The BGS Lexicon of Named Rock Units — Result Details

Cowhythe Psammite Formation

Computer Code: CWPS Preferred Map Code: CwPs
Status Code: Full
Age range: Neoproterozoic Era (AZ) — Neoproterozoic Era (AZ)
Lithological Description: Psammite and semipelite, interbedded, thinly-banded, gneissose in part. Calcareous near base (dominantly calc-silicate beds). Also contains limestone unit in lower part (Rosehall Croft Limestone) and beds of calcareous semipelite near top. Locally migmatitic with quartz and leucotonalite veining.
Definition of Lower Boundary: Not seen at type section due to Portsoy Shear Zone.
Definition of Upper Boundary: Lowest (white) limestone on western side of Old Hythe Bay.
Thickness: Probably 800m in coast section; may reach 1.5km around Cornhill.
Geographical Limits: From Moray Firth coast [NJ 592 661 - NJ 609 664] southwards to 4km east of Huntly [NJ 570 406].
Parent Unit: Crinan Subgroup (DBCN)
Previous Name(s): Cowhythe Gneiss [Obsolete Name And Code: See CWPS] (DBCH)
Alternative Name(s): none recorded or not applicable
Stratotypes:
Type Section  Coastal section from east side of Links Bay to Old Hythe. 
Reference(s):
Stephenson, D, et al. 1993. Stratigraphy and correlation of the Dalradian rocks of the East Grampian Project area. British Geological Survey Technical Report WA/93/91. 
Harris, A L, Haselock, P J, Kennedy, M J and Mendum, J R, 1994. The Dalradian Supergroup in Scotland, Shetland and Ireland. 33-53 in Gibbons, W E and Harris, A L (editors). A revised correlation of Precambrian rocks in the British Isles. Special Report of the Geological Society, London, No.22. 
Stephenson, D and Gould, D. 1995. British Regional Geology: the Grampian Highlands (4th edition). (London: HMSO for the British Geological Survey), 67-68. 
Read, H H, 1923. Geology of the country around Banff, Huntly and Turriff, Lower Banffshire and north-west Aberdeenshire. Memoir of the Geological Survey, Scotland Sheets 86 and 96 (Scotland). 
1:50K maps on which the lithostratigraphical unit is found, and map code used:
S096 S086