The BGS Lexicon of Named Rock Units — Result Details

Malverns Complex

Computer Code: MVC Preferred Map Code: MvC
Status Code: Full
Age range: Cryogenian Period (AC) — Ediacaran Period (AD)
Lithological Description: Mainly diorite, tonalite and hybridised and sheared derivatives of these protoliths (Lambert and Holland, 1971; Barclay, W J, Ambrose, K, Chadwick, R A and Pharoah, T C. 1997].
Definition of Lower Boundary: Not seen, apart from local thrust slices in tectonic contact with Palaezoic cover rocks.
Definition of Upper Boundary: Unconformity or faulted contact with Palaeozoic cover rocks.
Thickness: Not applicable.
Geographical Limits: Malvern Hills, Hereford and Worcester; small outliers at Cowleigh Park and Martley.
Parent Unit: Not Applicable (-)
Previous Name(s): Malvernian System [Obsolete Name and Code: Use MVC] (-3569)
Malvernian [Obsolete Name And Code: Use MVC] (MALV)
Malvernian Group [Obsolete Name And Code: Use MVC] (EM)
Gneisses [Obsolete Name And Code: Unnamed Part Of MVC] (EMG)
Quartzite [Obsolete Name And Code: Unnamed Part Of MVC] (EMQ)
Schists [Obsolete Name And Code: Unnamed Part Of MVC] (EMS)
Malvern Complex [Obsolete Name and Code: Use MVC] (-1074)
Malvernian Complex [Obsolete Name and Code: Use MVC] (-1075)
Malvernian Series [Obsolete Name and Code: Use MVC] (-1716)
Alternative Name(s): none recorded or not applicable
Stratotypes:
Type Area  Malvern Hills ('The Malverns') numerous quarries and natural exposures from north Malvern to Chase End Hill. 
Reference(s):
Worssam, B C, Ellison, R A and Moorlock, B S P. 1989. Geology of the country around Tewkesbury. Memoir of the British Geological Survey, Sheet 216 (England and Wales). 
Callaway, C, 1879. The Gneissic and Granitoid Rocks of Anglesey and the Malvern Hills. Proceedings of the Geological Society of London, Vol.36, p.2-3. 
Lambert, R St. J and Holland, J G, 1971. The petrography and chemistry of the igneous complex of the Malvern Hills, England. Proceedings of the Geologists' Association, Vol.82, p.323-352. 
Groom, T. 1910. Geology in the Field. Geologists' Association, Jubilee, Vol.2, p.700. 
Barclay, W J, Ambrose K, Chadwick, R A, and Pharaoh, T C. 1997. Geology of the country around Worcester. Memoir of the British Geological Survey, Sheet 199 (England and Wales). 
Thorpe, R S, Beckinsale, R D, Patchett, P J, Piper, A, Davies, G R and Evans, J A, 1984. Crustal growth and late Precambrian-early Palaeozoic plate tectonic evolution of England and Wales. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, Vol.141, p.521-536. 
1:50K maps on which the lithostratigraphical unit is found, and map code used:
E216 E199