The BGS Lexicon of Named Rock Units — Result Details

Lossiemouth Sandstone Formation

Computer Code: LMSF Preferred Map Code: LMSF
Status Code: Full
Age range: Ladinian Age (TD) — Norian Age (TN)
Lithological Description: White, yellow and pink, fine- to coarse-grained sandstones, siliceous at the top and calcareous towards the base. Some massive; some cross-bedded. Sandstone with a bimodal grain-size ("sago pudding" sandstone). Largely aeolian in origin but partly water-lain.
Definition of Lower Boundary: Around Lossiemouth the base of the formation is the base of the predominantly aeolian sandstones above the waterlain sandstones of the Burghead Sandstone Formation. To the south, around Spynie, the base of the formation is the unconformity with the Upper Devonian "Rosebrae Beds".
Definition of Upper Boundary: The top of the formation is the base of the pedogenic beds belonging to the Stotfield Cherty Rock Formation.
Thickness: To 30m
Geographical Limits: Moray Firth area including exposures near Golspie.
Parent Unit: New Red Sandstone Supergroup (NRS)
Previous Name(s): The Sandstones of Spynie, Lossiemouth and Findrassie [Obsolete Name and Code: Use LMSF] (-369)
Alternative Name(s): none recorded or not applicable
Stratotypes:
Partial Type Section  From disused quarries 50m northwest of the old harbour at Lossiemouth, northwards along the shoreline to Lossiemouth harbour. Peacock et al., 1968. 
Reference(s):
Frostick, L, Reid, I, Jarvis, J and Eardley, H. 1988. Triassic sediments of the Inner Moray Firth, Scotland: early rift deposits. Journal of the Geological Society (London), Vol. 145, 235-248. 
Peacock, J D, Berridge, N G, Harris, A L, May, F. 1968. The geology of the Elgin District. Memoir of the Geological Survey of Scotland. Sheets 86 and 96 (Scotland). (Edinburgh: HMSO). 
Warrington, G, Audley-Charles, M G, Elliott, R E, Evans, W B, Ivimey-Cook, H C, Kent, P E, Robinson, P L, Shotton, F W and Taylor, F M. 1980. A correlation of the Triassic rocks in the British Isles. Special Report of the Geological Society of London, No.13. 
1:50K maps on which the lithostratigraphical unit is found, and map code used:
S103 S095