The BGS Lexicon of Named Rock Units — Result Details

Buchanan Clay Member

Computer Code: BCHN Preferred Map Code: BCHN
Status Code: Full
Age range: Holocene Epoch (QH) — Holocene Epoch (QH)
Lithological Description: The typical lithology is a thinly bedded silt clay with many laminae and thin bands of silt and locally of sand. The deposits are brown, brownish grey and reddish brown, and are conspicuously colour banded, the banding being emphasised by the grey clay units. The consistency varies from soft to stiff and the deposits is of medium to high plasticity.
Definition of Lower Boundary: The Buchanan Clay Member of the Clydebank Clay Formation rests with angular conformity on older Quaternary sediments. It is known to rest on the Gartocharn Till Formation (GATI) of the Caledonia Glacigenic Group (Midland Valley Glacigenic Subgroup).
Definition of Upper Boundary: The Buchanan Clay Member of the Clydebank Clay Formation is overlain conformably by younger Quaternary sediments of the Kilmaronock Silt Formation of the Britannia Catchments Group (Clyde Catchments Subgroup).
Thickness: Veneer to more than 7m.
Geographical Limits: The Buchanan Clay Member of the Clydebank Clay Formation is recognized in the lower Endrick valley near its confluence with Loch Lomond.
Parent Unit: Clydebank Clay Formation (CBCL)
Previous Name(s): Buchanan Formation (-675)
Alternative Name(s): none recorded or not applicable
Stratotypes:
Reference Section  The BGS Mains of Kilmaronock Borehole contains the standard (and only complete) section in the Buchanan Clay Member (BCHN) (19,95 to 28.07m in depth). Browne and McMillan (1989a, Figure 6). 
Type Area  Mains of Kilmaronock in lower Strath Endrick. Browne and McMillan (1989a) 
Reference(s):
Hall, I H S, Browne, M A E and Forsyth, I H. 1998. Geology of the Glasgow district. Memoir of the British Geological Survey, Sheet 30E (Scotland). 
McMillan, A A, Hamblin, R J O and Merritt, J W. 2005. An overview of the lithostratigraphical framework for the Quarternary and Neogene deposits of Great Britain (onshore). British Geological Survey Research Report RR/04/04. 
Browne, M A E and McMillan, A A. 1989a. Quaternary geology of the Clyde valley. British Geological Survey Research Report, SA/89/1. 
Bowen, D Q. 1999. A revised correlation of Quaternary deposits in the British Isles. Geological Society Special Report, No. 23. 
1:50K maps on which the lithostratigraphical unit is found, and map code used:
none recorded or not applicable