The BGS Lexicon of Named Rock Units — Result Details
Kirkhill Palaeosol Bed
| Computer Code: | KHLPS | Preferred Map Code: | notEntered |
|---|---|---|---|
| Status Code: | Full | ||
| Age range: | Hoxnian Stage (QX) — Wolstonian Stage (QO) | ||
| Lithological Description: | Pale grey to white gravelly sand. The bed consists of an upper horizon (Ea) pale grey, up to 0.19m thick. This merges downwards into a second horizon (Bs), up to 0.07m thick and greyish brown with some mottling. Both horizons are developed in slightly gravelly, coarse, pale olive-brown sands of the Pitscow Sand and Gravel Formation. The single or multiple Fe pans are developed in sands below the Bs horizon. In the Ea horizon felsite clasts are typically bleached and softened. Organic carbon and Fe have been translocated down profile into the Bs horizon. Interpreted as a truncated podzolic soil profile formed under humid temperature climate conditions with some superimposed cold climate features. | ||
| Definition of Lower Boundary: | The lower boundary of the palaeosol bed is gradational over c.0.5m where pedogenically modified sand passes downwards into relatively unmodified sand of the Pitscow Sand and Gravel Formation. | ||
| Definition of Upper Boundary: | Typically the upper boundary of the palaeosol bed is an undulatory erosion surface with an amplitude of up to 0.20m and is unconformably overlain by organic sands of the Swineden Sand Bed. On the margins of channels/basins cut into bedrock seen in Kirkhill Quarry (infilled), units up to the Rottenhill Till Formation may rest unconformably on the truncated Kirkhill Palaeosol Bed. | ||
| Thickness: | Up to -1.0m of pedogenically modified gravelly sand has been recorded. | ||
| Geographical Limits: | Buchan, northeast Scotland. The palaeosol bed is only known in the immediate vicinity of Kirkhill Quarry (infilled) (centred on NK 0120 5285) and Leys Quarry (disused) (centred on NK 0040 5250) on Sheet 87W (Ellon). | ||
| Parent Unit: | Pitscow Sand and Gravel Formation (POWSG) | ||
| Previous Name(s): | Kirkhill Lower Palaeosol [Obsolete Name and Code: Use KHLPS]
(-4727)
Kirkhill Palaeosol (-995) Kirkhill Lower Buried Soil [Obsolete Name and Code: Use KHLPS] (-343) |
||
| Alternative Name(s): | none recorded or not applicable | ||
| Stratotypes: | |||
| Type Section | East face, Kirkhill Quarry (infilled), 7km southeast of Stricken, Buchan, northeast Scotland. Connell, Hall and Romans. 1984. Note: The Kirkhill Palaeosol Bed was well developed in all faces of Kirkhill Quarry (infilled), but studied more extensively in the east face. | ||
| Reference Section | Northwest and northeast faces of Leys Quarry (disused), 6.5km southeast of Stricken, Buchan, northeast Scotland. Hall and Jarvis. 1993. Note: The Kirkhill Palaeosol Bed is relatively poorly developed at Leys Quarry (disused). | ||
| Reference(s): | |||
| Connell, E R and Hall, A M. 2000. Kirkhill and Leys quarries. 65-67 in Merritt, J W, Connell, E R and Bridgland, D R (editors), The Quaternary of the Banffshire Coast and Buchan: Field Guide. (London: Quaternary Research Association.) | |||
| Connell, E R, Hall, A M and Romans, J C C. 1984. Kirkhill Quarry. 57-81 in Hall, A M (Editor), Buchan Field Guide. (Cambridge: Quaternary Research Association.) | |||
| Hall, A M and Connell, E R. 1991. The glacial deposits of Buchan, northeast Scotland. 129-136 in Ehlers, J, Gibbard, P L and Rose, J (editors), Glacial Deposits in Great Britain and Ireland. (Rotterdam: Balkema.) | |||
| Hall, A M and Jarvis, J. 1993. Kirkhill. 225-230 in Gordon, J E and Sutherland, D G (editors), Quaternary of Scotland. Geological Conservation Review Series: 6. (London: Chapman and Hall.) | |||
| Sutherland, D G. 1999. Scotland. 99-114 in Bowen D Q (Editor), A revised correlation of Quaternary deposits in the British Isles. Special Report of The Geological Society of London, No.23. | |||
| Merritt, J W, Auton, C A, Connell, E R, Hall, A M and Peacock, J D. 2003. The Cainozoic geology and landscape evolution of north-east Scotland. Memoir of the British Geological Survey, Sheets 66E, 67, 76E, 77, 86E, 87W, 87E, 95, 96W, 96E and 97 (Scotland) | |||
| Connell, E R, Edwards, K J and Hall, A M. 1982. Evidence for two pre-Flandrian palaeosols in Buchan, Scotland. Nature, 297, 570-572. | |||
| Connell, E R and Hall, A M. 1987. The periglacial history of Buchan, Scotland. 277-285 in Boardman, J (Editor), Periglacial Processes and Landforms in Britain and Ireland. Periglacial processes in Britain and Ireland. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. | |||
| Merritt, J W, Connell, E R and Bridgland, D R (editors). 2000. The Quaternary of the Banffshire Coast and Buchan; Field Guide. (London: Quaternary Research Association.) | |||
| 1:50K maps on which the lithostratigraphical unit is found, and map code used: | |||
| none recorded or not applicable | |||