The BGS Lexicon of Named Rock Units — Result Details

North Esk Formation [Not Same As NES]

Computer Code: NOE Preferred Map Code: litho
Status Code: Full
Age range: Tremadoc Series (O1) — Abereiddian Stage (O2)
Lithological Description: Three lithologies with oceanic affinities are juxtaposed: (i) metabasalt, commonly spilitised, locally retaining pillows, metamorphosed to chlorite-schist over much of the outcrop; (ii) chert, brownish, pyritic in places, with cavities filled with yellow limonite; (iii) black slaty pelite rich in iron oxides, weathering reddish away from stream sections.
Definition of Lower Boundary: No lower stratigraphical boundary identifiable.
Definition of Upper Boundary: Unconformably overlain by Margie Formation.
Thickness: Outcrop belt 600m wide: thickness unknown.
Geographical Limits: Occurs in several fault-bounded pods just north of the Highland Boundary Fault between Glen Sannox (Arran) and Garron Point (Stonehaven).
Parent Unit: Highland Border Complex (HBX)
Previous Name(s): Volcanic Rocks And Black Shales (Highland Border Complex) [Obsolete Name And Code: Use NOE] (DCHV)
Jasper and Green-Rock Series [Obsolete Name and Code: Use NOE] (-2340)
Alternative Name(s): none recorded or not applicable
Stratotypes:
Type Section  Section in R. North Esk from Rocks of Solitude to the "Green Conglomerate", c. 1.25km south of Auchmull. 
Reference(s):
Barrow, G, 1901. On the occurrence of Silurian (?) rocks in Forfarshire and Kincardineshire along the eastern border of the Highlands. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London, Vol.57, p.328-345. 
Gould, D, 2001. Geology of the Aboyne district. Memoir of the British Geological Survey, Sheet 66W (Scotland). 
1:50K maps on which the lithostratigraphical unit is found, and map code used:
S030 S038 S066 S067 S066