cliff Hole Member. | ||
| Definition of Lower Boundary: | The base is a sharp or (apparently) gradational boundary with marly chalk of the formation overlying ferruginous sandstones of the Carstone Formation or (in the Cleveland Basin) mudstone of the Speeton Clay Formation; commonly marked by a line of phosphatic nodules as burrow-fills. | ||
| Definition of Upper Boundary: | The top is an erosion surface, locally developed as a hardground, with hard red limestone overlain by nodular chalk (lowest Cenomanian) of the Paradoxica (or Sponge) Bed or (in the Cleveland Basin) Crowe's Shoot Member (Mitchell, 1995); this horizon (the base of the Lower Chalk in Norfolk, or elsewhere of the Ferriby Formation) may or may not correspond with the upper limit of red chalks. | ||
| Thickness: | About 1m at the type section in Norfolk, typically 3m in Lincolnshire and south Yorkshire, thinning over the Market Weighton High, but expanding to an estimated 30m in the Cleveland Basin with about 24m exposed in the cliffs at Speeton. | ||
| Geographical Limits: | Present throughout Yorkshire (including the Cleveland Basin where it attains its maximum development) and Lincolnshire and extends southwards to its type locality of Hunstanton on the north Norfolk coast. The formation passes laterally into the Gault Formation south of Dersingham in Norfolk. | ||
| Parent Unit: | Selborne Group (SELB) | ||
| Previous Name(s): | Red Chalk [Obsolete Name And Code: See HUCK]
(RCK)
Hunstanton Chalk Member (-968) Hunstanton Red Chalk Formation [Obsolete Name and Code: Use HUCK] (-330) Hunstanton Red Rock [Obsolete Name and Code: Use HUCK] (-331) Hunstanton Limestone [Obsolete Name and Code: Use HUCK] (-1606) Hunstanton Chalk Formation [Obsolete Name and Code: Use HUCK] (-3482) |
||
| Alternative Name(s): | none recorded or not applicable | ||
| Stratotypes: | |||
| Reference Section | South Ferriby Quarry, Lincolnshire. Gaunt et al. (1992, 81-84 and Figure 29). | ||
| Reference Section | Speeton Cliffs. Wright, C W, 1968; Mitchell, S F, 1995. | ||
| Type Section | Hunstanton Cliff, north Norfolk. Owen, H G, 1995; Gallois, R W (1994, 112-116). | ||
| Reference(s): | |||
| Sumbler, M G. 1999. The stratigraphy of the Chalk Group in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. British Geological Survey Technical Report WA/99/02. | |||
| Gallois, R W, 1994. The geology of the country around King's Lynn and The Wash. Memoir of the British Geological Survey, Sheet 145 and part of 129 (England and Wales). | |||
| Wright, C W. 1968. Itinerary IX. Reighton Gap to Speeton Cliffs. 39-44 in Hemingway, J E, Wilson, V and Wright, C W, Geology of the Yorkshire Coast. Geologists' Association Guide, No.34. | |||
| Jeans, C V. 1980. Early submarine lithification in the Red Chalk and Lower Chalk of Eastern England; a bacterial control model and its implications. Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society, Vol.43, 81-157. | |||
| Jeans, C V. 1973. The Market Weighton Structure: tectonics, sedimentation and diagenesis during the Cretaceous. Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society, Vol.39, 409-444. | |||
| Wood, C J and Smith, E G. 1978. Lithostratigraphical classification of the Chalk in North Yorkshire, Humberside and Lincolnshire. Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society, Vol. 42, 263-287. | |||
| Mitchell, S F. 1995. Lithostratigraphy and biostratigraphy of the Hunstanton Formation (Red Chalk, Cretaceous) succession at Speeton, North Yorkshire, England. Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society, Vol.50, 285-303. | |||
| Gaunt, G D, Fletcher, T P and Wood, C J. 1992. Geology of the country around Kingston upon Hull and Brigg. Memoir of the British Geological Survey, sheets 80 and 89 (England and Wales). 172pp. | |||
| Owen, H G. 1995, The upper part of the Carstone and the Hunstanton Red Chalk (Albian) of the Hunstanton Cliff, Norfolk. Proceedings of the Geologists' Association. Vol.106, 171-181. | |||
| Sumbler, M G. 1996. The stratigraphy of the Chalk Group in Yorkshire, Humberside and Lincolnshire. British Geological Survey Technical Report WA/96/26C. | |||
| Waters, C N, Smith, K, Hopson, P M, Wilson, D, Bridge, D M, Carney, J N, Cooper, A H, Crofts, R G, Ellison, R A, Mathers, S J, Moorlock, B S P, Scrivener, R C, McMillan, A A, Ambrose, K, Barclay, W J, and Barron, A J M. 2007. Stratigraphical Chart of the United Kingdom: Southern Britain. British Geological Survey, 1 poster. | |||
| 1:50K maps on which the lithostratigraphical unit is found, and map code used: | |||
| E103 E104 E115 E116 E129 E146 E054 E055 E064 E065 E072 E073 E080 E081 E089 E090 E091 | |||