The BGS Lexicon of Named Rock Units — Result Details
Melbury Sandstone Member
| Computer Code: | MYS | Preferred Map Code: | MelS |
|---|---|---|---|
| Status Code: | Full | ||
| Age range: | Cenomanian Age (KE) — Cenomanian Age (KE) | ||
| Lithological Description: | Richly fossiliferous, glauconitic, fine-grained sand and weakly cemented sandstone with a considerable coccolith content. | ||
| Definition of Lower Boundary: | The lower boundary is placed above the highest bed of chert of the Boyne Hollow Chert where present or at a distinct erosion surface above which a significant coccolith content becomes apparent. | ||
| Definition of Upper Boundary: | The upper boundary is placed at the incoming of marl that is taken as the basal bed of the overlying remainder of the West Melbury Marly Chalk Formation. This can commonly be a minor erosion surface. | ||
| Thickness: | 0 to 6 m (1.22 m at type locality). | ||
| Geographical Limits: | Known for Dorset and Wiltshire. From Iwerne Courtenay (ST 860 130) northwards towards the limit of the Shaftesbury sheet (313). Northwards, through the Wincanton area, the Melbury Sandstone continues (previously informally called the Rye Hill Sand) and, farther north, onto the Salisbury Sheet area (Nadder Valley) and in the western part of the Devizes Sheet area. To the east the member is equivalent to the Glauconitic Marl Member. | ||
| Parent Unit: | West Melbury Marly Chalk Formation (WMCH) | ||
| Previous Name(s): | Passage Beds [Obsolete Name and Code: Use BOOC, SGBK, CLGB, MCH, UND, YED, MYS]
(-3236)
Cenomanian sands [Obsolete Name and Code: Use MYS] (-1719) Warminster Greensand [Obsolete Name and Code: Use MYS] (-4809) |
||
| Alternative Name(s): | none recorded or not applicable | ||
| Stratotypes: | |||
| Type Section | Old quarry (now filled), 700 m at 276 degrees from Melbury Abbas church. Section recorded by Jukes-Browne and Hill (1900, 1903). | ||
| Reference(s): | |||
| Jukes-Browne, A J and Hill, W. 1900. The Cretaceous Rocks of Britain. 1. Gault and Upper Greensand. Memoir of the Geological Survey of Great Britain. | |||
| Mottram, B H. 1957. Whitsun field meeting at Shaftesbury. Proceedings of the Geologists' Association, Vol.67, (for 1956), 160-167. | |||
| White, H J O. 1923. The geology of the country south and west of Shaftesbury. Memoir of the Geological Survey of Great Britain, Sheet 313 (England and Wales). | |||
| Kennedy, W J. 1970. A correlation of the uppermost Albian and the Cenomanian of South-West England. Proceedings of the Geologists' Association, Vol.81, 613-677. | |||
| Bristow, C R. 1989. Geology of the East Stour - Shaftesbury district (Dorset) British Geological Survey Technical Report WA/89/58. | |||
| Hopson, P M. 2005. A stratigraphical framework for the Upper Cretaceous Chalk of England and Scotland, with statements on the Chalk of Northern Ireland and the UK Offshore Sector. British Geological Survey Research Report RR/05/01 102pp. ISBN 0 852725175 | |||
| Jukes-Browne, A J and Hill, W. 1903 The Cretaceous Rocks of Britain, Vol.2. The Lower and Middle Chalk of England. Memoir of the Geological Survey of Great Britain. | |||
| 1:50K maps on which the lithostratigraphical unit is found, and map code used: | |||
| E281 E313 E314 | |||