The BGS Lexicon of Named Rock Units — Result Details
Lambeth Group
| Computer Code: | LMBE | Preferred Map Code: | LMB |
|---|---|---|---|
| Status Code: | Full | ||
| Age range: | Thanetian Age (GT) — Ypresian Age (GY) | ||
| Lithological Description: | Vertically and laterally variable sequences mainly of clay, some silty or sandy, with some sands and gravels, minor limestones and lignites and occasional sandstone and conglomerate. The Lambeth Group was deposited in fluvial, estuarine, lagoonal or proximal marine environments. Late Paleocene to Early Eocene (late Thanetian to early Ypresian). | ||
| Definition of Lower Boundary: | The base of the Lambeth Group is taken at the base of the Upnor Formation. In the Hampshire Basin and the west of the London Basin, the Lambeth Group overlies the Chalk Group. In the centre and east of the London Basin it overlies the Thanet Formation, and in Suffolk the Ormesby Clay Member of the Lista Formation. | ||
| Definition of Upper Boundary: | The top of the Lambeth Group is marked by the eroded or interburrowed surface at the base of the overlying Thames Group. The uppermost part of the Lambeth Group can be the Reading Formation or the Woolwich Formation, depending on the local succession, or the Upnor Formation, depending on the depth of pre-Thames Group erosion. The Lambeth Group is overlain by sands, silts, clays or gravel beds of the Harwich Formation, depending on the local sequences, or gravelly sandy clays at the base of the London Clay Formation. | ||
| Thickness: | Up to 39 m in the west of the London Basin. | ||
| Geographical Limits: | The Lambeth Group extends throughout the London Basin, extending north into Suffolk, but apparently absent in Norfolk (Knox et al., 1990). In parts of east London, Kent and Essex, the Lambeth Group was extensively eroded prior to deposition of the Thames Group (Hester, 1965). The Lambeth Group also occurs within the Hampshire Basin, where it mostly comprises only the Reading Formation, although there is a thin representation of the Upnor Formation, and the Woolwich Formation forms small outliers in the most easterly parts of the onshore outcrop. | ||
| Parent Unit: | Not Applicable (-) | ||
| Previous Name(s): | Woolwich and Reading Series [Obsolete Name and Code: Use WRB, LMBE]
(-3142)
Woolwich and Reading Beds [Obsolete Name and Code: Use WRB, LMBE, RB] (-2293) |
||
| Alternative Name(s): | none recorded or not applicable | ||
| Stratotypes: | |||
| Type Area | The type area is in the London Basin, specifically central and south London and north Kent. | ||
| Reference(s): | |||
| Ellison, R A, Woods, M A, Allen, D J, Forster, A, Pharaoh, T C and King, C. 2004. Geology of London. Memoir of the British Geological Survey, Sheets 256 (North London), 257 (Romford), 270 (South London), 271 (Dartford) (England and Wales). | |||
| Hester, S W. 1965. Stratigraphy and palaeogeography of the Woolwich and Reading Beds. Bulletin of the Geological Survey of Great Britain No. 23, 117-137. | |||
| Page, D P, and Skipper, J A E. 2000. Lithological characteristics of the Lambeth Group. Ground Engineering, Vol. 33, 38-43. | |||
| 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. | |||
| Aldiss, D T. 2014. The stratigraphical framework for the Palaeogene successions of the London Basin, UK. British Geological Survey Open Report OR/14/008. 95 pp. | |||
| Knox, R W O. 1996. Tectonic controls on sequence development in the Palaeocene and earliest Eocene of southeast England: implications for North Sea stratigraphy. 209-230 in Sequence Stratigraphy in British Geology. Hesselbro, S P, and Parkinson, D N (editors). Geological Society of London Special Publication, No. 103. | |||
| Ellison, R A, Knox R W O'B, Jolley, D W and King, C, 1994. A revision of the lithostratigraphical classification of the early Palaeogene strata of the London Basin and East Anglia. Proceedings of the Geologists' Association, Vol.105, 187-197. | |||
| Hull, E, and Whitaker, W. 1861. The geology of parts of Oxfordshire and Berkshire. Memoir of the Geological Survey of Great Britain, Sheet 13 (Old Series). | |||
| Knox, R W O, Morigi, A N, Ali, J R, Hailwood, E A, and Hallam, J R. 1990. Early Palaeogene stratigraphy of a cored borehole at Hales, Norfolk. Proceedings of the Geologists' Association, Vol. 101, 145-151. | |||
| Prestwich, J, 1854. On the structure of the strata between the London Clay and the Chalk etc, part 11. The Woolwich and Reading Series. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, Vol.10, p.77. | |||
| Whitaker, W. 1866. On the "Lower London Tertiaries" of Kent. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society London, Vol.22, 404-435. | |||
| Page, D P. 1995. Jubilee Line Extension. Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology, Vol. 28, 97-104. | |||
| 1:50K maps on which the lithostratigraphical unit is found, and map code used: | |||
| E176 E191 E221 E256 E257 E266 E268 E269 E270 E282 E283 E284 E285 E298 E299 E300 | |||